To some, Halloween is merely about candy, horror movies and general debauchery. But to others, the holiday can only be properly celebrated with the appropriate tunes. For folks tired of "Monster Mash," the following is a smattering of the most blood-curdling jams that will provide a soundtrack to any Halloween party, or even any night spent brooding alone in your dorm.
10. "Halloween," The Misfits The Misfits embody the entire spirit of Halloween. Nowhere is it more apparent than on the aptly titled "Halloween." It's fast and driving, and Danzig's vocals make it creepy and campy enough to be a classic. Besides, you know that every Halloween the drunken punks will come out with their "I remember Halloweeeeeeeen" chants.
9. "Love/Hate," Dystopia The mere fact that this song is four minutes of interviews with serial killers and audio of disturbing movie samples that depict necrophilia and strangulation makes it worthy enough to be a Halloween song. The creepy interlocking guitars set as backgrounds to the voices in the samples, followed by the screams of desperation by the singers, make it a perfect fit for any haunting occasion.
8. "The Haunting," Hair Police Hair Police are an entire Halloween soundtrack unto themselves. "The Haunting" is their terrifying masterpiece. It features guitars that sound like air raid sirens, shrieks that would make a banshee blush and just a general disturbing cacophony of sound that make it a perfect haunted-house-on-acid song.
7. "More Human Than Human," White Zombie White Zombie is a horror music legend. Now that Rob Zombie has become a famed horror film director, horror film host and household name, it seems only appropriate we associate him - and this song - with Halloween. Besides, the guitar riff of this song was probably one of the best ones of the entire 1990s, and the orgasmic moaning at the beginning of the song is pretty creepy as well.
6. "Lovers In Hell," The Vanishing The Vanishing are another band that became synonymous with horror films, Halloween and goth culture. They played goth music you can dance to, and "Lovers In Hell" is no exception. The driving drum beats, dissonant guitars and echoed, shrieking vocals make it the perfect Halloween song for you and your sexy goth date to get down to.
5. "Rattlesnake Shake," Wolf Eyes This song is just plain creepy. It features a disturbing drone-like electronic beat followed by incessant rattling. Nate Young's zombie-like vocals make this one of the creepier songs in the Wolf Eyes repertoire and the perfect song to play on Halloween night. If zombies overran D.C., this is the music that would be playing.
4. "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Bauhaus A person would have to be a fool not to include this goth classic in any Halloween top 10 list. In many ways, it's the ultimate Halloween song. With lyrics about legendary '30s horror actor Bela Lugosi and the undead, this dark and brooding jam is a must-have for any Halloween or horror film enthusiast.
3. "Her Ghost In The Fog," Cradle of Filth As campy as Cradle of Filth might be, there is no denying the worthiness of this song. The creepy opening piano piece brings us into a castle of Satanism, satanic chants and kick-ass guitar solos. The song features everything from high shrieking to what sounds like a satanic choir in the background.
2. "Raining Blood," Slayer This song stands as Slayer's magnum opus. The beginning features rain, thunder and a haunting drum beat, before kicking into quite possibly the most brutal and awesome guitar riff of all time. This song was invented for Halloween. Or was Halloween invented for it?
1. "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?" The Misfits In all honesty, Halloween isn't Halloween without the Misfits. The song starts off as if Danzig is drunk and rambling about his mom, and then the music stops and all we hear is Danzig scream that proverbial Halloween question that has become a battle cry for all Halloween punks: "Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight"
