FRIGHTFULLY GOOD
The big day is here, so get your Halloween party started with some oh so scary tunes
Halloween, with its costumes and ghoulish gaiety in the midst of a dreary autumn, is a prime excuse for a party. And every spectre knows parties are powered by music. We offer a list of classics to fuel the festivities.
MONSTER MASH BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (1962)
Sample lyric: I was working in the lab, late one night/when my eyes beheld an eerie sight/for my monster from his slab, began to rise/and suddenly to my surprise/he did the mash
Did you know: The sound of an old door opening in the song was a rusty nail being pulled out of a board and the bubbling cauldron was someone blowing bubbles through a straw.
THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON (1982)
Sample lyric: ‘Cause this is thriller, thriller night/and no one’s gonna save you/from the beast about to strike
Did you know: Jennifer Beals turned down an offer to play the girlfriend in the song’s famous zombie-infested video (the role went to Ola Ray). Thriller went on to become the first music video inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry in 2009.
TIME WARP THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW CAST (1975)
Sample lyric: I remember doing the Time Warp/drinking those moments/when the blackness would hit me/and a void would be calling
Did you know: It’s both a parody of the dance song genre and one of the best examples of it, with the lyrics telling dancers what to do and how to move. Screenings of the movie attract dancing costumed aficionados tossing rice and toast.
BELA LUGOSI’S DEAD BAUHAUS (1979)
Sample lyric: The bats have left the bell tower/the victims have been bled/red velvet lines the black box/bela Lugosi’s dead
Did you know: At more than nine minutes, the track names the actor, who played the lead in 1931’s Dracula, to a dub-influenced staccato beat. The band play it live in the opening sequence of The Hunger, the 1983 vampire flick starring David Bowie, Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve.
GHOSTBUSTERS RAY PARKER JR. (1984)
Sample lyric: An invisible man sleeping in your bed/who you gonna call?/ghostbusters!
Did you know: Fleetwood
Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham
says he was approached to write the theme for the movie after his work on National Lampoon’s Vacation, but didn’t want to be known as a soundtrack artist.
SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS) DAVID BOWIE (1980)
Sample lyric: She began to wail, jealousies scream/waiting at the lights, know what I mean/ Scary monsters, super creeps/ Keep me running, running scared
Did you know: This title track to the album often considered Bowie’s last masterpiece features Robert Fripp of King Crimson on guitar, strong percussive elements and Bowie singing in his Cockney accent about a woman’s mental demise.
PET SEMATARY THE RAMONES (1989)
Sample lyric: And the night when the cold wind blows/ No one cares, nobody knows/i don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery/i don’t want to live my life again
Did you know: Horror novelist Stephen King is a huge fan of the band and invited the musicians to his house. He gave Dee Dee Ramone a copy of his novel of the same name. That night, the lyrics to the song were finished.
I PUT A SPELL ON YOU SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS (1956)
Sample lyric: I put a spell on you/ Because you’re mine/you know I can’t stand it/you’re running around/you know better daddy/i can’t stand it ‘cause you put me down
Did you know: Intended as a straight ballad, this blues song gained notoriety after Hawkins recorded it with wild yelps and grunts in a drunken session. The singer intensified the demented vocal delivery in concert by wearing a cape while wielding stage props of skulls and snakes.
FEED MY FRANKENSTEIN ALICE COOPER (1991)
Sample lyric: Feed my Frankenstein/hungry for love/and it’s feeding time
Did you know: Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nikki Sixx and Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) all made guest appearances on this eerie tune, which was also featured in the 1992 film Wayne’s World.
THIS IS HALLOWEEN THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS CAST (1993)
Sample lyric: Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange?/come with us and you will see/this our town of Halloween/this is Halloween, this is Halloween/pumpkins scream in the dead of night
Did you know: Marilyn Manson covered this song from a children’s Christmas movie. Manson’s horror-rock inspired sound is the polar opposite of the cheery, fun tone of the original.
BASICALLY ANY SONG ROB ZOMBIE
Sample lyrics: Dig through the ditches/and burn through the witches/i slam in the back of my/ Dragula! (from Dragula). See also: Defunct the strings of cemetery things/with one flat foot on the devil’s wing (from Living Dead Girl)
Did you know: Before he launched a successful music career,
Rob Zombie was a production assistant on the set of Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
MONSTERS IN MY GARAGE DÉJA VOODOO (1982)
Sample lyric: I was trying to get to sleep the other night/i heard a big rumble and it gave me a fright/i went to the garage where it was coming from/there was a werewolf banging on a big bass drum
Did you know: This two-minute nugget from cult Montreal band Déja Voodoo started its career on its own label, Og
Music. The duo called the blend of rockabilly, horror imagery and low-end drums and vocals “sludgeabilly.”