So now it’s finally Halloween, but we’ve definitely already blown our Hall-load for the year and we’re 2 songs outside of a 10-slot for the big day. Where does that leave us?
Well, there’s always that old fallback, the Halloween Date Track. First and last seen on Halloween of 2018, when Acid Witches’ sinister October 31st took the holiday position.
This one reminds me of Kaye Lande’s Halloween, in that it’s set to a piece of classical music. In fact, all the Songs For Little Folks are, that was the whole point, I guess.
For Kay Lande it wasCharles-Camille Saint-SaënsDanse Macbre.
In the case of Bob Hannon, it’s Evard Grieg’s In The Hall of the Mountain King, which is no stranger to being used and abused.
As far back as Fritz Lang’s M and further, and as recently as this years ad for the Bob’s Burgers movie, and countless commercials, trailers, video games, cartoons and TV shows in between, In The Hall of the Mountain King has been ringing in your ears your whole life. You know the tune.
The song is even said to have inspired the Inspecter Gadget theme, which – now that they mention it – yeah, fuckin-a it did!
But what is it?
Well, it was a piece of incidental scoring from the 1867 Henrik Ibsen play, Peer Gynt. The play is all about trolls or whatever and this dude named Peer enters their mountain abode with the Mountain King’s daughter or something. The King wants them to bang I think, which is weird, and that act will turn Peer into a Troll, which is good for the King somehow. I dunno, it was in Norwegian, Mac, I didn’t understand.
At any rate, for our final song of Halloween 2022, here’s On October 31 (Halloween Song)by Bob Hannon.
Thanks for tuning in, everybody! We’ll see ya soon with some new additions to the site, some rare finds and some new episodes of Shindig Radio!
I often see people lament, upon hearing a new Halloween Song, that there just isn’t enough Halloween music in the world.
This is understandable. It’s definitely not as ubiquitous as Christmas music, cause radio stations and stores aren’t exactly blasting that shit the minute the autumnal equinox hits. And there’s certainly not nearly as much of it, but it’s out there. You’d never know it, cause no one plays it, but it’s around. And there’s a decent amount of it too.
I mean, we literally just cleared 330 tracks on The Shindig here. Now granted, the lion’s share of those songs are not specifically Halloween songs. However, thanks to my handy category search it’s easy to determine (unless, of course, I forgot to tag something properly and you‘re nice and patient) that a good 64 of those songs are specifically Halloween songs, give or take a couple that aren’t really talking about Halloween. But they probably say it, and hey that’s worth something, right?
And I know, that’s really a drop in the pumpkin compared to Christmas songs, and there certainly isn’t enough, I’ll agree with that. But that’s more than those people probably think there are, and there’s plenty, and I mean plenty, more Halloween songs I have yet to, or will ever, include on this playlist.
What I mean to say, which I already sort of said before I said all that other stuff I probably didn’t even need to say, is that they’re out there, you just gotta look. Or, just get on over to Halloween Shindig, cause we do the lookin’ for ya.
Take tonight’s song for example. Here we have the best of both worlds and there’s a good chance you’re not familiar with this tune. I wasn’t for many years and I run a damn Halloween music blog. It’s shameful probably, but I eventually found it, stuck it in the old bullpen, and tonight is it’s night to shine!
Because well, it’s the night before Halloween! Ya know, Cabbage Night…
or Devil’s Night, Mischief Night, Corn Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Beggar’s Night or whatever the hell goofball, homespun regional nonsense the town you grew up in decided to call the night before the alreadythe night before an actual holiday.
What’s that business all about? Seriously, how far back does this shit stretch? Does the 29th get its own fuckin’ name? Is that Grabber’s Night? Or is that too close to Goosey Night? What about the 28th? Can’t it be a night too? How bout Tugger’s Night? Where does this shit end?
Whatever it is you call this night, which for some reason has it own goddamn name too, here’s a song all about it. It’s a play on the old Night Before Christmas poem, with a Halloween twist, from singer/songwriter Bill Buchanan.
Bill is probably best known for his break-in style novelty record team-ups with none other than Halloween compilation staple Dickie Goodman. We’ve yet to feature any Dickie Goodman on the playlist, but he’s actually got a song slated for somewhere in the 330’s, so we’ll be hearing from him real soon. At least in Playlist time, anyway.
This tune came before Bill ever hooked up with Dickie though, way back in 1962. The B-side to this 45 was a song called Beware, and it’s a pretty boppin’ Vampire-Halloweener in its own right.
For now though, we’re gonna keep it timely, and wish you all a Happy Whatever the Fuck Night with The Night Before Halloween.
So, we’ve reached a true 10-slot on this “Halloweens-til-Halloween” run, but what’s a Halloween playlist to do? We’ve just spent the last 11 days burning out potential 10-slot candidates (and some good ones too) on this ill-advised-if-I-wanna-keep-having-actual-Halloween-songs-to-write about Halloween celebration. So, what do you do, I ask?
Well, you drop the best damn Halloween song you’ve dug up all year, that’s what you do.
And that’s what we did. And this is a true new-find for 2022. This didn’t have to wait in the bullpen for even a season.
And after this many years, and this many songs, the fact that there’s still Halloween songs out there to find – and true Halloween Songs at that – and even true Halloween Songs that are this fun – is pretty crazy.
Though I will admit, after this year’s exhaustive digging, I’m pretty sure that’s coming to an end. With the exception of 2 very specific hold-outs I have yet to be able to hear, if there’s a Halloween song out there that isn’t already on this playlist, it’s probably in the bullpen at this point, or has been permanently benched.
And I know what you’re thinking, there’s no chance this is a good song. Ole Chef’s Salad up there ain’t instilling a whole lot of confidence in ya. I get it. Cause what the fuck is that, right? Fuckin’ Chef’s Salad? That’s about as Halloweeny as an Easter basket.
