Halloween Originals: Songs Born for October
Movie themes, classical compositions, and novelty hits that were written specifically to be spooky. The purist's Halloween playlist, no borrowed darkness required.
Track List
| # | Title | Artist | Year | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toccata and Fugue in D Minor | Johann Sebastian Bach | 1708 | — |
| 2 | Night on Bald Mountain | Modest Mussorgsky | 1867 | — |
| 3 | In the Hall of the Mountain King | Edvard Grieg | 1875 | — |
| 4 | Danse Macabre | Camille Saint-Saens | 1874 | — |
| 5 | The Sorcerer's Apprentice | Paul Dukas | 1897 | — |
| 6 | Monster Mash | Bobby 'Boris' Pickett | 1962 | — |
| 7 | I Put a Spell on You | Screamin' Jay Hawkins | 1956 | — |
| 8 | Purple People Eater | Sheb Wooley | 1958 | — |
| 9 | Haunted House | Jumpin' Gene Simmons | 1964 | — |
| 10 | The Addams Family Theme | Vic Mizzy | 1964 | — |
| 11 | The Munsters Theme | Jack Marshall | 1964 | — |
| 12 | Psycho (Prelude) | Bernard Herrmann | 1960 | — |
| 13 | Tubular Bells | Mike Oldfield | 1973 | — |
| 14 | Time Warp | Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast | 1975 | — |
| 15 | Science Fiction Double Feature | Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast | 1975 | — |
| 16 | Sweet Transvestite | Tim Curry | 1975 | — |
| 17 | Halloween Theme (Main Title) | John Carpenter | 1978 | — |
| 18 | Thriller | Michael Jackson | 1982 | — |
| 19 | Ghostbusters | Ray Parker Jr. | 1984 | — |
| 20 | Nightmare on Elm Street Theme | Charles Bernstein | 1984 | — |
| 21 | A Nightmare on My Street | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | 1988 | — |
| 22 | This Is Halloween | Danny Elfman | 1993 | — |
| 23 | Oogie Boogie's Song | Ken Page | 1993 | — |
| 24 | Kidnap the Sandy Claws | Nightmare Before Christmas Cast | 1993 | — |
| 25 | Beetlejuice Theme | Danny Elfman | 1988 | — |
| 26 | Ghostbusters II (On Our Own) | Bobby Brown | 1989 | — |
| 27 | The Munsters Theme (remix) | Rob Zombie | 1995 | — |
| 28 | Dragula | Rob Zombie | 1998 | — |
| 29 | Living Dead Girl | Rob Zombie | 1998 | — |
| 30 | Spooky Scary Skeletons | Andrew Gold | 1996 | — |
Most Halloween playlists borrow songs from other contexts and repurpose them. This one is different. Every track here was composed with darkness, horror, or the supernatural as its explicit subject. These are songs born for October, not adopted into it.
Classical Foundations
The playlist opens with five composers who understood the macabre centuries before Hollywood existed. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor has been synonymous with haunted houses since the silent film era, and for good reason. Those opening notes trigger something primal. Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain is a full orchestral portrait of a witches’ sabbath. Saint-Saens wrote Danse Macabre to depict Death playing the violin at midnight while skeletons dance in a graveyard. These are not subtle works.
Play the classical section as background during dinner or while guests explore your decorations. The music is atmospheric without being demanding, and it signals to your guests that this party has actual taste.
The Golden Age of Horror Themes
Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho strings. Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells (which most people know as “the Exorcist music”). John Carpenter composing the Halloween theme on a synthesizer because he couldn’t afford an orchestra. These scores defined what scary sounds like for generations. Carpenter’s five-note piano motif is arguably the most efficient piece of horror music ever written: four bars, and every listener’s pulse increases.
Danny Elfman’s Monopoly
Elfman gets four tracks on this list, and honestly he deserves more. His work on Nightmare Before Christmas alone produced three songs that are now permanent fixtures of the Halloween canon. This Is Halloween is the closest thing we have to a modern Halloween national anthem.
The Rob Zombie Bridge
Rob Zombie’s contributions (Dragula, Living Dead Girl, his Munsters Theme remix) sit at the intersection of Halloween originals and rock. He makes music that sounds like a haunted house feels, and if your party has any edge at all, these tracks will land perfectly.