Timeless Thursday – Fave Horror Soundtracks

It’s Timeless Thursday and we’re jamming out with the greatest horror soundtracks of all time.

It should be no surprise that the three most recognizable horror themes are “Halloween Theme – Main Title” by John Carpenter followed by Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” from The Exorcist, and the “Jaws” score by John Williams.

But, did you know the best selling horror soundtrack of all time is Dracula 2000? According to Loudwire Dracula 2000 soundtrack earns an estimated $1.7 million in royalties from 445 million plays on Spotify, thanks to the headbanging power songs from System of a Down, Saliva, Disturbed, Static-X, Powerman 5000, Taproot and the biggest driver of them all ‘One Step Closer’ by Linkin Park.

The second best selling horror soundtrack is Tim Burton’s Nigtmare Before Christmas with music by Danny Elfman. The best song off that album, is “This is Halloween” by Danny Elfman.

Rumor has it that Kiefer Sutherland originally turned down his role in 1987’s vampire hit The Lost Boys, but changed his mind upon hearing INXS and Jimmy Barnes would be doing music for the soundtrack. There’s so many cool songs on this soundtrack, it’s easily one of my all time faves. Who can forget Tim Cappello’s I Still Believe which he got to perform on the boardwalk for a scene in the movie.

Another of my favorite spooky songs comes from the 1992 Candyman soundtrack. It’s carnival fervor dream turned nightmare and the epitome of the sound of innocence being stolen by evil forces.

Lots of folks love Italian disco rock band Goblin’s score for Dario Argento’s supernatural thriller Suspira, and it is an amazing soundtrack for certain, but my favorite score from them actually comes from George A. Romero’s zombie masterpiece Dawn of the Dead from 1978.

No theater goer will forget the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which featured one of the most memorable scores in movie history with a segment from “Dies Irae” from “Symphonie fantastique” by Hector Berlioz, performed by composers Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. Omnious and haunting, the music immediately sets the tone of one of the greatest horror films ever produced.

I hope you have a chance to check out one of these great horror films. Happy Halloween!🎃

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Timeless Thursday – Halloween 80s Playlist

POST UPDATE 10/16/25: I cannot seem to get the videoplayer to upload my entire playlist, so it’s now a hyperlink that opens in a browser or Youtube. Sorry! Some GenXers just ain’t great with technology! LOL

Timeless Thursday, Throwback Thursday, it’s all the same, it means, we’re going back in time!

I made an Halloween 80s Playlist on YouTube. These are some of my favorite songs. Growing up in the 80s actually feels a lot like this year of 2025, GOP in control and ruining just about everything. Cold war was on, threat of nuclear war was high, terrorism threats were daily, antiwar songs were on the radio, high unemployment, groceries prices were rising, no one had healthcare, no one had rights but old white guys with money, racism, sexism, bigotry was running rampant, and of course, capitalism was consuming the world.

But the 80s had the best music and you should add these obscure gems to your Halloween Playlist.

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw-pyzpxGDXmNPaTZpLAEYoVeDLjHrfYe

I’ll keep adding more songs as they return to my memory. Cuz that’s a real thing when you get old! LOL

Happy Halloween!🎃

Timeless Thursday – Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s Other Monster Hits

Timeless Thursday, Throwback Thursday, it’s all the same, it means, we’re going back in time!

Did you know that Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett had a couple of lesser known monster hits after the chart topping smash hit Monster Mash in 1962? The original Monster Mash album had 16 tracks altogether, including this one:

Title: Monster’s Holiday
Singer/Band: Bobby Pickett
Date: 1962

Well, actually, comedian Pickett was probably the only person who ever continually parodied his own music, but the success of Monster Mash was never duplicated. He sure looked like he was having fun anyway.

Title: Monster Swim
Singer/Band: Bobby Pickett
Date: 1964

I suppose, if it aint broke, don’t fix it!😄

Title: Monster Rap
Singer/Band: Bobby Pickett
Date: 1984

About that Monster Mash, it was spoof on popular dance craze songs at the time. The song was co-written with Leonard Capizzi in May 1962 and hit the top US Billboard 100 by October the same year. By 1973, it had re-charted five other times and eventually earned gold status, making it the greatest novelty song in history.

Hit up Wikipedia to learn more about Bobby Boris Pickett. By the way, did you know Monster Mash still generates $1 million dollars annually in royalties?! <grunts> Mash goooood!

Timeless Thursday – Earliest Spooky Tunes

Happy October! It’s Throwback Thursday and today we’re listening to the earliest spooky tunes ever recorded.

Title: The Skeleton Rag
Composer: Unknown
Singer/Band: American Quartet
Date: circa 1912

The Skeleton Rag circa 1912 is the earliest known recorded spooky song. Not much is known about the song, but Wikipedia has a whole page dedicated to American Quartet, a widely known vocal group that made music from 1899-1925.

Title: At the Devil’s Ball
Composer: Irving Berlin
Singer/Band: Maurice Burkhart
Date: circa 1912/1913

According to Wikipedia, At the Devil’s Ball was first composed by Irving Berlin, with the earliest copyright registered on November 14, 1912. It was recorded a few times by different groups throughout 1912, but Maurice Burkhart’s 1913 version is best known.

Title: That Syncopated Boogie-Boo
Composer: American Quartet
Singer/Band: American Quartet
Date: circa 1913

Boogie woogie is a popular type of blues music from early teens and 1920s. Wikipedia reports that the first use of the word “Boogie” in a recording title appears to be a “blue cylinder” recording made by Edison of the “American Quartet” performing “That Syncopated Boogie Boo” in 1913.

Anything created before 1923 is considered a Public Domain work and free to use or reproduce. That said, the owners of these YouTube Channels control the content they posted, so these videos could be removed at anytime. Please email me at Halloweenkristy@gmail.com to report broken links.

Sinister Saturday: Killer Halloween Playlists

I have no rant this week, only melancholy because there’s only one week til Halloween night. It makes me sad seeing the spooky season come to an end so soon. Yet, like baseball, there’s no crying on Halloween. The dead only have one night in this realm and they don’t wanna listen to us weeping. Halloween is for celebration!

So, I finally jumped on the playlist bandwagon to pick out some killer Halloween party music* or dance around in your room when no one is looking music. There are no judges here, only ghouls who wanna have a good time. Enjoy!