You know you can do much better than \Monster Mash.""
Each year, every radio station plays the same Halloween staples. Each year, every house party replicates their efforts. ""Monster Mash"" is tired. Let it sleep.
This is not to say that Electric Six is better suited for your Halloween kegger. Tons of fresh Halloween music exists. Tons of great Halloween party music rests peacefully in your local record store, in your record collection and with minimal effort you can be playing it this year. Feel free to do so. Here is a collection of songs I expect you to be playing when I show up, dressed as Captain Planet.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: ""Little Demon,"" ""Frenzy"" and ""Whistling Past the Graveyard""
Rob Zombie: ""Dragula""
White Zombie: ""Boogie Man""
Marilyn Manson: ""Long Hard Road Out of Hell""
Creedence Clearwater Revival: ""Sinister Purpose""
Perhaps the most influential rock musician never to be called the most influential rock musician, Screamin' Jay Hawkins invented the theatrical camp horror style that carried bands ranging from KISS to Mudvayne into popularity. Jay gave birth to the Satan in rock and roll; he brought Voodoo into the genre and reveled in it, jumping out of a coffin and onto a concert stage for the duration of his career. While ""I Put a Spell on You"" became the classic, the b-side of that single would be the gem of that record.
The swinging ""Little Demon"" tells the story of a demon whose women troubles frustrate him into raising hell on earth. Little Demon isn't just a great novelty song, but a great song in general. It is by the grace of songs like ""I Put a Spell on You"" and ""Little Demon"" that goof goth exists. There would be no Marilyn Manson without Screamin' Jay Hawkins, nor would there be a Rob Zombie. The satiric satanic music which Screamin' Jay Hawkins made cool is the essence of many of today's popular acts, and the fun in dressing up like a devil or witch or zombie on Halloween.
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult: ""After the Flesh""
Nine Inch Nails: ""Piggy (12 Monkeys Remix)""
PJ Harvey: ""Long Snake Moan""
Some songs just sound threatening. The ""Piggy (12 Monkeys Remix)"" is one of them, a complete reimagination of a relatively mundane track from The Downward Spiral. Kept from the original song is its theme, but played on a far more haunting synthesizer than the original's piano and with ghostly voiced samples in place of the original's lyrics. While far more fun, the industrial-dance ""After the Flesh"" is similarly intense, invoking a cybernetic sample-ridden evil that made the Thrill Kill Kult a staple of the '80s and early '90s. PJ Harvey has become the queen of menacing but always melodic music, and ""Long Snake Moan"" was no exception. These are songs which make the air spooky and add that aura of evil to a holiday otherwise only ironic.
Rockapella: ""Zombie Jamboree""
Perhaps the strangest calypso song ever written was the Conrad Mauge track about the undead throwing a party in New York City. Stranger still is the quirky, energetic, a cappella cover that Rockapella released. Oddly fun and good natured, this can be a cornerstone of any Halloween party for an upbeat yet still thematic song.
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