Posted in: Musicouching by Cactus Cat on December 9, 2009 | 0 Comments
Dig up this ghoulishly good selection of beastly beats, terrifying tunes, and funky frighteners and create an alternative halloween music mix with bite.
For a superbly spooky Halloween, dress to distress and unleash this disturbing array of evil alternative music about werewolves, vampires, zombies, monsters and other nastiness. Best time to compile your Halloween compilation is in the dead of night (preferably a stormy night).
Songs about Werewolves
I was a teenage werewolf – the Cramps
No band has managed pulled off tongue in cheek horror rock as well or as convincingly as the Cramps. In their prime, the Cramps were the undisputed royalty of psychobilly horror rock and witnessing their wild stage shows was something to behold. From their freaky look and stage names (Lux Interior, Poison Ivy) to the band’s electric performances (they once infamously did a chaotic gig in a mental asylum), the Cramps are a must for Halloween and I was a Teenage Werewolf is a jaw crunchingly good Halloween party track.
Key Lyric: A Midwest monster, of the highest grade. All my teachers thought, It was growing pains. Oh no no, somebody stop this pain, ohhh…
Songs about Zombies
I walked with a Zombie – Roky Erickson and the Aliens
Founding member of psychedelic 60’s garage band the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson went on to bend his mind beyond recognition with hallucinogenic drugs which eventually led to a spell in a hospital for the criminally insane where he was subjected to shock treatment. Little wonder that one of his latter works has popped up here. I Walked with a Zombie comes from an album called The Evil One which is loaded with strange songs about ghouls, aliens, demons and general weirdness.
Key Lyric: I walked with a Zombie, last night! (and that’s about it all the way through)
Songs about Vampires
Bela Lugosi’s Dead – Bauhaus
Thin, pale faced, cloaked in black, and harbouring a morbid fascination for all things horror, Bauhaus are regarded as the band who invented the goth rock genre, and Bela Lugosi’s Dead is often cited as the first true goth single. Complete with unsettling guitar effects, dark lyrics, and a haunting vocal track by Pete Murphy, this is probably the finest vampire song ever recorded and the only Dracula tune you’ll ever need.
Key Lyric: The bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled. Red velvet lines the black box, Bela Lugosi’s dead.
Songs about Graveyards and Funerals
Deep in the Woods – The Birthday Party
Deep in the Woods is a wonderfully disturbing slab of evil swamp rock from Nick Cave’s 80’s punk, goth outfit – the Birthday Party. A wildly haunting number about some decidedly disturbing nocturnal activities down in the woods where a funeral is in full swing!
Key Lyric: Yeah I recognize that girl. I took her from rags right through to stitches (pray for me now). Oh baby, tonight we sleep in separate ditches.
Songs about Monsters
Monster in Black Tights – Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages
An odd ball track from an odd ball musician. England’s Screaming Lord Sutch became known for horror themed stage shows and songs (before Alice Cooper had started down the same road). He also dabbled in politics, forming the Monster Raving Loony Party in the 80’s. Monster in Black tights is a quirky little song that will liven up your Halloween party with a weird tale of creepy monster love.
Key Lyric: My Monster, In black tights, you’ve got the kind of eye that I likes. With your wrinkled up chin, where the worms have been, you make me want to hold you tight.
Songs about Witches
The Witch – The Sonics
Often regarded as the first punk band, the Sonics formed in Tacoma WA in the late 50’s and they were responsible for some of the wildest rock to have ever made it on to vinyl (or any other format for that matter). The Witch is an early 60’s number about some witchy goings on that features the Sonics howling, screaming and pounding their way through a couple of minutes of raw rock n roll mayhem.
Key Lyric: She got a long black hair, And a big black car, I know what you’re thinking, But you won’t get far,
She gonna make you itch, cause she’s the witch.
Songs about Spells and Curses
I put a Spell on You – Screamin Jay Hawkins
It has been covered countless times by everyone from Nina Simone to Marilyn Manson, but this is the original (and the best) version. Often taking to the stage brandishing a skull and throwing rubber snakes around, Screamin Jay Hawkins was no stranger to theatrical performances and music and I put a Spell on You was his signature tune. A demented sounding track which the band apparently recorded while so intoxicated that Screamin Jay later claimed to have no recollection of the recording. The track was subsequently banned by many radio stations for sounding cannibalistic. Perfect criteria for a Halloween masterpiece.
