What type of music?

firedancer41 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 07:51 AM

What type of music do you plan to have playing in the background at your Halloween party? I can't decide between mood music or dance type music? I have also considered having music in the den and a scary movie playing in the living room. Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks!

BadTableManor · #2 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 08:29 AM

I usually have a combination of the two, with little soundbites between the songs (werewolf howling, witches cackling, etc). I have more upbeat music during the beginning and middle of the party, then morph into more slow/sinister stuff as the evening wanes.
My entire downstairs is one big area, so a movie wouldn't work so well. I have, however, had a silent scary movie playing with the sound off, and this year I bought a dvd from Sinister Ambience (I think that's the name) where it plays a succession of haunted changing portraits on the TV.

firedancer41 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 08:45 AM

Those are great ideas! Thanks!

Frankie's Girl · #4 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 10:50 AM

We have a Halloween mix - songs that fit the spooky/scary theme either through the actual music or by the titles like:

Highway to Hell - AC/DC
Psycho Therapy - The Ramones
Heaven's On Fire - KISS
Dead Men Tell No Tales - Motorhead
Dead Flowers - Rolling Stones
Monster Movie Fan - Nekromantix
Lake of Fire - Meat Puppets
The Boogie Monster - Gnarls Barkely
Lullaby - The Cure
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus

and so on... you get the idea.

About every 10 songs, there is a short snippet like Boris Karloff or Vincent Price reading scary stuff like "To Raise The Dead" (that one's a spell listing ingredients as read by Vincent Price... it's pretty awesome! I believe I downloaded a lot of these types from "Scar Stuff" Scar Stuff

The pacing goes in waves. We have some slow stuff that leads to loud/fast and then stops for the poems, and then ramps back up.

We don't have a dancing kind of crowd (except for my DH's boss when he gets wasted

) but I would think this sort of thing (picking songs based on themes) would allow you to mix in a larger assortment of songs than the typical "Halloween Mix"

We do the classic horror or Halloween-related movies on the tv, but with the sound turned off - it's more of a moving picture display than for anyone to really watch. DH said that more people got freaked out when he switched the movie to the Rocky Horror Picture Show than when he had Nosferatu in there!

BadTableManor · #5 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 11:46 AM

ah, Frankie's Girl, I like your taste in music. Lullaby and Bela Lugosi's Dead, 2 of my all-time favorite songs. I'll have to check out that Motorhead song, too. Those guys are great.

Rikki · #6 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 01:52 PM

My playlist is about like FG's but last year I had some guests that were complaining that there wasn't enough music to dance to. I'm not a dancer and neither are the guys from the gym (at least they say they aren't!) so I never considered it but apparently the girls they bring want to dance. Any suggestions of good dance music that still fits the Halloween mood?

firedancer41 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 03:13 PM

Rikki, how about some Micheal Jackson..."Thriller" haha. That might be fun:

I don't dance either unless I have had a lot to drink and believe me, it isn't pretty.

Frankie's Girl, thanks for all the great ideas.

Rikki · #8 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 03:43 PM

Yeah, Thriller is on my playlist along with maybe two other good dancing songs but apparently that's not enough.

Garthgoyle · #9 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 04:39 PM

I usually don't use music, due to not having any easily-accessible electrical plugs outside. This year I might pick up a good CD player/boombox that is also battery-operated and blare either Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana, though.

pandora · #10 (**permalink**) 08-11-2008, 07:22 PM

I usually run videos in the living room. I have a Witch party, so last year I ran Hocus Pocus, this year probably Witches of Eastwick. I also found this cool clip on Youtube I want to play:

YouTube - Eartha Kitt Witch Mix

I guess it all depends on your theme and type of guests (age, etc.)