I mean, I guess the orange and green is sort of Halloweeny. That 70’s aesthetic might maybe lead one to believe something halfway listenable is laying in wait. But if you don’t like music that’s almost 50 years old, then even that line of thinking is a bust.
But trust me, this one’s a winner. It’s not one of those not really about Halloween Halloween songs either. This is a true blue Halloween jam. And it’s not one of those short and mildly irritating, sung by a weird lady or balding dude for some record that teachers were supposed to play in their classrooms in 1972 songs either. Though in fairness, I usually avoid them, but there’s a few of those that are pretty good, too. Even some classics, and there’s definitely a few waiting for their number to be called.
No, this is a real song, sung by – ok, just some guy no one really heard from otherwise, but still a dude with access to potential mainstream success. It’s a song.
The Chef’s Salad things a bit weird, I’ll give ya that. This appears to have been a compilation album released by producer Wayne Wadhams in an attempt to capture and then market the thriving music scene in Boston and New England during the mid-70’s. Since most of the acts don’t seem to have made any waves following it’s release, I’m not sure Wayne was all that successful to that end.
What he did successfully manage to do however, for some odd reason, was capture one hell of a Halloween song. Now, why Bill Ervinwould compose this tune, or why even Wayne thought it was a shinning example of the city’s music scene at the time, is anyone’s guess. I mean, I’m glad they did don’t get me wrong, but it seems like an odd choice for a music sampler LP.
Interesting side note here on this song in regards to it’s placement with Pete Antell’s It’s Halloween.
You may notice it begins the exact same way Pete and Ray’s song began. You may even notice that a lot of songs around here feature this little lick. Even Heavy Metal Halloweener’s Iron Crossused it, much to Mikey’s chagrin. And beyond that, you know this little ditty. You’ve heard it a million times in various places, but what the hell is it?
Well, it’s a tune called Mysterioso Pizzicato, which is sometimes referred to as The Villain’s Theme.
It was a piece of generic sheet music found in The Remick Folio of Moving Picture Music which was published in 1914. This book was used by piano accompanists playing live music during the silent film era. It was meant to indicate the presence of a bad guy, a villain if you will, or some other such sneaky or unscrupulous bastard. And boy, did it.
At almost 120 years old, you still recognize this, that’s how ubiquitous it became over time. Even to the point of cliche, hence Mikey’s chagrin over Iron Cross.
Maybe you’re familiar with this one. Maybe it’s been a long-standing Holiday must for some of ya’ll out there. But I’ve been digging around for just this kind of thing for years, and for whatever reason, it took me this long to find this one. But I’m sure glad I finally did, cause it immediately stood out to me as a tune I couldn’t believe I hadn’t even heard before, much less didn’t have on The Shindig.
So here it is, love it or leave it (either way, we’re definitely keeping it) it’s Halloween by Bill Ervin.
It’s Halloween (Stop Look and Listen) by Pete Antell
Since everyone’s all Myersed-up right now from Halloween Ends and Fallacy and since over here (a year behind) we’re still yakin’ about Halloween Kills, we thought it’d be a perfect time to drop this addition.
One of the few moments of genuine interest I experienced while watching Halloween Kills last year was the introduction of Big John. A curious tune began to play during the establishing shots of the Myers house. A tune I was unfamiliar with. Even as it played, I couldn’t quite tell if it was a bonafide Halloween oldie I had just never heard before or some new song made to sound old.
I stayed through the whole credits of that dumb movie just to find out the name of that song.
Turns out it was It’s Halloween (Stop Look, and Listen) by Pete Antell, and the answer to that question, evidently, is somewhere right in the middle.
The song was apparently written by musician and band leader Raymond “Dutch” Wolff way back in 1952. According to his daughter, Melora (who provides several bits of interesting history via the YouTube listing where this song debuted) it was a tune he used to sing to the children when they were all young.
However, the song was never actually recorded. At least it hadn’t been until Wolff’s friend, a musician/singer/songwriter and producer named Pete Antell urged him to lay down the track.
So, they all set about recording it, getting the old band back together as it were, with Pete on vocals and Ray himself firing up the sax. They then released the track in 2012 on YouTube, where it stayed, mostly under the radar, for almost 10 years until it magically appeared in David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills.
Then, it blew up. Thousands upon thousands of views and hundreds upon hundreds of comments demanding the song be released later, Pete and company dropped a digital single onto streaming platforms within a couple of weeks.
Curiously though, they changed the name of the song to Stop Look and Listen, It’s Halloween for its official release. I’m not sure why exactly, and I rather prefer it’s original title, but hey, it’s their tune.
Pete is kind enough to pop into his own YouTube comments thread at times, but most of his responses are terse and lack elaboration. Trust me, I read through all 800 and whatever of them just to try to dig up information on this track.
And though I’m sure you’re aware, I’d just like to say here, a YouTube comments section is an awful place to spend any amount of time.
Pro-tip for young YouTubers reading: no one gives a shit why you’re there watching a video, or even that you are. Please refrain from wasting peoples time and bandwidth with the unnecessary and tiresome “Here cause of Halloween Kills.” Yeah, no shit.
Oh, and I’d like to double that sentiment for the even more annoying “POV” prefaced “no one was watching this video until Halloween Kills.” Again, no shit, jackass. And that includes you, nimrod. Just watch the video, thumb it up and move the fuck along. Yikes.
My apologies. I just felt particularly stupefied after wading through that insipid thread for nuggets of information that were few and far between. Back to the tune!
So, though it was recorded only 10 years ago, this number has all the Hallmarks of a jazzy tune written in 1952. It’s a little piece of nostalgia that taps right into the heart of an old time Halloween, cause that’s where it originated. And I doubt I’m in the minority when I say that this, not even this scene, but exclusively this song, is the best thing Halloween Kills has to offer.
So we’ve peppered it with some H43 samples and used the original title here, as it is listed in the film, cause old or not, you got a bonafide inclusive Halloween track on your hands now.
Lead in by hometown hero Willy the Kid, on WURG, Haddonfield’s home for rock, which makes a sneeze and you’d miss it appearance there in Kills. You can expect to hear a little more Willy next year, cause you know there’s nothing we like more around here than Horror movie DJs. And Halloween Ends put Willie right in the drivers seat, as he opened up that whole shitshow with the Halloween monster party playlist staple and Shindig bullpenner Midnight Monster Hop by Jack and Jim. Which, true to the precedent set by its predecessor, is the single best part of that whole movie.
We got kind of a Halloween thing happening here right now, so we’ll just have to leave that ditty in the pen for one more year.
Until then, stop look and listen…it’s almost Halloween!
For our third and final Heavy Metal Halloween melter from 1986, we’re coming back stateside with this rare and low-fi demo from Las Vegas’ Fallacy.
It’s not uncommon for heavy metal bands to write a song about Halloween. Indeed, The Shindig is littered with them. It’s also not uncommon for those bands to just go ahead and name that song “Halloween.”Fallacy’s tune will bring the grand total of literal Halloween heavy metal tracks to 9. And don’t worry, cause there’s more in the bullpen.
What’s also not uncommon, but certainly less not uncommon, if for those bands to directly tapped into John Carpenter’s classic theme. Wasted, Fondlecorpse, and Warhammer are all culprits, and you can add Fallacyto the pile, cause they bring that sinister 5/4 theme right out the gate. They veer off ultimately, but even a lick is good enough for us.
Fallacy wasn’t long for the world, and not much info is floating around for them except some posts trying to clear up the (no surprise here) common confusion of them with a band named Fallacy from Michigan. In addition to the rare cassette-only 1986 demo Fall and Remain (which can be heard in poor quality on YouTube) they appeared to have only have one other release. It’s a live cassette of show from the same year which features these and a few other tunes. Check out this dope flyer. I’m not sure if that tape is from this show, but who cares:That’s metal as fuck, and 6 buck? Not bad for a night of thrash.
It’s a shame they never got a clean album recorded, cause Fall and Remain rips. I’ll say the vocals could be stronger, but the band (particularly the drummer) are just mowing these songs down. I certainly wouldn’t mind having a cleaner cut of this song, that’s for sure. I eq’ed some of the wildly excessive bass outta that YouTube copy, but I’m no mixing engineer, and it’s still a pretty ragged recording. My apologies. If i ever run across a better rip, I’ll definitely update the playlist.
Since the boys from Fallacy seem to be directly referencing Halloween 2 here, and that one never got a proper Heavy Metal Halloween tune of it’s own, we’re headed back to Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween Night of 1978, for more of the night he came home.
So grab a service revolver and buck 6 shots…and then for sure tell everyone that excessively for the rest of the night, so much so that reporters can overhear you and then immediately jam that information into radio news updates about the ongoing search for Michael Myers.
It’s time to feel the steel with our second Samhain shot, a song that also happens to be from 1986.
This ones hails from traditionally neutral Switzerland, and takes aim at our Hallowed Eve via brute force and a stern warning. It’s Fortressand their track Halloween Night.
Unfortunately, not much seems to be known about this band, and the tune comes from their lone release, the 4-track EP Take the Night.
So little is this band discussed that only 1 image of the album even appears to appear online. It’s pretty low rez and it’s the album cover you see above, which I snatched from discogs.
Where did Fortess come from? Where have Fortressgone? Why are there so many other fuckin bands named Fortress? Seriously.
Encyclopedia Metallum lists 20 bands in total with the name Fortress. Are you kidding me? It took me 5 minutes just to determine which Fortress was this Fortress, only to discover they didn’t have any damn information about them anyway. Beautiful.
Well, since we don’t know anything about Fortress, we’re just gonna talk about this now I guess, because…fuckin’ Fortress? Really? That’s the band name that’s getting into double digits? It’s not even a good band name! I mean, it’s alright, but it don’t sound nearly as tough as all these dudes seem to thinks it sounds.
It’s 1 word with 2 syllables, and that’s always a solid move for a band name. Straight to the point and harsh. Slayer, Vemon, Krokus, it just works. So I’ll give them that. But while it does have the upfront punch of “Fort,” that double S at on the back end really weakens up the whole affair.
So why are so many groups clamoring for this name? Cause it’s strong and keeps out invaders? Cause it can’t be penetrated? What’s the allure? Cause it can’t be the phonetics of this thing.
I’m not sure, but for 20 bands, spanning 3 decades, Fortress connected. And from all across the globe too! Hungary, Bavaria, Poland, Australia, even the Netherlands, all have Fortresses. Hell, the US accounts for almost half of them with 8 different Fortresses!
You wanna tell me one or two, sure. Bands unwittingly named each other the same shit all the time, particularly in the days before the internet.
Any band naming themselves post-2002 has no fuckin’ excuse. You come up with a some generic-ass nonsense like Fortress, you cross reference that shit with The Metal Archives, see if anyone else has already used it. Chances are they have, because you’re not that creative and Metal’s been around for over 40 fuckin’ years.
Maybe one other band used it 25 years ago and no one’s ever heard them. Fine, keep Fortress. Wait, there’s 17 other bands named fucking Fortress? Put that one back on the shelf, fellas. The world doesn’t need another Fortress. It’s not that great of a band name to begin with.
The first instances of Fortress seem to appear in 1980, with one glamy lookin outfit from LA (unsurprisingly) and another in Kansas. Germany pumped one out shortly after in 1981, and then our boys from Switzerland appear in tandem with another LA band in 1983.
Now, those 2 LA acts need to check the flyers outside the Rainbow Room or some shit and get their acts together. You’re probably using the same goddamn rehearsal space on Cahuenga, for christ sakes. The rest of ya’ll early 80’s guys, I’ll cut some slack. You late 80’s Johnny-Come-Latelys have a little more latitude but not a lot, and any of you clowns from the 90’s shoulda better known better. After that, you got high speed cable internet and a fuckin’ google search bar. Use that shit. Acting like you got a real unique one on your hands and not looking that shit up is just arrogant.
However, since our boys here were pretty early adopters and all the way over in the Swiss Alps just shredding up avalanches like they were in goddamn Blood Tracks, we’re gonna let them off the easiest. They’re the the only ones with a Halloween song anyway, so they’re clearly the only one’s deserving.
But seriously, no more fuckin Fortresses, alright everybody?
We’re gonna leave the 80’s behind and set a course for an old timey Halloween. But before we do, we’re gonna take a right turn outta the discotheque, head down Mundhra Road toward High Pike Farm and make a quick stop at The Quarry. Cause we’re lookin for a little rock over here and they got all the rock we need. So, here comes a triple-barreled blast of 80’s Halloween Metal to power our trip even further back in time.
This first shot is coming at you from all the way across the pound, with the UK metal molesters, Touched, and their 1986 album Death Row.
The glam-rock stylings of Twisted Sister team up with the NWOBHM sound of early Maiden to produce the sufficiently heavy but not necessarily intimidating, Night of the Hallowe’en.
There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of info floating around about Touched, but I will say, it’s an odd band name. Not necessarily tough, now is it? Certainly not in a metal context.
I suppose they could mean like “touched,”like you might say of someone who is particularly imbecilic or perhaps even crazy. That’s sort of tough-er I suppose, but not terribly. Just kind of offensive, really. Unless they’re directing that toward themselves, I guess.
Or, they could mean this in like a “you got touched” way. But not in the good way that you’d want to be touched, but in the bad way that no one wants to be touched. But thats weird right? To name your band that? Fuckin-A right it is.
Which I guess just leaves “touched” in the good way. And that could either be physically or emotionally. Like perhaps one feels after they watch We Bough a Zoo, or Mac and Me.
But that’s decidedly not tough. In fact, it might just be the opposite of tough.
The physical (and let’s just assume sexual) connotation of “touched” is the only thing that’s really left, and even that don’t make sense as a band name. But, hey, Touched it is I guess.
And that’s before we even get into this song’s title. Cause it’s not Night of Hallowe’en, It’s Night of THE Hallowe’en.
That’s weird. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone put a “the” in front of Halloween. Personally, I kinda like it. It’s makes Halloween itself sound like a monster that’s gonna get ya, or an evil entity unto itself that you better watch the fuck out for.
But I had to double check the album sleeve on that one, cause dude doesn’t even say that shit in the song! And I think that would be cool. But nope, just the title. Odd move.
So, it looks like we gotta whole lotta question here with Touched and not a whole lotta answers. We’re just gonna have to leave it at that I suppose. At least for now.
But that’s ok, cause we’ve just arrive at The Quarry, so let’s wake the neighbors, and get Touched by The Hallowe’en!
Note: I realize the audio on this one’s a bit greasy. There’s 2 versions on YouTube right now (already not a great place to get the song) one that’s real low quality and another that skips a couple times. I caught and corrected one but missed the other completely. However, I have this LP en route to The Halloween Hole as we speak, so I’ll update the track here, and even give YouTubers a better option after the season wraps. So if you dig this tune, stay tuned!
Since we’re apparently knee deep in some sort of weird shoot-out for most straight up 80’s sounding Halloween song ever, we’re gonna let the “ band” Run make their case to close us out.
Now, I’m not sure who the clear winner is, but Run definitely puts up a solid argument for themselves here, with the help of Michael Heart, who apparently arranged, wrote and provided the vocals for this track.
I guess Michael Heart is a pseudonym for Italo-producer and composer Bruno Kassar, who had a string of aliases under which he released all kinds of music. Is Run one of those?
Damned if it know, as this appears to be their sole release. The only other thing I can dig up on them is this business with Michael Heart. Since he’s a known pseudonymist, producing all sorts of shit under aliases, perhaps Run really is just another one for the fire.
That’ll have to be a Shindig mystery for another time, it seems. For now, let’s give the floor to The Phoenician himself, Mr. Michael Bruno Firefly 5 Heart Kassar with the exceedingly 80’s Halloween (Dance Version) by Run.
Since we seem to have a decidedly 80’s electronic pop vibe goin’ on here so far in the 320’s, we’re gonna keep that rollin’ with Scary Thieves.
This short-lived British New Wave crew appear to be challenging us to find a more 80’s-ass holiday dancer than their 1984 tune Halloween. Strangely, this is a Halloween song which actually appears to be about Halloween for a change, but even that’s a little unclear.
Though technically recorded in 1984, Scary Thieves encountered nothing but problems during that whole process and their self title LP was summarily shelved by the EMI. The band broke up shortly thereafter and most of that material went completely unheard for 30 years.
In 2015, Furry Records released the album Halloween which was essentially a repackaged and remastered version of the original LP Scary Thieves.
So, buried though it may have been, another Halloween got its chance to see the light of day.
Look, I don’t know what the hell’s going on in Halloween City, but from the looks of this album cover, it’s fuckin’ serious.
What’s more, I don’t know what the hell’s going on in this song. Probably because I don’t speak French. Perhaps I should attempt to translate these lyrics. Gimme a sec.
Ok, that failed, cause – surprise – outside of the Discogs page, no one seems to have a whole lotta info on Special Du Jour. So, easily finding the French lyrics to this song was perhaps a nonstarter. If either of you readers out there are fluent in French and wanna take a crack at decoding this business, be my guest. ed@halloweenshindig.com is awaiting your calls.
Speaking of Discogs, they’re informing me that Special Du Jour is the handle for French duo Louise Beaudoin & Martine Fugère. So there’s that, at least.
This is an album I picked up years ago, song unseen, back when I discovered it was a thing and a blind purchase seemed to be the only way I was actually gonna hear the tune.
I won’t say it was disappointing, but it didn’t hit the playlist immediately upon arrival, so that ought to speak a bit to my initial impression.
