Halloweenhead

I only recently got into Ryan Adams but he's a good fellow. He makes rocking songs too, especially this number called Halloweenhead, it's about tricks and treats and Halloween all that jazz. Plus you gotta like any dude who in the middle of a song says "guitar solo" and starts shredding. Good Stuff.
Happy Halloween!

Ryan Adams - Halloweenhead

If You Have Ghosts

This is a great cover of a great Roky Erickson tune. It's done by John Wesley Harding and the Good Liars. I love it because it retains it's spooky feel and adds some doo wop backing vocals to make a really pop tune out of something that was originally close to metal. Both versions sound great but I figured since I already posted a Roky Erickson original I'd hit up this swell cover. If you like it, it can be found on the cd Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye. A Album of Roky Erickson covers by electic bands like R.E.M., Primal Scream, and the Butthole Surfers.

John Wesley Harding and the Good Liars - If You Have Ghosts

Lovecraft

Wow, Frankenstein can rock out like nothing. I presume he plays all instruments. He could always graft on extra arms to make playing the drums and guitar at the same time easier. Anyways, this song is a rocker about Lovecraft so I found a nifty image of Chtulu carved into a pumpkin.

Frankenstein - Lovecraft

The Headless Horseman

This is from the Disney audiobook album the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It's a short little song about the Headless Horseman done in the inimitable Disney style of the 1950s. It sometimes feels very odd being 23, but growing up in the 80's and early 90's where much of the earliest media created by Disney and Hanna-Barbera were still played so I still have these weird memories that most people younger than me have no knowledge of the existence. Many companies have lodged all their older properties in basements where presumably they keep the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant but every once and a while someone uploads some of this old material making it digial or somehow somewhere, someone decides to re-release it in the hopes that it might score some cash for the company. Anyways, despite my weird nostalgia rant, here is the Headless Horseman.

Disney - The Headless Horseman Reprise

Fright Night 2

This song was posted years ago on the ol interweb. It's done by Fettdog who has done many more Halloween Mashups amongst other music projects and it's one of my favorite mashups of the past few years. It combines a haunting piano line with the vocals of Vincent Price from Thriller and segues into some samples from a few horror movies. It's oddly relaxing, there's something about Vincent Price's voice that's just ultimately great to listen to no matter how it's used. While I havnt seen Fright Night 2, I have seen the first and I thought it sucked hard. But maybe I need to check out the sequel since this song is so awesome.

Fettdog - Fright Night II

Evil

1st, the man's name is Howlin' Wolf. 2nd, he's got the voice of a god, you'll never hear anyone like him ever again. 3rd, he's one of the best blues musicians ever. Evil is one of his best songs from a guy that could make any song into his own. He still owns the definitive version of Little Red Rooster. It's pure soul that just seaps from his body through his guitar and has gotten me to feel a good even when I don't. This version of evil is off his out of print psychadelic album, This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album, He Doesn't Like It, He Didn't Like His Electric Guitar at First Either.

Howlin' Wolf - Evil

Zombie Dance

So far I've made over 50 posts without ever mentioning the heroes of Halloween music, the Cramps. Not only engraved with horror lyrics, they were full on garage rockers and no doubt influenced many of the gothabilly and garage rock artists doing similiar things today. Short songs, scuzzy production and songs about everything from Zombies to Werewolve's and even the typical rock topics they were garge rock heroes. And since I've posted so little about zombies in this day and age where Zombies are the new black, it's time to join the party and throw down with a little Zombie Dance.

The Cramps - Zombie Dance

Werewolf Wiggle

I feel like maybe this month has been a little wolfcentric, but what can I do, some of my favorite songs are about werewolfs, and more than that I dig werewolves, so I will not apologize for the werewolfcentricity as it were. Now that I've figured out a little bit more of famous monsters, one part of the band is from Rob Zombies old band White Zombies, and after Sean Yseult left the band he formed Famous Monsters with the former guitarist from New York Loose. They only released a couple albums of material and I don't think they sold much of it either, but they have a dancable song or two amongst their recordings. They havnt done anything since 1999.

Famous Monsters - Werewolf Wiggle

Are You Ready for Freddy

This is a song I didn't even know existed until mere days ago, but since I was o excited by it's discovery I made posting it a priority. Last year I posted the song Nightmare on my Street, an unofficial song about Freddy Krueger by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, but this year, I have an officially sanctioned rap song about Freddy. Straight from the Fat Boys this is the theme to Nightmare on Elm Street 4. This post got even better when I discovered what I believe is the Italian poster for Nightmare 4 because it looks like some kind of fashion advertisement as it's just Freddy against a Blue Background looking relatively passive about the whole killing people in their dreams thing. Clearly even to him it's become cliche.

