Halloween playlists

I've been down this road before.

I thought a lot (and blogged) about Halloween music and videos in 2011 and 2013. The first thing I notice is that I have some of the same issues as always. However, this time around, I also know a lot more songs.

I wanted to create one really ultimate playlist, getting in everything good in 31 songs, one for each day in October. It was going to start with "O Fortuna" and end with "Tubular Bells", but the penultimate song would be "Hell Night" from the Misfits, because October 30th is Hell Night.

Then it fell apart.

There were a few factors, but one of the key ones was wanting to get in "Here Comes Count Dracula" by Dr. Something, which is only available via Bandcamp and Soundcloud. There are songs that don't have videos, per se, but you can still bring them up on Youtube. This is not one of them.

Somehow, that split everything apart. If the primary conflict before had been whether the song and video were both Halloween-themed, split the difference! Make one Spotify playlist, with only Halloween-themed songs, and one Youtube playlist, with only Halloween-themed videos.

The daily songs ended up being mostly videos, but that list was only finalized in the past few days. I only settled on the Youtube list last night.

(But I finished the Spotify list earlier, tested it, and it is pretty great.)

Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6I5nSIXqv9ph5SvlUBK4sQ?si=07bc890f3c084caa

Youtube playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWpUCC7Ou33-E2RLxs3AVn3lasZolfy1r

Then there are the daily songs, which are a bit of a mix.

These years of reviewing music have taught me that there is no ultimate, perfect playlist. Different songs and formats serve different needs and moods, so embrace plurality.

Not everything is ideal. The Spotify version of "Dracula's Tango" is not the best, and the only way Spotify has "Hell Night" is after a long silence that plays after "Don't Open 'Til Doomsday". What was available changed the way things went.

The Spotify playlist tells one story that starts off grim, and questions whether the protagonist is cursed. Eventually things become more light-hearted, with a declaration of not being "Superstitious", but still concluded by "Tubular Bells", because the eerie is still out there.

The only appropriate conclusion for the videos ended up being "Night On Bald Mountain/Ave Maria". That meant it ended up starting out more light-hearted and fun, became more dreadful, and hit its most despairing right before the end. It is darkest before the dawn, but then dawn does come and it is a new month.

October is my favorite month, but it must end.

Links will show you the songs selected for the two playlists, but I will list daily songs below, after the related posts.

Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2011/07/halloween-videos-and-also-rans.html 

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/11/halloween-videos-and-misfits-songs.html 

 

October Daily Songs:

10/1 “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, performed by James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

10/2 “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas

10/3 “I Miss You” by Blink-182

10/4 “Dead Man's Party” by Oingo Boingo

10/5 “Man Behind the Mask” by Alice Cooper

10/6 “Dream Warriors” by Dokken

10/7 “Pet Sematery” by Ramones

10/8 “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me” by Fall Out Boy

10/9 “I Think I'm In Love” by Eddie Money

10/10 “Doing It All For My Baby” by Huey Lewis and The News

10/11 “J Train” by Reggie and the Full Effect

10/12 “Bad Vibrations” by Berwanger

10/13 “Werewolf” by Quinn XCII feat. Yoshi Flower

10/14 “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon

10/15 “La Vampiresa” by Los Tigrillos

10/16 “Night Boat” by Duran Duran

10/17 “Grimly Fiendish” by The Damned

10/18 “Dracula's Tango (Sucker For Your Love)” by Toto Coelo

10/19 “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man” by Concrete Blonde

10/20 “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

10/21 “On Our Own” by Bobby Brown

10/22 “Zombie Love” by LightningCloud

10/23 “Dirty Creature” by Split Enz

10/24 “Blue Line Baby” by Nothing

10/25 “Enthralldom” by Iron Mountain

10/26 “Weighted” by frnkiero and the cellabration

10/27 “Baby You're a Haunted House” by Gerard Way

10/28 “37” by Reggie and the Full Effect

10/29 “Count Dracula” by Dr. Something

10/30 “Disconnected” by Keane

10/31 “I'm Not A Vampire (Reimagined)” by Falling In Reverse