A Very Campy Halloween

A Halloween playlist can fall into one of three categories. The first: spooky mood music that evokes dark and chilly autumn nights, followed by fun and goofy party music that's meant for dancing while half-immobilized by costume elements.

The third category is camp.

Why camp? What is camp? What does camp have to do with Halloween?

Halloween is a sacred holiday among certain segments of the LGBTQ+ community. It's partially because we gays love a good celebration, but there's something a little deeper and more melancholy about our history with the holiday. For many generations, Halloween was the one night a person could dress in drag and walk the public streets without fear. Hiding in plain sight under the guise of, "it's just a costume" became an unspoken tradition - and one that many queer, and especially trans folks cherished more than they could say.

And when you mix a heightened aesthetic - intense and sophisticated costuming featuring color, glitter and drama - with a sort of irreverent joie de vivre, and an almost reckless embrace of what's possible, you get the birthright of a thousand baby queers.

You get camp.

This playlist is a salute to my forebears - a love letter in high glitter, a screech of a prayer to the ancestors, and a tribute to those who walked before me in high heels and combat boots on the one lawless night where everyone was allowed to come out.

Camille Saint Saens: Danse Macabre

This is the PERFECT piece to play while getting ready for your grand night out. Whether you're perfecting your sparkly eyeshadow or lacing up your combat boots, this "Dance of the Death" is an incredible song to psych you up for the night. It kicks off with a wild rash of violins playing tritones (commonly known as "the devil in music") and proceeds to tell the story of a crew of skeletons rising from their graves to dance on the most haunted night of the year. The purely 80s animation in this video kicks the camp factor into high gear, setting you up for a night where anything - ANYTHING - is possible.

Rocky Horror Picture Show: Time Warp

There's many a queer that found themselves a little breathless at their first midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. From the get-go, the late-night showings of this campy cult classic became a haven for queers in the 1970s and beyond. Not only does it feature drag, shameless same-sex interactions, and more makeup on Tim Curry than you could possibly want, this movie is the perfect Halloween adventure - and no song better encapsulates the community sing-along dance-along vibe than Time Warp.

Britney Spears: Circus

Circuses have a lot in common with both queers and Halloween - they're full of spectacle, dazzle, and revelry. At this point, Britney is a veritable camp icon, given the way she supercharges her performances and videos with over-the-top costuming and choreography. Play this one for when you're feeling wild and daring in the streets - and you either embrace or don't care who's watching.

Jonathan Coulton: Re: Your Brains

Camp, above else, has a sense of humor about itself. That's one of the primary features of Jonathan Coulton's Re: Your Brains, a thoughtful folk-rock song from the perspective of a zombie who's returned for his ex co-worker's brains. "All we want to do is eat your brains / I mean, let's be reasonable / no one's gonna eat your eyes," he pleads in total earnestness. If you're going to have zombies in a campy Halloween playlist, make them former corporate drones with a hint of sincerity. Play this one when you leave the party and are walking home barefoot, high heels hooked through your fingers, leaves crunching under your feet.

Okay, so four songs isn't a huge playlist, but if you want to grab the essence of what makes Halloween the campiest holiday, these will see you through. So strut your stuff and let us see you shine, Sparkleface. It's Halloween. It's what we're here for.