Fat Boys - Are You Ready for Freddy

Big Bad Wolf

Did you know there's a soundtrack for Teen Wolf, and not only is there a soundtrack, but it was once made available for purchase! Well it's spectacular, and is just as 80's as the period that spawned the Michael J. Fox Masterpiece Teen Wolf. I honestly don't know if there's a movie as cheesy that I love as much. It might not be great, but it's certainly not bad and personally I believe the movie is about 1000 times better than it had any right to be. Seriously start watching Teen Wolf and tell me that it's not a fun movie. There's no way you can, from the understated performance of the guy that plays the coach, one of the most underated comedic rolls ever.

"There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese."

and

"Well, Christ, Thorne, look at the shoes on those guys. If our guys had shoes like that there's no telling what they could do."

Plus it had the guy who played Francis in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. That settles it for me. Getting to the point, the song is called Big Bad Wolf by some band called the Wolf Sisters, mostly likely some kind of bland studio rock group that made music for anything they could get to fund their crystal meth habit. Anyways, just like Teen Wolf, this song is so much better than it has any right o be. This song with it's digital effects would be great if it got remixed.

The Wolf Sisters - Big Bad Wolf

Transylvania PTA

If Bobby Boris Prickett was the King of Halloween Horror Music, than Zacherly was arguably the prince or the Black Knight, or some other title that would make this metaphor work. What I'm trying to say is he's a righteous dude when it comes to Halloween. He released 2 albums of full rock and roll and Transylvania PTA is a good one to play if you got any school parties you're throwing or any other school related Halloween extravaganzas and what not. I remember back in the day we used to all dress up and then all the kids would go to all the classrooms in school so everyone saw their costumes. Man, I don't remember doing anything in the way of school work on Halloween. Good Times.

Zacherley - Transylvania PTA

Nightmares

I chose this picture for the post on the Clipse's Nightmares. It reminded me far to much of the 80's Dragnet movie staring Dan Akyroyd and Tom Hanks. The premise of the movie was that the villians were pagans who wore sheep leggings did pills and whose leader wore a giant ram's head. It seemed corny then and does now so I find this comic cover more assuming than frightening but that's the same with Clipse Nightmares. It's got this solid hook sung by Bilal whose been kind've absent since he hit the seen a few years back. He's much better than other Hiphop singers R Kelly and Akon and that's probably the reason it's harder to get him on a track. My favorite moment in this song is when they re-sing a short bar from the Geto Boys Mind Playing Tricks on Me.

"I make big money, I drive big cars, everybody know me, it's like I'm a movie star."

Clipse - Nightmares

Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong But...

This is one of the many funky dance rock songs by the ever hyped Arctic Monkeys. The initial superhype seems to have worn off, but they're definately a solid band. They don't do anything mindblowing but they're so consistent, they kind of remind me of Foo Fighters in that they don't make sub par music but they also don't blow me away with creative spirit. Nonetheless they're a fun band to listen to and the hard fuzz guitar, snearing vocals and solid rhythm section keep every song solid.

Arctic Monkeys - Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong But...

I Think of Demons

When I first heard the Evil One, I was thoroughly excited. Not only was it great music, but it was great music for Halloween. The Evil One is a cd by Roky Erickson and the Aliens and arguably his best album ever. In the late 60's he had moderate fame with the Austin Texas Pscychadelic rock group the 13th Floor Elevators. He was arrested numerous times for possession and pleaded insanity as a defense after which he spent time in the 70s at an institution often receiving shock treatment. It hurt his mental state, but when he was released he was still capable of producing amazing rock music. Most recently a documentary called You're Gonna Miss Me was Released chronicling his recent efforst by him and his family to get back to playing music again. It's a great documentary and if you like Rock n Roll or documentaries I'd suggest watching it.

Roky Erickson - I Think of Demons

Jekyll and Hyde

It seems to me we just don't have as many novelty songs anymore. I mean sure "This is Why I'm Hot" and "Beer for My Horses" which I assume is wrong but that Stupid Toby Keith song that people are always singing as they get drunk are pretty cheesy, but there's not enough songs about wacky stuff. Thank god I have a collection of this stuff from the 50's. This song is by Jim Burgett who wrote a few country/rockabilly songs that briefly charted in the late 50s and early 60's. I couldn't find much more information on him than that. He's got a great voice and I think that's what makes the song.

