📜 Feature My 2021 Halloween Playlist

Feature article
While I haven't done it yet, I've thought of piping music outside on Halloween night. Instead, this playlist gets some use on October 31st at Casa Rudy. It's quite a mix of new, old and obscure, but a good variety. While they are not all strictly Halloween-themed, some involve some sort of "dark" theme which seems appropriate for the day. Others are just goofy monster/ghoul/goblin fun.

With that in mind, I'll put out my list here. Leave comments below on some good additions to the list--I'm always open to adding more.

Here, in no particular order, is the playlist. I play this on shuffle mode, so the order is changed up every time. I may sequence it one day when I have the time, interspersing some Halloween sound effects between tracks.

  • Was (Not Was): Out Come the Freaks
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Monster Mash
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Graveyard Shift
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Transylvania Twist
  • Stevie Wonder: Superstition
  • Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me
  • Michael Jackson: Thriller
  • The Cranberries: Zombie
  • Rob Zombie: Dragula (named after Grandpa Munster's hot rod)
  • Rob Zombie: Superbeast
  • Sheb Wooley: The Purple People Eater
  • Fleetwood Mac: Black Magic Woman
  • Bow Wow Wow: I Want Candy
  • Warren Zevon: Werewolves of London
  • The Cramps: Garbage Man
  • The Cramps: Goo Goo Muck
  • The Cramps: Human Fly
  • The Cramps: TV Set
  • AC/DC: Highway to Hell
  • AC/DC: Hell's Bells
  • Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters
  • Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper
  • Elvis Presley: Devil in Disguise
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Mr. Crowley
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
  • Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
  • Black Sabbath: Jack the Stripper/Faeries Wear Boots
  • Black Sabbath: The Wizard
  • Black Sabbath: Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.
  • Charlie Daniels Band: The Devil Went Down to Georgia
  • The Rolling Stones: Paint It Black
  • The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil
  • David Bowie: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
  • Prince: Batdance
  • The Reverend Horton Heat: The Halloween Dance
  • Southern Culture on the Skids: Werewolf
  • Los Straitjackets: The Munsters Theme
  • Deadbolt: Psychic Voodoo Doll
  • The Bomboras: A Fistful of Terror
  • Lalo Schifrin/San Diego Symphony Orch.: Psycho, film score (Suite)
  • Radiohead: Creep
  • Van Halen: Runnin' with the Devil
  • The Talking Heads: Psycho Killer
  • Peter Gabriel: The Family and the Fishing Net
 
Click to expand...
Rudy said:
While I haven't done it yet, I've thought of piping music outside on Halloween night. Instead, this playlist gets some use on October 31st at Casa Rudy. It's quite a mix of new, old and obscure, but a good variety. While they are not all strictly Halloween-themed, some involve some sort of "dark" theme which seems appropriate for the day. Others are just goofy monster/ghoul/goblin fun.

With that in mind, I'll put out my list here. Leave comments below on some good additions to the list--I'm always open to adding more.

Here, in no particular order, is the playlist. I play this on shuffle mode, so the order is changed up every time. I may sequence it one day when I have the time, interspersing some Halloween sound effects between tracks.

