Must-have Halloween music?

September 12, 2005 10:41 AM

Fall is in the air (in Southern Oregon, anyway), and my mind turns to good Halloween music. The two essentials I already have: In The Hall Of The Mountain King and Danse Macabre. I'm also enjoying the Six Feet Under theme music.
So: what is your essential Halloween soundtrack? (Aside from the soundtrack to Halloween.)
posted by everichon to Media & Arts (31 answers total)

I like the scores that Goblin did for a few Dario Argento movies, and I'm quite fond of DJ P's two Hell on Wheels Halloween-themed mixtapes.
posted by box at 10:49 AM on September 12, 2005

mussorgsky's night on bald mountain (aka st john's night on the bare mountain) is always good, if over-used.

also: mendelssohn's die erste walpurgisnacht, berlioz' march to the scaffold, paganini's witches' dance...
posted by dorian at 10:51 AM on September 12, 2005

Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus.
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 10:51 AM on September 12, 2005

Tangerine Dream's Phaedra or or Rubycon or Stratosfear or anything of the Franke/Froese/Baumann era. You really want to creep people out, play the vocal side of Cyclone. That'd be the first two tracks for those of you with the newfangled compact discs.

Any old sci-fi movie soundtrack with lots of weird synth and Theremin, such as Forbidden Planet.
posted by kindall at 10:51 AM on September 12, 2005 [1 favorite]

On my frighten-the-little-kids-who-come-to-collect-candy CD I have (yes, the theme from Halloween) and a lot off of the soundtrack from the Dark Shadows TV series. There are lame non-scary things on there (and extremely lame spoken things) but if you burn it and grab just the scary stuff it's nice and moody. Parts of Tubular Bells (The original Exorcist theme is from this) are also nice, but that requires a little editing, as it is a continuous album and not all properly ambient. O Fortuna from Carmina Burana is also a must-have, albeit a bit short.
posted by umberto at 10:56 AM on September 12, 2005

The Who, "Boris the Spider"
Suicide, "Ghost Rider"
And hey, c'mon, go ahead and put "Thriller" on there.
posted by Skot at 11:19 AM on September 12, 2005

Sonic Youth: "Halloween", off Bad Moon Rising (which has a Halloweenesque cover). "Death Valley 69" off the same record also works.

Trail of Dead: "All Saint's Day", off The Secret of Elena's Tomb.
posted by LionIndex at 11:26 AM on September 12, 2005

I defy anyone to sit through a listening of the film Altered States' soundtrack - SERIOUSLY creepy. The soundtrack was Oscar nominated, I just found out.
posted by wsg at 11:42 AM on September 12, 2005

Oh yeah. "Bloodletting" by Concrete Blonde.
posted by kindall at 11:55 AM on September 12, 2005

Assorted David Lynch soundtracks (specifically Eraserhead),
Popol Vuh's Nosferatu (the original part of Herzog's film's OST),
Shostakovich's Jazz Suite no. 2 (yeah, I have no idea why this says Halloween to me, but it does!),
György Ligeti's choral music (specifically Lux Aeterna),
Peter Sculthorpe's String Quartet no. 8,
George Crumb's Black Angels,
Erik Friedlander's Maldoror,
Dead Can Dance's Within the Realm of a Dying Sun,
Keiji Haino's Black Blues,
Deathprod's Imaginary Songs from Tristan da Cunha,
Einstürzende Neubauten's Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T.,
and probably my favorite autumn music,
Six Organs of Admittance's Dark Noontide.

Also, if you're going to play anything by Suicide, play "Frankie Teardrop."
posted by hototogisu at 12:00 PM on September 12, 2005

First Utterance by Comus, creepy goblinesque folk music that could be the soundtrack to a deep woods witch coven.
posted by rabbitsnake at 12:03 PM on September 12, 2005

The soundtrack for "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
posted by oddman at 12:06 PM on September 12, 2005

A friend of mine has sound-designed a great cd.

Go to www.hauntedworld.com. I think he has some sound bites you can listen to
posted by goalyeehah at 12:20 PM on September 12, 2005

The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann.
posted by barjo at 12:43 PM on September 12, 2005

Duh-nuh-dduuuhhhh!
Duhnuhduh duh-dduuhhhh!

(At this point the Heroine rips off the Phantom's mask and he turns to face the audience from his pipe organ)
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:47 PM on September 12, 2005

Arthur Brown's the crazy world of Arthur Brown.
posted by I Foody at 12:54 PM on September 12, 2005

"Jadulistan Requiem" by Three Mile Pilot.
posted by saladin at 12:59 PM on September 12, 2005

On the classical side:

• Liszt, Totentanz (Dance of the Dead)
• Rachmaninoff, The Isle of the Dead
• Berlioz, Songe d'un Nuit du Sabbath (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath) from Symphonie Fantastique. (For my money, this is at least twice as Halloween-y as the March to the Gallows.)
• Prokofiev, Le dieu ennemi et la danse des esprits noirs from the "Ala & Lolly" Scythian Suite.

If I think of any more, I'll post 'em.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:59 PM on September 12, 2005

Oh, duh. Toccata and Fugue in D minor (the saddest of all keys!), Johann Sebastian Bach.
posted by LionIndex at 1:56 PM on September 12, 2005

Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party."
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:16 PM on September 12, 2005

Tocatta und...what LionIndex said.
posted by m@ at 2:33 PM on September 12, 2005

"Country Death Song" by the Violent Femmes
posted by Staggering Jack at 2:40 PM on September 12, 2005

"Halloween" by Ministry. Even if they hate to admit they recorded it.
posted by QIbHom at 3:39 PM on September 12, 2005

Somewhat surprisingly, Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses fits right in with the atmosphere.
posted by yclipse at 4:15 PM on September 12, 2005

The Cure - Lullaby

Also, you might find some good suggestions here, here, and here
posted by geeky at 4:26 PM on September 12, 2005

What, no love for the Monster Mash?

Then I'll suggest Rob Zombie's Dragula and the soundtrack of The Devil Lady.
posted by SPrintF at 8:04 PM on September 12, 2005

Personally, I like SunnO))) and the Whitehouse/Nurse with Wound collaboration 'the 150 Murderous Passions'. But, they're more suited to if you're running a haunted house than anything else.
posted by angry modem at 8:16 PM on September 12, 2005

Rhino has a New Wave Halloween collection, which has 6 songs all named Halloween on them, and fun stuff like "Everyday is Halloween" by Ministry on it. Not really stuff that sounds like the typical Halloween stuff though.
posted by inthe80s at 8:57 AM on September 13, 2005

BoingBoing calls it The Halloween mix-disc of all time and they're right on the mark. It's absolutely awesome, the perfect thing to have on in the background during a party, even on repeat.
posted by alby at 9:45 AM on September 13, 2005

^^^
Bollocks.

Just discovered the .torrent doesn't work. Can MeFites help? If so, I'd like a copy too!
posted by alby at 9:47 AM on September 13, 2005

I'm not sure how 'must have' "Oh Lately It's So Quiet" by OK Go is but I heard it and thought it would be great for a Halloween party. Not very spooky but it s chorus is "Whose house/are you haunting/tonight."
posted by clgregor at 2:57 PM on September 14, 2005