Fall is upon us and All Hallows’ Eve fast approaches. In San Francisco, where Wolfgang’s Vault is headquartered, Halloween is celebrated with the ferocity of three Super Bowls plus a Mardi Gras. Costumed freaks and demons prowl every street in a moonlit festival of ghastly cheer. Such a fiendish bacchanal requires a suitable soundtrack, so we delved deep into the darkest recesses of our archives to create a uniquely haunting and rockin’ set of tunes that will help get your Halloween party shakin’ wherever you are. Take a listen to some sample tracks below…if you dare!
It may be a bit of an obvious place to start, but this track from AC/DC’s eponymous 1979 album makes it clear where the evening is headed right out of the gate. And if Hell is your destination, this particular band of hirsute Australians are undoubtedly scarier than anything Satan could conjure, making them ideal travel companions.
Though many of rock ‘n’ roll’s early pioneers managed to rile the delicate sensibilities of mid-20th century America, most of their performance antics now seem quaint. True shock rock as we’ve come to know it begins here. Alice Cooper was ghoulishly glamming it up with grease paint and stage blood when Kiss was still boogie-rockin’ in Staten Island rec centers, and his creepiness shows no signs of fading – he’s even made golf a little more scary.
These quirky brainiacs might seem an odd choice amidst a gaggle of gruesome hedonists, but the unnerving quality of David Byrne’s trembling vocal makes “Psycho Killer” a chilling listen in a much more relatable way. This is no fantasy narrative about monsters and ghouls; this is the quiet guy in the flat upstairs nervously coming unhinged, and you might be the first name on his hit list. It’s modernist fright for the art school set, and it’s deeply terrifying.
What Halloween playlist would be complete without the Prince of Darkness himself? Ozzy was so scary, he got kicked out of Black Sabbath, which by itself is pretty alarming when his bandmates’ proclivities are considered. But Ozzy’s evil genius pushed him to even greater heights without the mighty Sabbath. 40 years into his career he still reigns supreme, as illustrated by this galloping ode to lycanthropy.
A more contemporary entry, for sure, but no less fiendish in its message. L.A. power pop favorites Phantom Planet even share their name with a kitschy ‘60s Sci-fi film. But the shivers don’t end there: Manic guitar swells and the carnal urgency of singer Alex Greenwald’s holler create a delightfully unsettling atmosphere in this performance.
The creepy fun continues with the complete Spooks and Creeps playlist on Concert Vault.
One Comment
Nice article.It is interesting to read about the glorious past and the people related to “rock n’ roll” family.