  • Was (Not Was): Out Come the Freaks
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Monster Mash
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Graveyard Shift
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett: Transylvania Twist
  • Stevie Wonder: Superstition
  • Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me
  • Michael Jackson: Thriller
  • The Cranberries: Zombie
  • Rob Zombie: Dragula (named after Grandpa Munster's hot rod)
  • Rob Zombie: Superbeast
  • Sheb Wooley: The Purple People Eater
  • Fleetwood Mac: Black Magic Woman
  • Bow Wow Wow: I Want Candy
  • Warren Zevon: Werewolves of London
  • The Cramps: Garbage Man
  • The Cramps: Goo Goo Muck
  • The Cramps: Human Fly
  • The Cramps: TV Set
  • AC/DC: Highway to Hell
  • AC/DC: Hell's Bells
  • Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters
  • Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper
  • Elvis Presley: Devil in Disguise
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Mr. Crowley
  • Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
  • Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
  • Black Sabbath: Jack the Stripper/Faeries Wear Boots
  • Black Sabbath: The Wizard
  • Black Sabbath: Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.
  • Charlie Daniels Band: The Devil Went Down to Georgia
  • The Rolling Stones: Paint It Black
  • The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil
  • David Bowie: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
  • Prince: Batdance
  • The Reverend Horton Heat: The Halloween Dance
  • Southern Culture on the Skids: Werewolf
  • Los Straitjackets: The Munsters Theme
  • Deadbolt: Psychic Voodoo Doll
  • The Bomboras: A Fistful of Terror
  • Lalo Schifrin/San Diego Symphony Orch.: Psycho, film score (Suite)
  • Radiohead: Creep
  • Van Halen: Runnin' with the Devil
  • The Talking Heads: Psycho Killer
  • Peter Gabriel: The Family and the Fishing Net
Click to expand...
Here are a couple of dark songs for you if you have not heard or thought of them.
Buffy Sainte-Marie--The Vampire
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood--Some Velvet Morning

Buffy's album Illuminations is one of my favorite albums and this song fits perfectly with your theme.
 
Harry said:
Love that record.
Click to expand...
I was 12 or 13 when I was hearing that song played a lot of times on the radio. I loved it and the album went out of print and I did not find it until years later from Discontinued Records in California. I would have been in college in the late 70's. I paid $15.00 for it and have since found copies at yard sales and used record stores. The CD went out of print before I bought it and I ended up paying almost $25 to get a used copy. It is supposed to get a cd release through Light In The Attic Records along with Nancy and Lee Again.
 
Edgar Winter Group "Animal" (from 1974 "Shock Treatment") & of course "Frankenstein" (from 1972 "They Only Come Out At Night")!! Also Alice Cooper "Ballad Of Dwight Fry" (from 1971 "Love It To Death") & the title track to late 1971 "Killer"!! The late Roy Clark "Spooky Movies" (1963)!!
 
The Beach Boys also did a pretty good cover of Monster Mash on their 1964 Concert album. Mike Love did the lead vocal, imitating Boris Karloff, and even changed the lyrics at one point to say that the monsters were at a Beach Boys Mash!

i would also add the Carpenters The Uninvited Guest as a spooky song.
 
Last edited:
rockdoctor said:
I was 12 or 13 when I was hearing that song played a lot of times on the radio. I loved it and the album went out of print and I did not find it until years later from Discontinued Records in California. I would have been in college in the late 70's. I paid $15.00 for it and have since found copies at yard sales and used record stores. The CD went out of print before I bought it and I ended up paying almost $25 to get a used copy. It is supposed to get a cd release through Light In The Attic Records along with Nancy and Lee Again.
Click to expand...
I first acquired "Some Velvet Morning" on NANCY'S GREATEST HITS album from 1970. I loved the way the song went from 4/4 time on Lee's sections, and then switched to waltz time on Nancy's parts. The song had featured on the MOVIN' WITH NANCY TV special and was later released as a single, though it never quite got to even the top #20.

In 1986, the song appeared on the Nancy Sinatra HIT YEARS CD from Rhino, which ironically used the same picture of Nancy on the cover as was on the GREATEST HITS. I bought that CD to get the expanded version of "Summer Wine", where the orchestral backing continues for an additional 30 seconds or so, and its remix to center the vocals.
 
I was fortunate enough to see Nancy in concert back in the mid 90’s. About half way through the show Lee Hazelwood came on the stage to perform all their duet hits together. The audience was very supportive. Fun show, strange and exotic crowd at the House of Blues. It’s Hollywood after all…..Summer Wine is my favorite too.
 
Harry said:
I first acquired "Some Velvet Morning" on NANCY'S GREATEST HITS album from 1970. I loved the way the song went from 4/4 time on Lee's sections, and then switched to waltz time on Nancy's parts. The song had featured on the MOVIN' WITH NANCY TV special and was later released as a single, though it never quite got to even the top #20.