Key Lyric: You hear me, I put a spell on you, Because you’re mine.
Songs about Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper – The Horrors
London’s most famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, stalked the dark, foggy streets or London’s East End in the late 1800’s. This unpleasantly dark character filled the evenings with chaos and terror as he murdered and dismembered prostitutes in the dead of night. The perpetrator was never caught and the evil goings on of that dark period in London’s history have become the stuff of horror legend. Jack the Ripper has inspired books, films, themed attractions, city tours, and even a song. Originally written by Screaming Lord Sutch, the track was most recently covered by black clad London psych rockers, The Horrors.
Key Lyric: Walking down the streets late at night, night is crawling and something’s here. I’ve seen him in my dreams, oh no, jack the ripper.
Songs about Pumpkins
Pumpkinhead – The Misfits
What better track to carve evil faces into pumpkins by than Pumpkinhead by the Misfits. Their full steam ahead hardcore punk isn’t to everyone’s liking, but their dark lyrics and horror persona make them an essential addition to any raucous Halloween party.
Key Lyric: I’m gonna take you where your body will lie. I’m gonna take you there, my friend. I’m gonna show. you where your life will end. I’m gonna bring you here again. Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead.
Songs from the Rocky Horror Picture Show
Sweet Transvestite – Tim Curry
No Halloween soundtrack is complete without a track from this classic movie. The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack is brimming with superb tracks that are perfect for a Halloween party and the pick of the bunch has to be Sweet Transvestite. A fabulous tune about transsexual monster making. A must for Halloween.
Key Lyric: So why don’t you stay for the night? Or maybe a bite? I could show you my favourite obsession. I’ve been making a man with blond hair and a tan. And he’s good for relieving my tension. I’m just a Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.
Songs about the Devil
666 the Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
The Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil comes out on top as the most popular Devil themed track for Halloween but there’s no shortage of other devilishly good Lucifer inspired songs to choose from. Everyone from Robert Johnson to Cliff Richard have penned classic songs about Old Nick, but for a full throttle Devil song, plunder the Satanic rich tomb of heavy metal. If there is only one time of the year that you find it acceptable to let metal lose on your stereo, Halloween is it, and a fitting track is the classic Iron Maiden number – 666 the number of the Beast.
Key Lyric: The fires are burning bright, the ritual has begun, Satan’s work is done, 6-6-6 the Number of the Beast, sacrifice is going on tonight.
Spooky Sounding Songs
Waltzinblack – The Stranglers
For something that sounds just plain creepy, give Waltzingblack by the Strangers a spin. An Erie instrumental based on a waltz featuring strange organ, spooky cackling, and demented screaming. Ideal atmospheric Halloween music.
Key Lyrics: (Apart from a bit of howling and evil laughing, this track is instrumental)
Songs about Hell
Highway to Hell – AC/DC
Highway to Hell from AC/DC is a blisteringly evil song and leaving it off your Halloween compilation would be a rock n roll crime of mammoth proportions.
Key Lyric: Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme. Aint nothing I would rather do. Going down, party time. My friends are gonna be there too. I’m on the highway to hell
Songs about Nightmares
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been responsible for some of the most powerfully dark songs ever written and Nick Cave’s back catalogue is a superb treasure trove of creepy Halloween music. A good place to start with the Bad Seeds, is the unsettling classic, Red Right Hand, which has recently been covered by The Arctic Monkeys.
Key Lyric: Take a litle walk to the edge of town, go across the tracks. Where the viaduct looms, like a bird of doom, as it shifts and cracks. Where secrets lie in the border fires, in the humming wires Hey man, you know you’re never coming back
Songs about B Movie Horror
Human Fly – The Cramps
Let’s wind things up where we started with something tasty by horror punk kings – the Cramps. Human Fly is a fabulously demented, raw, punky, rockabilly number about a part-fly, part-human character. Perfect Halloween stuff.
Key Lyric: I got a garbage brain, it’s drivin’ me insane. And I don’t like your ride, so push that pesticide. And baby I won’t care, ’cause baby I don’t scare. ‘Cause I’m a reborn maggot using germ warfare. Rockin’.
Have a hellishly good Halloween.
