Tips for Crafting the Perfect Halloween Playlist
Alice Cooper has songs that are great for the perfect Halloween playlist. – Author: Anne Erickson, Photo via earMUSIC credit Jenny Risher
Halloween is approaching, and that means it’s going to be time to start listening to your favorite Halloween music. So, what makes a great Halloween playlist? It’s a different answer depending on your goal with the playlist. For example, if you’re looking to create a playlists for just you to listen to during the Halloween months, that’s going to sound different than playlist created for a party. So, I’m going to dive into some expert tips for creating the perfect Halloween playlist this spooky season.
The Perfect Songs for a Halloween Playlist
For this story, I’m going to assume that you want to put together a playlist for not just yourself but also your friends, family and perhaps a party. Because, really, if you want to create your own perfect Halloween playlist just for you, all you have to do is include your favorite Halloween-themed songs.
So, if you’re looking to create the perfect Halloween playlist for a wide range of people, the answer is variety. I suggest that you include a variety of different genres and eras of music.
The experts at Spookylittlehalloween.com have put together a post about what they think is the “Ultimate Halloween Playlist.” The playlist has a range of great tracks, with some of the top songs being “Thriller/Heads Will Roll” by Glee Cast, “The Lurch” by Ted Cassidy and “It Must Be Halloween” by Trout Fishing in America. One of my favorites on their list is “Screamin’ Ball (At Dracula Hall)” by The Duponts, with the publication noting, “Some of my (favorites) on this playlist are the older tunes that came on the cusp of ‘Monster Mash,'” such as the latter song.
There are some songs that if you leave them off your Halloween playlist, you’re going to absolutely get roasted. The song I’m thinking of is Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers with, you guessed it, “Monster Mash.” Billboard lists the song as the No. 1 Halloween song of all time on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 1 on Oct. 20, 1962. “Spooky, infectious, and full of ghoulish fun, ‘Monster Mash’ is synonymous with Halloween and – like all great novelty songs – it was dashed off in barely an hour,” Udiscovermusic.com states of the track. They add that, “An aspiring actor by day, but by night the frontman of a local band called The Cordials, Massachusetts singer Bobby Pickett and his bandmate Leonard Capizzi wrote ‘Monster Mash’ in 1962, intending to cash in on then prevalent dance crazes such as The Twist and The Mashed Potato.”
Finally, I say, you have to put some metal into your Halloween playlist. It’s only appropriate. In 2023, Audio Ink Radio named Rob Zombie, “Living Dead Girl,” the greatest Halloween metal song of all time. Why did we go with Zombie? He’s obviously the father of Halloween, when it comes to metal music. “Was there any way I couldn’t go with this song as No. 1 on this list of the best metal Halloween songs?” we wrote at the time. “From the opening, distorted vocals where Zombie cries, “Living Dead Girl,” to the crushing riffs, this is truly the ultimate Halloween metal song.” I have to say, though, that any Alice Cooper song will also do the trick. Pretty much Cooper’s entire catalog is Halloween-ready.
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