Perhaps if I knew what the hell they were saying other than “Halloween City” I could gauge things a bit more accurately. As it stands, I think the song isn’t bad. Certainly not the Halloween Disco banger I was hoping it might be, but not unlistenable, and definitely not unfestive in its sound.
So here, in the midst of our Halloweens-til-Halloween run, seemed like as good a place as any to drop this somewhat spooky and somewhat danceable Halloween (question mark) hit (also question mark.)
So grab some spandex, maybe a headband, a few rattle cans and let’s take the metro over to Halloween City! There’s a plywood wall there that would look a lot better with the words “Halloween Shindig” sprayed on it.
Once upon time, Bret Michaels revealed to the world that every rose had it’s thorn. Ya know, just like every night had it’s dawn.
Now, whether or not every cowboy truly sang a sad, sad song, or why that is also held up as a universal truth, I couldn’t say.
What I can say though is that, similarly, every day has it’s night. It certainly doesn’t have the same ring, but it does seem just as true.
Such is the case with this evenings entry, the ying to Ministry’s Yang, Every Night Is Halloween by Industrials.
This one, much like Al’s tune, seems to use the idea that the underground culture of dance/industrial/goth is a operating outside the boundaries of accepted society and hey, stop giving us all so much shit all the time, ya fuckin’ squares. But they beat Ministry to the conceptual punch, releasing this song a good 4 years prior.
I’m not sure this is exactly the same kinda deal though, as Industrials seem to be playing a different sort of pool here. Homeboys got a welding helmet on, and that’s kinda…industrial…I suppose. Nothing else about this seems terribly gothy or industrial. It just kinda sounds like new wave synth pop if you ask me, so maybe this is angling for a bit of a different message. Or maybe they were getting the business too, for dressing all freaky with welding helmets and typical 80’s wares.
Either way, the lonely dancers on the ceiling feel like it’s Halloween. Maybe they’re dressed up. Maybe there’s candy up there. Who knows.
But yeah, it’s another “not really about Halloween” Halloween song. There’s a lot of these fuckers it seems. Maybe they need they’re own playlist or something. I dunno.
I like this tune though. It’s got a spookyish sort of synthy vibe that feels right and man is it 80’s. Looks like we might be starting a bit of a thing here.
Interestingly (at least to me, maybe to you too, we’ll see) this album was produced by infamous music industry whack job Kim Fowley. This is the same Kim Fowley who put together The Runaways and allegedly sexually assaulted Jackie Fox while Joan Jett and Cherie Currie watched. Damn, ok. That was a left turn.
This is also the same Kim Fowley who released the album Frankenstein and His All-Star Monster Band, which you would think might be wall-to-wall Shindig goodness (I know, cause I did too) but here we are and here they ain’t. I’d say give it a listen, but don’t actually think you should.
Sorry about that little detour Industrials, I didn’t mean to get ya webbed up in all of that. I just saw his name there on the back sleeve and was like “Snap. Really? I don’t really like that Frankenstein album and this might be a good time to explain why it’s never been featured to readers that might be wondering.” Which, admittedly, is probably no one.
But anyway, we’re loosing the thread here so let’s just let Industrials take ya through the night and I’ll see ya in the morning for some more 80’s Halloween madness!
Oh, and this opening sample is from 1963’s The Haunting. If anyone is playing along at home.
As I may or may not have already stated, 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of the internet incarnation of Halloween Shindig.
I had planned to do more things to ring in the occasion, but alas, even doing just the normal October push at this point seems difficult enough.
We will not let the anniversary go unmarked however, as from here on out, every song til Halloween will be a Halloween Song. That’s right…though it pains me to even utter the phrase…everyday is Halloween from here on out.
So, to kick off such a block, we’re finally calling upon Al Jorgensen and his Ministry to join the fold, with their Halloween staple Everyday (Is Halloween.)
Long time followers may know of my general distaste for the nascent cult of “Everyday is Halloween.”
My disassociation from this slogan and it’s ideology is 3 fold:
First, and chiefly, it is an (admittedly) semantic and good-natured comical argument I make with the literal nature of the phrase. Every day is not, in fact, Halloween. More to the point, we shouldn’t act as though it were, because if it were, then Halloween would cease to be special and what’s all this fuss about?
Another semantic off-shoot of this qualm, is that Halloween isn’t a day at all, but rather an eve. Hallow’s Eve, The Eve of All Saints. Halloween technically doesn’t start until sundown. I know, I know. I’m splitting hairs here. I’m just being ridiculous and annoying prick! Hell, many definitions of “eve” will suggest it can also be the day before. However, in that it’s a shortening of “even” or “evening,” I think I got a leg to stand on this one, obnoxious though it may sound.
Lastly, I find it to be, as the kids are wont to say, a bit of a flex. And a stupid one at that. Oh yeah? That’s how spooky you are, huh? That’s how much you like monsters and horror and shit? Halloween ain’t no big deal because you at that spooky shit 24/7? The rest of the poser world has decided to take this time of year, and only this time, to revel in ghosts and goblins, but not you, bruh. You do this shit all year, so fuck the tourists? Get real. Ya’ll sound like Suicide.
And yeah, it is a costume and I do think that’s what it’s all about, cause that is what it’s all about. It’s Halloween, and it falls on October 31st.
Look, I get it. If it wasn’t clear after 10 years, I love Halloween. I love the colors, the air, the traditions, the imagery and the horror. In particular, I love it for the very fact that for one month (or at least it should be) the whole world around me seems aligned with all the things I love as well. Stores have spooky webs up, candy is in abundance everywhere, die-cuts adorn waiting rooms and post offices, monsters are suddenly in TV commercials, and people have their houses decked out for the onslaught of costumed tricksters. I don’t get chippy about this fact, like people are falsely co-opting my interests. I embrace it. I don’t like when it happens too soon, or when Christmas encroaches too early. It’s a special time, but I don’t want it to overstay it’s welcome either.
