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The Shindig: 2024

Howdy Ha there Shindiggers and Happy October.

Though the nascent years of this website were not at all seasonal, I’d like to welcome you to what I’ll call the 12th season on Halloween Shindig. It’s wild to me to think it’s been that long.

We’ll be wrapping up the late 300s this year and bringing the count right up to the edge of next year’s big milestone – the 400th track!

I had hoped to hit that mark this year but the episode we recorded of Shindig Radio (yes, the same episode I have yet to finish editing) had me cut the playlist off a little earlier than I had hoped. That’s ok though, cause we’re back to pick up right we left off.

Now, if you recall, we ended last season with a block of Dracula Disco. That was suppose to lead straight into a block of Franken-Rock, which seemed a fitting way to end “The Year of the Referential Track,” but alas, it was not to be. Thankfully though, these Frankenstein-Jams start off hot and heavy and ready to go.

So, let’s get the party started once again, and shock some life back into the playlist with The Monsterizer as we work our way to the 31st, one terrifying tune at a time.

Welcome to Halloween Shindig. We’re glad to have you listening in.

 

Shindig 2023: The Year of the Referential Track!

The 10 year anniversary of Halloweenshindig.com, while largely uneventful, was certainly The Year of the Halloween Song. And rightfully so. In a normal season’s run, you might get 3, maybe 4 actual Halloween songs added to the Shindig.

Now, that sounds kind of ridiculous on paper, considering this is suppose to be a Hallowen playlist, right?

Well yes, and while there’s plenty of Halloween songs, there just ain’t enough to outfit a proper party, particularly if you don’t like 80’s Metal.

But hey, if you don’t like 80’s Metal, I might recommend finding a different Halloween Playlist. Spotify and Apple Music have tons that feature popular and vaguely spooky songs that don’t have anything to do with Halloween, Monsters or Horror movies from the likes of The Weeknd, Hall and Oats, and Imagine Dragons, if you’d like.

Hell, I even saw one with Smooth Criminal on there. What in the pumpkin fuck?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Smooth Criminal and Michael Jackson is responsible for the biggest Referential Track of all time. But what business does Smooth Criminal have being played at Halloween? Moreover, what business does the person adding Smooth Criminal have making such a playlist? There are 332 other songs here you could have chose before Smooth Criminal. Even a cursory search through you’re own goddamn database could have returned something more appropriate than fucking Smooth Criminal. And no, it’s not Toxic by Britney Spears either. C’mon people! This is Halloween, for fuck’s sake.

Look, I know this is an overlong, fairly eclectic and sometimes frustrating collection of songs that don’t always appear to have anything to do with Halloween, but there is always a reason for their inclusion. And that reason isn’t “well, dude sang Thriller too, right?“ or “I mean, they say ‘maneater’ and that’s like what a monster does, right?”

I’m aware that this playlist isn’t for everyone, or even most ones. I know that the majority of these songs don’t wanna be heard by the people at the average Halloween Party. Hell, I I’ll wager they don’t wanna be heard by most people. But, if you throw a Halloween party and your guests don’t like Halloween Shindig, then buddy, you need to find some different guests.

As a very enthusiastic Shindig listener once called in and scolded us “I’m here for pumpkins, Halloween candy, movies, masks and Heavy Metal music!”

And, if that’s not why you’re here, then I guess somewhere else is probably preferable. But you’re reading this, which is a miracle unto itself, so clearly none of that applies to you.

But I was saying something, right? Before all that unnecessary vitriol?

Ah yes, The Year of the Halloween Song!

Last year we added a total of 16 new Halloween Songs to the playlist! Hell, 17 if you count M.C. A.D.E. (which I don’t) but that’s still over half the songs we added last year. Not too bad.

But it’s a new year now, and I’m dubbing 2023 The Year of The Referential Track.

We have so many fun referential tunes lined up. Tunes that have been wasting away in the bullpen for years now, and it’s time to clean house a little bit.

We’re talking straight Monster Rally referential bangers from all eras. Mostly oldies, I’ll admit, but some less oldies too, but still probably damn oldies when you get right down to it.

