They used to have Spooky songs in the past
October 5, 2023 7:03 AM Subscribe
It's hard to find new music for Spooky Season. But it turns out, there's a century of tunes to turn to! 13 Halloween Songs from the 1920's & 1930's [40m] and Vintage Halloween Music [50s and 60s, 40m] are both probably full of songs you didn't know exist. For something a bit more modern, perhaps Spooky Swing - Electro Swing Halloween Mix 2020 🎃 😈 🌕 💀 [1h40m] will get you up and hopping.
There's a lot of spooky season music out there, I'm just trying to find stuff maybe nobody has heard. Although this track from the second video, I bet many have heard before but didn't know it has lyrics.
There's a lot of spooky season music out there, I'm just trying to find stuff maybe nobody has heard. Although this track from the second video, I bet many have heard before but didn't know it has lyrics.
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross -- The Hottest New Group in Jazz! (1961): "Halloween Spooks"
posted by trip and a half at 7:21 AM on October 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by trip and a half at 7:21 AM on October 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
Seasons Greetings!posted by y2karl at 7:41 AM on October 5, 2023 [9 favorites]
(㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)
Celebrate the return of the Great Pumpkin with some Pumpkin Carols
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:59 AM on October 5, 2023
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:59 AM on October 5, 2023
So in 2010 I was on tour and we were at a mall, in what I believe was a Sears. There was music playing from this device that was mounted on what looked like a microphone stand. It had a dial where you could tell it what type of music to play - Christmas, Halloween, Spring, etc. I believe it was playing Christmas music at the time. So I set the dial to "Halloween" and left. It was awesome.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:09 AM on October 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:09 AM on October 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
Some Spotify lists:
Vintage Obscura Halloween Mix
Vintage Halloween
Vintage Halloween Spooks
Spookeasy - Early Vintage Halloween
Ghosts of Hallowe'en Past
Spooky Pin-Up Girl
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:40 AM on October 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Vintage Obscura Halloween Mix
Vintage Halloween
Vintage Halloween Spooks
Spookeasy - Early Vintage Halloween
Ghosts of Hallowe'en Past
Spooky Pin-Up Girl
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:40 AM on October 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Shuffling a song radio of Norma Tanaka"s You're Dead gets you a great selection of 50s-70s novelty spooky season songs (at least on Tidal it has).
posted by kokaku at 9:10 AM on October 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 9:10 AM on October 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Whatever happened to the great tidal wave of novelty songs. Did "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" make society finally decide that the power of novelty must be imbued into Weird Al to be controlled and contained?
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:39 AM on October 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:39 AM on October 5, 2023 [5 favorites]
That singing voice they use for practically all the 20-30s songs freaks me out, no matter what is being sung. Here's a modern song that is not supposed to be creepy (?) done in that same style to frighten you.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:52 AM on October 5, 2023
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:52 AM on October 5, 2023
C.W. Stoneking's "The Love Me Or Die" is my favorite spooky song. Contemporary, but definitely pulling from a vintage.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:17 AM on October 5, 2023
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:17 AM on October 5, 2023
Miiiid-niiiiight
with the staaars
and yOOOOOOUUUU
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:39 AM on October 5, 2023
with the staaars
and yOOOOOOUUUU
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:39 AM on October 5, 2023
My friend Joe released an album of Halloween originals last year, and I've been singing "The Mummy Forgot the Chips" ever since.
posted by knile at 10:44 AM on October 5, 2023
posted by knile at 10:44 AM on October 5, 2023
I love the multi-disc set Halloween Nuggets: Monster Sixties A Go-Go (Spotify link) which is exactly what it says on the tin. So much spooky fun!
posted by gturner at 11:18 AM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by gturner at 11:18 AM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
fitting a vibe if not the theme, here's Frank Black's version of "Black Rider"
posted by elkevelvet at 11:44 AM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by elkevelvet at 11:44 AM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
We're doing Tom Waits, eh? What's he building in there? Something spooky, I think.
posted by credulous at 1:27 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 1:27 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth, Duran Duran are releasing a sort of surprise album in the midst of their tour for their last album, and this one is all Halloween themed. It has three original songs, several Spooky covers of older songs, and covers of songs by other people. They so far have two songs out: Dance Macabre [video, 4m30s], and Black Moonlight [audio, 3m]. The full album comes out at the end of the month. I find it really great that DD is doing this as a surprise album -- it's outside their regular album release cycle but they're on tour so they're doing new songs even while they're touring a new album.
