Songs for Spooky Season

I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. I always go all out on my costumes, spending hours hot gluing, adding sequins, cutting fabric, you name it. I've dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, a sparkling fairy princess, Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer, an astronaut, and even beloved icon The Babadook. I once spent 10 hours painting a giant canvas backdrop into a Pentagram design for a witchcraft-themed Halloween party, and I've strung enough spider webs to cover a whole graveyard. So yeah, I invest some time into Halloween y'all. (I can't wait to share what my costume is this year, but that's for a later story!)

Thankfully, the countless hours I've spent creating costumes and decorations also comes with the perfect soundtrack! My 6 hour, 100+ song playlist titled simply "October."

I can never pick just one Halloween aesthetic, and the same goes for my taste in music. I'm all over the place, and Halloween is really the one holiday where that's acceptable and - dare I say - encouraged. Between skeletons, pumpkins, witches, ghosts and monsters, I really love it all. This playlist encompasses a similar range of Halloween vibes, from "I Put A Spell On You" by The Animals to multiple songs from little-known Nashville-based band The Spirit League who churned out a whole spooky album in 2020 that ROCKED. MY. WORLD. How any of their songs have less than 5000 listens is driving me to the insane asylum. Their best song, in my opinion, is "One Last Dance," a slow, sexy tune about a dying man wanting one more dance with his lover.

There are the classics from the White Witch herself, Stevie Nicks, paired with more subtly macabre tunes like "Two Ghosts" by Harry Styles. I can't leave out that there's also "Gods and Monsters" by Lana Del Rey, "Witchcraft" by Frank Sinatra, and "People Are Strange" by The Doors. You'll recognize soundtrack music like "The Clowns" by Bobby Tahouri and hear some jams you've maybe never heard before, like "Haunted" by The Brummies - aptly named after a spooky stay in a haunted house.

Movie favorites like "Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte will have you trying not to say Beetlejuice three times, while rock tracks like "Howlin' For You" by The Black Keys will keep the party moving without giving us the overplayed "Thriller" or "Monster Mash." Nope, those two classics didn't make the cut. I know, I know, some of you are probably thinking, "How?! Why??" But come on - they're tired and practically dead as a doornail.

This is one of those playlists I can just put on shuffle and see what it lands on, knowing any song it comes to will be a hit. I've recently added new spooky favorites that aren't so in-your-face like "No Body, No Crime" by Taylor Swift and HAIM, "Strange Effect" by Unloved and Raven Violet, and "Haunted By You" by Future Islands. None of these are necessarily Halloween themed, but there's something eerie about them nonetheless. I've also included Spooky Season veterans Dead Man's Bones (fronted by Ryan Gosling) and a collection of my favorite of their songs, including "Pa Pa Power," "Lose Your Soul," and "In The Room Where You Sleep." Something about the children's choir on this whole album gives it an extra spark of spooky magic.

Whether you're looking to jam out in the car while you shop for Halloween decorations or play something all night long on Oct. 31, this playlist has something for everyone. A mix of classics, new songs, subtle jams and Halloween horror! Turn it on, crank it up, and let your Spooky Season be LOUD!