SHARK SANDWICH!
Every good horror movie has a sequel, so the Shark Sandwich scary music list wasn’t killed off last time and has resurrected itself into a killing machine. So, its time for another round of Halloween music for you all. If you’re having a Halloween party now you can really scare your guests. Who wants to hear “Monster Mash” again anyway? Or better yet play loudly to the neighborhood during trick or treating and scare the daylights out of everyone. Or just enjoy these tunes that are in the spirit of darkness, goth, horror, or Halloween itself. And as always take a few minutes to peruse the Bandbook.com website and sign up before the thing in the closet gets you!
Rev. A.W. Nix- “Black Diamond Express Train To Hell Pt. 1“
The Rev. Nix’s fire and brimstone really gets it rolling for us!
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince- “Nightmare on My Street“
Let’s start of nice and easy with a tale about how a night out to see “A Nightmare on Elm Street” turns into a real nightmare.
And a sweet dubstep version to modernize!
The Brains- “Taste Your Blood“
Psychobilly punk from Montreal.
Van Halen- “Runnin’ With The Devil”
How about some old school Van Halen to smooth out the edges for you. Scary stuff!
George Jones– “Open Pit Mine”
It doesn’t end well for George’s sweet Rosie.
Controlled Bleeding-“Buried Blessing“
Industrial band from New York shakes us down with a bleak goth churner.
Buckethead-“Mad Monster Party”
It’s hard to keep up with Buckethead because his musical output is so prolific. But you should at some point in your life own some Buckethead albums.
“Weird” Al Yankovic- “Nature Trail To Hell”
The great Weird Al tells us about this year’s upcoming horror movie blockbuster.
1476- “Closed Casket Heart“
This horror punk band’s acoustic ballad is an uplifting number of everlasting love. Just kidding, it’s a real downer of feeling like absolute nothing from a girl’s rejection.
The Mountain Goats- “Damn These Vampires”
This song by the long standing indie band The Mountain Goats was my pick for absolute best song of the year last year. There wasn’t a song out there that reached the lyrical depth of this song. It simply ran circles around everything else. Sometimes people will just drag the life right out of you, just like vampires.
Peter And The Test Tube Babies- “Zombie Creeping Flesh”
Old school punk rock group go horror for us on this song.
Orange Goblin- “They Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)“
This is how I like my metal slow and low and sludgy as all get out!
Rockwell- “Somebody’s Watching Me“
The 80’s one hit wonder’s tale of absolute paranoia.
Hallows Eve- “Hallows Eve“
The 80’s thrash metal band named Hallows Eve sings a song called “Hallows Eve” about the mighty holiday Hallows Eve! Mind officially blowm!
Teenage Bottlerocket- “Punk House Of Horror“
Punkers take us to a house of horror, punk rock style of course.
Sons of the Pioneers- “Ghost Riders in the Sky”
Classic tune about ghostly visions of cowboys past.
Deftones- “Ghosts“
Deftones are probably my favorite metal band. Like Alice In Chains in the 90’s the Deftones just reach in a foreboding depth and brooding darkness in the tone of their music that few other bands seem to reach. This song is actually a cover of the late 70’s early 80’s band Japan who were a big influence on new wave music of the 80’s.
Siouxsie & The Banshees- “Halloween”
You can’t make a Halloween music list without the reigning queen of goth herself.
Marcy Playground- “Vampires of New York”
Underrated 90’s alternative band sings of not losing you self to the city that never sleeps.
The Gun Club- “Ghost On The Highway“
The late great Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a blues drenched punk infused goth man at heart. Pierce was a real talent that was snuffed out way to soon. A real overlooked band from the 80’s.
Superdrag- “Do The Vampire”
Just a fantastic song.
Bella Morte- “Christina“
Goth/horror punk band deliver us to the glory that is Christina.
The Ghastly Ones- “Haulin’ Hearse”
Take a little horror, goth, and some surf music mix in blender.
NAHPI- “Do They Know It’s Halloween?“
Someone is trying to stop Halloween! The North American Halloween Prevention Initiative to be exact! Don’t worry The Arcade Fire, Rilo Kiley, Sloan, Feist, The Postal Service and other indie bands are here to save the day.
Blue Öyster Cult- “Don’t Fear The Reaper“
It’s your classic rock staple. You probably should fear the reaper, just a little bit anyway.
William Lee- “She Was A Vampire”
This techno punk shaker will terrify you!
Type O Negative- “Everything Dies“
Bet you thought I’d go with “Black No. 1” didn’t you? While I love that song, and this band, this is my favorite song of theirs. This song is so sad. Peter Steele is another rocker we lost way to early.