Jim Burgett - Jekyll and Hyde

These Are Ghosts

The Bees are a pretty rocking band out of England, but they do alot of old school stuff without being anoying about it. They sound very Beatlesish but with more of a 50's sound. More like the first 2 Beatles albums than the last. But as any British Band since the 80's they have a little bit of a Smiths sound and can't help but pick up some of that post punk influence as well. All together they have some nice chill songs and some rockers and their newest cd Octopus is fantastic and check out the single Chicken Payback from their 2nd cd. It's an absolutely ridiculous song but is fucking full of righteous rock to dance too.

The Bees - These Are Ghosts

Scream She Devil Scream

I feel bad, I had tried to make sure but to no avail, that I didnt repeat a song from last year. However Shawn Lee's Friday the 13th snuck past my Spider senses. However I've got 6 songs that I've checked and double checked and not one has been up before. The first is an gothabilly rock and roller called Scream she Devil Scream. It's a good tune, and if you do a search for She Devil you come up with a surprising amount of picks and most of them arnt porn so thats in and of itself amazing. But the Cryptkicker Five a name taken from the original Monster Mash, broke up 3 years ago. Rock and and tip a drink to a dead gothabilly band.

Cryptkicker Five - Scream She Devil Scream

Frankenstein's Den

Pull up a tombstone and sit down and listen to Frankenstein's Den by the Hollywood Flames. An old school doo wop group from the glory days of the genre back in the 50's this is a nice smooth little doo wop number. The Hollywood Flames were pretty active in their time recording more than a few albums, mostly novelty numbers but they had a solid sound and good voices.

Hollywood Flames - Frankenstein's Den

Rottin' in My Coffin'

I thought the picture was appropriate for the Phantom Rockers song Rottin' in my Coffin'. Being that they're kind've a rockabilly punk car, I'd like to imagine they drive around in these like in Hanna Barbara's Wacky races. Seriously, why is it regular people build and own shit like this and the best celebrities who have too much time and money on their hands can do is drive an expensive mercedes. Anyways, this song is about Coffin's that Rock. Not too informational in this post but just listen.

Phantom Rockers - Rottin' In My Coffin'

Haunted House of Rock and Roll

This is a classic off of Whodini's self-titled cd from back in 1983. It's got the electro beat that Whodini was popular for and some damn fine rapping. If you need a track for a little booty shaking it's got a nice bassline and a haunting groove in the background. Apparently according to this track Dracula drinks Bloody Marys. Get it. Bloody Marys.

Whodini - Haunted House of Rock and Roll

Weird Wolf

This is a little song by a Band called the Ghouls that I don't know about. More to the point, I can barely trace the decade, it's a pretty fuzzy recording but I don't know if it is just because of using old school equipment, although to me the fuzz feels like somethign from the 60's. But it's a nice haunting instrumental with some great organ work and howling over the top. As I always say, more songs could use howling, it works better than you'd think. Besides, it's not like alot of singers don't sound like that already.

The Ghouls - Weird Wolf

Must Be a Devil

This is Diplo's Must Be a Devil, he worked on both of M.I.A.'s albums if you've heard of her. He also released his solo debut Florida in 2005. He also has tons of DJ mixes that you can find one way or another and does dj-ing all over the world. He's a DJ more in the hiphop sense though, and I dig his stuff. If you like Girl Talk, you'll like Diplo and his other Hollertronix affiliates. This is a nice booty shaker with some acoustic guitar and a little broken english Brazillian accent singing something vague about a Devil. It's pretty catchy so I figured it would make the Halloween cut.

Diplo - Must Be a Devil

Dracula's Daughter

Screaming Lord Sutch is a unique personality. He ran nunerous times for parliament in England, recorded with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and one of his albums was named the worst album of all time. He also was one of the first rockers, creating much of the schtick that would later be made famous by Alice Cooper. He also frequently recorded horror themed music such as his famous Jack the Ripper and for today's post the novelty Dracula's Daughter. Listen to the lyrics, they're pretty dirty.

Screaming Lord Sutch - Dracula's Daughter

Werewolves of London

Werewolves of London is one of my alltime favorite songs, Halloween or not. I'm from Minnesota and when I used to go to Timberwolves games they'd play that song during a break sometimes and I always thought it was perfect. In recent years they stopped doing that, councidently in recent years we totally sucked. But since last year I posted the original, this year I posted a version by Magnolia Electric Co.