We got everything here from laser-specific referential tracks to generically vague referential tunes that cast a wide net. We got Referential Title Tracks, Referentially Inclusive Tracks, Referential Monster Songs and even Referential Halloween jams. It’s all references all the time and in just about every genre to boot!

We got songs from Country to Hip-Hop and from Metal to Disco (lots of Disco) and plenty of Oldies too. It’s gonna be some top-notch, referential monster madness with the Lords of Allusions in 2023 on Halloween Shindig!

So grab a shovel and dig in!

10 Years of Terror-Tunes

Howdy there fellow Halloweeners, and welcome to October on the Shindig: 2022.

Last year’s playlist additions were unfortunately stalled out by the impromptu recording of a previously unplanned episode of Shindig Radio that you never even got to hear!

Man, a big swing and a miss over here at Shindig Central in 2021, huh?

Indeed it was, but no matter, cause it’s 2022 now and we’re gonna get things back on track, or at least attempt to, anyway. And that just means picking up right where we left off, as unfestive a beginning as that may prove to be.

I think it might also be worth mentioning that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Halloween Shindig on the internet. Seriously? Boy, that feels like it went by a little too quick for my liking.

If you’ve been here since the beginning, I’d like to thank you for taking a committed interest in this strange exercise I have devoted my free time in service of. And rejoice! You’re 10 years older, hopefully a little wiser and filled to the brim with all sorts of previously unimagined Halloween and horror jams.

If you’re just discovering this business recently, I’d like to thank you as well. Welcome aboard! I apologize if it seems like you’ve missed out on the more active era of this website. But hey, it’s all still here and more accessible than it ever was back then. There’s now mini-playlists, the podcast and even fun Halloween swag. Halloween Shindig has never had more to offer than it does in this very moment, and you didn’t have to wait around for any of it!

As you might imagine, simply dragging out last year’s cast-offs was certainly not what I had in mind as a celebration of hitting the 10 year mark. Indeed, several years back I had far loftier plans for the occasion. However, here we are and I doubt any of that, whatever that may have been, will come to fruition. I’ll apologize for that as well.

But if you’re here, you’re most likely here for the tunes. Or because of some hot-linked image or gif. Either way.

So, without any further ado,  we’ll kick off 2022 with the hope of keeping this as consistent as I can while reaching Halloween with 31 new tracks added to this swelling behemoth…and maybe even an untimely festive surprise.

Happy October, everybody!

Enter The Super Soundtracks!

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we here at Halloween Shindig dig music. Specifically, horror themed Halloween and movie music.

Naturally then, a lot of songs found on The Shindig are from soundtracks, of which we are big fans.

However, sometimes a song or two just isn’t enough. Sometimes a soundtrack is so awesome it deserves a little extra attention.

Enter: Halloween Shindig’s Super Soundtracks, where we give an entire album a deluxe wash and wax then buff it to perfection.

Patchbays and filter is what it means, I guess

What does that mean exactly? Well,..

Typically you’ll find we’ve taken the tracks and placed them in their chronological order from the film, spliced in samples and bits from the movie itself and added any auxiliary songs from the film that are not featured on the official soundtrack (if there is one.)

Thus, The Shindig provides you with a completely immersive soundtrack experience the likes of which you have never heard!

Stay tuned for more Super Soundtracks throughout the year and enjoy!

Haunted House Rockin’

Is there a more played upon idea in Horror than The Haunted House? Maybe vampires. I dunno, I don’t have those kinda figures on me.

What I do know is there’s a shitload of Haunted House movies. What’s more, there’s a shitload of songs about Haunted Houses. From Monster Raps to Shock! Theatre era novelties, all the way up to horror punk and even surf, no genre represented on The Shindig has given up the chance to tangle with a Haunted House, so popular is the locale.

And why not? Spooks and specters, creepy basements and shitty crown moldings all await you through a squeaky-hinged door. Maybe a chandelier will fall. Maybe a trap door will open. Maybe a secret passage will unlock some chamber of horrors previously unimagined.
You’ll definitely hear something sinister as you try to sleep and someone will undoubtedly suggest that it’s…just your imagination.

