Halloween Music Needs a Re-Vamp

When you hear the word “Halloween,” what do you think of? Is it a catchy, spooktacular song? Perhaps an iconic haunting movie or character? Personally, I reminisce over the song “Monster Mash” by Bobby Picket, the movie “Scream” and the acclaimed Shining Twins. 

I recall these classic hits because they embody how Halloween should feel — at least how it felt in its prime. These ghoulish classics persuade the holiday’s celebrators to embrace the spooky spirit and prepare for the big day. 

As much as I love to replay these soundtracks and films to my heart’s content, I would just as much enjoy the release of a new Halloween hit.

When I say I want new Halloween songs, I’m not referring to songs with an unoriginal, immature tone and one singular chorus released to be glorified as a new TikTok micro-dance. I want a song that follows in the footsteps of the classics — a groovy combination of pop and rock and roll, refusing to shy away from the holiday genre’s traditional mottos and beats. 

One famous example of the perfect Halloween hit would be Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.” With the eerie sound effects, funky music and suspenseful tension, it’s undeniably an infallible method to set the mood.

If I attend a Halloween party, the music in the background is perpetually songs created prior to 2010. When these songs play, I can’t get enough. But if I hear “I’m In Love With a Monster” by Fifth Harmony or “Monster Mask” by Pomplamoose, tears will roll down my face and blood will pour out of my ears.

Not only do these songs impair the Halloween spirit, but they lack the notorious frightful essence it needs to succeed. 

For a Halloween song to be a Halloween song it must include the essentials — ominous lyrics, quirky chords and minimal to no romantic elements. As discouraging as this all may appear, I sincerely believe our generation, and all of the incredible artists we support, are more than capable of continuing the iconic Halloween excitement. 

A new Halloween hit would require grasping the concepts and ambience of the classics rather than creating just to fill someone’s For You page with simplistic choreography, unless it evokes Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance. All these notorious anthems had to start somewhere — let’s bring songs like these back. 

While Halloween hits may have been on hiatus for some time, it’s not too late to create some tunes capable of reaching Halloween-classic status. All classics started as normal songs, but they all had something in common today’s wannabes can’t even fathom — the Halloween spirit.