Ultimate Halloween Playlist

With Halloween weekend coming in a mere two days and Halloween proper coming in a mere eight days, planning for parties and trick or treating is in full swing.  "But GMYH, I don't know what songs to play at my Halloween party!"  Cool it, bitch.  I got you.  I have compiled a list of the best Halloween songs for you to use either at a Halloween party to set the mood right or in the background when you're handing out apples with razor blades in them candy to the neighborhood kids.

Halloween is the one time of year when it's okay to embrace evil, so let your playlist embody that.  Thus, my mix does have a heavy dose of heavy metal, but that's kind of expected, since metal bands are more likely to embrace darker subject matter than, say, Robin Thicke.  That said, you don't want to go too dark, like, say, Norwegian black metal, because you're going to lose your party-goers or you're going to be viewed as "the Satanists that moved into the old Thompson house."  Nonetheless, you do want there to be a certain level of creepiness, as well as some campiness, because Halloween is supposed to be a mixture of paganism, macabre, and fun. 

For parties, you'll probably want to mix these in with your regular party mix.  After all, who doesn't want to hear "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" after "Blurred Lines"?  For trick or treating, just go straight spooky, which probably means a heavy dose of Ghost BC and Pentagram.

Anyway, here are my 41 recommendations for your Halloween playlist, in alphabetical order by artist, with comments where I felt it was necessary, and with an embedded player afterwards with every song:

1-2.  "Highway to Hell" and "Night Prowler" by AC/DC

3.  "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath

4.  "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult

But do fear minotaurs.  They can't be trusted.

5.  "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow

6.  "Halloween Theme" by John Carpenter

Instantly recognizable as one of the more creepy horror movie themes.

7.  "Spooky" by The Classics IV

8.  "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by The Cramps

9.  "Am I Demon" by Danzig

10.  "A Nightmare on My Street" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

This is a classic late '80s rap song, playing off of the popularity of Freddy Krueger, who, for many of us growing up in the '80s, was the most terrifying of all the horror movie villains.  I should also note that I did, in fact, perform this with a friend for our elementary school talent show in fifth grade.  I was Freddy.  It was pretty awesome.

11.  "Dream Warriors" by Dokken

Speaking of Freddy, this was the title track to Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors.

12.  "Season of the Witch" by Donovan

13.  "Trick or Treat" by Fastway

'80s metal band Fastway played the soundtrack to the 1986 the metal-themed horror film Trick or Treat.  This is the title song.

14-15.  "Monstrance Clock" and "Year Zero" by Ghost BC

"Monstrance Clock" is about conceiving "Lucifer's son," and "Year Zero" is about Satan in general and has a nice gothic feel to it.  To be honest, I would suggest just including all songs from Ghost's two albums, Opus Eponymous and Infestissumam, especially if you're looking for trick-or-treating background music.  They are demonic in a polite Swedish way.

16.  "Hallow's Eve" by Hallows Eve

17-18.  "Halloween" and "Mr. Torture" by Helloween

German power metal band Helloween obviously has the right name for a Halloween mix, and their song "Halloween" is included for obvious reasons.  I also chose to go with "Mr. Torture" because I like the song.  So there.

19.  "Friendly Ghost" by Harlem

This one's a little more light-hearted, to offset the vast majority of this list.

20.  "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

I prefer the original to CCR's cover (which is still very good) because Hawkins adds a level of voodoo campiness that CCR just couldn't have matched.

21.  "Devil Inside" by INXS

22-23.  "Killers" and "Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Iron Maiden

It was tough figuring out just one Iron Maiden song to include, so I went with two, both from 1981's Killers album:  "Killers," which is essentially about someone being stalked and murdered, and "Murders in the Rue Morgue," which is not only my favorite Iron Maiden song, but is also based on short story by Edgar Allen Poe of the same name.

24.  "Thriller" by Michael Jackson

This is a no-brainer and should be played at every Halloween party for eternity.

25.  "Look at Your Game, Girl" by Charles Manson

Recorded when Manson was still trying to break into the LA music scene and before he started ordering his minions to murder movie stars and grocery store owners, this song comes across as an innocent folky acoustic song.  Then you realize it's sung by Charles Manson, and it becomes super creepy.

26.  "Halloween" by The Misfits

27.  "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne

28.  "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.

29.  "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)" by Pentagram

Doom metal pioneers Pentagram have a good number of hard-rocking creepy songs, but this one is probably the most relevant to Halloween.

30.  "The Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt Kickers

This is a classic Halloween song that should be played at least once at every Halloween party.

31.  "Gates of Babylon" by Rainbow

The song is about sleeping with the devil.  And then paying for sleeping with the devil.  Probably because the devil gave you the clap.

32.  "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones

33.  "Black Magic Woman" by Santana

34.  "Angel of Death" by Slayer

While I would generally recommend steering clear of Slayer at parties, there is no more appropriate time to let it loose than Halloween.

35.  "Bullet With Butterfly Wing" by Smashing Pumpkins

It just wouldn't seem right to have a Halloween playlist without a Smashing Pumpkins song on it.  I went with this one, not only because it starts by exclaiming -– wrongly, mind you -– that "the world is a vampire," but also because it's an awesome song.

36.  "To Hell With the Devil" by Stryper

In case you are concerned that your playlist might be a little too devil-heavy, you can balance it out with this '80s Christian hair band classic.

37.  "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads

38.  "Running With the Devil" by Van Halen

39.  "The Black Angel's Death Song" by The Velvet Underground

I have never done acid, but I assume this song is what a bad acid trip would have sounded like in Victorian England.

40.  "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon

"I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's / And his hair was perfect."  Great line.

41.  "Dragula" by Rob Zombie