Halloween 2026 Vol. 4 FIENDS Flesh Eaters BOMBORAS Cramps & MORE!

HALLOWEEN 2026 Volume 4 (POST)

I honestly feel this fourth volume of my HALLOWEEN comps has something for everyone in the (Manson) family.

There are at least two great garage groups named THE FIENDS.  One is from Los Angeles California, & the one that starts us off with Stake Through My Heart, from Vancouver Canada.  (No less a garage god than Rudi Protrudi designed the cover art for their entry in the TEEN TRASH series.)

Thanks to psychobilly bands like The Cramps, & The Brains there are plenty of twangy songs to choose from on All Hallow’s Eve.  But more of the bands on Volume 4 are full fledged rockabilly bands; The Leroi Brothers, The Paladins, The Delta Bombers, & Vince Ray.

Speaking of stylistic departures, The Cranberries’ Zombie is a song about “The Troubles” in Ireland, but that’s easy to forget when Bambi Thug puts in creepy contact lenses and runs it through their Spookometer.  I suspect Harley Poe borrowed their unit to inject some spooky into his version of that old chestnut The Hearse Song.  Gary Stewart is known mainly for honky tonk weepers like She’s Acting Single (I’m Drinking’ Double), but he must have gotten a wild (werewolf) hair up his butt before he recorded Morbid The Great!  

KC & The Moonshine Band may have been included just for their name—but their Zombiefied became a favorite as I listened to Volume 4 over & over to make sure it passed our 14-point quality inspection.

This volume breaks one of my cardinal rules regarding compilations: “Never have two tracks by the same band.”  It was an oversight on my part—because the offending tracks are by an instrumental group; The Bomboras &—I didn’t catch it until I had done all the artwork.  C’est la mort.

There’s another gaffe; In Dreams by Roy Orbison is mistitled Candy Colored Clown.  If David Lynch hadn’t shown the darker side of the song in Blue Velvet, I probably wouldn’t have considered including it at all.  Any song about a clown tip-toeing into someone’s room at night is perfect for any Halloween collection.

I can say that I love the cover art—because I didn’t design it—I co-opted a meme I found on the (spider) web.

 

Halloween COMES ALIVE!

 

Stinky is the undisputed King of Halloween around here.  He shared the idea for today's compilation: artists performing on All Hallow's Eve. 

This was inspired by the recent release of Devo's Nitrous Nightmare, a live recording from October 31, 1975.  The spudboys were not yet a household name, and now it can be told: they did not go over well with the crowd at WHK Cleveland Auditorium.  

Bauhaus gets a better reception at ULU on 10/31/1980 (a show reposted by Floppy Boot Stomp at my request so that we could kick off this comp with "Bela Lugosi's Dead".)  I also found The Cult live on Halloween at Floppy Boot Stomp, and The Who's acoustic Halloween set at the Voodoo Wagon.  

Most of the rest comes from radio appearances, Guitars101 and the Internet Archive.  The band Local H did a Halloween set "in costume" at the Double Door each year, and you can hear Local H performing as Nirvana (in 1997 and in 2016), The Doors, Kiss, Led Zep, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Springsteen, Oasis, and Tom Petty.  Also found a great set by Robyn Hitchcock performing Hunky Dory (plus more Bowie songs).

Halloween is a fun time for bands to break out cover songs, and we've got the Smashing Pumpkins doing "Wipeout" (a showcase for their extraordinary drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin), plus Duran Duran ceding the spotlight to their backup singers on "Spooky".  Cass McCombs does Metallica's "Unforgiven" (recorded by NYCTaper).  Not a "fun" song, but an impressive performance.

I really wanted to include The Cramps.  I found two Halloween shows, but both were low fi audience recordings.  Instead, you get Mary Huff and SCOTS doing Lux & Ivy proud with "Goo Goo Muck".  The original intention was to include only seasonal songs (like "Werewolves Of London").  It didn't turn out quite that way, but at least the comp ends with the Dream Syndicate performing their song "Halloween" on Halloween.

ELSEWHERE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:  It's Weird October at Nothin' Sez Somethin'.  Twilight Zone has been posting Screamin' Jay Hawkins almost daily.  AJ's got several goth compilations at Themes From Great Cities (here, here, and here), and Black Lodge Relics has a massive rack of Elvira and Vincent Price records.  Plus there's Zacherley at Luigi's 50's & 60's Vinyl Corner!

