We Don’t Have a Lot of Good Halloween Songs?

Good Halloween Songs Mr and Mrs Halloween

Are there enough “good” Halloween songs?

If you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume you’re a major fan of Halloween. As a devoted celebrator of the haunted holiday, you more than likely have a playlist of music you’ve compiled and listen to every October.

What one song could your Halloween playlist be incomplete without?

For us- there are several answers to that question.

If you’ve been reading Mr. and Mrs. Halloween for a while, you know we’re always sharing new Halloween Tunes that get us in the spirit.

But if you had to crown the official anthem of Halloween, it would probably be…

“Monster Mash”, right?

Whether it’s your favorite Halloween song or not, there’s no denying it takes the lead as the most iconic song of the season.

Ethan Hein, a doctoral fellow in music education at NYU, discusses the possible reasons why the signature song of the season has remained a crowd favorite in an article by Rae Paoletta on Inverse:

“… part of ‘The Monster Mash’s’ legacy could be due to a limited pool of Halloween jams, which is similar to what the Spotify data suggests.

‘Maybe we like it because we don’t have a lot of good Halloween songs,’ Hein tells Inverse. ‘It’s like, ‘Thriller,’ ‘Werewolf Bar Mitzvah,’ and that’s about it.'”

-Rae Paoletta, Inverse.

Paoletta’s article and Hein’s observations on the song’s legacy are spot on and definitely worth checking out, so click HERE to read the full article.

We do, however, disagree with one point.

There are quite a few GREAT Halloween songs besides the classic graveyard smash.

Earlier in the week, Miranda from Spooky Little Halloween prompted us and several other Halloween writers and creators to share our all-time favorite Halloween song. There were several different answers (“This is Halloween“, “Every Day is Halloween“, “Anything Can Happen on Halloween“, to name a few), and surprisingly, no one chose “Monster Mash“… or “Thriller“!

These selections barely even skim the surface of the plethora of songs that should be included on a playlist of great Halloween music.

When making a playlist of Halloween tunes, you would never leave out Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” or Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London“.

If classic rock is your jam, how could it truly be Halloween without playing Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” or The Eagles “Witchy Woman“.

If you like newer spooky tunes, you’d definitely want to include Ryan Adams’s “Halloweenhead“, Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl“, and Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)“.

Our Ultimate Halloween Playlist on Spotify has more than 220 spooky songs, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t hear all of them at least once in October. Our list continues to grow, and each song captures the spirit of the season in their own unique way.

Full disclosure: we LOVE “Monster Mash”! We have to agree that it is the quintessential Halloween song. The most recognized and, according to research, the most played each year. The song is an iconic musical legend that instantly brings back the nostalgia of Halloween.

As much as we love it, we stand by our opinion that it’s not the only great Halloween song out there.

This year, as you compile your soundtrack for the season, we encourage you to do some musical exploration. Listen to some Halloween music you’ve never heard before, and select a new Halloween anthem of your own.

The graveyard smash may be the king, but there are a lot of great Halloween anthems waiting to be discovered.

For some suggestions, check out Mr. and Mrs. Halloween’s Ultimate Halloween Playlist on Spotify below.

Check out a few of our selections you may not have heard of before:

Check out: 15 Music Videos to Get You Ready for Halloween

And if you’re like us- open to a little Halloween music diversity but forever faithful to the Mash, check out Spooky Little Halloween’s “50+ Covers of ‘Monster Mash’ You Need to Hear”.

What’s your Halloween anthem? 

Let us know down below!

 

Visit Mr. and Mrs. Halloween for horror news and Halloween treats throughout the year!

Stay tuned as we countdown to Halloween and share our favorite tips, treats, and tricks to make this Halloween unforgettable!

For more, celebrate all year long with us on FacebookTwitterPinterest, & Instagram.

 


12 thoughts on “We Don’t Have a Lot of Good Halloween Songs?

  1. One of my new favorites that I stumbled upon several years ago is a song from Caravan called C’thulu Thulu – It is super creepy and just a great, eerie tune.

  2. Ok, here’s my list of spooky sounding songs that are apt for Halloween. Some you have on your list others you don’t Feel free to add any.

