The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast
The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast celebrates the magic of live music through sharing personal stories. Each week, our guests will share their stories of different shows that were memorable and meaningful to them. We’ll also have concert reviews and conversations with musicians and crew members who put on those live shows. By sharing their stories, we hope to engage you - our audience - to relive your live music memories also. So please join us every week as we explore the transformative power of live music that makes attending concerts not just entertaining, but essential. This is The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast, where every concert tells a story.
The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast
Episode 032 - Top 10 Halloween Songs
This week, we are going through our favorite Halloween-influenced rock songs. From the funny ones to the more disturbing ones, we have a good mix of songs to share with you that move beyond the Monster Mash, that should send a tingle down your spine and get you movin' and groovin' on All Hallow's Eve. So have a safe, happy Halloween rockin' to the Top 10 Halloween songs, this week on the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!
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Welcome to The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Gadd. And this week I've got a Halloween top 10 list for you. I'm really excited to be coming to you from our new studio for the first time and sharing this list of my favorite Halloween related rock songs. Rock-N-Roll music covers all aspects of life, which sometimes includes the supernatural, the mystical, and the darker side of humanity. And with Halloween happening this week, now is the perfect time to share some of my favorite songs about the subject. The first Halloween songs that I was ever aware of were novelty songs, most notably Bobby Pickett's"Monster Mash". Bobby Pickett was a singer who apparently did a passable impression of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster. So his bandmates encouraged him to do something with that impression. Thus, the Monster Mash was born in the shadow of the various dance songs that were all the rage at the time, especially the Mashed Potato. Monster Mash. Mashed Potato. Little did Pickett know that the song would go on to become a monster hit, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart the week before Halloween in 1962, and remaining in the public's consciousness ever since. A Halloween classic. Since I heard that one, I've heard hundreds of rock songs that have a spooky or a supernatural vibe that I've always associated with Halloween, but I'll certainly miss some. So I encourage you to post your own list in the comments below. I'd love to hear about more rockin' Halloween music and spread the word, which is really what this podcast is all about. So stick around for my list of the top 10 Halloween related rock songs coming up right now. Starting with number 10 on the list is I Put a Spell on You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. This song was recorded and released in 1956, six years before Monster Mash came out. There's a guy named Steve Bergsman who wrote a great biography of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and in it Hawkins is quoted as saying that he intended for this to be a traditional love song, but then the song's producer thought that the song was too stiff the way it was, so he brought in dinner to the studio and made sure that everyone there got something to drink and got a little drunk because he wanted the song to have a looser sound. Here's Screamin Jay Hawkins doing the song on late night TV in 1989.
You do. I can't stand it! I can't stand it! I can't stand it! Don't put me down! How can we dispel when you You get You bet!
Alex Gadd:Of course, in 1956, this song got banned by most radio stations for being too in 1950s, definitively not PC terms, cannibalistic. Still, it went on to sell more than 1 million copies of the single as Alan Freed, the famous DJ, got behind the song and kept it alive. And Hawkins leaned into that voodoo vibe hard, wearing capes, top hats, bones through his nose, presenting himself as a voodoo priest like character on stage. He even started emerging from a coffin at his shows. He set the template in my opinion for shock rock, which would come along about 15 years later when Alice Cooper built off what Hawkins had started on stage. At my third concert back in 1981, I saw the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden and they got Screamin' Jay Hawkins to open for him. And he definitely came out of the coffin at the beginning of his show. Lots of smoke, the whole voodoo priest thing in full effect. It was great. Between that and seeing The Stones for the first time, my 12 year old self loved the show. My mind was blown. Now, in later years, a ton of other artists covered this song, most notably Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Nina Simone, who owned the song in the way she always seemed to do when she covered anyone else's music. Now Screamin' Jay Hawkins' version is very campy and Nina Simone's is much more dignified and emotional but the performance and the songwriting help the song rise above being just another novelty song. And I think it's perfect for Halloween. Song number nine on the list is the classic Season of the Witch, which was written and recorded by Donovan in 1966. And it's one of the earliest rock songs that I'm aware of that addresses anything having to do with the paranormal, notwithstanding the fact that I Put a Spell on You had come out 10 years earlier. The interesting thing about Season of the Witch is that at the time it was considered one of the first psychedelic pop records, more than it was anything spooky, it was never released as a single, but it was often singled out as one of the standout tracks on Donovan's 1966 album, Sunshine Superman, which was one of the really groundbreaking psychedelic pop records. Recently, in 2019, Lana Del Rey did an impressive cover of the song and did a really nice job upping the creep level just a little bit, whereas Donovan sang the song like he was wary of coming in contact with the witch that he was singing about, del Rey sings the song like she's the witch herself, at least that's how I hear it. Anyway, here's a bit of her version of this classic Halloween song.