Now, this brings into question my own actions. Namely this website, my obsession with this Eve, or plastering my work space with all manner of Halloween imagery…all year. It sounds hypocritical, right? Well, maybe that’s true.
I doubt if even a day goes by in either my work on this blog, or in my research, or with my personal interests, that I don’t write out the word “Halloween.” I see things, and many of them, that say “Halloween” on them, every day. Like Graham once put it on the show, The Halloween Hole is like being inside a giant Halloween candy bag. If anyone is living the ethos of “Everyday is Halloween,” you could argue it’s me. So, I should just shut the fuck up, right? Well, maybe that’s true too.
I’d argue it just means that if I, there very person who has created this place and surrounds themselves with Halloween…every day, is telling you to take it easy with the “Everyday is Halloween” bullshit, then it’s gotten a little out of hand.
Whichever the case may be, Halloween is a special time of year. And it falls on the very last day of the month, perfectly positioning October to be be a full-on, 31-day countdown celebration of all things spooky and monstrous. However, I didn’t wanna blow all the Halloween songs I have left on a 31 day binge, so I tightened that up a bit, my apologies.
And though I’m aware that this song isn’t even really about Halloween at all, and speaks to a completely different ideology than the current wave of dildo Horror fans declaring other people just don’t like Horror as much as they do, it seemed like the most appropriate song to ring in the occasion. Particularly since I have avoided adding it to this playlist for literally 19 years now.
So, as halloweenshindig.com turns 10 years old, let us for once (and only once) proudly exclaim…Everyday Is Halloween.
Back on Shindig Radio Episode 19, Mikey asked what kinda musical acts came outta New Zealand.
I don’t think anybody had an answer for him at the time, and despite having already had this song waiting in the bullpen, Larry’s Rebelsdidn’t immediately jump out to me as the prime example in that moment. That’s mostly because I didn’t know they were from New Zealand at the time. What’s more, I’m still not sure that even if I had, they would have been a solid pull to smash on the table in that moment.
But here we are talking about New Zealand’s own, Larry’s Rebels.
Why? Well, because we’re in the 10 slot and they have a song called Halloween, why else!?
What’s the problem? Don’t these guys look like they can deliver the goods? Weird dudes with solid-colored suits and mod haircuts know what the fuck’s up with Halloween, right? Oh, you don’t trust me?
Hell, I wouldn’t blame ya. While I personally approve of every song on this list (in some way or another anyway) I’ve been known to drop a few duds on ya. And sure, not everyone’s gonna like the same stuff, and The Shindig offers (if nothing else) a wide variety of musical styling, but definitely nobody wanted It’s Only Halloween, probably nobody wanted Born of Halloween and I’m sure there was more than a few groans with Lep in the Hood. Not to mention countless other questionable tunes that deserve to be on The Shindig but maybe not in your ears.
I’ll accept that. But I’ve got a pretty good batting average here, no? Eh, probably depends on what you personally like and that’s always a little tricky.
But hey, maybe you like 60’s psychedelic rock. If you do, then Larry’s Rebelshave just the Halloween Song for you.
If not, just give it a day. Tomorrow’s gonna sound a little different. Not sayin’ you’ll like that either, but it’s different than this, that much I can guarantee.
So here’s a curious situation that I’m not sure we’ve encounter thus far on The Shindig.
On the surface, this song (the debut release from British rocker’s Icarus) is a full blown Title Track. Now, that’s what I like to hear!
But wait a sec, this song doesn’t appear anywhere in 1968’s The Devil Rides Out.
That can probably be attributed to the fact this song wasn’t written for the film at all, but rather after the film was made. Turns out Icarus was inspired by the pre-release marketing for The Devil Rides Out to write this song. That’s a little weird.
However, it was totally released in tandem with the premiere of the film and the band themselves were even invited to the shindig. What’s goin on here?
So, written because of and about, and is named after the movie? So, is this a Title Track or not?
I say no. If anything it’s a Title Track After the Fact, but even that’s a stretch. It appears in no film that I’m aware of, sequel or otherwise, relegating it the land of Referential, I’d say. But it’s so close, so very damn close to being a Title Track.
But enough about that business, let’s talk The Devil Rides Out, Hammer’s straight-faced, Christopher Lee anchored, Christianity-conquers-all, Satan-banger.
Just check out this French Grande:
I have this thing, and it rules. Unfortunately, it’s goddamn giant and I don’t have any more wall space in The Hole for shit this big. Sorry also to my giant-ass Videodrome and Dracula AD posters.
Hey, check out this sweet Baphomet, which Christoper Lee calls The Goat of Mendes, which is what artist Éliphas Lévi was known to refer to his famous Sabbatic Goat image. He rules too.In fact, just check out The Devil Rides Out, cause it rules.
Our next stop on Satan’s Cannonball comes from a picture you could argue isn’t exactly a horror picture. I dunno though. Being rundown, raped and murdered by freaky, gakked out bikers sounds pretty goddamn horrific to me. But hey, everybody’s got different ideas of a good time. Either way, when you’re throwin’ me a tune which sounds as at-odds with its subject matter as this one does, The Shindig takes note.
From Al Adamson’s 60’s biker freak-out Satan’s Sadists comes our 318th track, Satan (Theme).
Starring the incomparable Russ Tamblyn as Anchor, leader of the biker gang “The Satans” with such fantastic biker members as Willie, Muscle, Firewater and Acid. The latter of which is played by none other the the films writer, and director of such classics as Without Warning, Satan’s Cheerleaders, Wacko, and The Uninvited, Mr. Greydon Clark.
It’s a 60’s biker explotation picture, so if you’re familiar, you know what you’re getting into and whether that’s frying your bacon or not. Again, it’s not explicitly horror in tone or vibe, but exploitation veers so close sometimes, and this song is just too awesome too ignore. And c’mon, we need a little more Satan around these parts.
Of all the categories on Halloween Shindig, the one that never seems to get much representation is The Devilish Track. I’m not even sure how many there are in total. Hang on a sec.
