My Halloween Hundred for 2020

The holidays were special to my late elementary school art teaching mom. I swear that it didn’t matter what the holiday was, Mom had decorations for it. Arbor Day? Check! She used the same tree shaped candles for that day and Earth Day. Oh, yes, she celebrated Earth Day with that old Sixties/Seventies-era candle in the shape of an ecology symbol. Now, in all seriousness, the woman was ready for Martin Luther King Jr. Day when she purchased a collectable doll of him for her doll collection just as the states were voting for his national holiday. So, Mom was prepared to decorate the house for every holiday imaginable, including some I swear she made up. Oh? Grandparents’ Day is real? Hell! I thought she made that one up after she became a grandmother.

But when it came to pulling out all of the stops, and for my hording mother, that meant she had enough crap to decorate three homes in her small house, she lived for Christmas and Halloween. Unfortunately, her Christmas decorations were only for her family and friends, as she didn’t enjoy decorating the outside. Christmas was magnificent and colorful, especially while growing up since we made many of our ornaments. But, once again, few outside of her inner circle would ever get to see her Christmas home.

So, Halloween became her moment to shine in the world. And, my brother and I became her canvass. No, we never got to just purchase a cheap-ass Halloween costume like Batman. No, we had to follow what she wanted to make us. For my brother who was wired more like her, this was fine. But for me, the strong-willed child with a vision of his own, I learned to tolerate her creations. You see, Mom entered us in our town’s annual Halloween parade and costume competition. Basically, Mom wanted “us” to win every year, so she was determined to top herself each year. And, since I’m a huge competitor, I too wanted to win. That is, until these costumes became silly and got me beat up on the playground. Then, I began to stand my ground and told Mom that I was done after my fifth grade parade. From first grade to fifth grade, her costume won either the funniest or most original award in my age group, as did my brother after me. So, for the better part of the Seventies, Mom’s name was synonymous with Halloween costume championships. Like I said, we were simply her canvass.

Now, from 10 until I was 13, Halloween was a cool time to trick or treat with your friends while causing a little Halloween mischief. In rural Indiana in the Seventies, we really did not toilet paper (TP) houses, since TP was determined to be expensive. What we did do was soap windows and corn houses and moving cars. Soaping windows meant purchasing cheap soap, then going out in the neighborhood when dark and writing messages on neighbor’s windows. You had to be stealth, since you might have to wash the windows if you got caught.

And, as much fun as that was, corning houses and cars was so much better. Now, corning has got to be a Midwestern thing since you needed field corn that was pretty dry, just as the corn is all around here before it is harvested. During the first couple of weeks of October, kids would be walking into the cornfields nearby and grabbing a dozen or so ears. Then, the group of us would shuck the kernels off the cobs. Then, we’d all meet up at dusk, load up all of our pockets with corn and go off to cause maize mayhem. Basically, all this entails is that we would throw some corn against the home’s windows, or better yet aluminum siding. When you hit those things, the sound it like a series of firecrackers going off. The fun part is hiding without getting caught. If you had a big enough group of kids, you could surround a couple of homes, hit them, scatter and hit other homes until you reached the rendezvous place to regroup and hit some other homes.

Once the homes got boring, you went to cornfields near a busy street to throw the corn at moving cars. Now, a moving target is a challenge, but the sound is so sweet when you nail a car. In retrospect, it was a very stupid annual Fall prank since we could have cause an accident. But, it was just fun to see if you could hide in the field without the driver finding you.

Now, as an adult, I’m glad that corning cars has stopped, as well as the widespread soaping of windows. But, I do miss kids corning our home. I’d rather get hit a couple of times then getting TPed. Though, our home was the victim of two excellent TP jobs. The first was back in 1998, after one of my Alexandria track kids finished the State meet in sixth place to be All-State. The other time was by some teammates of my younger son getting our house after a big win. In both cases, the culprits did a thorough job getting all eight trees in our yard and all the shrubs in the front year, along with signs and various other items. In both cases, these were works of art.

But, Halloween finally became fun when I got to college. Now, I could wear whatever I wanted for a costume, we no longer had parental supervision and we had access to booze. Plus, college Halloween costume parties are stellar, so you must have terrific music for it. The big thing was to segue important sections from known horror movie themes into current music to make a seamless mix. That kept the people who were paying attention on their tips and added to the atmosphere. Also, you gotta include tunes from Rocky Horror soundtrack. Those are always a crowd pleaser. And, when I was in college, Thriller was HUGE, and the title song was a must at the last three Halloweens as a college student.

So, I have a list of a hundred songs from which to choose your Halloween party mix. After perusing my list, let me know what songs you would add. I know I have at least one hundred more songs awaiting for my yearly freshening. By the way, I have listed the songs in alphabetical order by artist’s name. Here we go!