You got to pick up every stitch. Gotta keep. You got to pick up every stitch. Gotta keep. You got to pick up every stitch. Oh no, must be the season of the witch. Must be the season of the witch. Must be the season of the witch.
Alex Gadd:Halloween song number 8 is Bad Moon Rising from the aforementioned Creedence Clearwater revival. The song will forever be burned into my brain as being a creepy song because I first heard the song while seeing the 1981 classic horror comedy movie An American Werewolf in London. I went to see it in the theaters in New York city with my uncle. I was 12 and I'm not afraid to tell you that I was freaked out by the gore, even though the movie itself was genuinely funny, and so in the middle of the movie, I got up and left the theater. The song that stuck with me was not Blue Moon, which they play three times from three different performances in the movie, but it was this CCR classic, Bad Moon Rising. And the odd thing about the song is that, like the movie, the song is a weird mashup. In this case, it's a mashup of upbeat music with apocalyptic lyrics, which I think makes the song even a little more unsettling. The other interesting thing about this being considered a spooky song is that the lyrics are about bad weather, not werewolves or other monsters, but it has the word moon in it and that fit nicely with the werewolf movie theme. And so here we are. Whenever I hear this song, it feels like a bad omen, which I mean, as the highest compliment for John Fogerty, who apparently wrote the song after seeing the movie, The Devil and Daniel Webster, in which a storm destroys the farms of everyone in the area, except the person who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for seven years of prosperity. So there is some supernatural aspect influencing this song, and I'll always feel the same creeping dread when I hear it, which I welcome at this point. Number seven on the list is pretty much any song by the Misfits, who I think are the ultimate Halloween band. Pretty much all of their music was influenced by either horror or science fiction. And there are lots of songs that would be perfect for this list. There's Last Caress, which is filled with dark, horrible images throughout. There's Ghoul's Night Out, which is certainly applicable here. Or Die, Die, My Darling, which is a murder fantasy song. In that, in my opinion, that goes beyond being a Halloween song for me. So the misfits song that I focused on for this is the song Halloween released as a single on Halloween in 1981. It had been recorded more than a year earlier and meant to be on the band's debut album, but due to some personnel changes, the band never released a debut album at that time. Instead, they released a three song EP early in 1981. And then this song as a single on Halloween. The song itself mentions bonfires and pumpkins early on before getting into dead cats and burning bodies hanging from poles, as well as the disturbing image of candy apples with razor blades. There's little redeeming value in the Misfits' lyrics, but they've great energy in the music and they, as much as tell you upfront with the name of their band, that it's not going to be nice. They're misfits. They were very influential in the thrash metal music scene, interestingly enough, from which Metallica emerged. And they're still on tour. They were playing gigs as recently as August. So if you're looking for a punk metal band that almost always is ready for Halloween, check out Misfits Song Six is If You Have Ghosts originally written by Roky Erickson back in the early nineteen eighties. After Roky started his career in the sixties as one of the pioneers of the Texas psychedelic movement with his band, the 13th Floor Elevators, he had a breakdown on stage in 1968 and was institutionalized to be treated for what was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia That treatment included shock therapy, which affected him greatly as you would expect. Upon his release from treatment he started playing much harder rock music and writing songs that were largely tied to horror and science fiction themes. So there are any number of Halloween-appropriate songs in his catalog to choose from. However, I locked into"If You Have Ghosts" because of one of my favorite bands, the Swedish band Ghost. As I've discussed on this podcast before, they are one of my favorite bands and Ghost are tailor-made for Halloween every time they hit the stage. The lead singer plays a character, Papa Emeritus, who is a Pope of a satanic church, and he