Sure. You could just play “Monster Mash,” “Thriller,” and “This Is Halloween” on a loop and call it a day. But then you’d be missing out on so many spooktastic songs waiting for you to place them in the pantheon of Halloween classics! Add these six songs to your Halloween party playlist and be the talk (or the terror) of the town.
“Warm Blood” by Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Warm Blood” is eerily sweet and seductive with a thumping beat and haunting synth that bubbles ever higher until it spills over into the song’s aching chorus. Complete with spectral voice shifting and suggestive imagery like “You have got me going/Spinning in circles in your warm blood,” this song is a pop anthem for vampires if there ever was one.
“Prelude” + “Dr. Funkenstein” by Parliament
The entirety of Parliament’s The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein is worth adding to your playlist, but if you have to pick one... pick two! “Prelude” will help you set a spooky mood, with an unnerving organ accompanying George Clinton’s trademark funktastic orations (“Funk is its own reward/May I frighten you?”).
Then you can really get the fun started with the laid-back cool of “Dr. Funkenstein,” the album’s titular character who is “preoccupied and dedicated to the preservation of the motion of hips.” The song is brimming with similar punchy one-liners, sticky bass lines, and gloriously goofy background vocals. In other words, it sounds like a party.
“Germs” by “Weird Al” Yankovic
While “Weird Al” Yankovic is best known for his parodies of popular songs, the humorous musician has also created a treasure trove of original style pastiches over the years. Taking cues from Nine Inch Nails’ industrial rock sound, Yankovic’s delightful “Germs” is a comedic treatise dealing with a paranoid narrator’s germophobia. Lyrically inventive and unquestionably infectious, “Germs” is sure to get stuck in your brain. And never, ever leave.
“Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott
The dead walk in Missy Elliott’s music video for her inimitable single “Get Ur Freak On.” But it’s not simply the video’s inspired visuals and crazy visual effects – the song itself is a call to action! Halloween is all about celebrating ghouls, ghosts, and goblins, so put on this timeless classic when you feel the urge to channel your inner weirdo and do as the song says: “Get ur freak on.”
“Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure
Even monsters need love! In fact, they may be the best at it. While The Cure have always rejected their goth label, fans have embraced the band’s penchant for literary despair and wistful romanticism. Writing for Spin, Andy Greenwald said the band’s singer-songwriter “Robert Smith is [either] wallowing in gothic sadness or he’s licking sticky-sweet cotton-candy pop off his lipstick-stained fingers.” Blessedly, “Friday I’m in Love” melds these two components to deliver blissful jangle pop that encourages the listener to let their spirits fly, if only for a moment. Once in a blue moon.
Happy Halloween! Visit the Olympus Harbour Island blog for more fun topics and information on upcoming local and resident events!