Faith And The Muse-“Patience Worth“
There’s a couple famous paranormal stories from the St. Louis area that are quite interesting. The book The Exorcist was based on actual events that transpired there in the 40’s. The Lemp family tragedy of suicides and the haunted mansion in which many of them resided. But do you know the story of Patience Worth? You should check into that story as well.
Metal Church- “(My Favorite) Nightmare”
Thrash metal pioneers rock us with nightmarish tale.
Satan’s Pilgrims- “Vampiro“
Here’s some more horror ridden goth infused surf rock. Love the band name too!
David Allan Coe- “The Ride”
Country outlaw tells a tale of taking a ghostly ride with none other than old Hank Sr.
A Flock of Seagulls- “Nightmares“
This is my favorite tune from the British new wave group.
Corpus Delicti- “Noxious (The Demon’s Game)”
Here’s that 80’s obscure goth you were wanting so bad. Nice slow building atmospheric number to put your black clothing on to.
AC/DC-“Highway To Hell”
We all love AC/DC and we adore Angus Young and his guitar playing and antics but for my money it’s the bass of Cliff Williams and the back beat of the mighty Phil Rudd that do it every time.
The Lillington’s- “Phantom Maggot“
Good old punk rock baby!
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult-“Do You Fear For Your Child“
Back in the mid 80’s and early 90’s The Thrill Kill Kult actually scared a few people and took some heat for nature of their songs. Seems like their music from back then still carries that edge to it.
Warren Zevon- “Werewolves of London“
The Shark Sandwich is an absolute Zevon fan. This is his one major hit that lives on in radio land even today. Contains the most perfect line ever, “I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s, his hair was perfect!” Genius.
Dana Dane- “Nightmares“
Some classic mid 80’s hip hop. In this song Dana visits the head shrink to discuss his nightmares. Is there anything better than old school rap? I could listen to this stuff all day.
Blood Feast- “Vampire”
Awesomely titled 80’s thrash band named after the 1963 horror film give us this heavy and abusive number off their album “Kill For Pleasure.”
The Stranglers- “Waltz in Black”
The British punk band The Stranglers are out to give you nightmares with the evil clown laughs that cluster this song.
Lefty Frizzell- “Long Black Veil”
This song has been done by many artists over the years, but I always come back to the classic versions.
The Obsessed- “Tombstone Highway“
Hell yeah, more of that slow sludgy heavy metal thump. This is how you do it!
Sonic Youth-“Halloween“
Iconic alt rockers drench us in their atonal feedback droning noise assault and we love every second of it.
The Hooters- “All You Zombies”
Not really having anything to do with zombies at all, unless your looking at it metaphorically. Lots of religious imagery in this one. Did you catch the reggae beat? Very underrated band.
Here’s a nice dubstep remix that is Halloweenish and uses the chorus nicely.
Lord Infamous- “Helloween“
Lord Infamous and Ill Tone and special guest star SATAN! are going to bring it to you.
The B52’s- “Devil In My Car“
The classic and completely awesome new wave band deal with Lucifer who’s taken uip residence in the vehicle!
Round Robin- “I’m The Wolfman“
Long forgotten classic!
Judas Priest-“Night Crawler”
Oh yes, It’s the Priest here to rock your face off.
Count Floyd- “Count Floyd Is Back”
They’ll never make sketch comedy like they did back on the early days of Saturday Night Live and SCTV way back in the day. If you’ve never seen the old SCTV sketches featuring Joe Flaherty as the perennially bereft Count Floyd I suggest you got to Youtube and catch up on it.
Sex Gang Children- “Dead Metal“
The Sex Gang children were an early 80’s goth innovator and veteran of the legendary Bat Cave scene. It’s a little post punk musically, a whole lot of goth attitude, and furious punk attitude.
Nim Vind- “Killer Creature Double Feature“
Nim Vind is really a solo project of musician Chris Kirkham. His style is in that horror punk vein that is heavily influenced by and sounds really similar to The Misfits.
White Zombie- “I’m Your Boogie Man“
Let’s take it back to Rob Zombie’s first musical project White Zombie. Here they amp up K.C. and the Sunshine Band to horrific success.
The Charlie Daniels Band- “The Legend of Wooley Swamp”
Do not go back into the swamp by yourself!
The Skatt Brothers- “Walk the Night”
Here’s another dance floor starter for your Halloween party. It’s a little known gem from the late 70’s.
Amazing Royal Crowns-“Do The Devil“
This one will get you shaking it for sure.
Fields of the Nephilim-“Moonchild”
One of the perennial and better goth bands out of the 80’s.
