# Looking for spooky music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171 "2005-10-21T00:19:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![asrivkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@asrivkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asrivkin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/1 "2005-10-21T00:19:57Z")
My wife and I are having some people over for a Halloween-themed dinner. She’s put me in charge of the music. She’s looking for spooky/scary music-- goth is ok but not silly/light-hearted stuff. For instance-- Bela Lugosi’s Dead is allowed, Monster Mash is not. I’m looking for suggestions for music to play. Classical/rock/whatever. Any good ones out there? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/2 "2005-10-21T00:21:50Z")
Unquestionably [the spookiest album I’ve ever heard](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000153R/qid=1129854047/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/102-4571314-5365768?v=glance&s=music). Whatever you do, don’t listen to it with the lights out. :shiver: No lyrics, though. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/3 "2005-10-21T00:40:09Z")
Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/4 "2005-10-21T01:57:25Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach > Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky > Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas It seems all the great classical suggestions I could think of, including those you mentioned, are compiled on [this disc](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003FAI/qid=1129859617/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3511665-9320847?v=glance&s=classical), so rather than list them, I’ll just let whoever’s interested clink the link and look at the track listing. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/5 "2005-10-21T02:23:25Z")
Good classical compilation there–it has Danse Macabre, which is a favorite of mine. May I also suggest a little Pink Floyd, specifically [this album](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002UA5/qid=1129861171/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-7910219-7204013?v=glance&s=music). Play “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In a Cave and Grooving With a Pict” followed by “Careful With That Axe, Eugene,” then follow up with “Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun.” If that doesn’t freak out the trick or treaters, you live in a very bad neighborhood… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/6 "2005-10-21T03:07:07Z")
You might also try some of the soundtracks from Hitchcock movies, with Bernard Hermann scores. Not all the cuts would be “spooky” of course, but PSYCHO and VERTIGO have some very nice, very spooky music. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/7 "2005-10-21T03:18:44Z")
A theremin, unquestionably, would be perfect for this. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/8 "2005-10-21T03:35:08Z")
Not exactly spooky and most is not what I’d call ‘dinner’ music (although there is a Fiend Club Lounge CD by The Nutley Brass that might work), but certainly perfect for Halloween - just about anything by The Misfits, The Cramps, Bauhaus, and White/Rob Zombie. Pet Sematary and Howling at the Moon - Ramones The theme from Nightmare Before Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/9 "2005-10-21T03:40:52Z")
Black Sabbath’s first album. Uriah Heep, _The Magician’s Birthday_ and _Demons and Wizards_. The scene in Wagner’s _Flying Dutchman_ where the crew of a ship torments the undead crew of the Dutchman until they respond is pretty cool, but you must like German opera. 🙂 “Satan fills our sails, and we break for nobody!” ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/10 "2005-10-21T03:43:45Z")
Oh, and there’s also the scariest music in the WORLD. (OK, at least to me, since this place was one of my most favorite scary places growing up.) [Outside music of the Haunted Mansion in Long Branch, NJ.](http://www.darkinthepark.com/Haunted%20Mansion/Home/HMoutsidemusic.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/11 "2005-10-21T03:49:31Z")
If you can find it – I once had a tape of an actor reading the poems from H.P. Lovecraft’s _Fungi from Yuggoth,_ with really creepy New-Age-y background music. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/12 "2005-10-21T03:52:56Z")
One of these Days by Pink Floyd Helter Skelter has some sinister connatations. Every Breath You Take and Murder by Numbers by the Police. ---
**Author:** ![Foaming\_Cleanser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Foaming\_Cleanser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foaming_Cleanser)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/13 "2005-10-21T04:04:29Z")
You ain’t heard scary until you’ve heard Carmen Lombardo and the boys singing **Boo** Hoo. Even scarier, it’s available as a [ringtone](http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/g/guylombardo12881/boohoo378155.html). Humanity is doomed. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/14 "2005-10-21T13:40:28Z")
Not as much spooky as it is darkly humorous, but once again I’m plugging “Funeral March for a Marionette”, better known as the opening theme to “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/15 "2005-10-21T13:53:54Z")
Combine **CK Dexter Haven’s** suggestion of Bernard Hermann and **ZebraShaSha’s** theremin and you have Hermann’s score for “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Very eerie. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/16 "2005-10-21T14:02:06Z")
Lots of Danny Elfman film scores are spooky. His first compilation, _Music For a Darkened Theatre_, is very good, with samples of his best themes and scores. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/17 "2005-10-21T14:06:58Z")
I came in to plug the “Classics from the Crypt” album, but I was beaten to it. I usually throw in some tunes from the “Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack as well, by Danny Elfman. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/18 "2005-10-21T14:10:07Z")
Diabolical Suggestion by Prokofiev. [This guy](http://ia200103.eu.archive.org/1/audio/AlessandroMoreschi/AlessandroMoreschi-AveMaria.mp3) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/19 "2005-10-21T14:10:35Z")
I always play [Gil Shaham: Devil’s Dance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XRY7/qid=1129903495/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5410464-6150539?v=glance&s=music) on Halloween. I find it sets a perfect mood of elegant spookiness. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171/20 "2005-10-21T14:11:28Z")
Two obvious ones come to mind: - The Twin Peaks soundtrack - by Angelo Badalamenti (sp?) - lots of sparse, airy pieces with weird, tense chords and slow resolutions. A couple have a slinky jazz feel as well, which could be perfect for a party. Very cool. - [Threnody](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004D3II/qid=1129903749/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/102-4165839-6085708?v=glance&s=classical) by Penderecki - his stuff was used a lot by Kubrick for the Shining and this piece is the one that is the out and out creepiest. Written for the victims of Hiroshima, it is supposed to musically represent the sensation of having your skin burned off your body via atomic attack - pleasant, eh? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-spooky-music/327171.md?page=2)