Top Five Halloween Songs
Happy Halloween! If you’re anything like me you’ve been listening to Halloween music ever since the temp dropped below 60 and the leaves started changing. While Halloween doesn’t have as deep of a musical bench as Christmas, there are still plenty of songs to enjoy. Here are the Top Five BEST Halloween Songs.
5) Halloween Theme by John Carpenter
It is CRAZY to me that this dude not only co-wrote and directed one of the greatest horror movies of all time but that he also wrote the music for it! Talk about auteur. This man does it all. I love how the music slowly builds. In high school, every band kid knew how to play those high piano notes. It all crescendoes into a manic thumping. Perfect and creepy.
4) Thriller by Michael Jackson
This probably would have been higher if not for MJ almost certainly being a pederast. But since he was never actually convicted of anything, I guess we have to include it. “Thriller” was a BIG deal. Its namesake album is the best-selling record of all time. Everyone in England could buy a copy and you’d still have millions leftover in the warehouse. In the 80s, MTV used to play music videos (as opposed to trash reality TV), and “Thriller” was an epic. There’s a whole BTS video about it too.
3) Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.
When you need a hit song for your new movie and Huey Lewis doesn’t want to do it, who ya gonna call? Ray Parker Jr. Yeah, so this song is obviously a Halloween classic. But did you know it’s basically a ripoff of “I Want a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News? There was a court case and everything. The Ray Parker Jr. version is great but I kind of like the Walk the Moon cover a bit more. It rocks!
2) The Munsters Theme
I love the Munsters. Fred Gwynne is so funny. It’s such a strange idea for a TV show, especially in 1964. I can’t believe there hasn’t been a successful remake of it yet. The new Rob Zombie one looks unspeakably bad. It’s so bad you probably haven’t even heard of it. Anyway, the theme is everything you could want in a Halloween song. It’s spooky, it’s whimsical, and makes you think about Frankenstein.
1) The Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
This is the greatest Halloween song ever written. There will never be another Halloween song as good as this one. It is a thing of perfection. It’s got an unmistakable impression. It’s got sound effects. It name drops like crazy. Bobby Pickett was never able to achieve the kind of success he saw with the “Monster Mash” again in his career but honestly who cares? He wrote a song that will be played 10 million times every October. That’s better than writing a forgettable love that comes and goes. The song turned 60 this year and it’s just as good as ever. Fun fact: THE Leon Russell plays piano on it.
Obviously, I couldn’t list EVERY good Halloween song in a top-five list. So here are some honorable mentions: