The 10 Songs Your Halloween Playlist is Missing
I prefer the spooky season to the holiday season, and I definitely prefer the October parade of creepy, kooky songs about zombies and ghosts to the endless two months of Christmas music that follows it. While Mariah Carey gets to return to the top of the singles charts every year thanks to a seasonal bump in streams, we’ve started to see Halloween favorites like Thriller and the Monster Mash return to the Hot 100 every fall as well. If you’re looking to spice up your party playlist, keep in mind that there’s a deep bench of appropriate songs that haven’t pierced the streaming algorithms yet. Here are some tracks and artists that manage to capture the perfect blend of spooky, dramatic, and downright wicked.
For those who lean into the heavy side of horror, Iron Maiden delivers with their track The Number of the Beast. The song is steeped in drama, and its origins include a fascinating story: the band settled for a spoken-word cameo from Barry Clayton instead of the requested voice of horror icon Vincent Price, though the resulting track became a heavy metal classic, gaining traction even after protests from Christian groups over its themes.
Diving into the retro sci-fi sound, The B-52’s offer an eerie groove with Planet Claire. Their music often drew from the constellation of retro kitsch, and for their debut single, the band set a perfectly eerie mood fit for an Ed Wood movie. They playfully referenced the unknown, deadpanning about the unnamed main character before declaring she came from Planet Claire.
The mood shifts dramatically with Sonic Youth, who injected a hypnotic quality into the spooky theme with Hallowe’en. This track, found on the B-side of their single and reissues of the Bad Moon Rising album, has lyrics that capture a strange, haunting vibe. The inspiration behind the song came from seeing Henry Rollins at a house party, which sparked a creative burst of dark, hypnotic writing.
In the realm of punk-infused darkness, the Misfits’ track Skulls remains a favorite for many. It is a staple for those who grew up immersed in horror punk, cementing its place as a quintessential Halloween anthem.
For a stark, menacing swing revival, the North Carolina sextet Squirrel Nut Zippers delivered Hell. While many mid-’90s swing acts focused on zoot suits, Squirrel Nut Zippers sang about eternal damnation, proving that darkness can come in many musical flavors.
Hip-hop also found its macabre edge with Gravediggaz featuring Scientific Shabazz and Killah Priest on Diary of a Madman. With producers like RZA and Prince Paul guiding the sound, this track brought a dark narrative of murder and demonic possession to mainstream rap radio, establishing a genre known as horrorcore.
Looking back at classic hip-hop, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s A Nightmare on My Street perfectly blend the nostalgic with the chilling. Before Will Smith starred in alien and vampire movies, this track offered a witty sendup of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, providing a chill that was just a little too much for a six-year-old.
The influence of fantasy horror is also evident in Florence + The Machine. On their Everybody Scream album, they embraced a folk horror aesthetic, and their stage show during the tour leaned heavily into this. Their track Witch Dance, co-written with Idles guitarist Mark Bowen, was a highlight, featuring dramatic lighting and a troupe of dancers known as the Witch Choir.
Adding a final layer of gothic whimsy, Oingo Boingo’s classic Dead Man’s Party has been a Halloween staple for three decades. Danny Elfman’s music, which famously scored The Nightmare Before Christmas, gave the track a timeless, eerie quality. When the band disbanded, they even played one final show on Halloween, recording the live album Farewell.
And for a final, wonderfully kitsch touch, don’t miss Tim Curry’s Sweet Transvestite. As the most popular song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this track serves as a perfect, cheeky addition to any spooky playlist, especially since it features the legendary actor in a role that is wonderfully transylvania.
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