Remember mixtapes? Crimson Arts does. Welcome to our biweekly feature, where we create mixtapes for every emotion and every season—for breakups, breakdowns, and breakdancing. This week our mixtape is a two-part feature dedicated to all the creepy crawlies you may encouter this Halloween.
We’ve all heard “Monster Mash” and the bevy of other campy, themed songs that are purposefully churned out as Halloween party anthems. Even more critically laudable tracks like “Thriller” are intentionally focused on being bumped full-volume at costume parties. The redundancy of All Hallow’s Eve playlists carries with it a certain beautiful nostalgia. That being said, it’s time to find songs about monsters, ghouls, and hauntings that can be raged to—but aren’t so stale and obviously Halloween-centric that you find yourself rolling your eyes ten seconds in. Here’s Part I, focusing on external demons, of a two-part mixtape spectacular featuring spooky songs that weren’t obviously written with Oct. 31 in mind. Listen along. And stay tuned for part two.
“Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps),” David Bowie
Bowie’s werewolf growls punctuate the screeching Robert Fripp guitar-solo intro to the title track of Bowie’s 1980 LP. Uptempo acoustic strumming accompanies Bowie’s harrowing story of a sociopathic lover whose potentially homicidal qualities keep him “running scared.” Fripp’s acidic line soars into the stratosphere as ghoulish moans and utterances bring the tale to a frenzied conclusion.
“Monster,” Kanye West (ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver)
A six-minute opus about the inevitable pairing of success and villainization, West laments how his consistent brilliance makes him grotesque. Buoyed by a guttural, almost unrecognizable Bon Iver (especially scary for those familiar with the rest of his output), a schizophrenic Nicki Minaj, and an incensed Jay-Z (“All I get is these vampires and blood-suckers”), the track bounces on a sample-free, minimalist beat. For extra scaries, check out the (frighteningly misogynistic) music video.
“Halloween,” The Dead Kennedys
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