Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Essential Halloween Music

More Halloween! This time it's about music. This is my personal Halloween playlist with some other stuff thrown around. All the songs have links so you can listen on YouTube before you purchase songs you've never heard.

For those of you who go for the scary Halloween movies, you can probably find most of those soundtracks. Since I don't, that won't be included here, but if anyone has good resources and suggestions, feel free to share.

Also, much of the Halloween music is sort of alternative or indie style, which is not a whole lot of what I listen to, myself.

You can also buy those spooky sounds CDs, but those aren't for easy listening.

I tend to think about the Harry Potter soundtracks around this time of the year. Practical Magic's soundtrack is also good. Basically any soundtrack from a Halloween-y movie is going to work. (For a list of Halloween movies, see my last post!)

1. Rock Lobster by the B52s. Why is this a Halloween song? Not sure, but many Halloween mixes include this song.
2. Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra. Classic.
3. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts."
4. Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell.
5. Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. Essential.
6. The Munsters. One I couldn't find a video of. I am not sure which version I have. None of the ones I found. It sounds like the original theme but has words as well. I got it on The Complete Halloween Party Album.
7. The X-Files Theme Song.
8. Little Shop of Horrors Prologue. Awesome. Or just about any song from this musical.
9. Thriller by Michael Jackson. Of course.
10. This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas. "I am the who when you call 'who's there?'" Gives me goosebumps. Nearly any songs from this movie, really.
11. Beetlejuice Theme Song. Many people also include Day-o (Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte.
12. Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley. "Purple People?!" Not the best quality, but it is old.
13. I Put a Spell on You by CCR. Though I actually like this version better (shock...): I Put a Spell on You from Hocus Pocus.
14. The Twilight Zone Theme Song.
15. Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. "I was walking down the street just-a havin' a think when a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink..." (Sorry about the odd subtitles in this one, but most of the others didn't have the movie clip with the dance AND good sound so...)
16. The Addams Family Theme Song.
17. Bewitched Theme Song.
18. Spooky by Atlanta Rhythm Section.
19. Poor Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas.
20. Love Potion Number 9 by The Searchers. Potions are Halloween-y, right?
21. Here is a gem: Anything Can Happen on Halloween by Tim Curry. "Has anybody seen my tambourine?" Tim Curry! Awesome, right? It's from 1987 so cut it some slack. From a movie (I don't think it's from the show) called "The Worst Witch," which I still need to watch... Sadly, this one is difficult to find for purchase. It is not on iTunes nor Amazon as far as I could tell.
22. The Headless Horseman Song by Kay Starr. While I generally love Bing Crosby, I found that I don't go for him for my Halloween music needs. If you are interested, he did this song: The Headless Horseman by Bing Crosby from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as well as: The Halloween Song by Bing Crosby and Boris Karloff.
23. Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon.
24. Grim Grinning Ghosts from the Disney ride Haunted Mansion.
25. Little Red Riding Hood. My version I bought from iTunes says it's by The Coasters. This one says it's by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. They sound the same, tho.
26.  Sex and Candy by Marcy Playground. Not really Halloween, but I think it was in one of those many Foreign Werewolves in Other Countries movies and the song is creepy and have you seen the video? Scary!
27. Werewolf by The Frantics. I got this from another blog here: Nerdist: 13 Required Songs for Your Halloween Party Playlist etc. They have some good stuff there. And I liked the part about "That's right, you just listened to Twilight," but I didn't think the second song was Halloween-y enough and I hated the third for that combo. You'll see what I mean if you visit.
28. Witchy Woman by The Eagles.
29. The Closing from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Not in the movie as far as my friend, Veronica, and I could tell.

So there you have it: my Halloween playlist. I hope you find something worth listening to. And please feel free to share your Halloween favorites!

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