JORDAN BUDD
Special to The Leader
Whether you’re carving pumpkins, munching on candy or dressing up to go out, you’ll need a playlist of spooky tunes to get you in the mood this scary season.
This 10 song list is meant to include the perennial Halloween favorites, but also highlight some lesser-known musical haunters.
1. “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads (1977)
Inspired by Alice Cooper’s shock rock and the character of Norman Bates from the 1960 classic horror flick “Psycho,” David Byrne set out to make a song that could take listeners into the mind of a serial killer. This classic new wave song is an otherworldly experience that dips in between French, English and gibberish in its hook that dazzles listeners with unearthly lunatic catchiness.
2. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson (1982)
Well… it had to be here. This legendary track is simply the most essential Halloween anthem, whose funk and disco blend still echoes throughout the night each Oct. 31. The cultural phenomenon of a song features the perfect balance of bone chilling sounds fit for a haunted house and brighter moments of synth and trumpet flourishes that lighten the mood.
3. “Goth” by Sidewalks and Skeletons (2015)
Witch House just might be the perfect genre to score your ghoulish shenanigans. This dark electronic microgenre is known for its horrifyingly eerie artwork and aesthetics. Sidewalks and Skeletons’ Spotify biography is fittingly prefaced with the line “Music for you to listen to while you walk through cemeteries alone at 3 a.m.” Enjoy the propulsive raving energy of “Goth,” a brighter track from this artist’s 2015 project “White Light.”
4. “This is Halloween” by Danny Elfman (1993)
This song scores the introductory moments of Tim Burton’s imaginative and fantastic film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The many fictional residents of Halloween Town growl, scream and snarl their way through this threatening, hair-raiser of a tune. The song is also featured on Just Dance 3, if you’d like to dance a jig while listening to the song.
5. “Nightmare” by Offset, Metro Boomin (2017)
Released on Halloween in 2017, “Without Warning,” the surprise collaborative mixtape between 21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin feels like being dropped into a horror movie soundtracked by the best trap music of the 2010s. The monster in this scene, Offset, has a cutthroat, murderous delivery that satisfyingly contrasts Metro’s ghostly synthetic bells and rumbling 808s.
6. “Halloween” by Phoebe Bridgers (2020)
This deep cut from the Grammy award-winning album “Punisher” by modern folk icon, Phoebe Bridgers, uses the idea of people dressing up on Halloween as a metaphor for a dead relationship.
7. “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, The Crypt-Kickers (1962)
This cooky novelty Halloween song is narrated by a mad scientist who tells an entertaining tale of his hit dance move called the Monster Mash. The groovy fictional dance move “caught on in a flash” and “was a graveyard smash.” Enjoy this lively 60s number one hit that is now a choice tune heard every spooktastic holiday. The number also happens to be featured on Just Dance 2, where the Frankenstein-esque dancer boogies to the beat.
8. “Psycho” by Slowthai, Denzel Curry (2019)
Denzel Curry and Slowthai both possess the unique talent of displaying controlled chaos and rage in their music. In this fittingly aggressive hip hop collaboration, the two MCs take turns trading hard hitting lines over the spine-chilling horror movie violin screeches.
9. “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. (1984)
Both the theme song for the supernatural comedy and jingle for the business of the Ghostbusters themselves, this one is still a proton pack of ghostly fun in 2021.
10. “Monster” by Kanye West, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver (2010)
This posse cut from one of West’s most well reputed albums is nothing short of a grisly slugfest of hyped-up verses from a star-studded repertoire. Each participant’s contributions feel larger than life, but Minaj’s all out barrage of fierce flows and freakish lyrics about “eating brains” and “rocking gold teeth and fangs” simply washes the competition. Minaj takes the song’s theme of monsters to the next level, using a rapid-fire flow that builds from an aggressive growl to an eldritch screech.
It’s impossible for a 10 song list to be a comprehensive article of all creepy music and Halloween themed songs, so check out this article on fredonialeader.org for a link to the full playlist that features anything from the mutilated, enigmatic rap of Sematary to a funky classic from Stevie Wonder.