Halloween Extravaganza

There are four American holidays that come with their own soundtracks.

Christmas it the most obvious. It's the juggernaut of seasonal song that nobody seems to like, but inexplicably plays for a quarter of the year anyway. Perhaps its that long window in which the music's in vogue that makes it completely impossible to find once Wal-Mart's holiday sales officially end (which to me, at least, is no small mercy). Consisting of anything vaguely Celtic, and various renditions of "Danny Boy", St. Patrick's Day music is easily my favorite. Although people only get really excited about it during the 12 hours they spend shitfaced on the holiday itself, it can be found all year round hibernating in faux Irish pubs the nation over. And although it's hardly official in any sense, I think there's a strong case that the two dozen traditional patriotic songs, the "1812 Overture" (Because setting off fireworks to that shit is awesome) and a handful of shitty country-western songs make up a soundtrack for the 4th of July that plays non-stop for about three days on either side of Independence Day. Outside that time frame, you can usually hear it at sports arenas, AM radio stations and Republican campaign rallies.

And then there's Halloween.

Halloween has no official soundtrack, and unlike the others, very few standards. Sure, there are a few cheesy songs like "Monster Mash" or "This is Halloween", but for the most part, Halloween songs exist in spirit more than tradition. It's loosely defined, but anything featuring monsters, black magic, demons, or really just songs that are creepy as fuck are usually considered fair game. This makes Halloween music the most interesting seasonal fair. There's no clear definition for it, and a lot of the stuff that fits the theme best is little known. That makes it fun to write about; I get to talk about music I love, do something timely and hopefully help you all out with the upcoming music. 

So as this is October, and October is the month of Halloween, I'm going to use this blog to celebrate the season. Each week, from now until Halloween, I'm going to make a themed posts here. I'll be making two posts with ten great Halloween jams each, a post about songs with disturbing lyrics, and a final post on the holiday itself about songs that are just plain terrifying to listen to. Hope you enjoy!