We’ve cooked up a creepy concoction of classic spooky songs that will be sure to have you bumpin’ in the night.
It’s that time of the year again, when the skeletons emerge from the basement, candy-induced dental emergencies are at an all-time high, and somehow your friends aren’t as they usually appear… It’s Halloween!
We don’t have to remind you that Halloween is being celebrated differently this year, but be sure to check out our Halloween 2020 guide to get the lowdown on socially-distanced festivities and events at a military installation near you.
And if you’re staying inside this Halloween, make sure to check out our Gore Before Halloween Movie Marathon, where we’re going to be live-tweeting along to your favorite spooky films, including Get Out, IT, Halloween, and our main feature Army of Darkness, starring Bruce Campbell. You won’t want to miss out.
To give you a late October treat, here is the AFE Halloween 2020 mixtape.
As a primer, here are some of our favorite tracks from this week’s playlist.
Witchy Woman – The Eagles
“Raven hair and ruby lips/ sparks fly from her fingertips”
According to American songwriting legend, this song of witchcraft and dancing shadows was a tribute to the late American Novelist Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. When The Eagles’ Don Henley was sick with a bad case of the flu, he would flip through a book of Fitzgerald’s life, which included details of her stint in a psychiatric hospital and her mis-diagnosed schizophrenia. The fever dreams that would ensue led to this song’s creation.
Ghost Town – The Specials
“This town is coming like a ghost town/ All the clubs have been closed down”
With these prescient lyrics, Ska-Punk wizards The Specials seemingly created the anthem for Halloween in 2020, when cooking up this timeless 1981 classic. Complete with spooky sounds, and a haunting flute, this is definitely one to keep in rotation this halloween.
I Put a Spell on You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
“I put a spell on you/ because you’re mine”
This classic track was recorded after a night of heavy drinking, and for many of you out there, that might make Hawkin’s groaning, screaming, and yelling all the more relatable. Following the runaway success of this song, which was even banned from the airwaves, Hawkin’s adopted a signature stage persona which included lots of spooky attire: coffins, rubber snakes, and spiders.
Thriller – Michael Jackson
“You try to scream/ but terror takes the sound before you make it.”
This is it guys, the song that changed halloween and music videos forever. Featuring the GOAT vocal stylings of Michael Jackson, a goofy-yet-iconic 80s line-dance routine, and a “rap” by old-school horror legend Vincent Price (House of Wax, The Raven, The Last Man on Earth), it comes as no surprise that we’re saving one of the best songs for last.
As unfamiliar as Halloween might be to us this year, let’s keep the tradition alive.
Armed Forces Entertainment
Don’t forget to join us on 10/31 at 1300 ET for our Gore Before Halloween movie marathon and live Tweet-along!
Plus, follow AFE on Spotify to stay up to date with this, and all of our other playlists curated for our brave US service members across the globe.
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