Reminds me a bit of U2 releasing Zooropa in the middle of the ZooTV tour for Achtung Baby, but also, not like that at all.
posted by hippybear at 3:15 PM on October 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Reminds me a bit of U2 releasing Zooropa in the middle of the ZooTV tour for Achtung Baby, but also, not like that at all.
posted by hippybear at 3:15 PM on October 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
One of the things I regret this time of year is that I never had the foresight, when I lived in SE Michigan during the late 80s / early 90s, to tape the annual Halloween show that one of the programmers for the Wayne State University public radio station would do every year. My record collection tends towads the more modern but that guy knew where to find some real gems and some super deep cuts I never heard anywhere else..
Years later, now living in SE Alaska, I got roped into sharing a programming slot on our local public station by some of my neighbors - five or six of us would each take a turn, week by week, doing a 2 hour show. That arrangement made it somewhat random whether you would be doing a show the week of Halloween or whether it would fall to one of the other friends in the rotation, but I had a few years where I had to put together a show for Halloween night and that only made me appreciate the work that Wayne State DJ had put in even more. Mad respect to people who put that much effort into something chiefly for the dubious privilege of entertaining a bunch of strangers.
In case anybody needs some extra fodder for such a list, here are a couple of (very) random picks:
Years later, now living in SE Alaska, I got roped into sharing a programming slot on our local public station by some of my neighbors - five or six of us would each take a turn, week by week, doing a 2 hour show. That arrangement made it somewhat random whether you would be doing a show the week of Halloween or whether it would fall to one of the other friends in the rotation, but I had a few years where I had to put together a show for Halloween night and that only made me appreciate the work that Wayne State DJ had put in even more. Mad respect to people who put that much effort into something chiefly for the dubious privilege of entertaining a bunch of strangers.
In case anybody needs some extra fodder for such a list, here are a couple of (very) random picks:
- The Kinks - Wicked Annabella
- Jim White (w/ Aimee Mann) - Static on the Radio
- Jimi Hendrix - Dolly Dagger
- Kate Rusby - I Am Stretched on Your Grave
Does "The Mummy" count?It certainly does. The DJ I mentioned in the previous comment, who put together a fabulous Halloween set every year, programmed it every year that I can remember.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:22 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Fans of the dub genre probably already know this album but just in case, if dub is a thing you like, don't miss Scientist's classic "Scientist Rids the World of the Curse of the Evil Vampires". Alas, most of the spookiness is in the track titles (e.g. "The Dance of the Vampires", "Your Teeth in My Neck") but it's a fine album by any reckoning.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:30 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:30 PM on October 5, 2023
This is more fun than spooky, but Zombie Jamboree is an option, maybe?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:56 PM on October 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:56 PM on October 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Creature Feature makes nothing but cheesy Halloween music. Sure to appeal to people that enjoy "This is Halloween" and want several albums worth of goth/rock/punk/cabaret-esque music to drunkenly song along to after carving pumpkins.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 5:09 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by forbiddencabinet at 5:09 PM on October 5, 2023
For young kids, Andrew Gold’s “Halloween Howls” is a great album. It’s a family tradition for us, even though my kids are teens now.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:37 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:37 PM on October 5, 2023
Sorta spooky (but really not at all): Dearly Departed by Shakey Graves (feat. Esme Patterson)
From, dear god, nearly 10 years ago.
posted by pjenks at 5:50 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
From, dear god, nearly 10 years ago.
posted by pjenks at 5:50 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
From, dear god, nearly 10 years ago.
Welcome to the downward boulder roll of mortality.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on October 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
Welcome to the downward boulder roll of mortality.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on October 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
One must imagine pjenks happy.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:51 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:51 PM on October 5, 2023
The (excellent, magnificent) Purple Stuff Podcast - hosted by Matt from Dinosaur Dracula (previously) and Jay from Sludge Central - has so far released ten episodes chock-full of spooky songs. Here's the first one and if you like it I suggest you dig upp the other nine as well.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2023
And, then, there's this...
Broken Peach: This Is Halloween
posted by JtJ at 4:28 AM on October 6, 2023
Broken Peach: This Is Halloween
posted by JtJ at 4:28 AM on October 6, 2023
An old favorite:
Dead Air Radio – The Sound of Halloween
posted by non canadian guy at 6:20 AM on October 6, 2023
Dead Air Radio – The Sound of Halloween
posted by non canadian guy at 6:20 AM on October 6, 2023
Just a couple old songs to check out:
I put a spell on you
st james infirmary
mack the knife
posted by elegance at 7:13 AM on October 6, 2023
I put a spell on you
st james infirmary
mack the knife
posted by elegance at 7:13 AM on October 6, 2023
SPOOKY MUSIC TIIIIIIIIME
You in the mood for a modern take on the spooky cabaret beat? Jill Tracy is your chanteuse! Try on the malevolent vamping of "Evil Night Together" or the moody soundtrack to serving sinister cocktails, "The Fine Art of Poisoning". (She also does bleak Christmas songs!)