    Werewolves of London-Warren Zevon
    Don’t Fear The Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult
    Frankenstein-Edgar Winter Group
    I Put a Spell On You-Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
    Spooky-Atlanta Rhythm Section
    People Are Strange-The Doors
    Boris the Spider-The Who
    Hellacious Acres-Kris Kristofferson
    Psycho Killer-Talking Heads
    Superstition-Stevie Wonder
    Autumn is Coming – Original Fun Song Halloween – Karenmuenchen
    Witch Doctor-David Seville
    Ghost Riders in The Sky-The Ramrods
    Time Wrap-The Rocky Horror Picture Show
    Clap For The Wolfman-The Guess Who
    I Was A Teenage Werewolf-The Cramps
    Ghost Town-The Specials
    It Must Be Halloween-Andrew Gold
    Rock n Roll Halloween-Bobby Bare
    Feed My Frankenstein-Alice Cooper
    Teenage Frankenstein-Alice Cooper
    Witchy Woman-The Eagles
    Killer On The Loose-Thin Lizzy
    Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
    Blues For Dracula-Philly Joe Jones
    One Eyed one Horned Flying Purple People Eater
    The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkin Head-XTC
    Nightmares-A Flock Of Seagulls
    Wolf Like Me-Tv On The Radio
    Ghost Song-The Doors
    Ghost of a Chance-Rush
    Ghost Train-Madness
    Japan Ghosts
    Ghost In My House-R Dean Taylor
    Devil Inside-INXS
    Dance With The Devil-Cozy Powell
    Fire-The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
    Halloween-Dead Kennedys
    Everyday is Halloween-Ministry
    Halloween-Misfits
    It’s Halloween-The Shaggs
    Battle of Evermore-Led Zeppelin
    Ghostbusters-Ray Parker Jr.
    Do The Vampire-Superdrag
    The Legend Of Wooley Swamp-Charlie Daniels Band
    Devil Woman-Cliff Richard
    The Devil Went Down To Georgia-Charlie Daniels Band
    Among The Dead-Tim Armstrong
    Zombie-The Cranberries
    Surfin’ Dead-The Cramps
    Dead Man’s Party-Oingo Boingo
    Red Right Hand-Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
    Pet Sematary-The Ramones
    Skulls-The Misfits
    Season of the Witch-Donovan
    Swamp Witch-Jim Stafford
    The Witch Queen of New Orleans-Redbone
    Witch’s Rave-Jeff Buckley
    Witch’s Promise-Jethro Tull
    Evil Woman-ELO
    Black Magic Woman-Santana
    Rhiannon-Fleetwood Mac
    Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress-The Hollies
    Love Potion Number 9-The Searchers
    Time Of The Season-The Zombies
    Voodoo-Godsmack
    Voodoo Child-Jimi Hendrix
    Somebody’s Watching Me-Rockwell
    Thriller-Michael Jackson
    Abracadabra-Steve Miller Band
    You Can Do Magic-America
    Bad Mood Rising-Creedence Clearwater Revival
    Crazy in the Night-Kim Carnes
    Nightmare on my Street-Will Smith
    Bela Lugosi’s Dead-Bauhaus
    Nosferatu-Blue Oyster Cult
    Scary Monsters and Super Creeps-David Bowie
    My Body’s a Zombie For You-Dead Man’s Bones
    I Want Candy-The Strangeloves
    Eye of the Zombie-John Fogerty
    Poison-Alice Cooper
    Fear of the Dark-Iron Maiden
    Horror Movie-Skyhooks
    Halloween Spooks-Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
    Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?-North American Hallowe’en Prevention Initiative
    Something in My House-Dead or Alive
    Boogie Monster-Gnarls Barkley
    Haunted House-Jumpin’ Gene Simmons
    Evil Eye-Gymslips
    The Twilight Zone-The Ventures
    The Ghost of Smokey Joe-Cab Calloway
    The Skeleton in the Closet-Louis Armstrong

    1. This list is EXCELLENT! We can’t wait to go through and listen to the ones we haven’t heard yet. I guarantee a lot of these will be added to our playlist! Thank you so much for all these great recommendations!

  3. My absolute fave is Halloween (She Gets So Mean) by Rob Zombie. He released a Halloween collection called, ‘Halloween Hootenany’ and every song on it is great! The entire CD is my Halloween anthem!

    Also love…
    anything by Voltaire.
    Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers
    Dracula’s Tango by Total Coelo
    Dracs Back by The Bollock Brothers
    Jack the Ripper by The Sharks
    Zombie Zoo by Tom Petty
    Walk Like a Zombie by Horrorpops
    All my Friends are Zombies by The Pricillas
    Man With the Hex by Atomic Fireballs
    Vampire by Antsy Pants

    Thanks for the Spotify list, listening to it now!

    1. Thank you for checking out our playlist AND for all these great recommendations! We’ll be listening to these today! We’re totally with you and LOVE Halloween Hootenanny! That CD is great, and Rob Zombie is always perfect around Halloween!

  4. Here’s a few more I stumbled on while I was watching Sounds of the Seasons on satellite TV:

    Svengoolie Stomp-Freddie “Boom Boom” Cannon

    Over At The Frankenstein Place- The Rocky Horror Picture Show

    T’ain’t no sin so take off your skin- Dan Russo/Oriole Orchestra

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