Haunting Hits for Your Halloween Pre-Game
By Laurel Sanders
It’s spooky. It’s scary. You spend your entire October waiting for this moment. AND. It’s objectively the coolest holliday. Halloween is pulling up and thank god. Life almost got boring.
Unlike most holidays, where you stay in and bond with family members. Halloween is the opposite. You leave the safety of home. You abandon the comforts of your couch to enter the world. Except instead of corporate bros, retail workers, and kids getting back from school, you enter a world of creatures, characters, and ghouls.
Image Sourced Through Pinterest
But you probably need a little extra courage. It can be scary out there. Which is why I’ve created a little pregame playlist for your Halloween endeavors. Immerse yourself in the vibes, the falling leaves, the glowing moon, but most importantly these groovy tunes. From “Super Freak” to “Super Freaky Girl,” I try to encapsulate all Halloween can be.
I have, of course, included the classics, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and “Monster Mash”. A Halloween without these iconic songs may be blasphemy. But I try to reach various genres and audiences.
There’s indie songs, which encapture the wistful fall. “Witches” by the most beautiful and talented, Alice Phoebe Lou, makes anyone smile and tap their feet. “Freaks” by Surf Curse, is essentially coming of age in a nutshell. Of course, some MGMT, “Little Dark Age” remains iconic and genuinely eerie.
And yet, we are (hypothetically) here to party. So I must include some pop songs! Trying to stay on theme with songs such as “Paint The Town Red” by Doja Cat or “Kill Bill” by SZA. I love to hear women out for revenge.
I will say, and I’m not exactly sure why, but Halloween screams 70s-80s music to me. Hence, you will find “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell or “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco. Honestly, I may have gotten a bit carried away in these decades. Something about the upbeat synth of the time now seems spooky to me.
I do have some personal favorites which I want to shine some light on. One is “Ghost Town” by The Specials, a protest song regarding Thatcherism’s impact on small towns in Britain. In this instance, you can picture the titular ghost town as more of a town with ghosts. Another one that feels like it should already be a Halloween classic, is “Found Love In A Graveyard” by Veronica Falls. The layered voices, the sincerity of their lyrics, the song twists between romance and death.
Image Sourced Through Pinterest
The playlist ends up being a little over three hours. If your pre-game is over three hours, I don’t know what to tell you. You’re hosting a party, and you should’ve prepared for that outcome.
Have a happy Halloween everyone! I hope you dance til you drop.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3L1x1cPMMqkgOTd1yV04e6?si=bDrDGxQZS8uPr_x9IJGYNw&pi=u-rCYXAvUNQwSV
