Spooky Town (and we do need a better name for it, rather than the ™ name) is about 3/4 done. Once we get it in the window we are going to need a soundtrack for it. Sure, a lot of these houses and stuff make noises, but what would a Halloween be without my “suggest a cool mix cd for me” post? What would Halloween be at my house without the music of some psychobilly band followed by “I Put A Spell On You” blasting from my living room window? I have done this mix suggestion every year I’ve been blogging during Halloween, which makes this the 5th or 6th mix. Not sure.
So, what I need from you are scary, creepy tunes. Could be pure Halloween music or movie scores or Cannibal Corpse songs or anything I between. I like to stick mostly to rock, but putting true spooky music between the Misfits and Rob Zombie always seems to work. Anything with creepy lyrics works as well as anything with eerie music.
*Just no Monster Mash, please. I think we are all sick of that in the same way we don’t want to hear Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer every again.
Hands of Death – Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie
Rocky Horror’s “Time Warp”
Buffy musical’s “Rest In Peace”
Ozzy’s “Ironman”
Second “Rest In Peace.” We were late to coming to the BTVS fan club, but our daughter has been loaning us her entire collection. I’m not sure when the last time we were this entertained by a T.V. show.
Other good ones, the original theme from “Halloween.” If you like Mannheim Steamroller, and not everyone does, their Halloween album is pretty creepy.
I like to put the Misfits Halloween II on repeat for a while.
Metamorphoses lycanthropie Possunt inquam. Metamorphoses lycanthropie Possunt inquam!
Is “Thriller” too obvious?
“This is Halloween” from Nightmare Before Christmas
“The Phantom of the Opera” from… well, The Phantom of the Opera (You could also use the Me First and The Gimme Gimme’s cover)
The Fireswamp music from the Princess Bride soundtrack might work as well, if you wanted some instrumental pieces.
There is also an album called “Halloween Songs That Tickle Your Funny Bone”. These songs are not terribly spooky (though one of them – I forget which – is spookier than I remember). The songs are more the type you would have sung at school, before Halloween became a dirty word there. (this album holds a special place in my heart, as we used to own it – or some version of it – on vinyl when we were kids).
In addition to “Rest In Peace”, there are some instrumentals from other episodes of Buffy on the musical soundtrack that might be appropriate.
When we set up our Halloween House Madness on trick or treat night every year, we play Danzig’s Black Aria right at dusk to get things going. Paired with effects, setting the volume to “11,” and fog machines, it never fails to set the mood. And still, though it might be cliche, I absolutely love John Carpenter’s Halloween theme. Classic.
Hell’s Bells
Bad Moon Arisin’, Werewolves of London, anything from An American Werewolf in London (they even used Blue Moon)
Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost (J Buffet)
The album version of “Every Day is Halloween” by Ministry (the version that has the lyrics – not the dance remix) Actually most things by Ministry would probably work. (What Would Satan Do?, even All Day (remix))
Seems like something from Smashing Pumpkins ought to be appropriate, but I can’t think of anything.
Theme from The Munsters might be good for the kids.
How about Ghost Town by the Specials and Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo?
Maybe anything by Rammstein.
Here’s a page with a bunch of theme songs on it that are Halloween-esque: linky
When I worked at a theme park, they had the best mix for Halloweeny songs.
Being late of age, I can’t recall them all, but some were:
“I Put A Spell On You”, – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (there are other versions and hell if I know which one they played-I thought a chick sang the one they played)
“Werewolves of London” – Warren Zevon
That’s all I can remember for now.
Those are the only two
I’d think some of the songs from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” would work well, too.
And I second you on being way tired of “Monster Mash.”
The City Sleeps by MC 900 FT. Jesus. Any song about an arsonist is creepy.
I light the fires while the city sleeps…
Alice Cooper…lots of stuff, but “Welcome To My Nightmare” is a classic.
A few suggestions:
“Don’t Fear the Reaper,” Blue Oyster Cult
“Psycho Killer,” Talking Heads
“Season of the Witch,” Donovan
“Hey Mona,” Bo Diddley (I think it was Bo Diddley – I also have a Springsteen bootleg where he sings it)
The Eagles Witchy Woman I find to be creepy sounding. Some other great thoughts in here.
Did I tell you about the party we had where all the songs were running, walking, standing, and buses?
Didn’t think anyone would notice, but it was a huge part of the theme.
found scary bitches – ‘lesbian vampyres from outer space’ just recently at dadanoias but that might be too over the top.
i meant to tell you how awesome the halloween display looks so far! if i had the money i would love to do something like that. i remember my brother and i making smurf christmas towns when we were little. it was so much fun. we would use that white cottony stuff with glitter on it (maybe it was felt) for snow and cut a whole in it and put aluminum foil underneath for a skating pond.
i meant to tell you how awesome the halloween display looks so far! if i had the money i would love to do something like that. i remember my brother and i making smurf christmas towns when we were little. it was so much fun. we would use that white cottony stuff with glitter on it (maybe it was felt) for snow and cut a whole in it and put aluminum foil underneath for a skating pond.