Everyone loves a good “origin story,” right? Batman was born out of Bruce Wayne’s desire to avenge his parents’ death. Yeah, yeah. And I do not want to know Joker’s origin story – the mysteriousness IS the origin story, I say! But that is another blog topic entirely. And no, I still have not seen the movie Joker (and don’t plan to). Read on to learn about my Halloween music playlist’s origin story!

On a recent afternoon, I took some “laundry time” to update my Halloween music playlist. I was a little grumpy from unpackaging Christmas decorations at work (grumble, too, too early for this shit), so I was fast forwarded into a Halloween mood!

This playlist was born in 2018 when I took a trip to Harrisville State Park to stay in a cabin for two nights. By sheer accident, we rented the cabin on a weekend when Halloween events were occurring. Including trick-or-treating in the campground! My husband and I don’t have kids and had to hastily do…something. We visited a nearby Dollar General and bought a few Halloween decorations, though most had already been picked over. Even the candy supplies were scarce. To add a certain “something” to the trick-or-treaters’ experience, I put together a list of Halloweenish songs I had saved on my hard drive. I had some soundtrack stuff, Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo – not a whole lot else – but it added ambience to the trick or treating event!

Since then, that list has expanded exponentially! There are songs from movies about Halloween, songs about devils/witches, disco tracks, alternative tracks, rock tracks, metal tracks, new wave tracks, hip-hop tracks, at least one country track and one classical track (hey I try to be diverse)!

Please note, this playlist isn’t intended for children! You’ll find no songs about purple people eaters or monsters mashing. Most of them should be findable on Spotify, except the tracks from the Ravenous motion picture soundtrack (which are downloadable on Amazon).

Halloween 2022 Playlist (Updated)

New tracks for 2022 include Mr. Crowley, Ozzy Osbourne; Highway to Hell, AC/DC; theme songs for both Stranger Things and What We Do in the Shadows; Heaven’s on Fire by Kiss; Superstition by Stevie Wonder and Candy by Iggy Pop. Which isn’t about actual candy or anything really to do with Halloween (but it’s my playlist and the connections can be tenuous if they want to).

Runnin’ With the Devil, Van Halen

The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, XTC

Main Theme, Halloween (John Carpenter)

Main Theme and Rocky Mountain Theme, The Shining (Wendy Carlos)

Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones

Nightmare on My Street, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

Dragula and Living Dead Girl, Rob Zombie

Partyman, Prince (Batman soundtrack)

Treehouse of Horror theme music, “The Simpsons”

Season of the Witch, Donovan

The Ballad of Dwight Fry, Alice Cooper

Waltz to the Death and Descent into Mystery, Batman soundtrack

Dead Souls, nine inch nails (from The Crow soundtrack)

Ghost Town, The Specials

Catch Hell Blues, The White Stripes

Limbo, Bryan Ferry

Stranger at the Window and Colquoun’s Story (Ravenous Motion Picture soundtrack)

Shelob’s Lair, Howard Shore (Return of the King soundtrack)

Night on Disco Mountain, Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (David Shire)

Lullaby, The Cure (from the “Mixed Up” remix album)

Witchy Woman, The Eagles

Toccata and Fugue, J.S. Bach

The City Sleeps, MC 900 Foot Jesus

Worlock, Skinny Puppy

2021 additions:

• Jack’s Lament, The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Cry Little Sister (The Lost Boys soundtrack)
• The Devil Inside, Inxs
• Main Titles, Trick ‘r Treat soundtrack
• March of the Dead (Army of Darkness soundtrack)
• Happy Phantom, Tori Amos
• Black Magic Woman, Carlos Santana
• Welcome to My Nightmare, Alice Cooper
• Pretend We’re Dead, L7
• Is It My Body, Alice CooperDead Babies, Alice Cooper
• Killer Inside Me, MC 900 Foot Jesus
• Psycho Killer, Talking Heads
• Heirate Mich, Rammstein
• A Forest (Tree Mix), The Cure
• The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band