The Ramones- “Pet Sematary“
It’s The Ramones! Taken from the film of the same title adapted from a Stephen King novel. The Ramones never did anything wrong ever!
Hot Blood-“Soul Dracula“
Hot and ready disco number from the 70’s.
The Shaggs- “It’s Halloween“
The legendary band The Shaggs were an all sister band from Vermont formed at the insistence of their father in 1968. Their questionable and clumsy musical skills and deaslayerdpan singing were either pure genius or a complete accident. Either way it’s the reason the record this comes from, Philosophy Of The World has become a cult item in itself.
Christian Death- “Deathwish“
Southern California goth punk/death rock band formed in the late 70’s by the late Rozz Williams. This song comes from their great first album Only Theatre Of Pain.
Ice Cube- “Dr. Frankenstein“
Ice Cube gets all gangster horror on your face.
The Plasmatics-“Living Dead”
Wendy O. Williams the charismatic lead singer of this band had stage antics that would put Marilyn Manson to shame. The band’s metal and punk infused music was the backdrop to Williams reckless bludgeoning and blowing up of many stage props, near nudity, sexual innuendo, fiery mohawk and gutteral vocal style. Williams died in 1998, you should check out her work.
Leaether Strip- “No Rest For The Wicked“
Old school industrial goth. Play this loudly for the trick or treaters in your neighborhood and see how close the kids get to your house.
Slayer- “Spill The Blood“
And its another band that can do no wrong in my eyes. You can’t have a scary music list without Slayer. This will also scare the neighbors.
Sisters of Mercy-“Lucretia, My Reflection”
Another quintessential 80’s goth band. The band counted their drum machine as an actual member and called it Doktor Avalanche.
The Rosedales- “It’s Midnight“
Yet another horror punk anthem from the least likely named horror punk band. Great song here about visiting a dead girlfriend. Make sure that you’re all alone!
Talking Heads- “Psycho Killer“
Talking Heads were a band that were so far ahead of their time that I’m pretty sure the world still hasn’t caught up to them. “Psycho Killer” is a classic tune from their first album Talking Heads ’77 which is a must have mandatory listening album.
The Specials- “Ghost Town“
The British ska band’s biggest hit from the 80’s.
The Damned- “Plan 9 Channel 7″
These original British punk legends were a a precursor to the goth movement.
Gravediggaz- “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere To Hide”
Some horror core hip hop from the 90’s.
London After Midnight-“Demon“
Actually, not from London but Los Angeles. This darkly atmospheric and moody music suits the Halloween season well.
Diamanda Galas-“See That My Grave Is Kept Clean“
You could call Diamanda Galas any type of music from jazz, blues, avant-garde, experimental, alternative, composer, performance artist and you would be correct in all of those. Galas is a stunning artist whose vocal range and expression are often intense and someone you should check out if you’re feeling adventurous.
Rosetta Stone- “The Witch“
80’s goth band! Never a bad thing.
Red Sovine- “Phantom 309″
Classic country tune about a ghostly ride with Big Joe. Its funny how every town seems to have their version of this tragic tale.
Severed Heads- “All Saints Day“
Australian industrial band with heavy goth overtones from the 80’s.
Nosferatu- “Haunting”
Cool song by Damian De Ville’s British goth band formed in 1988. Fear the Nosferatu!
Thor- “Let The Blood Run Red“
Thor was the self proclaimed “metal avenger” and we believe him! “Let the blood run red, let them all be dead!” indeed! 80’s metal!
Suspiria- “Night Time“
Not to be confused with equally scary metal band Susperia! This is the early 90’s goth band from England not the Norwegian black Metal band!
Susperia- “Devil May Care”
Not to be confused with the equally scary British band Suspiria. This is the Norwegian black metal band Susperia and not the British goth band Suspiria!
Saint Vitus- “I Bleed Black”
One word to sum up this band. YES! I will have more of this please. Listen and learn.
The Witching Hour- “Kissed By Death“
Even more goth music for you, you’re welcome friends.
The Cramps- “I Was A Teenage Werewolf”
Legendary punk band sings a perfect Halloween song!
Chris Rea- “The Road To Hell”
This British singer, guitar player is not as well known here in the states as he should be. This song from 1989 is still a beast.
Ozzy Osbourne- “Bark At The Moon“
C’mon, it’s the Prince of Darkness himself!
Here’s a handy playlist for you to easily access that has most of the tunes above on it!
Shark Sandwich Halloween Playlist #2
Well I hope you’ve been thoroughly terrified. I also hope you have found some inspiration for some scary Halloween tunes to rock out to. Or, at least scare the neighborhood children into staying off your lawn for another year.
Happy Halloween!
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