The Unheard Music Halloween Edition

I painted myself into a corner last week.  I promised that I'd post some of favorite scary and/or Halloween songs.  Then I thought about it all week and really couldn't come up with too many truly scary songs.  I consulted my iTunes Halloween playlist and found a paltry 12 songs and three of them were Nick Cave songs, who I featured last week. D'oh.

While it's not exactly scary, one of my favorite Halloween-y songs is "Grimly Fiendish [Bad Trip Mix]" by The Damned.  The Damned are a great all-purpose Hallloween band: they love horror movies, the use Olde English typefaces for a lot of their latter day records and have the whole goth thing going on. "Grimly Fiendish" is a hoot from their Phantasmgoria album.

Another song from the Halloween playlist was one I know will make one of my regular readers happy.  Scotty, here's an old Tom Waits gem, "Whistin' Past the Graveyard".  What's scarier than Waits' voice?

Then I started thinking about songs that are genuinely frightening.  Not a whole lot came to mind but when Martin Scorsese needs to convey impending doom, his go-to song is "Gimmie Shelter [Keith Vocal]".  But you're thinking Ken, everyone's heard "Gimmie Shelter" a thousand times, that's not really "Unheard Music" is it?  It is when it's an ultra-rare outtake from my personal archives that features a Keith Richards vocal instead of Mick.  Plus, the guitar intro on this somg has always been truly eerie.  Bet you've never heard this version.  And, Keith's always been on the scary side.

I wrote back in April about how the movie The Day After scared the bejesus out of me as a kid.  Around the same time, Ultravox released a song about an imminent nucear meltdown and rushing home to dance with your loved one before dying horriffic deaths due to the fallout.  Now that is a scary song.  Did you know that is what "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" was all about?

So, not bad but then again nothing amazing either.  I turn to you to add your Halloween faves to the comments below, feel free to add a You Tube link if you like.

Have a great weekend, enjoy the music. Happy Halloween!!

Comments

[freakgirl]

Ministry - Every Day is Halloween
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0r2xpGT4fQ (fan-made video, I think)

I love this song because Al Jourgensen hates it so much.

[drcastrato]

I like the song "I Drink Blood" by Rocket from the Crypt. Scary band name, scary song name. Not so much a scary song as simply raucous and awesome, with lyrics like, "I drink blood on Halloween, yeah what I need, it makes me feel alive, alright!"

[TWM]

Thanks for the tunes, Ken.

I always get out the Roky Erickson on Halloween:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqwnrn0iKCo&feature=related

[Kenny]

Nice! Love Rocket From The Crypt!! Great song called "Coolest Little Monster" by Electric Frankenstein - itunes link below. When I would DJ at Delilahs I would play this and someone would always come up and ask who it was? *It's also on their jukebox!

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=257779433&s=143441

[scotty]

Thanks Ken. Great songs. Thanks for the Tom Waits.

How about a little Screaming Jay Hawkins singing I Put A Spell on You as done on Night Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orNpH6iyokI

[HESS]

I always include Grimly Fiendish in my Halloween mix. And, 'Ghost Town' by The Specials.

[Amanda]

Sonic Youth "Halloween" for sure! Spooky.

[Brad]

Of course there's always "Werewolves of London."

I love the Grateful Dead's version - I actually have a '78 encore from the Uptown Theater on my ipod.

[Jay]

I downloaded Ultravox's "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" off your blog a couple of days ago and have had it stuck in my head ever since. One of those 80's classics I had forgotten about. So dramatic and now I know why; )

The first time I heard Grimly Fiendish was on your WGHS radio show. It was a lunch time broadcast and I was listening because my Mom was taking me to the dentist for a checkup. You followed it up with "Happy Birthday" by The Waitresses. I have no idea why I remember this...