Halloween Music Picks
“I Wanna Be Your Dog”, The Stooges
I listened to this song in Colorado for the first time, while driving 80+ mph on a two-way highway; I can't tell you how cinematic it was to have it blasting while we were cruising through the crux of mountains. Iggy Pop forever. –Giulia Di Stravola
“You’re Dead”, Norma Tanega
You might recognize this as the intro theme to “What We Do In The Shadows”, but it’s a hot Halloween track regardless. Just old enough to have that creepy varnish of 60s recording equipment, Norma pulls no punches with the lyrics, despite the era: “Don’t sing if you want to live long / they have no use for your song / you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead and outta this world”. Yikes! –Elliot Alpern
“Disturbia”, Rihanna
I have many a memory of this song blasting out of the speakers at every middle school Halloween dance during that weird time in life when we were all too cool for costumes. Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum always got stuck in my head for days afterward. –Rachel A. G. Gilman
“Heads Gonna Roll”, Jenny Lewis
You know, I thought I’d eventually grow out of my Rilo Kiley phase, but here I am. I blame Jenny. “Heads Gonna Roll” is one of my favorite songs off her latest, On the Line, and it kills me every time: “Took a little trip up north/ In a borrowed convertible red Porsche/ With a narcoleptic poet from Duluth/ And we disagreed about everything/ From Elliott Smith to Grenadine/ He fell asleep and I put up the roof.” Ringo Starr on drums, Don Was on bass, Benmont Tench on the organ, and the same keys heard on Carole King’s Tapestry. This song quickly became a forever favorite. —Gauraa Shekhar
“The Wizard of Bushwick”, The Knocks (feat. Sir Sly)
Man, this song evokes such a dark and sinister tone, while pumping a pretty groovable beat. Keep an ear out for that flash of horror-movie synth, like a dark-magic thunderbolt, on the second (and each thereafter) chorus. Wow-can’t you imagine the sky just, breaking open with that strike? As The Knocks put best: “This that funky magic shit you fuck with.” Seriously, you should fuck with this funky magic shit, ASAP. –Elliot Alpern
“Black Magic Woman”, Fleetwood Mac
This classic definitely sums up my spooky vibes this year. Though to be fair, I like to channel Stevie Nicks energy every day of the year. –Rachel A. G. Gilman
“Mind Playing Tricks on Me”, Geto Boys
A creepy song that specifically refers to Halloween, although technically, and importantly, not set during Halloween. Has some of the best lines in the Ghetto Boys catalog, but “thought he had ‘caine but it was Gold Medal Flour” is one of my favorite telling details in poetry. –Nathaniel Berry
“Gasoline”, Audioslave
I love Chris Cornell and every band he's ever been in. If you haven't listened to Audioslave, I highly recommend you pop your headphones in and take a listen. This grungy, almost rock’n’roll tune is sure to make you feel badass and emotional all in the same vein. –Giulia Di Stravola
“If You Really Want To Be My Friend”, The Rolling Stones
The cruellest man in the world wakes up one morning, needing love. This song is a mean call for company, a ballad so grim it darkens the appeal of July, makes the Em-Em7-Em chord change sound like the most heart-breaking progression in the world. Guitars burst. A soulful choir chimes in. Vampires and killers are related in need. —Gauraa Shekhar
“The Number of the Beast”, Iron Maiden
Really, all my song recs could have been Iron Maiden Songs; their fascination with a twelve-year-old’s idea of what is scary and what is cool really resonates with me still. “The Number of the Beast” narrowly beats out “Fear of the Dark” because of the spoken-word intro and the amazing syncopation. –Nathaniel Berry
“The Purple People Eater”, Sheb Wooley
When I was younger, my mom hosted Halloween parties for my friends and me in our backyard, with donuts tied to strings to lean up and eat and endless rounds of flashlight tag. This oldie always made the playlist. –Rachel A. G. Gilman
“A New Error”, Moderat
This song is so funky and groovy. I first listened to it when I was at a ramen shop while they were closing, and I said to myself, this is the perfect balance of keeping the energy going but also not aggressively intruding on the feeling that the day’s ending. I tend to listen to it when I am on my way back home from work and need something to keep me awake and excited to groove to. –Giulia Di Stravola
“This. Here and Now. With. You.”, The Cure
The Cure have whole albums that align better with Halloween than this song, but I’m always slewed out of control by the cosmological force that is this chorus: “oh please don’t ask me who I am, or when and where my life began, or why I ended up like this, or how. Don’t ask me what I was before, if I was anything at all. It’s nothing you can know about me now.” —Gauraa Shekhar
“Werewolf Bar Mitzvah”
This song was playing at the Halloween party I attended last year, where I dressed up as Karen from Mean Girls and drank whiskey I didn't like and tried to hit on a boy costumed as Weird Al. Oh, such simpler times... –Rachel A. G. Gilman
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
Because somebody has to. –Madeline Garfinkle
