Spotify playlist: Halloween 2010

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand
So terrifying and ominous it appeared not only in the film Scream but in both its sequels. And who better than Nick Cave to relay a sense of foreboding?

The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
Nobody knows for sure if the late, great Cramps vocalist Lux Interior ever actually was a werewolf, but it makes for a highly appropriate rock ’n’ roll number at this time of year all the same.

Dusty Springfield - Spooky
Nothing particularly scary about this, but how about the line ‘love is kinda crazy with a spooky little boy like you’? Was it the little boy from The Omen? Probably not.

The Zombies - Time of the Season
They’re called The Zombies, which makes them ideal for inclusion here, and this song is a classic - that’s enough.

Tom Waits - Whistlin’ Past The Graveyard
Most of Tom Waits career has been spent singing songs about drinking and this is no different except it involves a graveyard. He sings like his vocal chords were buried and then dug up again.

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Bowie’s own tribute to Halloween. His cockney accent rivals Dick Van Dyke’s but Robert Fripp’s fretwork is perfect if air-guitar goes with your costume idea this year.

The Horrors - Jack The Ripper
Back when their band members still used fake names like ‘Coffin Joe’, The Horrors’ manic take on Screaming Lord Sutch’s kitsch original is a good antidote to any airing of ‘Monster Mash’

Rocket From The Crypt - On A Rope
From the album Scream, Dracula, Scream, can any self-respecting Halloween playlist do without this classic? The answer is of course; yes.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You
Okay maybe not all that alternative, it was in the film Hocus Pocus after all. But even you’ve heard it plenty of times before, it’s still a great song isn’t it?

R. Dean Taylor - There’s A Ghost In My House
This was the song that inspired the film Poltergeist and the film Ghosthouse, and Taylor’s uplifting vocals belie how difficult living with a ghost must be.