For the premium blend of creeping sounds twitching and bleeding into each other, draped over a shuddering mechanical frame, industrial mainstays Skinny Puppy are your absolute go-to. "Fritter (Stella's Home)" starts as a haunting collage of unnerving tone and then shudders to life like a decomposing animatronic. Or for something with the nonstop pulse of a rotting tell-tale heart, "Love in Vein".
When I need to turn off all the lights and get overwhelmed with the sounds of an evil cavern, it's time for the master of black ambient - Lustmord. Ancient tunnels, creaking howls, the plaintive wail of disintegrated sirens... it's the sound of "Compassion". A great soundtrack for falling into eternal slumber beneath a dead tomb-city. If you prefer the score of your haunt to have a vocal line, the album "The Word As Power" is an invocation of forbidden voices perfect for any séance or resurrection ritual!
"But FatherDagon," I hear you say, "what about some absolute pumped-up rocking jams that celebrate the macabre while still keeping the beat up and the blood gushing?" Well folks, what you need more of in your life is The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Their last album, "The Dukes of Alhazred", is such an end-to-end banger that it becomes difficult to recommend any one track over another. It blasts off with the retelling of a classic Lovecraft yarn in "You Fool! Warren is Dead!", gives a rollicking account of historical tragedies with "The Great Molasses Disaster", and gives melody to the feeling you yourself will have while wandering the forlorn halls of your great and isolated estate... "It Must Be the Wind".
I'll conclude this entry with haste, for my hand grows shaky whilst my ears pick up the shuffling sounds of footsteps approaching with an unsettlingly inhuman gait. I can only hope that I weather the abyssal night and it's prowling horrors, and maintain a shred of what sanity remains, so that I can correspond once more with excellent Halloween jams.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:48 AM on October 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
You in the mood for a modern take on the spooky cabaret beat? Jill Tracy is your chanteuse! Try on the malevolent vamping of "Evil Night Together" or the moody soundtrack to serving sinister cocktails, "The Fine Art of Poisoning". (She also does bleak Christmas songs!)
For the premium blend of creeping sounds twitching and bleeding into each other, draped over a shuddering mechanical frame, industrial mainstays Skinny Puppy are your absolute go-to. "Fritter (Stella's Home)" starts as a haunting collage of unnerving tone and then shudders to life like a decomposing animatronic. Or for something with the nonstop pulse of a rotting tell-tale heart, "Love in Vein".
When I need to turn off all the lights and get overwhelmed with the sounds of an evil cavern, it's time for the master of black ambient - Lustmord. Ancient tunnels, creaking howls, the plaintive wail of disintegrated sirens... it's the sound of "Compassion". A great soundtrack for falling into eternal slumber beneath a dead tomb-city. If you prefer the score of your haunt to have a vocal line, the album "The Word As Power" is an invocation of forbidden voices perfect for any séance or resurrection ritual!
"But FatherDagon," I hear you say, "what about some absolute pumped-up rocking jams that celebrate the macabre while still keeping the beat up and the blood gushing?" Well folks, what you need more of in your life is The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Their last album, "The Dukes of Alhazred", is such an end-to-end banger that it becomes difficult to recommend any one track over another. It blasts off with the retelling of a classic Lovecraft yarn in "You Fool! Warren is Dead!", gives a rollicking account of historical tragedies with "The Great Molasses Disaster", and gives melody to the feeling you yourself will have while wandering the forlorn halls of your great and isolated estate... "It Must Be the Wind".
I'll conclude this entry with haste, for my hand grows shaky whilst my ears pick up the shuffling sounds of footsteps approaching with an unsettlingly inhuman gait. I can only hope that I weather the abyssal night and it's prowling horrors, and maintain a shred of what sanity remains, so that I can correspond once more with excellent Halloween jams.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:48 AM on October 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
No Death Cab for Cutie?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:00 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:00 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have obviously not listened to all these playlists (yet!) so these are probably covered, but 2 fun Halloween songs:
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings from Father John Misty
Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost from Jimmy Buffett, so obviously goofy dad Halloween vibes
posted by the primroses were over at 3:08 PM on October 6, 2023
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings from Father John Misty
Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost from Jimmy Buffett, so obviously goofy dad Halloween vibes
posted by the primroses were over at 3:08 PM on October 6, 2023
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posted by Kitteh at 7:09 AM on October 5, 2023 [5 favorites]