Putting together a Halloween mix..
 

So, my mother comes to me, saying that the family is going to be putting on a haunted woods Halloween event at our house.

Now, this is rather.. out-of-character for my mother, who originally would not celebrate Halloween, is very religious and of course had her flip-out over the whole Goth thing. She's generally opposed to violence and gore, the occult and anything that leans on the macabre side of things.

And this year, apparently, that's changed to a degree. Not only are her and my father putting this on (which includes the quintessential chainsaw murderer and a 'witch's brew'), but they asked me to provide the evening's soundtrack.

Years of the typical religious parent anti-darkside-of-life, and now they want me to DJ in absence, at a spooky Halloween bash.

So, I'm thrilled (though disappointed I won't get to attend), but I'm looking for a few suggestions for music. Generally, if it isn't overtly occult-ish, contain adult language, it should work. Both m parents and the people attending like 80's rock, so it shouldn't be too hard. To begin, she said it should be creepy, then move into more party music. Now, I wanted to avoid the whole 'Midnight Syndicate' haunted house soundtrack or black metal, and go for something more original. In a few minutes I threw together a list of songs that progress from errie spooky to rocking spooky and back to errie. I'll be mixing it before I burn it to CDs so it will be more seamless. Any suggestion, though? I believe the music will be playing along the trail to where the party is, so I think the progression is good.

My playlist so far (subject to MAJOR change):

Rock of Ages [With Emilie Autumn] - Attrition
Slave To The Night - Witching Hour UK
War Relics - Jón Hallur
Cantara - Dead Can Dance
Coming Down - Daniel Ash
Passion Of Lovers (Bauhaus cover) - The Shroud
The Sounds of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel Cover)- The Awakening
Night Shift (Siouxsie & the Banshees cover) - Switchblade Symphony
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover) /Some Kind Of Stranger - The Sisters of Mercy
Doomsday Serenade - Jill Tracy
Dawnrazor - Fields of the Nephilim
Cities in Dust - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Knock Three Times - Black Tape for a Blue Girl
Never Land (A Fragment) - The Sisters Of Mercy
Gutter Glitter - Switchblade Symphony
A Forest - The Cure
In Memory of d’Drennan - Unto Ashes
(variations on) Paint It Black (Rolling Stones cover) - Jill Tracy
The Amarrs II - Jón Hallur
Dracula Revists - Two Witches
The Host of Seraphim - Dead Can Dance
Silent Night - Attrition

Uh, The Monster Mash, dude. You can't not fucking have The Monster Mash.

Halloween=/=goth.

I have a Misfits version of the Monster Mash.

Purple People Eater is also a favorite Halloween-kinda song of mine.

Ministry disagrees.

And the Misfits version might be interesting. I just generally don't like that song, for whatever reason..

Might I humbly reccomend,

'Mitternacht' by E Nomine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpntM6lrpQE

'Overture' from The Phantom of the Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuZJhZ7TUYY

... and I concur with gothicus regarding 'The Monster Mash'. One cannot throw a respectable Halloween party without it!

You've already got some Bauhaus in there, but Hollow Hills could work really well early on in the night.

Put some black metal on there!

Bahahaha. That song amuses me. :]

Can't go wrong here. Gorgoroth, Craft, Taake, Wolves in the Throne Room... Anything BM will work, especially if you put speakers next to open windows to scare off the ikkle kiddies.

I put together a playful Hallowe'en mix for some friends one year. It's not all holiday-related, but it gave a nice atmosphere. Here's what I can remember from it:

Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
Lullaby - The Cure
Jasmine and Rose - Clan of Xymox
Isolation - Joy Division
Everyday is Halloween - Ministry
Hollow Hills - Bauhaus
A Forest [Tree Mix] - The Cure
This Corrosion - Sisters of Mercy


More Goth 101 than Hallowe'en, but it made me happy.

You should chuck some Cinema Strange on there, you can't have Halloween without them XD!

I always put Human Fly by the Cramps, Innocent When You dream by Tom Waits, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave, and Incorporeal by Tiger Army plus a bunch of other Cramps and Demented Are Go! songs on there when I need to make a Halloween CD for my parents.

Also, Ghost Town by The Specials would be good.

I suggest "Riboflavin" and "Surf Bat" by 45 Grave and "Release the Bats" by The Birthday Party.

Oingo Boingo would be great as well.

And DoS, I'm really happy for you. Maybe your family is finally coming around. If they're anything like mine, for a while they'll go back and forth with their feelings about anything "dark" and the subculture and related odd pop culture/holiday associations, but eventually they'll not just tolerate it but really support you and be very proud of you.

It think my parents blame themselves, if it bothers them at all... my mom's real niche in the parent-teacher circuit was the Haunted House for the school carnival every year, and my brother was a lot older than me, so some of my first memories are there... after columbine they made us tone it down A LOT, and then especially after 9/11, they cracked down and refused to let us have it because we traumatized so many people (the little-shop-of-horrors-inspired dentist room we had one year was EXCELLENT). I have in my a room my 'baby muppits kermit' plushy sitting in on my shelf with its eyes whited out, blood running down its head, and inside a glass jar. I lost a lot of toys to that sort of destruction, so I just started keeping some of them. Every year my mom dressed as a witch and my preschool teacher(also one of the head coordinators) was a morticia adams type character... and my giant football playing brother always scared the shit out of me with the gorilla suit.

Even though I worked in the place every year and helped build the sets in each room, I had panick attacks so bad I couldn't do the walk-though, so I just had fun adding to the mayhem and getting to play a scary role.

There's my psychosis for you, have a good halloween party haha.

Put some Moss on there.

Best drone doom band ever.

Gaaagahk!?
Tiger army?
Seizure.
Pain.
Dead.

For a halloween mix I never have to listen to? don't be so fucking dramatic.