My Halloween music playlist is officially five years old as of 2023! It all started one night in a campground (Harrisville State Park in Harrisville, MI) where there was a Halloween party going on that we didn’t know about in advance! Not to be caught with our pants down – And more importantly, without candy for the trick or treating kiddos, I decided to cobble together the spookiest songs I could dredge from my laptop’s music files and play some spooky tunes on my laptop while kiddos trick or treated at our campsite. Sadly, it was slim pickings for Halloween candy at the nearest store, and it was gone within a half hour! Thankfully we had a cabin rented, and we’re able to go inside and put up. “No more candy” sign!

The music list has expanded exponentially since then, I add songs to the list each year. New additions for 2023 include:

From the Netflix series Wednesday: Main titles theme, Goo Goo Muck (The Cramps), Nothing Else Matters (instrumental), Paint it Black (instrumental), and Winter (Vivaldi).

Other new additions for 2023: Witch’s Promise, Jethro Tull; Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Smashing Pumpkins; Waking the Witch, Kate Bush, Wicked old Witch (John Fogerty), Strange Brew, Cream; Halloween, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Burn the Witch, Radiohead.

Here’s the rest of the list which includes just about every genre imaginable (even country and swamp rock) and crosses several decades (and even centuries, with the oldest track by none other than Bach):

Runnin’ With the Devil, Van Halen; The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, XTC; Main Theme, Halloween (JohnCarpenter); 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; 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; Witchy Woman, The Eagles; Toccatta and Fugue, J.S. Bach;;The City Sleeps, MC 900 Foot Jesus; Worlock, Skinny Puppy; Jack’s Lament, The Nightmare Before Christmas; Cry Little Sister (The Lost Boys soundtrack); The Devil Inside, Inxs; Main Titles, Trick ‘r Treat; 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 Cooper; Dead 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; The Dead Don’t Die, Sturgill Simpson; Spooky, Dusty Springfield; Mr. Crowley, Ozzy Osbourne; Highway to Hell, AC/DC; Stranger Things (theme song Netflix series); You’re Dead, Norma Tanega (theme song What We Do in the Shadows); Heaven’s on Fire, Kiss; Superstition, Stevie Wonder; Candy, Iggy Pop.