Kaleidoscope: Spooktacular October Edition
Welcome, ghouls & ghosts, to another installment of Kaleidoscope, the only monthly playlist curated entirely by the staff at J Miller Marketing!
I have to admit that I had this playlist in mind from the outset of creating Kaleidoscope. The month of October is great for a variety of reasons; sweater weather, pumpkin spice, the beginning of the NBA season –– I could go on. But there is no reason greater than its penchant for allowing people to embrace the darkness and wonderment of perhaps the spookiest holiday of all time.
Why Halloween?
It may be self-explanatory, but October is pretty much defined by Halloween. The fact that it falls on the very last day of the month only builds more & more anticipation until that costume party you’ve been looking forward to all year finally arrives, and what’s a party without a great soundtrack?
Halloween songs may be few and far between in comparison to Christmas songs, but where Halloween excels is in its celebration of the morbid and the malevolent, the spooky and the scary, the creepy and the crawly. The music that you choose to play during Halloween time allows you the opportunity to think outside the box; sure you have the obvious choices, and we’ll get to those later, but what about the songs that send shivers down your spine for all the right reasons? These are songs that can have dark subject matter or were featured on a soundtrack to a Halloween-favorite film – they can even be songs that you find downright unsettling.
Stats & Tracklist
I have a Halloween playlist of my own with a good mixture of classics and deep cuts, so I was curious to see what everyone else would pick this month. I’m happy to say that we’re still sticking to the spirit of Kaleidoscope being a showcase of company culture, because there are some pretty unique choices throughout; even the Beatles make an appearance!
If you thought there was a lot of overlap with last month’s playlist, you’re in for a surprise! The most popular song was, of course, “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers. A whopping 8 people chose this song, and for good reason. It’s pretty much Halloween’s “Jingle Bells,” so what Halloween playlist would be complete without it? Something that this month’s theme has over previous months is that there were a lot of songs from the soundtracks of musicals, movies, and TV shows like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hocus Pocus, and The Addams Family, but none more popular than Ray Parker Jr’s theme for Ghostbuster. Including a cover by Pentatonix, this song was picked 6 times, which leads me to another interesting facet of Halloween songs: covers.
I decided to include multuple versions of certain songs because I think it speaks to the individuality of each person’s Halloween experience. Maybe Santana’s version of “Black Magic Woman” is the only recording of that song you’ve ever heard. That song has come to be closely associated with the career of Santana and was one of their biggest hits, so much so that maybe you didn’t even realize that it’s actually a cover of a Fleetwood Mac original! In this way, covers of popular songs by other musicians are essentially the sonic versions of Halloween costumes, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t treat each cover as such.
Now that I’ve bloviated long enough, I present to you the J Miller soundtrack to October, Give it a listen – if you dare:
Follow us on Spotify to access our past & future playlists!
“Thriller” by Michael Jackson – Terri, Laura, & Jen P.
“Halloween Theme” by John Carpenter – Rhy, Steve, & Lindsay
“The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber – Sarah
“Over at the Frankenstein Place” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Nick
“When You’re An Addams” from The Addams Family Musical – Jenn K.
“Ghostbusters” by Pentatonix – Emily W.
“Black Magic Woman” by Santana – Danielle & Julie
“Zombie” by The Cranberries – Tessa, Betsy, & Danielle
“Pet Sematary” by Ramones – Kim
“Peek-A-Boo” by Siouxsie & the Banshees – Jennifer S.
“Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo – Kim
“This Is Halloween” by Marilyn Manson – Steve
“Nightmare” by Avenged Sevenfold – Morgan & Steve
“Living Dead Girl” by Rob Zombie – Cody
“Lose Your Soul” by Dead Man’s Bones – Tessa
“Walking With a Ghost” by Tegan and Sara – Emily F.
“Superstition” by Stevie Wonder – Emily W.
“Zombie Zoo” by Tom Petty – Brooke
“I Put a Spell On You” by Creedence Clearwater Revival – Kylee & Julie
“Witchy Woman” by Eagles – Lauren
“Season of the Witch” by Donovan – Tessa
“Black Magic Woman” by Fleetwood Mac – Tessa & Lindsay
“Feed Me (Git It)” from Little Shop of Horrors – Jenn K.
“Witch Doctor” by Alvin & the Chipmunks – Julie
“A Nightmare on My Street” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince – Jen P.
“Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by Backstreet Boys – Morgan
“Jump In the Line” by Harry Belafonte – Emily F.
“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. – Rhy, Laura, Julie, Mike, & Shelley
“Main Theme” from The Addams Family – Lindsay
“Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers – Terri, Rhy, Laura, Julie, Lindsay, Mike, Shelley, & Brooke
“Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold – Steve & Emily F.
“This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, by Danny Elfman – Morgan & Lindsay
“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell – Jennifer S, Julie, & Andrea
“Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Shelley
“In the Room Where You Sleep” by Dead Man’s Bones – Tessa
“Nightmare” by Artie Shaw – Nick
“Remains of the Day” from Corpse Bride – Sarah
“I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Lindsay, Brooke, & Andrea
“People Are Strange” by The Doors – Betsy, Tessa, & Emily F.
“Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads – Tessa & Lauren
“Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival – Tessa
“Psycho” by Eddie Noack – Nick
“Human Fly” by The Cramps – Nick
“Highway to Hell” by AC/DC – Kylee
“Enter Sandman” by Metallica – Cody
“Witching Hour” by In This Moment – Steve
“Waking the Demon” by Bullet For My Valentine – Morgan
“Paint It Black” by VersaEmerge – Lindsay
“A Little Piece of Heaven” by Avenged Sevenfold – Morgan
“Voodoo” by Godsmack – Lauren
“Reclusion” by Anberlin – Sarah
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins – Tessa
“Ghost” by Depeche Mode – Jennifer S.
“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” by Skrillex – Lindsay
“Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots – Lindsay
“Monster” by Kanye West feat. JAY Z, Rick Ross, & Nicki Minaj – Mike
“Disturbia” by Rihanna – Jenn K, Andrea, & Kylee
“Monster” by Michael Jackson feat. 50 Cent – Andrea
“She Wolf” by Shakira – Emily W.
“Heads Will Roll” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Danielle & Lauren
“Big Bad Wolf” by Duck Sauce – Emily F.
“Crocodile Tears” by little hurricane – Lindsay
“(Ghost) Riders In the Sky” by Johnny Cash – Julie
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band – Jen P.
“Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon – Emily F. & Kim
“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young – Betsy
“Mad World” from Donnie Darko, by Michael Andrews – Morgan
“Revolution 9” by The Beatles – Cody
