Last year for Halloween, my wife and I allong with some neighbors hung out in our front yard with a firepit and a few beers during the candy distribution ceremonies. A good time was had by all but after it was all done, I realized it would have been that much more fun if I had some songs going for it.
So for this year, I’m working on a playlist to play when we do this again. I’ve got some songs already figured out:
Pet Cemetery by the Ramones
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Zombie Graveyard Party by Be Your Own Pet
Zombie Boy by Magnetic Fields
Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Back from the Dead by Spinal Tap
Zombie Zoo by Tom Petty
More Human than Human by White Zombie
Zombie Eaters by Faith No More
Spider-Man by the Ramones (My boy is dressing as Spider-Man)
Something from Bauhaus (not figured out yet)
Doctor Who theme (because, why not?)
All right kids, this is just a start. Can you think of some more Halloween-themed songs that I can use?
The traditional “Top 40” songs are “Monster Mash” (Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers) and “Haunted House” (Jumpin’ Gene Simmons [no, not that Gene Simmons]).
I’ve had success in spooking people (especially those who weren’t familiar with it) using excerpts of Grateful Dead “Space” jams. They did the '80s Twilight Zone intro, after all.
Seriously, Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
Night on Bald Mountain
Tubular Bells
The Omen theme “Ave Satanas”
Saint-Saeans’ Dance Macabre
“Halloween” (Michael Myers) Theme
Lloyd-Webber’s Phantom of the Opera
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Theme (used in Lugosi’s Dracula & Karloff’s The Mummy)
Soundtrack to Coppola’s DRACULA
Diamanda Galas’ version of Gloomy Sunday
If you’re including instrumental/classical stuff, how about
Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz
The “March to the Scaffold” and/or “Witches’ Sabbath” movements from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
Grieg’s “In The Hall of the Mountain King”