has full facial prosthetics. The rest of the band wear full head covering helmets and are referred to as the Nameless Ghouls. They appear to be a satanic death metal band, as I mentioned, but in reality, they're an arena rock band whose music would have fit perfectly into the late 1980s radio or MTV. After they released their first two full length albums in 2010 and early 2013, they went in and recorded a five song EP titled If You Have Ghost with Dave Grohl, producing. Four of those songs were cover songs, including this title track, which was, as I mentioned, originally written by Roky Erickson and released on his 1981 album, The Evil One. Interestingly, the song seems to include references to werewolves as well as ghosts, but given what we know about Roky's long battle with mental illness, it's more likely the entire song is about his dealing with schizophrenia. However, I get uncomfortable listening to his version of the song, because it's kind of jittery and it sounds too close to the illness itself. Other bands have covered the song really well, including an excellent version by John Wesley Harding, but Ghost's version is my pick for Halloween. And in their hands, the tune takes on a much more tongue in cheek tone. It sounds really great. So please take a listen to them performing the song in L.A. in 2019.
I don't want my life to stretch too long. Stretch too long. I've been living in this world alone, so no one needs me. I've been running from the wind, I don't want my life to run.
Alex Gadd:there's a catchy Halloween track that will haunt you in just the right way for our list. At number five, Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon. Anytime an artist gets into full body makeup for a video, that's worthy of consideration for this list of Halloween classics. And Ozzy went full werewolf for the video to this title track to his 1983 album. The song itself is a story straight out of H. G. Wells or Robert Louis Stevenson about a man who's either killed and buried or buried alive and rises from the grave to seek revenge. And oh yeah. He's a werewolf, which might explain why he was killed the first time around. All those themes work perfectly for Halloween. Are there other Ozzy songs that work here? Sure, there are. Diary of a Madman, Mr. Crowley, Under the Graveyard, Zombie Stomp, Hellraiser, many more. But Bark at the Moon captures the more playful side of Halloween, and we need some of that here on the podcast Getting to number four, we have ACDC's Hell's Bells. ACDC was always more of a good time rock band in my eyes, but there's no doubt that the opening track to their 1980 mega hit album Back in Black is among their most ominous tunes. from the opening slow tolling of the bell, which serves as a dramatic start to the song, pairing that with the ominous intro of Angus Young playing that funereal melody slowly, and you've got an appropriately spooky sounding tune. Now, of course, this was entirely appropriate for ACDC to lead off their follow up album to 1979's breakthrough hit album and song Highway to Hell, because after Highway to Hell became a big hit, their lead singer, Bon Scott, passed away. The band was leading off their new album with a new singer, with the first song that served as a way to honor Bon Scott's memory as much as anything. And while"Highway to Hell" is also about Satan in Hell, it's more about the singer thumbing his nose at Satan and being happy living the fast paced life of a rock star here on Earth while he can. Which certainly was ironic, but isn't as spooky. Hell's Bells is the darker track, sung from Satan's perspective and lacking even a trace of joy or fun, and it's perfect for our Halloween playlist. At number three, we have Alice Cooper. Like Misfits, his career is filled with Halloween inspired songs, and I chose the 1991 track"Feed My Frankenstein," although any number of other songs would work here, from"Cold Ethyl," which is about necrophilia, to"Dead Babies," which is about kids dying of overdoses after being abandoned by their parents. Those are the more gruesome tracks in Alice's catalog that I considered. But Feed My Frankenstein is early 90's Alice. It's more slick and polished. It's a rocker. It's also a cover song, originally written by a band called Zodiac Mind Warp. And The Love Reaction. I love that name. Alice covered the song a year after it was originally released, and the recording includes contributions from Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, as well as Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx.
