Spooky Sounds: Redbrick's Alternative Halloween Picks

Halloween playlists can often fall into the same old patterns – classic horror movie soundtracks, ‘Tubular Bells’ and ‘Monster Mash’. In attempt to dust off the cobwebs from your usual streaming habits, Redbrick writers have compiled an alternative list of our most, loved and hated tracks, each with a strong case for being a bit off tone or just plain cursed.

Roxy Music – Every Dream Home a Heartache

If you want a genuinely creepy Halloween theme, or if you are a filmmaker looking to make a scary scene, then this is the song for you, just ask David Fincher who used this song in his series Mindhunter. ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’ opens with a monologue by Bryan Ferry supported by a sinister organ. However, the levels of scary are really raised by the songs subject. This song is a love song to an inflatable doll. Yep. Terrifying. Ferry uses the songs lead character, in love with an inflatable doll, to portray the loneliness and strangeness of wealth. The singer tells us that he is going to buy the doll clothes to wear and dress it up every day, all while speaking in a totally monotonous tone, with the organ still raging around him, and a slow bass line driving the song. Then 3 minutes in, the line ‘I blew up your body, but you blew my mind’ triggers an amazing breakdown, which is melodic in contrast to the rest of the song. The fantastic solo and pay-off for all the creepiness makes ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’ a brilliant song as well as a great Halloween anthem to make your friends think you might be a psychopath.

Robbie Hawken

Wolf Alice – You’re a Germ

It’s true that I would never miss an opportunity to recommend Wolf Alice. That said, ‘You’re a Germ’, from their 2015 debut album My Love Is Cool, is a great starting point for anyone looking to get into their music. Beginning with soft vocals before gradually building to the frenetic chorus ‘You ain’t going to heaven / ‘Cause I’m draggin’ you down to hell’, the song brilliantly showcases the range of the band’s sound. It also happens to be perfect Halloween listening. Strictly speaking, it’s not the only of their songs suitable for this time of year – ‘Ghoster’, taken from the soundtrack of the all-female Ghostbusters remake – is also worth a listen. For me, however, ‘You’re a Germ’ is deserving of its place on this list largely due to the music video. It shows the band laughing and drinking before their door is broken down by an axeman wearing dungarees and a burlap sack, seemingly a tribute to 80’s horror classics The Shining and Friday 13^th. Although at times it feels like a parody of the genre, the jump scares build in time with the song itself, creating a frightening close to the video. It is certainly worth watching and listening to on 31st October (and beyond).

Emma Walker

Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays

Beyond conjuring up images of Bob Geldof having a Brexit shouting match with Nigel Farage on the Thames, the Boomtown Rats now mean little to me but a deep rooted feeling of sick in my stomach. At the wee age of nine, I remember a distinct moment of musical consciouses, sat in the car in the way home from school. Cascading Pianos, dramatic chords and something akin to a rock opera started streaming out of the radio, instantly grabbing my attention and enthralling me. Undeniably catchy and full of life, I didn’t really know what the bloke singing ‘I don’t like Mondays’ was on about but it was definitely a statement I felt I could get on board with at the time. I asked Mum the name of the song, and being one from back in her day she was delighted to relay it to me. As the first song I purchased on itunes, I used to absolutely rinse the Boomtown Rats and gleefully jam out to it on full tilt day after day. Blissful ignorance was short lived however, when I eventually started paying closer attention to the lyrics I knew so well and looked into their meaning. Cue nine year-old me reading up on the tragic school shooting by Brenda Spencer, and suddenly those jangly pianos start to bring on a strong urge to vomit as the concept was something I just couldn’t make sense of. Still making me feel queasy to this day, Bob Geldof’s anti-pop track ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ is definitely one of the most cursed things to come out of the 70s.

David Evans

Duran Duran – Hungry Like the Wolf

Whilst at first ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ by Duran Duran may not seem like an obvious choice for the Halloween playlist, I would argue that it is in fact an excellent addition to any spooky celebrations. Inspired by the classic fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood, the lyrics are suitably creepy, with an element of the disturbing thrown in for good measure. The inclusion of classic horror tropes such as being ‘stalked in the forest’ and the statement that ‘I’m on the hunt, I’m after you’, create a gothic atmosphere to the song and merit its inclusion alongside the more familiar staples of the Halloween track-list.

However, the real reason that this is one of my favourite spooky songs is because it is undeniably a bop. Yes, it may be cheesy, but classic 80s synth-pop is hard not to want to get up and dance to and ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ is no exception to this. With the fact that many of us won’t be able to celebrate Halloween in the way we usually would, we need something upbeat on the playlist to raise the spirits, (no pun intended). For me, ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ is the perfect choice.

Ellie Harris

My Chemical Romance – Welcome to The Black Parade

Although not the classic creepy song, I really struggle to detach ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ from its genuinely disturbing music video. My Chemical Romance, are the classic emo band (who now I think about it, would make an excellent fancy dress theme for Halloween based on the wardrobe from this video). The outfits take inspiration from classic marching band attire with an emo twist; think corpse bride meets marching band.

The song does begin in quite a creepy manner with a piano intro and isolated vocals which really draw attention to the lyrics. ‘Because one day, I’ll leave you / A phantom to lead you in the summer / To join the black parade.’ These lyrics do just sound darkly ominous which, combined with the standard Halloween themes of phantoms and death, conjure up the perfect track for this spooky season. This being said, the tempo shift in the middle of the song adds a really fun and catchy element which ensures the potential for a dance to be had amongst all the scare and gloom.

If Halloween fun is what you are seeking, My Chemical Romance would provide the perfect soundtrack. If marginal creepiness hits the spot, the ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ music video is the one for you.

Bethany-Jo O’Niell

Bauhaus – Bella Lugosi’s Dead

Creaking doors, a drum machine caught up in a glitch, scratchy distorted guitars and a monotonous bass line that really feels like impending doom, Bauhaus’ ‘Bella Lagosi’s Dead’ is easily one of the most eerie yet relaxing tracks in existence. Descending from a wealth of influences, the 1979 debut single, costing just £8 to make and record in Northampton, later took on legendary status as the birth of Goth as we know it. Across the nine minutes, the minimalist, dark stylings of Joy Division echo alongside the droning, doom-filled content of The Doors’ ‘The End’, sprinkled with a touch of theatrics and Velvet Underground-esq experimental screeching. Drawing on all these influences, Bauhaus’s track takes on dark musical themes and focuses on the explicitly macabre. Painting a vivid scene of the Count Dracula actor’s funeral, the lyrics are full of the fantastic imagery of bats, bell towers, bled bodies and virginal brides as Bella Lagosi is lowered into a tomb and pronounced dead … undead? If halloween were to have an anthem, surely this goes some way further than Monster Mash.

David Evans