The Duke’s Ten Halloween Tunes to Die For

I live in the bewitching City of Salem, the self-proclaimed capital of all things hallowed. Haunted Happenings delight visitors to the city for the entire month of October but for residents, at times, it can get a bit much. If self-preservation is an instinct one possesses, one needs to embrace the tunes!
There are so many spooky songs to choose from in making a Top Ten Halloween List and the list of songs that don’t make this list is practically as strong as the ones that made the cut. How does a list of Halloween songs not include The Specials’ “Ghost Town,” The Chameleons UK’s “Swamp Thing,” Bobby “Boris” Picket’s “Monster Mash,” Siouxsie & the Banshees’ “Peek A Boo” or “Fear (Of The Unkown),” or Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” for that matter?
To make my Halloween playlist, a song must possess at least one of the following if not all: Fun, Scary, Silly, or just Plain, Damn-Cool music!

1. The Cramps – “Goo Goo Muck.” The Cramps had a knack for finding rare 45s and reinventing them as their own. The original version of this song, done in 1962 by Ronnie Cook & the Gaylads, was outstanding. However, The Cramps provide one of those rare instances where the cover might just be better than the original.
2. Fuzztones – “She’s Wicked.” With album titles such as Braindrops, Monster A-Go-Go, and Salt for Zombies, Fuzztones are a must for any Halloween top ten. In fact, you could make a playlist of just Fuzztones tunes and you’ll rock any Halloween party. “She’s Wicked,” originally released on the 1985 album, Lysergic Emanations, has always been one of my favorites.
3. Joy Division – “Dead Souls.” Ian Curtis arguably had more torment in his voice than any of his contemporaries in 1980. This song was originally released in France as a B-Side on the single Licht und Blindheit, the A-Side containing “Atmosphere.” The guitars draw you into this piece until Curtis’s gripping vocals kick in and you’re not escaping any time soon. Nine Inch Nails paid homage to Joy Division with an eerie cover for The Crow soundtrack in 1994. If you feel the need to throw the Nine Inch Nail’s version into your Halloween musical cauldron, be my guest.
4. Kristin Hersh w/Michael Stipe – “Your Ghost.” Kristin Hersh had already made incredible music with her band, Throwing Muses. This one comes from her 1994 solo debut, Hips & Makers. The simplicity of this song is what makes it so damn cool. Hersh’s vocals are stunning and Stipe adds just the right nuance in supporting vocals to hook you in. This is one of those songs that hauntingly stays with you for days.
5. Tegan & Sara – “Walking with a Ghost.” This song just makes me happy. It’s pure Halloween Candy-coated fun! In the interest of full disclosure, the first time I heard this song I thought the lyrics were “I was walking with a ghost. And I said please, please don’t exist.” The lyrics are actually “please don’t INSIST.” Don’t tell Tegan & Sara, but I like my version better.
6. The Smiths – “Cemetry Gates.” Morrissey and Marr were making cemeteries hauntingly romantic long before Jack Skellington and Sally came together in The Nightmare Before Christmas with the release of 1986’s The Queen Is Dead album. We certainly don’t encourage trespassing through permanent resting places in the middle of the night, but is there a better way to fully absorb this delightful cemetery romp than with earbuds cranked to 11?
7. Bauhaus – “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Released in 1979, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is considered to be the masterpiece that launched Goth as we now know it. The epic tribute to the quintessential Dracula actor, Bela Lugosi, clocks in at 9-minutes long and practically defines the Goth genre as well as Halloween music for that matter.
8. The Misfits – “Teenagers from Mars.” This song has been covered by everyone from Backyard Babies to allegedly Green Day under the secret side project, The Network, but nobody does it better than The Misfits. As the story goes, Mercury Records put out a record with Pere Ubu on their own imprint, Blank Records. There was only one thing wrong, Glen Danzig of the Misfits had already copyrighted the label name Blank Records. In a bizarrely rock & roll settlement, Mercury Records paid The Misfits studio time for the rights to the name. This song was one of the tunes to come out of that studio session. The vocals were re-recorded a few years later and it was released on a single appropriately titled for this column, Horror Business.
9. Laibach – “Sympathy for the Devil.” Specifically, the Who Killed The Kennedys mix. The sound bites in this version are amazing! In 1969, the Stones allegedly paid the Hell’s Angels $500 in beer to be their security at a free concert at Altamont Speedway in California. What could possibly go wrong? Of course, things went awry, and a man was stabbed to death. The Stones blamed the Angels and the Angels blamed the Stones. Laibach used interview soundbites from both sides brilliantly and created a masterful cover.
10. Brian Eno/David Byrne – “The Jezebel Spirit.” Taken from a collaborative effort by Eno and Byrne, this song can be found on the 1981 album, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and is the most haunting and disturbing song I have ever heard. It grabs text from an actual exorcism and the mood created by Eno and Byrne is eerily brilliant! I was a radio DJ on the type of alternative radio station that wasn’t afraid to play this sort of thing in the middle of the night. The studio was in the sketchiest neighborhood in one of the sketchiest cities in the state. My predecessors on the overnight (midnight-6am) swore the studio was haunted and saw…things. While I never saw anything in my seven years hosting this show, every time I played this song I was pretty certain someone was standing right behind me even though I was the only living creature in the building. “Do you hear voices? You do, so you are possessed.”

Like many top ten lists, this is just the manic ramblings of a fool who thinks his opinions are important. What would make your Top Ten Halloween List? Happy Halloween! BOO!