In 1986, the song appeared on the Nancy Sinatra HIT YEARS CD from Rhino, which ironically used the same picture of Nancy on the cover as was on the GREATEST HITS. I bought that CD to get the expanded version of "Summer Wine", where the orchestral backing continues for an additional 30 seconds or so, and its remix to center the vocals.
Click to expand...
The cd-Fairy Tales and Fantasies- had Summer Wine with the extended orchestration as well. I had never heard that extra part until I was listening to a Saturday Night Oldies program and they played Summer Wine as a lost treasure. I really liked the extra bit as it adds to the dramatics of the song.
 
And where is Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party"???

Several tracks by Stranglers or The Damned would fit nicely, too...
 
I have a few on my list that I play every year.
Bad Moon Rising-CCR
Every Day Is Halloween-Ministry
Planet Claire-B 52’s
Monster-Fred Schneider
Witchcraft-Frank Sinatra
Peekaboo-Devo
Werewolves of London-Warren Zevon
Something Wicked-Spencer Day
Tubular Bells-Mike Oldfield
The Blob-the Five Blobs
Witch-Goblin
Peek-a-boo-Siouxie and the Banshees
Tubular Bells-Witchcraft-Book of Love
I Put A Spell On You-CCR
Purple People Eater-Sheb Wooley
Santería-Sublime
 
There is also the real remix stereo version of Creedence Clearwater Revival "Bad Moon Rising" which was on 1972 "Creedence Gold"!!
 
Mr Bill said:
And where is Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party"???
Click to expand...
I hadn't gone through their tunes yet to see what I could pull from them. Maybe even "Nothing to Fear" or even "Only A Lad." But yeah, that one and a couple others I can think of on IRS would fit. Also, I have to look at some of the New Wave from the late 70s and early 80s--has to be something from Devo, Gary Numan, Adam & The Ants ("Jolly Roger," "Killer in the Home," "Cool Zombie" {Adam Ant} ) , etc. that should fit. No Dead Kennedys, though. Forgot I need to add "Zombie Dance" (The Cramps) to the list.

GDB2LV said:
I have a few on my list that I play every year.
Click to expand...
I see some that would fit well into the list. 👍👍

rockdoctor said:
Alice Cooper-Welcome To My Nightmare.
Click to expand...
That might be a good one also--I was thinking I'd missed something by Alice Cooper but I'm not familiar with his songs enough to pick anything beyond "Nightmare." He certainly has the appearance nailed. 😁 It's funny to see him in interviews, though--his personality is the total opposite of what I had expected, and he often seems to refer to Alice Cooper in the third person.

Steve Sidoruk said:
So where is the Baja's GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY???
Click to expand...
I should include a vocal version of this one--there are a dozen or two vocal versions from a decade or two prior that would work. Most likely Johnny Cash, I'm thinking.
 
Another one I like, but had to take off because their were kids around is Living Dead Girl-Rob Zombie. It just sounds like Halloween to me.
 
GDB2LV said:
Another one I like, but had to take off because their were kids around is Living Dead Girl-Rob Zombie. It just sounds like Halloween to me.
Click to expand...
Good point on that one, although the lyrics are typically so buried in Zombie's songs that anything that would trigger the censors would probably fly right past. 😁 "Demonoid Phenomenon" might also work.

"I, Zombie" from Astro-Creep: 2000 was another thought, but anything possibly objectionable might be a little too easily heard in that one.

Zombie's version of "I'm Your Boogie Man" gives it a different meaning than KC's original.
 
The Poppy Family (Former Susan & Terry Jacks) "Where Evil Grows" (September 1971). The Stampeders "Devil You" (December 1971).
 
Electric Light Orchestra "Evil Woman" (from 1975 "Face The Music"). Doobie Brothers "Evil Woman" (from 1973 "The Captain And Me"). Crow "Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me)" (1969, also done by Black Sabbath in 1970). Spooky Tooth "Evil Woman" (from 1969 "Spooky Two").
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom