Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Nature Trail To Hell” — “Weird” Al Yankovic (1984)

Coming this Christmas to a theater near you The most horrifying film to hit the screen There’s a homicidal maniac who finds a Cub Scout troop And he hacks up two or three in every scene… Howling winds. Screaming victims. Backwards messages. Impending doom. And a chilling final minor chord on piano that lingers like…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “I Feel The Dark” — Opeth (2011)

Veiled comes the daylight through the glass In the never-ending rain This is no friend of mine Stalking the comfort within Any one of two dozen Opeth masterpieces could dot this particular landscape. Heck, almost anything from Blackwater Park would do just fine, and I’d love to devote an entire post to that album sometime.…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Down By The Water” — PJ Harvey (1995)

That blue-eyed girl She said “no more” That blue-eyed girl Became blue-eyed whore… The song equally intrigues me and freaks me the hell out, which by any measure makes for one buttkickin’ Halloween song, hence how we end up here. Down By The Water was my introduction to PJ Harvey well over two decades ago,…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Avalanche” — Leonard Cohen (1971)

When I am on a pedestal, You did not raise me there. Your laws do not compel me To kneel grotesque and bare. I myself am the pedestal For this ugly hump at which you stare. If you have to ask why Leonard Cohen should be on any chilling songs playlist, you probably need to listen…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Poison Ivy” — The Coasters (1959)

Measles make you bumpy And mumps’ll make you lumpy And chicken pox’ll make you jump and twitch A common cold’ll fool ya And whooping cough’ll cool ya But poison ivy, Lord’ll make you itch! Strictly speaking, this is not a Halloween song. Heck, Poison Ivy is as much about actual poison ivy as Werewolves of London is…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Vengeance (The Pact)” — Blue Öyster Cult (1981)

To defend, this is the pact But when life’s scorned And damage done To avenge, this is the pact I mean honestly, if you haven’t heard Blue Öyster Cult’s entire 1981 album Fire of Unknown Origin, please do. It’s pretty freakin’ keen. You can only listen to Don’t Fear The Reaper and Godzilla only so many times. Why NOT…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Goodbye Blue Sky” — Pink Floyd (1979)

Look Mummy, There’s an aeroplane up in the sky… Like Pink Floyd needs any more talking up of The Wall, or like 99.999% of you haven’t heard this song already. Still, Goodbye Blue Sky is a beyond worthwhile contender for our prized list of Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs. Just even for those opening lines spoken by…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Prelude To Madness / Hall of the Mountain King” — Savatage (1987)

His towers of stone Shall not be overthrown For eternity It is guarded by the king Insanity and the power that it brings Now if you’re wondering why the cover of Savatage’s 1987 album looks like a the cover to a Dungeons and Dragons module from 1979, the music of Savatage might not be for…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Hell” — Squirrel Nut Zippers (1996)

This is a place where eternally Fire is applied to the body Teeth are extruded and bones are ground Then baked into cakes which are passed around… I don’t think there are too many things more terrifying than the Swing revival of the mid/late 90s… Not the music, I mean. That stuff was mostly pretty…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Everybody Dies” — Ayreon (2017)

Doom, gloom, the world goes boom None will be spared so don’t assume Not ragged clothed nor silver spooned You’re all the same when extinction looms… October. FINALLY. At long freakin’ last. October has arrived and we here at HokeyCorps Industries LLC (still entirely fictitious) can drop the pretense of accepting the long, hot, miserable…