I'm feeling school proof, and it's starting to feel fire. It will start cooling. I'm a hungry man. Get you a dinner, right on time. I'll leave my sign. Meet Frank Dino. Get a sign. Call me anytime.
Alex Gadd:Song two on our list is Black Sabbath, the title track to the band Black Sabbath's 1970 debut album. This is a song that Rob Halford, the lead singer from Judas Priest called the most evil song that's ever been written. And while I don't think that's actually true, it was pretty much the template for doom metal and the darker side of rock music that followed. And as with other bands on this list, a lot of Black Sabbath songs could have qualified but I chose Black Sabbath. It's a home run. How could it not be the choice here? Also, interestingly, the song Black Sabbath. It's one of the rare songs in Rock-N-Roll where there's a song on an album by a band. And all three things have the same name. There are only a couple that I'm aware of. So if you know of the others that I'm thinking of, put them in the comments below. Now, before we get to the number one song on our list, There are a bunch of other songs that I didn't include but I did consider and are worthy of mention. Songs like Boris the Spider by The Who, or Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper, The Ripper by Judas Priest, or even Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. We've got Suicide's Frankie Teardrop, which would have made this list. Except that I can't stand listening to it. I find the song unlistenable. And this is a playlist of songs that I want you to listen to. Also, Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield is certainly deserving to be on this list, as it was the soundtrack to the ultimate horror movie, The Exorcist. But it's an instrumental, and it loses some of the creep factor when you listen to the whole opening movement, which is only three and a half minutes long. It's spookier in smaller doses, in my opinion. There's even Springsteen's song Nebraska, the title to his 1982 album, which is a very unsettling song if you listen to the lyrics and hear the casual way in which the storyteller in the song, the subject, is recounting his murder spree with absolutely no contrition whatsoever. The song was based on the Charles Starkweather murder spree in Nebraska in the 1950s, so it makes sense that it would be that way. Then I considered songs like the Cranberries'"Zombie" or"All You Zombies" by The Hooters, but those didn't make the cut because the subject matter isn't really about zombies in the strict sense of the word. Zombies are used as a metaphor for people sleepwalking through life as atrocities are happening around them in both of those songs. And look, there are a ton more that deserve honorable mention but didn't make our top 10. Coming in at number one on our list of Halloween rock songs is Bloodletting, by Concrete Blonde the title track of this L. A. band's 1990 third album, the subtitle says it all. It's the Vampire Song, a song that matches dark lyrics with foreboding music to make a perfect Halloween song. It's one of my favorite songs.
There's a rocket chair by the window down the hall. There's something there in the shadow down the hall. Vampire now. Raisin knees to New Orleans. I'm goin down by the river where it's warm and green. I'm gonna have a drink and walk around. I got to think of God, oh yeah.
Alex Gadd:It's about someone who may or may not be a vampire's victim or servant or is imprinted onto a vampire. I've always assumed the song is a metaphor for a bad romantic relationship, where the singer's lover either is or was sucking the life out of their romance. Based on an interview I read with Jeanette Napolitano, the singer and songwriter, she did an interview in Spin Magazine years ago So that's how I think of the song, but it's also clearly inspired by Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles in that it references both vampires and New Orleans, which is where Anne Rice lived and where the book interview with a Vampire takes place. Now, interestingly, there's another song on the same album that's also a good Halloween song. It's called"The Beast," which equates love with a blood sucking beast that will, quote,"tear out your heart and hungrily lick it and painfully pick it apart," unquote. So a two for one Halloween special here from Concrete Blonde. Well, that's the list of my favorite Halloween songs. Which ones did I miss? Which are your favorites? There's plenty of room for other opinions here at The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast. And until we meet again, that's it for this week's episode. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday. And if you like what you heard today, we'd appreciate it if you would subscribe or follow to make sure you get notified about each new episode and please tell your friends. Also a reminder that we release a playlist for every episode. So look for The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast playlist on Spotify every week, this week, featuring the songs that I mentioned here today. So check that out. Additionally, we want to know what you think. Please leave us a comment and we'll try to respond to them. The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, wishing you a safe, happy Halloween. And until next time, remember that life is short. So get those concert tickets.