Ten essential spine-tingling songs for your Halloween party play list

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper's "Feed My Frankenstein" is a must for any Halloween play list.

(Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS)

What would a Halloween party be without a proper soundtrack?

Here are our 10 essential songs for your holiday play list:

Alice Cooper, "Feed My Frankenstein": The godfather of shock rock stuffs this scorcher -- prominently featured in the film "Wayne's World" and included on its soundtrack -- with double-ententes over squealing guitars. Fun fact: Bassist Greg Smith, of Washington Township, Pennsylvania, can be briefly seen in the film, playing bass during Cooper's concert performance. (Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx recorded the bass track on the studio version.) Party on.

Rob Zombie, "Dragula": Pretty much any Rob Zombie, or White Zombie, tune will suffice -- "More Human Than Human," "Living Dead Girl" and "House of 1,000 Corpses" come to mind -- but "Dragula" is a beast of a song sure to test the volume threshold of your home stereo.

Motley Crue, "Shout at the Devil": The devil gets his due in Motley Crue's snarling heavy-metal anthem.

AC/DC, "Highway to Hell": "No stop sign, speed limits, nobody's gonna slow me down." Enough said.

Ozzy Osbourne, "Bark At the Moon": In the liner notes of an Ozzy Osbourne best-of compilation album, the singer claims his memory of the song's lyrical origins is a bit hazy, other than the title and chorus come from a dirty joke he was told. Foggy recollection aside, "Bark at the Moon" still kicks plenty of butt and will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Michael Jackson, "Thriller": One of the King of Pop's best works and one of the greatest pop songs of all-time. The title track to Jackson's landmark album instantly became a staple of Halloween gatherings. The epic John Landis-directed music video helped make the song a bona fide classic.

Ray Parker Jr., "Ghostbusters": The theme song to the 1984 blockbuster film is pure '80s pop -- though the main guitar riff created controversy when Huey Lewis sued Parker over the song's similarities to Lewis' hit "I Want a New Drug" (the case was settled out of court) -- and, like "Thriller," has become must for any holiday gathering. (The film's soundtrack has been remastered and re-released on green slime-colored vinyl.)

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, "Monster Mash": This quirky novelty song was released in 1962 and lives on through covers -- from The Beach Boys to Kidz Bop -- and on countless Halloween compilation albums.

The Dickies, "Killer Klowns": The title cut to the 1988 B-movie cult classic about evil alien clowns, from outer space, terrorizing a small town is frighteningly catchy.

Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London": The late Warren Zevon's tongue-in-cheek piano-driven ditty about a well-dressed werewolf hanging out in London is a gas -- and a hell of a well-written song. It's just as musically visceral as the prowling beast Zevon sings about. ("You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out, Jim.")

What songs are on your list? Leave a comment.

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