Every spooky season there are a handful of tunes that go hand in hand with the haunting holiday of Halloween.
These aren’t the kind of songs you can listen to from November through September, the simply don’t fit.
Like the creepy and festive decorations, these tracks get put away into the back of our mind, waiting to become relevant again.
But once the calendar turns over to October, these musical offerings pair perfectly with pumpkins, the crisp night air and the promise of costumes and candy and good natured scares.
Here’s my personal top ten Halloween song list…
10. Feed My Frankenstein – Alice Cooper
Some famous musicians appear on this track. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai are on guitar, while Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue plays bass.
Alice performed this song as part of a classic scene in the film Wayne’s World. The original plan was to have Alice perform “School’s Out” in the movie, but two weeks before filming Cooper’s manager informed the filmmakers and star Mike Myers that Alice would be performing a new song instead.
At 4:12, the female voice that says “he’s such a psycho” is Cassandra Peterson, who I better known for her horror movie TV presenter character “Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark”.
9. Season of the Witch – Donavan
It’s about Donovan looking out of his window in 1966 and seeing drug dealers moving into his neighborhood. Hard drugs starting to infiltrate the rock and folk scenes in England and in the US. Things were moving beyond pot and into heroin and it was ominous to him.
During the recording session, engineers wouldn’t cut the bass the way producer Mickie Most wanted it — hot to tape and pushing the VU meters “into the red.” They were afraid of breaking the equipment. Mickie, who had a lot of industry clout at the time, had to threaten their jobs and they finally gave in. The resulting sound is compressed and round and fat.
8. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
It was originally written in 1973 at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where David Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz had a band called The Artistics.
David originally wanted a Japanese section in the bridge. However, when he asked a girl that he knew, who spoke the language, to come up with some murderous words, she understandably freaked out. Chris’ girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, spoke French, so they had her write a French part for the bridge instead. She drew inspiration from the Norman Bates character in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho. She also went on to be the Talking Head’s bass player.
Years later, during the recording session for this song, one of the producers got a carving knife from the kitchen in the studio and asked David to hold it while he sang so he could get in character. He refused.
In the summer of 1977, month before this song was released. There really was a psycho killer on the loose. David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam,” terrified New Yorkers before he was caught on August 10 after killing six people. Many suspected the song was about him, but it was written much earlier.
7. Witchy Woman – The Eagles
Band member Don Henley was partially inspired to write the lyrics for this song while he was reading a book about the novelist Zelda Fitzgerald, who struggled with mental health issues and ended up spending a lot of time in psychiatric hospitals.
It was also partially based on a woman who Don once knew. She was the roommate of his girlfriend and she practiced “white witchcraft,” dabbling in the paranormal with good intentions.
It is not meant to portray the woman as devilish, but as more of a seductress.
6. Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
The most famous song to come from the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, was originally written to fill time as the original production of the theatre show ran only 40 minutes long.
The movie has inspired a wildly popular ritual all over the world, where people go to the theatre to and act and sing along with it using props and costumes.
5. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
The concept behind this song is a clever take on a funeral.
Oingo Boingo was fronted by Danny Elfman, who is probably best known as a film and television musical composer. He has worked extensively with filmmaker Tim Burton and written the theme for “The Simpsons”.
Danny was scoring the comedy movie “Back to School” when the creators invited he and his band to play this song in one of the scenes.
Oingo Boingo was known for its annual Halloween concerts and use of skeleton imagery until they disbanded in 1995.
4. Werewolves Of London – Warren Zevon
Warren recorded roughly 50 takes in the studio before he had a version that he was satisfied with.
The final version, features Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac
Warren did not want it to be the album’s first single and later spoke ill of its his creation, but the record label pushed for its release and became his biggest hit.
3. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
Written for the hit 1984 movie of the same name.
Columbia Pictures had reviewed and vetoed roughly 60 other potential songs before they Ray Parker Jr. in a panic. He was then given the impossible task of creating a theme song in only two days
It was written at 4:30 in the morning after Ray was inspired by a TV commercial for a drain company that helped him coin the line “Who you gonna call?”
Parker and Huey Lewis sued Ray for plagiarizing the sound of his band’s song “I Want a New Drug”.
2. Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
It was written as a Halloween mix of two famous dances at the time, the mashed potato and the twist.
It was initially banned in the UK by the BBC for being “too morbid”.
The song’s spooky sounds were created with simple, everyday items…
Cauldron bubbling: A straw bubbling in water
Coffin sound: A nail being pulled from a piece of wood
Chains rattling: Chains being dropped on a tile floor
A creaky coffin opening: Pulling a rusty nail out of a board
1. Thriller – Michael Jackson
It was originally titled “Starlight Sun”.
The 13-minute music video was directed by John Landis, who made the cult classic horror-comedy, “An American Werewolf in London”.
The video includes a disclaimer warning viewers about the occult necessitated by Michael status as a Jehovah’s Witness at the time.
Due to Michael’s of his religious beliefs. for this reason, Jackson intitially wanted to destroy the music video before its debut.
So add these spirited tracks to your Halloween party play list…if you dare!
