Halloween Songs

A great Halloween song is extremely hard to find.  It is awfully difficult to find the balance between cheesy/goofy versus gory/satanic.  Today, I will attempt to rank my Top 5 favorite Halloween songs.  I can't promise the results will be good because I am having a difficult time thinking of good Halloween songs off the top of my head.  That's never stopped me before, though...

Dishonorable mention:

"Purple People Eater"



One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater? I'm assuming they are singing about a cock. Gross. This song is terrible. Moving on...

5) "Nightmare On My Street"



What's that you say? You want to combine Freddy Kreuger with Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff? Umm... yeah- I'm in! I agree that this goes a little more cheesy than what I'd ideally like, but that's why this song is at #5. As I mentioned earlier, good Halloween songs are hard to find! And no, I'm not including "Addams Family Values" by MC Hammer on this list.

4) "Candyman Theme Song"



I'm unsure if the movie has affected my judgment on this one, but I can't hear the sprawling piano riff without thinking of Tony Todd getting buck-nasty with a rusty hook hand. If you've never seen the movie, this instrumental may seem a bit too happy, but the music does follow the movie in the sense that every time you think it's safe, it will take a turn towards scarier. Quite well done, in my own personal opinion.

3) "Thriller"



Say what you will about MJ's child-molesting ways, he sure can sing and dance in full zombie make up! Confusingly, he also turns into a werewolf earlier in the video, so I'm not quite sure what the point of the video is, but I've included the full 13+ minute version for you to review.

2) "Halloween Theme Song"



If you want to be creeped out solely based on a musical score, this has to be the pinnacle of Halloween instrumentals. The repetitive piano riff just keeps going while the underlying bass horns changes root notes. I assume this is the elevator music in hell.

1) "Ghostbusters"



If ya need a theme song, that sounds like a Huey Lewis song, who ya gonna call? Ray Parker, Jr.! Despite getting sued by Huey (and potentially The News as well) this song ranks as number 1. It blends cheesy with shades of minor keys to create the perfect Halloween song. I will admit that if the movie sucked, this song wouldn't be as good. However, since the movie is one of the best comedies of all time, the theme song is upgraded significantly. I even enjoyed the "Ghostbusters" cartoon when I was a kid! DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS!

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So that's the list I've come up with. What are your favorites? As usual, I probably missed some great songs, so suggestions in the comments for others to enjoy.