Magnolia Electric Co is basically Jason Molina and whoever his backing band is at the time. He's released alot of cool folk/alt country stuff and this bar version of Werewolves of London is a great cover of the song. It's laid back and boozy, but not overdone. Also normally I just google for images but this was a cool pic done by a guy named James Ryman, and if you click the picture it should take you to his illustration and concept art site.

Magnolia Electric Co. - Werewolves of London

Evil

Interpol is a band with an almost automaton sound. It's like if robots came alive to make music. So if any band sounds cold and murderous, because robots don't have souls, it's Interpol. Appropriately enough they have a song called Evil, it's got a smooth baseline, and although I normally try not to post songs that don't have lyrics that mention something horror/halloween related, I figure I'd make the exception since this just sounds eery. While still being upbeat, I mean, Carlos Dengler knows how to groove a bass guitar.

Interpol - Evil

Demons Are Real

Guided by Voices is a top notch band with a rough touch sound. Some of the roughest recordings by any band as good as they are, Lo-Fi is definately a overstatement of their sound. But it's one of the things that makes Guided by Voices so fucking cool. Well, that and the fact that despite the fidelity they manage to write some of the catchiest fucking songs imaginable. They're broken up now but I urge you to check out Earthquake Glue or Alien Lanes, amongst others.

Guided by Voices - Demons are Real

Rap Dracula: Deadlier than Dracula!

Rap Dracula is by a English Rapper named Kid Acne. I don't know much about the man, but it's got a catchy beat, although I think it might be lifted from someone else. Anyways, his flow is nice and repeated mentions of Rap Dracula make it Ghost Town worthy. Plus it gave me an excuse to post the poster for Blacula. "Deadlier than Dracula!"

Kid Acne - Rap Dracula

Ghost Ride It

Mistah F.A.B. is an MC from the Bay Area and alot of his style is what fits in with the Hyphy movement. Part of this is Ghost Riding the Whip, something you've probably seen in ridiculous Youtube videos. Anyways, Mistah F.A.B. made a song about Ghost Riding the Whip called Ghost Ride It, and appropriately it used the Ghostbusters theme.

In the video he has people with the Proton Packs and the Ecto-1 and although I heard some of the details were off it's still a cool concept and as a monster Ghostbusters fan, I was surprised and thoroughly pleased with the song and video. Mistah F.A.B. however has been attacked for deaths resulting in people attempting to Ghost Ride the Whip and failing, although it's not his fault nor responsibility for people to drive their cars right. Unfortunately he wasn't aloud to include this song on his most recent cd due to legal issues but here it is, enjoy,

Mistah F.A.B. - Ghost Ride It

Clap for the Wolfman

Written in 1974 this was the last Guess Who song to chart in the top 10. It was written as an homage to disc jockey Wolfman Jack, and if any dj ever, deserved a song dedicated to him, it's Woflman Jack. Just watch American Graffiti when Wolfman Jack makes an appearance and is basically the Yoda of southern California in the 50's.

The Guess Who - Clap for the Wolfman

Dracula's Wedding

In 2003, Andre 3000 and Big Boi recently their opus, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Although I did dig Big Boi's Spearboxxx just a bit more than Andre's disc, Big Boi didn't release a spooky themed funky joint dedicated to the marriage of Dracula himself. This track is top of pops for rocking out this Halloween season, with the synth undertones and rollicing acoustic guitar, and what sounds like Andre singing through a telephone. This would definately be a dance toon at the wedding of the Nightstalkers.

Andre 3000 - Dracula's Wedding

R.I.P. Bobby "Boris" Pickett

The first post of course had to come from Halloween Music's Cryptkicking King, Bobby "Boris Pickett" who created the Monster Mash. He died on April 25th of this year, but he created one of only 3 songs to hit #1 on three separate occasions. The Monster Mash has sold over 4 million copies. The Monster Mash hit #1 on October 20th 1962 just before Halloween. As a tribute I've posted a little heard gem from his album the Original Monster Mash. Anyone that still gets a kick out of playing a song for over 40 years clearly is a total badass. So Bobby I salute you, you fucking rule.
Bobby "Boris" Pickett - Skully Gully

Back From the Dead

This Blog is about to be Back from the Dead, I got some new stuff coming ta nite, maybe I'll change the logo too...