Every Halloween, my family travels to Orlando to partake in the scary and not so scary festivities the amusement parks there host. We attend Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and Disney World's Not So Scary Halloween Party. You can read about some of those adventures on my personal blog here. The really fun part is that you can dress in costume for the Disney World party. Here are our costumes from the last couple years.
This year's costumes have not been publicly revealed so stay tuned to my Twitter account around Halloween to see what/who we traipse around Disney World as this year. Spoiler: There will be no 7 inch platform boots for any of us.
Halloween is our favorite holiday besides Christmas. We start listening to my Devil's Night playlist by late August usually and stalk the Halloween stores to the point of restraining order. We start passionately debating and discussing costumes for the next Halloween before our current Halloween's makeup is completely washed off.
Given our passion for this holiday, I would be remiss if I didn't share our favorite songs from this playlist with you to get you in the mood. I have probably over 100 songs on my playlist, but these are the ones we go back to time and time again. The songs are in no particular order, for the most part, because seriously, that would almost be like choosing a favorite child. Fine, not really but it would be very, very traumatic for me. I should also add that my family really doesn't do the typical, cutesy old fashioned Halloween songs. The artists may get a bit repetitive but this is my playlist and really there are only so many artists who can effectively carry off spooky ass songs that we just don't tire of. Here we go.
I asked my family which songs they instantly think of when they think of Halloween, songs they can't imagine not listening to around this time of year. This is the only song that was unanimously mentioned.
"Voodoo" by Godsmack (or Godpunch, as my husband likes to call them) is an eery, foreboding, even sexy song celebrating very dark things. This was the song for the opening of the old MTV series "Fear", where young adults ran around abandoned insane asylums and other decrepit, supposedly haunted places, screaming and shitting their pants in, well, fear. If the video freaks you out a bit, that could be because it features Laurie Cabot, American Witchcraft High Priestess, and her coven.
The next song was one of the two automatically thought of by my daughter. I'm kind of proud that she thought of this song. When we lived in Texas, I would do carpool for my daughter and a few of her friends on the peewee cheerleader squad. Practice always ended on Thursday nights in the fall and it was held out in the sticks. It was dark, really, really dark out there and we had to cross over a small, wooden bridge on the way home, which made this song even better to play for them.
Looking back, this probably wasn't the wisest Halloween song choice to play for Kindergartners but I think they all turned out okay. Marilyn Manson does a spectacular job, in my opinion, of covering the original masterpiece from "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
I could complete this list using pretty much only Rob Zombie songs. He is the master of Halloween and horror through song, in my opinion. I saw him in concert last year (you can read my review of that concert here on my personal blog). I would pay to see him in concert again in a heartbeat. He is that good and he makes multiple appearances on my Halloween soundtrack. So far this year, this is the one registering the most plays in my household. It's only one of the songs Zombie sings about the 1692 Salem witch trials.
My daughter said Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" could not be left out of our Halloween playlist and I agree wholeheartedly. Zombie uses so many references to classic horror films in this song, it's a Who's Who's of early horror. Included are film references to "Lady Frankenstein", Wes Craven's "The Last House On The Left", "Daughters Of Darkness", two different "Dr. Goldfoot" movies, and quite probaby, "She-Wolf Of The SS". That's quite a list.
Next up is a personal favorite of mine by The Heavy, which has to be just about the coolest band on Earth. They have an old fashioned vibe that still somehow manages to sound so new. Jazzy, bluesy, and just plain good.
I could complete this list using pretty much only Rob Zombie songs. He is the master of Halloween and horror through song, in my opinion. I saw him in concert last year (you can read my review of that concert here on my personal blog). I would pay to see him in concert again in a heartbeat. He is that good and he makes multiple appearances on my Halloween soundtrack. So far this year, this is the one registering the most plays in my household. It's only one of the songs Zombie sings about the 1692 Salem witch trials.
My daughter said Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" could not be left out of our Halloween playlist and I agree wholeheartedly. Zombie uses so many references to classic horror films in this song, it's a Who's Who's of early horror. Included are film references to "Lady Frankenstein", Wes Craven's "The Last House On The Left", "Daughters Of Darkness", two different "Dr. Goldfoot" movies, and quite probaby, "She-Wolf Of The SS". That's quite a list.
Next up is a personal favorite of mine by The Heavy, which has to be just about the coolest band on Earth. They have an old fashioned vibe that still somehow manages to sound so new. Jazzy, bluesy, and just plain good.
For the last Rob Zombie entry on this list (I promise), my husband said I couldn't make a list without "Dragula". And I agree. I mean it, if you have a chance to see him in concert, just buy the damn ticket. You won't regret it.
My favorite version (most of the year) of "I Put A Spell On You" has to be Nina Simone's. If that's too old fashioned for you, try Annie Lennox's version, which is quite pretty also. But if you want a full on Halloween song, try Marilyn Manson's double down dingbat version. He takes true, unrelenting love with some semblance of boundaries from the versions I just mentioned and turns those boundaries into a threatening, straight jacket needing, restraining order making, unhinged descent into madness and criminal obsession. No wonder I love it.
My favorite version (most of the year) of "I Put A Spell On You" has to be Nina Simone's. If that's too old fashioned for you, try Annie Lennox's version, which is quite pretty also. But if you want a full on Halloween song, try Marilyn Manson's double down dingbat version. He takes true, unrelenting love with some semblance of boundaries from the versions I just mentioned and turns those boundaries into a threatening, straight jacket needing, restraining order making, unhinged descent into madness and criminal obsession. No wonder I love it.
My last Marilyn Manson song is another cover, this time of the Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams". I think he may have a thing for Annie Lennox but who doesn't? I saw him perform this song live in concert just this past spring and it was something to behold. You can read my review of that concert here. Another pretty normal song about mild obsession which he takes into dangerous sounding territory. Perfect for Halloween.
When I watched the first video of Universal Orlando's Carnage Returns show featuring Jack, I almost shit myself when they opened with the very sing-a-long-able "Blood" by My Chemical Romance. MCR happens to be one of my favorite bands of all time and this was a hidden track on their album "The Black Parade", which was a life changing album for me, at least musically. Short, clever, and will need censoring toward the end if you have kids, it perfectly intros Jack the Clown and his sidekick Chance. I can't wait to see the show in person two weeks from now!
The last song I'll include is my personal Halloween anthem. I don't play it around the family too much because they just don't dig Type O Negative. Peter Steele has been dead for five years now yet he still haunts my every fall with his deep, gothic, voice. I start listening to "September Sun" in August and by the end of September, I'm immersed in his world of dark lyrics and themes. I'm a lyric whore so how could I resist these when I first heard this song so many years ago?
"Now it's all Hallow's Eve. The moon is full. Well, will she trick or treat? I bet she will. She's got a date at midnight with Nosferatu. Oh, baby, Lilly Munster ain't got nothing on you. Well, when I called her evil, she just laughed and cast that spell on me - Boo Bitch Craft. Yeah, you wanna go out cause it's raining and blowing. You can't go out 'cause your roots are showing. Dye 'em black. Black no. 1."
I miss you, Peter, and yes, I will go trick or treating, as always, at Disney World's costume party in just a couple weeks. But with my hair dyed a magenta red and not black no. 1.
I hope you found at least a couple songs to add to your Halloween playlist. Be safe out there and have a Happy Halloween!
Till next time, y'all.
Steph
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