Jesus, there’s only 13 of these things? Really? I need to double check that number right quick, maybe I didn’t label a few.
Nope. 13 seems legit. Man, I knew it was low but geez, that’s only like 4% of the playlist.
At any rate, those are some pretty rookie numbers in this racket, so we’re gonna add a little padding to that percentage here (honestly only a measly 1% though) with a couple Satany tunes for all ya’ll to groove on.
Aptly leading off the charge is the song Hey Satan, from the San Fernando Valley’s own Clown Lord’s of the Garage-Bizarre, the splatter-glam festooned, Fearless Leader.
Known for the generalized insanity of their live stage shows (which often included the cramming of spam into various orifices) Fearless Leader were something of hometown heroes around these parts,…to a certain section of weirdos anyway.
Their album ¡#$;!, which features the bands name written in such a way as to maybe cause one to raise an eyebrow, actually got them banned in Germany. Worry not though, as it’s simply a KISS reference and not some secret Gestapo salute.
What’s more? These guys actually made a fuckin movie. Yep, and it’s pretty great. 1992’s Graveyard Rot is a bona fide piece of feature-length Rock-N-Roll music video horror-trash SOV madness, and comes highly recommended…to a certain section of weirdos anyhow. You know who you are.
Click to Watch!
This particular copy featured here may or may not have sold for $500 buck. Seriously? Even asking that much is ridiculous. Get real VHS community. You needn’t shell out that kinda dough though, cause you can just click that picture to watch the movie on Vimeo thanks to the fantastic Hamilton’s Trash Cinema. Big ups!
Sarge, Alien Rock, Oral B. Goode and Spammy Haggard set upon a little road trip to shoot a new music video for this very song. In the process they run afoul some hostile local rednecks and inadvertently raise a long dead Rock-N-Roll singer.
It’s silly, no-budget, band-just-having-a-good time-with a camcorder fun that features (as you might imagine) lots of Fearless Leader tunes.
However, if you’ve never seen Graveyard Rot, this song might still sound familiar if you’ve ever treated yourself to Everything Is Terrible’s The Great Satan.
If you haven’t, I recommend doing that as soon as possible, because it’s fucking bonkers, and Hey Satansets the whole thing off and running perfectly. Click this to get a little taste.
If you’re not aware of the found footage fiends over at Everything is Terrible, I also recommend familiarizing yourself with them as a whole post-haste.
The Great Satan specifically, is a mind-melting media-mashup of all things Morningstar, spliced at breakneck speed for maximum what-the-fuckery. We’re talking batshit Christian scare-programming, z-grade yard sale movie clips and bizarro homegrown freakouts.
A good-time Satany garage rocker, technically featured in 2 separate, definitely worth your time, movies? Hey, that’s Shindig material all day long.
Hey Satan, Fearless Leader wants to party, but don’t worry, they brought their own sandwiches!
I have been writing about the greatness of old horror Title Tracks for roughly 10 straight years now. They’re my favorite type of track on the playlist. They have the power to elevate bad movies to ones worth talking about, and the finesse to turn great movies into legends.
I’ve been speaking publicly about that same greatness for roughly 4 years now, half in the bag, obnoxiously crooning along out of tune. Hopefully, that has illuminated some of the finer, and even perhaps less finer, examples the sub-genre has to offer.
Presented for your enjoyment, is a Maxi-Playlist of all the Title Tracks currently present on the Full Playlist plus any featured on Shindig Radio (5 volumes, at the time of writing) including all the ones not presently included (or will ever be included) on The Full Playlist. So yes, that means even Body Melt (sorry, no 9 to 5 though, or Spaceballs, or any of the action extractions either.)
Rather than putting them together as they appeared on the show however, I have ordered this playlist chronologically with date makers to illustrate the rise of and eventual fall of this particular fad in film history.
I would also like to note that the new additions Bad Taste and I Was a Teenage Zombie plus previously unaccounted for The Monster Squad tips the scales into 1987’s favor for “The Year of the Title Track” at 8 total! That’s even with 1988 getting the padding of fake track Big Breasted Girls Go to the Beach and Take Their Tops Off. Not too shabby 1987. Let’s see what the future holds as these two juggernaut years continue to slug it out!
I will add to this playlist as more volumes of Title Tracks continue to spill out from the Halloween Hole, as (despite what this playlist may suggest) there are still so many Title Tracks in the bullpen left to revel in, make fun of, and sing along to poorly.
Speaking of dudes from our Freddy Raps episode and sampling classic horrors themes for raps beat…oh and recent questionable reboots of aging horror properties…oh and even Halloween, I guess, by way of Rob Zombie…
man, that’s a lot of tenuous connections for 2 songs to randomly have…
here comes an actual Referential Monster Rap in the form of Gregory D and Figgy Balls’ Love letter to The Munsters, Monster Booogie.
Now, why they didn’t just call this tune Munster Booogie is above my pay grade, but honestly that’s the only bone I have to pick with this track, because otherwise, it’s just the goods. Well, there’s is that one verse, but we’ll get to that.
Mannie Fresh twists up The Munster’s Theme into the kinda beat I wish every monster rap had, while Gregory D waxes nostalgic for the days of eating cereal and kickin’ it with the First Family of Fright.
They also spit barbs at The Addams Family, which for a song of this nature, feels right at home.
Then, there is that verse I spoke of earlier. Gregory D goes off on Eddie Munster a bit, and some words get thrown around. Now listen, we’ve laid into Eddie Munster ourselves, more specifically Butch Patrick for his crimes against music, but this is a bit of a different beast. Let’s just say he goes so far as to suggest Eddie Munster might prefer the company of men.
This bar-spanning gag which (in addition to being generally offensive to both Gays and Butch Patrick for a number of reasons) is a really weird joke to make considering the kid’s like 10 years old. But hey, I guess that’s just a little slice of 1987 for ya. Try to ignore it, if you can. If not, I’d understand.
