Music Monday: Halloween 2013 Edition
Yes, I know this isn’t Monday, but as Uncle Al would say, every day is Halloween (don’t question the logic).
For this annual celebration of All Hallows’ Eve/Nightmare Night/Samhain, I give you 13 ghoulish compositions guaranteed to drawn down the dark side of the moon for your dark carnival.
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“Thriller” – Michelle Creber w/ Gabriel Brown & Baasik: With only $150 (including the awesome pleather spiked jacket worn by Brown), Mother Nature’s own fog machine, creative use of Creber’s eyeliner for face paint, and swift production (concept to final product in less than a week), this Canadian-American alliance brings honor to the memory of the late King of Pop.
“Everyday is Halloween” – Ministry: From the era Ministry bandleader Al Jourgensen would love to forget comes this timeless ode to being yourself no matter what day it is. Uncle Al re-recorded this song in 2010 in his then-industrial metal guise to mixed results.
“Deeper Blue” – Ghost Dance: Upon departing from The Sisters of Mercy over creative and personal differences, co-founder and guitarist Gary Marx founded Ghost Dance with former Skeletal Family singer Anne-Marie Hurst in 1985. Though the band came to an end at the start of the next decade, Hurst is once again performing with her own band and with Skeletal Family, while Marx has kept a lower profile for the most part.
“Black No. 1″ – Type O Negative: How could I not include this piece from the Drab Four? The song was a tongue-in-cheek ode to the Gothic subculture, Nosferatu and Lily Munster. Since frontman Peter Steele’s passing at the age of 48 in 2010, guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly continue to play in the former’s band Seventh Void, and as part of Glenn Danzig’s merry band of characters.
“Monstrance Clock” – Ghost B.C.: What happens when you take Blue Öyster Cult’s sound and substitute their Lovecraftian lyrics for tongue-in-cheek odes to Belial, then mix in Catholicism and set the blender to purée? Papa Emeritus II and his Nameless Ghouls, whose identities are unknown for the time being; the Ghouls don’t even sign autographs, stamping sigils in their stead for the Swedish band’s flock.
“Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown” – Rob Zombie: When not making horror films such as “The Lords of Salem” or reboots of the “Halloween” franchise, Zombie continues to make new music such this ballad to how awful radio has become, the first single from his fifth studio album “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor.”
“Worlock” – Skinny Puppy: The original video for the song, taken from the Canadian electro-industrial group’s 1989 album “Rabies,” was banned by MTV due to extensive use of copyrighted material, featuring graphic and violent content from several horror films, including “Hellraiser II,” “Altered States” and “Susperia.”
“Black Sabbath” – Black Sabbath: When the English heavy blues band Earth noticed people going into a movie theater to see a horror film — it’s fun to be scared sometimes, right — it dawned on them to change their approach in their songwriting; a dark figure at the foot of bassist Geezer Butler’s bed may have helped, as well. Thus, the landscape of rock would change once more.
“Father Forgive” – Will: The first time I heard this song was in a segment about love and sex in the Gothic subculture in an episode of HBO’s “Sex Bytes,” a spinoff of “Real Sex” focused on — I’m guessing — love and sex at the dawn of the then-upcoming new millennium. As soon as I found out who composed the composition — Will was a Canadian electronic music act featuring members of Front Line Assembly and Delerium — I kept my eyes and ears open for an opportunity to hear it in full.
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“A Forest” – The Cure: One of the band’s signature songs and the best summation of their sound, “A Forest” was used to infuriate the organizers at the Werchter Festival in 1981; they thought the band had gone on for too long, so both Robert Smith & Co. and the organizers agreed the former could play one more song.
“Spellbound” – Siouxsie and the Banshees: Rag dolls dancing? Throwing parents down the stairs? Toys going berserk with laughter coming from around? Yes, this song is perfect for all those things that invoke chaos and madness at the witching hour.
“Millenium” – Killing Joke: Though we survived the misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar, this song is still good for all of your fire dances in your backyard. And besides, what’s more scary than the end of all life because humanity screwed it all up?
“Psychonaut” – Fields of the Nephilim: Finally, let us witness the reincarnation of the soul through the shamanistic workings of Carl McCoy & Co. It is said that the veil between the living and the departed is at its thinnest on this day. So gather those hallucinations from your private minds, and let them enrapture you on this, the most glorious of nights.
Photo: Flickr/Nataraj Metz.
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