13 spooky tunes for Halloween
Updated 28 October 2021
Boo! Yes, it’s that time of the year, the nights are drawing in and things are getting… spooky. So what better excuse than Halloween to revisit some of 6 Music’s frightful favourites.
Available now, you can hear Tim Ferrante's Horror Soundtrack Mix for Amy Lamé, and a special Freak Zone Playlist from John Carpenter, who directed and scored the 1978 film Halloween.
The Blessed Madonna has a Halloween Mixtape and curates a Scary Movies Playlist, Radcliffe & Maconie play Trick or Treat, and Cerys Matthews explores Heavens, Hells and Afterworlds with writer Edward Brooke-Hitching.
Film lovers are also in for a real treat as Sound and Vision's Miranda Sawyer speaks to film director Edgar Wright about his new psychological thriller Last Night In Soho and his BFI London After Dark series.
To get you in the mood for some musical trick or treating, we present 13 songs to chill your spine this All Hallows' Eve, including some guest contributions from a couple of music monsters.
Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi's Dead
Spine-chilling scratches, cavernous reverb and doomy, helter-skelter melodies from Northampton's finest, make this song as creepy as the horror films in which Bela Lugosi appeared.
Faris Badwin adds: “It’s sort of tongue-in-cheek but it’s so powerful. It’s so well done that you can’t doubt it. It’s a brilliant song and it’s so atmospheric.”
How would you define ‘Goth’?
Chris Hawkins reads out music writer Simon Price’s definition of Goth…do you agree?
St. Vincent – Dancing With A Ghost
A breathtaking, chilling interlude from St Vincent’s album MASSEDUCTION, this track sits in the middle of the record like the audio equivalent of seeing a ghost out of the corner of your eye. Blink and you’ll miss it, yet its presence lingers long in the consciousness. Here’s Annie Clark on the album...
"To make a record...with lyrics that you could tattoo on your arm"
St Vincent chats to Lauren about the creative process of making her new album.
The Cure – A Forest
Wicked snares, marauding bass and those trademark clipped guitars, find Robert Smith and his men at their most menacing – and melodic. 'A Forest' is a spooky but compelling place to dwell.
Chris Hawkins adds: "A Forest is, surely, the quintessential goth song. It’s haunting, chilling, bleak, intense and darkly majestic. It was released a year after Robert Smith's spell in the Banshees, earning him ultimate goth credentials. The Cure have sold over 27 million records, which is pretty incredible for a band who, apparently, make music for a subculture."
Watch A Brief History Of Goth... with Faris from The Horrors and Chris Hawkins
Faris Badwan of The Horrors joins 6 Music's Chris Hawkins to take a look at Goth rock
The Raveonettes – Attack Of The Ghost Riders
Biker gangs, hypnotic beats and ghosts, the Danish duo conjure up an eerie desert-scape populated by true hell’s angels. Read our appreciation of The Raveonettes' debut album Whip It On on 6 Music's Facebook page.
The Birthday Party – Release The Bats
“The Satanic Sinatra”, as he’s known in the pages of MOJO magazine, boasts a dark, romantic air at most hours, but on this early, vampire-bat-obsessed, stormy track by his first band, Nick Cave has a marvellous, madcap, macabre overload.
PJ Harvey – Meet Ze Monsta
A brooding, stompy mix of fuzzy guitars, stormy vocals and violent beats, this ‘monster’ from To Bring You My Love is not hiding under your bed – it’s coming right for you! Read Polly Harvey’s 6 biggest influences… according to PJ Harvey, plus listen to the singer explain where that “Polly voice” comes from below.
PJ Harvey talks about her Polly voice
Polly talks about embracing her true voice.
The Sisters Of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
With decaying empires, deathly imagery and inspiration from the Borgias, all transmuted through gothic queen Patricia Morrison (The Sisters’ own bassist) – not to mention the taut drums and creepy guitars – 'Lucretia My Reflection' is an eerie Gothic classic.
Phoebe Bridgers – Killer
The singer-songwriter created a spooky landscape by doctoring photos so her debut album Stranger In The Alps features a classic 'white sheet' ghost in a host of family photos. Additionally, on this moody piece from the record she also envisages her own demise – ghostly, but oddly uplifting.
David Bowie – Moss Garden
The evocative, ambient instrumental core of David Bowie’s Heroes has a spooky feel as it tries to capture the strange atmosphere of late ’70s Cold War Berlin. 'Moss Garden' in particular is especially unnerving with its sense of abandonment and decay. Read our 40th birthday appreciation of Heroes on the 6 Music Facebook page, plus below, hear Bowie and his key sidemen discuss the Berlin trilogy.
The Berlin Trilogy
David Bowie, Brian Eno, Tony Visconti and Iggy Pop reflect on their time in Berlin.
The Horrors – Ghost
Hailing from a more punky tradition, The Horrors do not see themselves as a goth band, but with the black clothes, dystopian sounds and enveloping atmospheres, they’re happy to borrow from the genre from time to time, as this spectral cut from their album V attests.
“I was always into my parents Sounds of the 60s tapes…”
The Horrors’ Faris Badwan tells Chris what music influenced him as a kid.
alt-J – Deadcrush
Not only are the broody beats of this track from the trio’s album Relaxer hair-raising, but the song is about the band having crushes on the late Lee Miller, Sylvia Plath and Anne Boleyn (with particular note on the latter's grizzly end at Henry VIII's hands). Ghostly girlfriends aside, watch the band being interviewed at 2017's 6 Music Live.
Joe and Gus from alt-J on their musical influences
The pair talk to Lauren about their favourite music and their love of the Mercury Prize.
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound
Disorientating, hypnotic and passionate, this is a whirling dervish of a gothic anthem, as Siouxsie Sioux proves both enchanting and fearsome in equal measure.
“That’s the mark of a great guitarist, they don’t think literally”.
The Horrors’ Faris Badwan explains the importance of legendary guitarist, John McGeoch.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Holy Mountain
With Noel not only singing about casting spells, but borrowing the title from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s mystical and uncompromising The Holy Mountain for his whistle-led single, this track is suitably set for Halloween. Plus, a few people reckon Holy Mountain bears a spooky resemblance to Ricky Martin's best… OK, it’s not really that eerie, so think of this as your Halloween Trick. Now here’s a treat: the man himself discussing the single and the album.
'I never thought I was capable of doing anything different' - Noel Gallagher chats to 6 Music Breakfast
Noel Gallagher tells 6 Music's Matt Everitt about his new album 'Who Built the Moon?'
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