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You won’t see two pirates making out on a couch on St. Patrick’s Day or watch people chug beer out of pumpkins on New Year’s. Halloween is a different kind of monster.
To throw the perfect Halloween party requires the perfect Halloween party soundtrack. Any jack-o’-lantern toting hoo-ha can play a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” tune or “The Monster Mash” from their iPod. To truly set the mood, I’ve compiled a few songs to give your Halloween dance party playlist an edge over the house down the street.
“Fiest Remix” – Boys Noize: Fiest’s voice is normally pretty creepy — all reverby and such. Throw on top of that a relentless groove that sounds like some sort of demonic voice and some eerie samples of footsteps, and you’ve got yourself a weird song. This mid-tempo song is danceable without being in your face — a great song for the zombie sway, a Halloween classic.
“Nightmare on My Street” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: DJ Jazzy Jeff was and still is a relevant DJ/producer, despite Will Smith’s gimmicky ’90s rapping. This is because his grooves have always been ridiculously good. This fun song about Will Smith fighting Freddy Krueger samples the “Nightmare on Elm Street” theme music and provides a great Halloween alternative to everyone singing the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme song at your party.
“Paranoid” – Kanye West: The bottom line is this song belongs in the ’80s. It’s not quite as spooky as some of the others, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to dance to. For an added bonus, play the music video, which features Rihanna in a chilling film-noir world looking really attractive.
“What Does Your Soul Look Like? (Part 4)” – DJ Shadow: If things aren’t trippy enough at your party, just put on this track off DJ Shadow’s legendary album “Endtroducing.” Slow and dreary, the drums and bass seem to take listeners down some rabbit hole into madness. If that’s not scary enough, a demonic groan comes in about halfway through to make you wet yourself.
“Little Ghost” – The White Stripes: If everyone is starting to get tired of dance music, put on this track or just find some guy with a guitar to play it. It’s perhaps the greatest sing-along ever, with Jack White multi-tracking his vocals about 48 times to create some ridiculous harmonies. The break-down section is one of my favorite White Stripes moments. It’s Jack singing about falling in love with a ghost. What’s not to love?
“Ghostbusters Theme” – Ray Parker Jr. / “Ghost Ride the Whip” – Mistah FAB: “The Ghostbusters Theme” is a classic by all means — it’s almost impossible to avoid dancing when it comes on. But if you want to take it a step further and give a new spin, try Mistah FAB’s song, which heavily samples the theme. The song offers step-by-step directions on ghostriding — when you dance on top of a slowly moving car — but you might be better advised to listen to it in the safety of your apartment.
“Stress” – Justice: The title of this song pretty aptly describes your emotion when listening to it. Definitely play this song if any drama has arisen or if the cops are at the door because most likely, someone will have a heart attack — or at least a headache.
“Thriller 2008 (Eric Prydz Remix)” – Michael Jackson: It’s an inescapable truth that “Thriller” has to be played in some form. Most know Eric Prydz for his electro track “Call On Me,” or rather the dirty video for it. His remix leaves enough of the original song intact but speeds it up a bit so there’s bound to be a little more thrusting and a little less half-hearted rip-offs of the original dance at your party. Save this for the end of the night so everyone can fully enjoy it.
