Halloween has always been my favorite holiday (since I was told multiple times that my birthday doesn’t count). There’s just something amazing about everyone coming together to celebrate all things evil and spooky, while passing out candy to kids in disturbing costumes. My musical tastes have always erred towards the macabre. So I figured it was only fitting that I post my Top 5 favorite Halloween songs for 2013. These songs would be the perfect fit for your masquerade, Halloween wedding or Day of the Dead fiesta. Though I can’t promise that they won’t scare grandma.
Samhain “More Murder, More Fun, More Guts”
You just can’t separate O’ Hallows Eve from the man that single-handedly created Horror Punk. Glenn Danzig has been part of so many great projects that he could have landed all five spots on this list, but I’ve been listening to a ton of Samhain lately, and this is one of the best examples of his blend of sick, fun humor. The live version of this song from the box set is my favorite, but this will have to do.
Koffin Kats “Bad Apple”
This song was a slow burn when I first heard it. It wasn’t until I caught the band at some spooky outdoor dive in Ft. Lauderdale, a few years back that I realized just how creepy and cool this tune is. The chorus just sticks with you and you can’t help but wonder if this song is about a rotten apple or a sicko handing out poisoned fruit to children. The imagination is a terrible thing.
Ghoultown “Return of the Living Dead”
The one band I’ve never seen and I would kill to watch live. This is just a back roads, hickabilly number about zombies set to a killer beat. Imagine what would happen if Pete Steel went country instead of joining Type O Negative. It probably would have sounded like this.
AFI “Halloween”
I have a confession to make. I was a late-to-the-party Misfits fan. In high school, pretty much anyone that liked The Misfits was a metal fan, so it stood to reason that New Jersey’s greatest export sounded more like Deicide than Bad Religion. Boy was I wrong. It wasn’t until I heard “I Turned Into a Martian” in 1995 that I realized just what I had been missing all these years. Danzig’s already on this list with Samhain, so you are going to have to settle on the AFI version, which they were performing way before they ditched the blonde highlights for black mascara.
Calabrese “The Dead Don’t Rise”
Probably my current favorite horror punk band. These brothers from lands out West play a sick mix of straight up rock & roll with a healthy amount of tongue-in-cheek ghoulishness. Watch them live and you’d never guess that they have such a twisted sense of humor (they look and sound more like The Ramones than Rob Zombie), but their campy videos are a fantastic homage to the campy horror flicks of the ’80s. Here’s my favorite.