1. AC/DC – “Highway to Hell” (1979)
2. Atlanta Rhythm Section – “Spooky” (1979)
3. Bauhaus – “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (1982)
4. Beyoncé – “Haunted” (2013)
5. Billie Eilish – “Bury a Friend” (2019)
6. Black Sabbath – “Black Sabbath” (1970)
7. Blue Öyster Cult – “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (1976)
8. Bobby “Boris” Pickett – “Monster Mash” (1962)
9. Bow Wow Wow – “I Want Candy” (1982)
10. Bruce Springsteen – “A Night with the Jersey Devil” (2010)
11. Charlie Daniels Band – “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
12. Charlie Daniels Band – “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” (1980)
13. Cheap Trick – “Dream Police” (1979)
14. Cliff Richard – “Devil Woman” (1976)
15. Count Five – “Psychotic Reaction” (1966)
16. Counting Crows – “Scarecrow” (2014)
17. Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Bad Moon Rising” (1969)
18. David Bowie – “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)” (1980)
19. David Seville – “Witch Doctor” (1958)
20. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince – “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1988)
21. Donovan – “Season of the Witch” (1966)
22. Eagles – “Witchy Woman” (1972)
23. Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon” (1984)
24. Edgar Winter Group – “Frankenstein” (1973)
25. Electric Light Orchestra – “Evil Woman” (1976)
26. Eminem Feat. Rihanna – “Monster” (2013)
27. Evanescence – “Bring Me to Life” (2003)
28. Frank Sinatra – “Witchcraft” (1957)
29. Franz Ferdinand – “Evil Eye” (2013)
30. Geto Boys – “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” (1991)
31. Gorillaz – “Dracula” (2001)
32. Grateful Dead – “Friend of the Devil” (1970)
33. Halsey – “Haunting” (2015)
34. Heart – “Magic Man” (1976)
35. Iggy Azalea Feat. Rita Ora – “Black Widow” (2014)
36. Imagine Dragons – “Demons” (2012)
37. Interpol – “Evil” (2004)
38. INXS – “Devil Inside” (1987)
39. Iron Maiden – “The Number of the Beast” (1982)
40. Janet Jackson – “Black Cat” (1989)
41. Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Voodoo Chile” (1968)
42. John Fogerty – “Eye of the Zombie” (1985)
43. Justin Timberlake – “True Blood” (2013)
44. Kanye West Feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver – “Monster” (2010)
45. KC & the Sunshine Band – “I’m Your Boogie Man” (1976)
46. King Harvest – “King Harvest” (1973)
47. KISS – “Creatures of the Night” (1982)
48. Lady Gaga – “Monster” (2008)
49. Meat Loaf – “Bat Out of Hell” (1977)
50. Metallica – “Enter Sandman” (1991)
51. Michael Jackson – “Thriller” (1982)
52. Mike Oldfield – “Tubular Bells” (1973)
53. Ministry – “Every Day Is Halloween” (1984)
54. Misfits – “Halloween” (1981)
55. Mötley Crüe – “Shout at the Devil” (1983)
56. My Morning Jacket” – “Evil Urges” (2008)
57. New York Dolls – “Frankenstein” (1973)
58. No Doubt – “Spiderwebs” (1996)
59. Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party” (1985)
60. Olivia Newton-John – “Magic” (1980)
61. Ozzy Osbourne – “Bark at the Moon” (1983)
62. Peter Tosh – “Vampire” (1987)
63. Prince – “Dance with the Devil” (2020)
64. Radiohead – “Creep” (1993)
65. Ramones – “Pet Sematary” (1989)
66. Ray Parker Jr. – “Ghostbusters” (1984)
67. Red Rider – “Lunatic Fringe” (1981)
68. Rihanna – “Disturbia” (2007)
69. Rob Zombie – “Dragula” (1998)
70. Rockwell – “Somebody’s Watching Me” (1984)
71. Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast – “Time Warp” (1975)
72. Santana – “Black Magic Woman” (1970)
73. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – “I Put a Spell on You” (1955)
74. Shakira – “She Wolf” (2009)
75. Siouxsie & the Banshees – “Halloween” (1981)
76. St. Vincent – “Psychopath” (2014)
77. Steve Miller Band – “Abracadabra” (1982)
78. Stevie Wonder – “Superstition” (1972)
79. Sufjan Stevens – “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” (2005)
80. Suicide – “Frankie Teardrop” (1977)
81. Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer” (1977)
82. Taylor Swift – “Haunted” (2010)
83. The Alan Parsons Project – “The Raven” (1976)
84. The B-52’s – “Devil in My Car” (1980)
85. The Beatles – “Helter Skelter” (1968)
86. The Black Keys – “Howlin’ for You” (2010)
87. The Cramps – “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” (1980)
88. The Cranberries – “Zombie” (1994)
89. The Doors – “People Are Strange” (1967)
90. The Outlaws – “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” (1981)
91. The Prodigy – “Firestarter” (1994)
92. The Psychedelic Furs – “The Ghost in You” (1984)
93. The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968)
94. The Weeknd – “I Can’t Feel My Face” (2015)
95. Van Halen – “Running with the Devil” (1978)
96. Van Morrison – “Moondance” (1970)
97. Warren Zevon – “Werewolves of London” (1978)
98. Whodini – “The Freaks Come Out at Night” (1984)
99. Wolfmother – “Witchcraft” (2005)

100. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll” (2009)

All of these songs, and I still left off the scariest song of them all – “Intruder” by Peter Gabriel from 1980. That song still gives me the creeps! I hope you all enjoy your Halloween weekend. Try to stay out of trouble, but do have fun. Peace.

Author: ifmyalbumscouldtalk

I am just a long-time music fan who used to be a high school science teacher and a varsity coach of several high school athletic teams. Before that, I worked as a medical technologist at three hospitals in their labs, mainly as a microbiologist. I am retired/disabled (Failed Back Surgery Syndrome), and this is my attempt to remain a human. Additionally, I am a serious vinyl aficionado, with a CD addiction and a love of reading about rock history. Finally, I am a fan of Prince, Cheap Trick, Tom Petty, R.E.M., Hall & Oates, Springsteen, Paul Weller & his bands and Power Pop music. View all posts by ifmyalbumscouldtalk