Impromptu Halloween Playlist

I recently saw an article somewhere, can't remember where, asking why there aren't really any Halloween songs. I didn't even bother reading it because it was clear whoever wrote it had no clue what they were talking about. There’s probably no easier playlist to create than a Halloween playlist! It's not just “Monster Mash” or “Every Day is Halloween”! The possibilities are endless. You could go really dark, really campy, obscure, horror movie theme, whatever. You could easily do it without even using literal "monster" type songs. Just a few off the top of my head.

This is self explanatory, really. It sets the mood, and if you wanted to go with all songs about horror movies, there’s no better opener. And it's not "Monster Mash."

Something about punk and psychobilly leads to tons of songs about 50s horror movies. Within this genre, you could pretty much just go with all Cramps songs and have a good Halloween playlist, really, but I’m going with this one, because it makes for a good pairing with. . . .

Yet another band whose entire discography would make a for a perfect Halloween playlist. This track is great because Danzig just repeats the title of the song and movie along with listing the stars, Vincent Price and Alain Delon. It’s simple and it fucking rocks, stupid.

I don’t know how it happened, but twangy guitars are just synonymous with Halloween music for me. I fucking love this song. Get the dry ice flowing as this builds tension and chills enough to deserve a good follow up. . .

I fucking love this song, too! More twang and creep continuing the theme of the suicide goth girl that ruins your sleep patterns, so slow dance time! This one features a brief appearance of the theme from A Nightmare on Elm Street, so bonus.

There may be a pattern here, because there were several appropriate choices from Roky Erickson for this list. This is probably his most straightforward and even if you’ve never heard it, you can sing along immediately. Plus, it’s about zombies. Or it could also be about his complete mental breakdown, but whatever.

Ok, this is getting ridiculous, but once again, this batshit insane band’s choices are many. Even the non-halloween tracks are bizarre enough to fit. And, more twang. Seriously, these people are fucking nuts.

Sexy costumes are all the rage now, I guess, so let’s pair that with a sexy swinging French Mademoiselle singing about Dracula, the only vampire that matters (aside from Skinner Sweet of American Vampire, which everyone should read.). Plus, you know I love the french pop. It doesn’t always have to be scary to work, but. . . .

If you do want to go with creepy, Goblin is your starting point. There are many movie themes you could choose, but Italian horror is the model. This isn’t party music, but I know if I walked up to a house to trick or treat and this was playing, I’d likely shit myself.

Anyway, this is just a small sampling. Maybe next year I'll put a whole comprehensive Spotify list together. It's funny because I've always disliked this holiday, but the music is pretty awesome. Way better than cheesy ass X-mas music. There's one more track I should mention, that I just heard recently. It's off Tom Waits's Blue Valentine album, which I just posted about over at FDRMX. Enjoy the track(s) and go read my shit over at FDRMX.