Monster songs

The final October goal was to do a month of monster songs.

I have done some other Halloween stuff. I have read some more macabre material and finally watched Beetlejuice. I did not carve or grow any pumpkins, which was a little disappointing, but it's okay.

The songs goal was significant because it feels like the one I am most proud of, even though it involved the least effort.

That is actually more that I am past the effort. I did worry a lot over it, poring over different songs. However, I set the final song selection and playing order over a week ago. All that was left was posting, whereas even when I had a firm plan for the day's drawing and costume selfie, it still needed the execution.

More than that, the songs goal worked in the best parts of my life.

I am in a difficult time of life, but music and learning are two of the most rewarding things I get. This involved music and was also a period of discovery.

I had not realized how many songs with Halloween-appropriate titles there were. There are tons! I did a month without any repeats, and I could have done still more.

It was fun that so many familiar names turned up. Some of them I had listened to recently so remembered the songs, like with the Gin Blossoms and Stray Cats. Reviewing Fefe Dobson was a while ago, but I was able to confirm that I had not used "Ghost" yet. Perfect! (I am still trying to avoid repeats.)

More frequently, key word searches turned up old friends. Hey Direct Hit!

Weezer's zombie song is new, but I would have heard it eventually. I don't know that I would have ever come across Tom Petty's zombie song.

I am sure that I had listened to “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps” when I was reviewing David Bowie, but there was so much there that remembering everything would be impossible.

I was more surprised that I didn't remember “Calling All Skeletons” by Alkaline Trio, except with many of these songs, the ghosts and skeletons are not literal, but simply representative of things that haunt us. I have a lot of thoughts about monsters and fears in general, and I may do some writing about that.

Also, I had never heard of some of these bands, but now I have. Plus the entire project came up because of my emo exploration; it was the songs by Mogwai, Rye Coalition, and Superdrag (who aren't generally classified as emo - especially Mogwai - but they were all in the book). Trying to know led to more knowing... that is all just totally my thing.

There is a lot still left to be explored, but in the future I would like to do an expanded Halloween play list. I do have a short one up on Spotify. There are perfectly good songs that I did not use this year because I have used them in other years. What if the title is Halloween but the song isn't really? Should that be included or not? Maybe next year I will have a perfect play list.

For a few other notes...

I am usually listening while doing other things, so I tend not to watch entire videos. I did not know about the sex scene in The Midnight's video. It wasn't that graphic, but yeah, that happened.

I am glad the fashion zombies beat the Aquabats in their video. I normally would root for the heroes, but I was curious how they would look as not Aquabats.

I have been sitting on LightningCloud's "Zombie Love" video for almost a year. It is perfect for Halloween, but I reviewed them last November, just missing it. Glad to get there finally.

For the curious, here is the complete list.

10/1 “Zombie Bastards” by Weezer

10/2 “How to be a Werewolf” by Mogwai

10/3 “Do the Vampire” by Superdrag

10/4 “Curse of the Mummy's Hand” by The Misfits

10/5 “Skeletons” by Heartist

10/6 “Devil Train” by Stray Cats

10/7 “Monsters” by Shinedown

10/8 “Ghost” by Halsey

10/9 “Cocaine Werewolf” by Rye Coalition

10/10 “Zombie Zoo” by Tom Petty

10/11 “Vampiresa” by Los Tigrillos

10/12 “Monsters” by Matchbook Romance

10/13 “Frankenstein” by Tokyo Police Club

10/14 “Plastic Skeletons” by Jealous of the Birds

10/15 “Mummy Dust” by Ghost

10/16 “Fashion Zombies” by The Aquabats!

10/17 “Devil's Daughter” by Gin Blossoms

10/18 “Werewolf Shame” by Direct Hit!

10/19 “I'm Not a Vampire” by Falling In Reverse

10/20 “Flying Saucer Attack” by The Rezillos

10/21 “Frankenstein” by New York Dolls

10/22 “Banshee” by Thin Lizzy

10/23 “Calling All Skeletons” by Alkaline Trio

10/24 “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps” by David Bowie

10/25 “Ghost” by Ella Henderson

10/26 “Devil Inside” by INXS

10/27 “Werewolf” by Quinn XCII feat. Yoshi Flower

10/28 “Vampires” by The Midnight

10/29 “Frankenstein” by Iced Earth

10/30 “Ghost” by Fefe Dobson

10/31 “Zombie Love” by LightningCloud