Likely someone has died there, or is at least buried on the property. And if it has occupants, then some ghoulish butler will greet you, informing you the master of the house will be down shortly to…have you for dinner.

It could be a count or some other nobleman of questionable moral fiber. Maybe a mad scientist owns the estate, or an entire family of horribly deformed weirdos with poor social skills. Either way, it looks like a bad idea from the outside and that becomes wildly apparent once inside. Most probably you will not be allowed to leave until the baptismal light of day.

As you may be aware, The Shindig loves blocks. They feel good. A little theme-within-a-theme never hurt nobody. Maybe bored a few people, but that’s about it. So, with that in mind, here comes a mega block of Haunted House hits to knock your socks off. Or rock your socks off. Or maybe even scare them off.

Whatever your emotional reaction (and assuming of course you’re actually already wearing socks) chances are you’ll be sockless by blocks end.

So enter,…if you dare.

Halloween ’15

The Shindig has been pretty inactive this past year, which is a disappointment to me and the no one that actually follows this blog.
But it’s now offically October and while I never meant for this to only be a seasonally active blog, it’s high time to get the lead out.

So here comes some new tunes for the playlist. There’s a ton prepped and ready to go and scheduled for daily release, that way ya’ll can have a nice, daily dose of Halloween. I’d like to say over 30 but I can’t make any promises.
Additionally, The Shindig hopes to also have time to debut an all new for 2015 feature we hope will be a hit.

So grab a pumpkin and sit down, it’s about to get spooky around here.

State of The Shindig Address

Well Weeners, it’s been about a year now since The Shindig’s first posts, so lets take a look at some stats:

  • 80 tracks into the playlists. Slacking a little here, in my opinion.
  • 592 followers. Not too shabby, though it was 596 the other day.
  • 382 posts. Pretty good. That’s an average of 1.05 a day.
  • 180 original gifs posted. That’s a rough number though, since the hard-drive died, it was tricky just getting that number.
  • 23,706 notes! That’s the most for a single Shindig post. And it’s reigning camp Sir Crypts-A-Lot. People still givin’ that gif love.

Hopefully some of you have enjoyed my ramblings, had a few laughs, reblogged some gifs to spruce up your page, maybe discovered a couple new haunted hits to work into your Halloween rotation and learned something along the way.

I know the posting’s fell off a bit as of late, but as previously stated, we’re not even halfway through this playlist yet, so you can expect more Shindiggery to come.

And remember…there’s only 330 days till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. 330 days till Halloween…Silver Shamrock!

Keep followin’ and rebloggin’ Weeners and I’ll keep posting.

– HS

The Shindig Hits 200 Followers!

Now, I’m not sure if that’s at all remarkable (it’s probably not) but I would have never thought even 100 people would actively choose to follow this blog, much less 200.

As a thank you to all followers past, present and future, Halloween Shindig offers some insane gifs from Ken Russell’s highly controversial and heavily edited 1971 picture The Devils.

The film tells the true story of a French town named Loudon, where an order of Ursuline nuns falsely claimed to have been possessed of devils. The resulting public exorcisms led to the conviction and murder of Father Urbain Grandier in 1634, the priest accused of orchestrating the possessions with Satan himself.

Given its highly religious context, its explicit scenes of sexual and religious imagery, its bizarre tone and even more bizarre music, coupled with it’s indictment of religious and political corruption and power-mongering, it’s no wonder the film was edited to hell, banned in some countries and largely swept under the rug.

It remains, however, a singular viewing experience unlike any I’ve ever seen, with a fascinating story, some insane imagery, and 2 great performances from both Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. If you can dig up a copy of the restored version, I highly recommend it.

The following gifs are mostly from a long missing and thought destroyed scene, aptly referred to as “The Rape of Christ.” A scene the studio itself removed from the film initially, before the censors could even have a chance.

Enjoy Shindiggers, and thanks for all the follows and notes. More Halloween nonsense to come.