4 Spooky Songs for Your Halloween Playlist

’Tis the season for scary music.

Looking for inspiration to build a Halloween playlist while you light a carved pumpkin? Oldies like “Monster Mash” or modern compositions like Thom Yorke’s “Suspirium,” the haunting track from Luca Guadagnino’s remake of the 1977 cult horror film Suspiria, are good places to begin. These Halloween-ready songs cross genres and time and offer ghostly noises to blare through the outdoor speakers at approaching trick-or-treaters.

Below you’ll find four spooky bangers to set a frightening mood. Most are familiar though this list also includes a heavy metal surprise. And if you’re going to have the wits frightened out of you, you might as well dance, too.

“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell from Somebody’s Watching Me (1984)

Kennedy Gordy grew up writing songs, which isn’t surprising considering Motown founder Berry Gordy is his father. But the younger Gordy failed to write a hit so he prayed for a chart-topper. The heavens delivered a paranoid number about someone stealing his privacy. Gordy chose the stage name Rockwell to avoid using his father’s well-known name in the music industry. The anxious song also features the King of Pop and another master of the spooky jam, Michael Jackson.

“Thriller” by Michael Jackson from Thriller (1982)

Michael Jackson’s culture-shifting album, song, and music video began under the less gripping title “Starlight.” However, Quincy Jones thought it sounded like something from Jackson’s previous album and encouraged songwriter Rod Temperton to find a title more suitable to Jackson’s then-evolution. Temperton settled on “Thriller,” and his funk-horror track became one of the best-selling singles in history. Jones and Jackson dialed up the horror with the addition of Vincent Price, and the video opened with a disclaimer that “this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.” Spooky!

“Black Sunshine” by White Zombie feat. Iggy Pop from La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One (1992)

Anyone calling themselves Rob Zombie is going to make scary art. Zombie’s band, White Zombie, emerged from New York City performing gloomy metal with a groove. “Black Sunshine” opens with a menacing bass line and features spoken word from Iggy Pop. Meanwhile, Zombie sings about a Ford Mustang, which isn’t that scary. But in the song, the devil bears a daughter and Wonderland falls under a looming apocalypse, which adds a kind of terrifying Stephen King vibe to the whole thing. But this baby grooves. And you can imagine cranking it over the rumbling 400-horsepower of Zombie’s Mustang barreling down a dystopian highway.

“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. from Ghostbusters: Original Soundtrack Album (1984)

Sticking with groovy spookiness, “Ghostbusters” opens with an ominous synthesizer before launching into an ’80s dance-pop anthem. Before the theme was written, director Ivan Reitman used “I Want a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News as a placeholder in the film. Then Ray Parker Jr. was tasked with writing an upbeat song using the film’s title. Parker tells the story of waking up to a pest control TV commercial advertising the company’s phone number. There he found inspiration for his hook—Who you gonna call? The song was inescapable from any nearby radio between 1984 and 1985. Lewis sued Parker for copyright infringement as the track more than echoed “I Want a New Drug.” An out-of-court settlement was reached in 1985. Bustin’ makes me feel good.

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