Despite that, this is still a seriously referential tune though, with tons of great samples and a dope ass beat. It’s the kinda diamond in the rough you come across while looking for something else and then all you can do is sit back and bask in great weird wave of the universe.
So, instead of subjecting yourself to Rob’s Day-Glo prequel, just blast Gregory D and Mannie Fresh’s Monster Booogie, and then go enjoy a few episodes of the real thing while scarfing down a bowl of Frankenberry.
The real question is how much can you take of M.C. A.D.E.More specifically, his grating vocoder rapping.
Well, Adrian Does Everything (or Anus Do Exterminate, whichever you prefer) is challenging us to find out, with his tune that inexplicably uses John Carpenter’s classic Halloween Theme.
And to good effect, as thisbeat is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, that fat shit A.D.E. comes in with his monotonous vocoder sound and we quite literally begin asking ourselves “How man can we take?”
I get it. I know. But hear me out.
We gave A.D.E. a pretty hard time on the Freddy Raps episode, and we didn’t really redeem ourselves on Halloween H40 either, and I feel bad.
Dude essentially invented Miami Bass, used the Halloween theme, produced gnarly, trunk thundering bass and he made a Freddy Rap. C’mon, that’s worth some respect, no? And I know his Freddy Rap is pretty irritating, and we definitely took a firm stance on no Nightmare on ADE Street on the playlist, but we gotta throw him a bone, right? Just for being so shitty to a pioneer?
And this song is better! Isn’t it? I mean, I know it’s not much better, but it’s better, right? Plus, he uses the Halloween Theme to craft a great beat for crying out loud. And hell, I’d put money on him being one of the first guys, if not the first guy sample this theme.
But I’m really just guessin’ here. I don’t have that kinda info on hand. In fact, I wanna double check this claim. Gimme a sec.
Ok. So Jaybok the City Ace seems to be the first guy to do this, on 1987’s Hip Hop Phenomenal, followed closely thereafter by Slick Master Rick on his tune Brothers and Sisters House on 13th Street in 1988.
But then, 1989 rolls around with Esham, TheBeat Pirates and M.C. A.D.E. all sampling this theme.
Slick Master Rick and The Beat Pirates both made clubby electronic dance tunes with no rapping, and The Beat Pirates are sampling what sounds to me like the Part 2 theme, not that that matters really.
Esham is definitely using the tune, but it doesn’t sound sampled to me. And the part he uses is kind of a pushed-to-the-back-of-the-mix flourish that decorates a beat that isn’t really built on Michael’s theme. I will say his song is much better all around than A.D.E.’s though. So there’s that.
But then there’s Jaybok. Unfortunately, The City Ace has A.D.E. dead to rights. Hip Hop Phenomenal was released 2 years earlier, and it slaps. The beat is on point and his rapping isn’t all annoying like A.D.E.’s. And not for nothing, but Jaybok’s flow is smooth. Smooth like “is this really from 1987?” smooth.
However, I can’t say for sure, but I might argue that Jaybok isn’t sampling the song either. It sound different, like it’s just played in another synth. It could be a pitched sample, for sure, but it doesn’t sound like a straight sample the way A.D.E’s does.
So, he’s probably at least the 2nd, but at the most generous, I’d stand by my statement and sayA.D.E.was the first cat to really use the sample in this manner, for a rap song that relies heavily on Carpenter’s theme as the beat. You could argue against that effectively though.
Either way, that’s not bad, particularly considering how much it’s been used since, and whom by.
Ice T, Afrika Bambaataa, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Biggie, Soulja Boy, Juciy J and even (unsurprisingly) The Insane Clown Posse, have all had producers that dipped their MPCs into this classic piece of horror scoring.
But here we are, with our friend A.D.E., the man who makes me reconsider my love of the Vocoder. It’s like Adrian, I know it’s a dope tool, but you can’t rap the whole song through it like that bud, you just can’t. And what Vocoder are you using, cause it doesn’t sound that great. Is it even a real vocoder, or an FX pedal? Whodini had it right. You gotta get that VP330 Whodini had if you go hard like that. I know that fucker was pricey (still is!) and Whodini was Whodini, but there had to be someone around the studio with something close.
But I digress.
I’m sort of in a conundrum over this song. I’d like to include it, but frankly, it doesn’t really nest into any of The Shindig’s categories. It’s not Referential (unfortunately) and it doesn’t appear in any film (that I’m aware of anyway) and it’s certainly not about monsters or Halloween. But it is using the Halloween Theme, right?
But if I went around just adding every song that used this theme (Blood for Blood’sSpit My Last Breath comes to mind) we’d be here till Thanksgiving.
So, technically, it shouldn’t even be here. But we played it on Shindig Radio Ep. 20 and I’d like to commemorate that moment on the playlist and reproduce some of that Halloween Kills vibe here, and maybe assuage some of this guilt I’m feeling over giving A.D.E. so much grief.
So, if you’ll all indulge me for a moment, I’ll just chalk this one up as a Horror Theme and give M.C. A.D.E. his day on The Shindig, lord knows he’s earned it.
The Shindig Radio team returns to the scene of their original crime: Haddonfield!
3 years ago, Shindig Radio first exposed themselves to the world while jack-jawing about Halloween H40. So, you knew that when the sequel to that requel finally rolled around, we were gonna be right there weighing in.
Only that didn’t happen, did it?
Well, not as far as you’re concerned anyway, because a crippling technical difficulty prevented you from hearing that episode when it was originally intended to air.
Now, through the magic of modern audio technology and a little bit of patience, this once thought “lost forever” episode returns to life – a year late and totally irrelevant because a new Halloween has already come out.
STOP! wondering if evil is going to die tonight!
LOOK! at you’re phone or computer while 4 aging assholes complain about a thing not necessarily intended for them!
LISTEN! to Mikey blow the lid off of Tommy Lee Wallace’s 40-year-long mask deception!