Halloween 2026 Vol. 2 THE CRAMPS Schoolgirls Of Satan THE CUSTOMS Redd Kross & MORE!

HALLOWEEN 2026 Vol. 2 features some artists you might expect, like; THE CRAMPS, ZACHERLE with S.C.O.T.S., & THE RAYMEN.  

Some may come as a bit of a surprise; JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, JONATHAN RICHMAN, WEBB WILDER, TMBG, CHARLIE DANIELS BAND, & REDD KROSS.  

And, as you've come to expect from JONKY, some are on the obscure side; ZOMBIE GHOST TRAIN, THE PROVIDENCER, THE SLIMETONES, THE CUSTOMS, & ELLE CORDOVA.

You might recognize ELLE CORDOVA’s face from her sky-high presence on social media.  Or you might be more likely recognize her by her formerly-known-as name; REINA DEL CID.  With her frequent collaborator TONI LINDGREN, she tells the tale of how ROSWELL NM became "Alien Central."

CHARLIE DANIELS BAND’s The Legend Of Wooley Swamp is a wonderful tale straight out of EC Comics that I had almost forgotten about—but is perfect for a HALLOWEEN mix!

These selections makes great background music for when you’re sharpening your guillotine blade, cutting the blooms off your roses, or robbing graves.  It also goes great with a warm cup of apple cider, if you lean toward that end of the spooky spectrum.

 

Halloween 2026 Vol. 1 RESIDENTS Zombina & The Skeletones RUBY STARR & GREY GHOST Eric Ambel & MORE!

Halloween 2026 Vol. 1

Regular visitors know that I'm a big fan of Halloween music.  This year, I've gone overboard even for me.  

Last year, I tried to include more songs that weren't strictly aimed at October airplay, & I was happy with the result.  I had enough songs left over after 2025's mix that I had a huge jump on 2026, & I wound up having enough for five volumes.

On Vol. 1 there are a couple of cuts by artists you don't associate with All Hallows Eve, like TIM POLECAT, & THE STRAWBS, NOUVELLE VAGUE & THE SILVER KING BAND.  

There are artists that are less surprising: ZZ TOP, THE RESIDENTS, & MEGADEATH.  

And there are acts that come as no surprise to anyone: THE CRAMPS, THE GRAVEDIGGER V, & THE FUZZTONES.

So pop this collection on your stereo, curl up with your favorite werewolf, neck with your favorite vampire, or inventory the bats in your belfry!

 

DOPPLENAMER Volume 3: Pere Ubu Edition!

Happy Halloween, everybody!  Several more blog friends have shared festive music for this spooky season.  Pee-Pee Soaked Heckhole has arisen from its heckish slumber! One Buck Guy resurrected his Horror Film Soundtrack mix, and added a bonus track!  Ape Mummy has The Mummies battling The Wolfmen!  Khayem has a kreepy kool komp!  Groovy Library is still in the Samhain spirit!  And our pal Viacom at Down Underground has dug up the diabolical Danzig!

Stinky first proposed the DOPPLENAMER idea many months ago.  I was immediately excited by the concept, but found it more difficult than expected to come up with my own list of Dopplenamers.  That was until I remembered that PERE UBU has a long list of songs with titles that were borrowed from other songs (as well as titles from film and literature).

Prior to the release of the Lady From Shanghai album in 2013, David Thomas announced that Pere Ubu's new record would "fix the problem" of dance music.  I sometimes wonder if he intended to "fix" other songs when he borrowed their titles.  Maybe he was just making mischief.  His Dopplenamers were certainly more than a coincidence, judging by the sheer number of them that have been gathered here today. 

There are only a few cover songs in Pere Ubu's discography, which is surprising when you consider that Ubu existed for almost half a century (starting in 1975, with a hiatus between 1982 and 1987, and ending upon the death of David Thomas earlier this year). Ubu recorded The Osmonds' Crazy Horses and The Beach Boys' Surfer Girl, and there were a few live covers (like Pushin Too Hard and Kick Out The Jams).  David sang Sloop John B with The Pedestrians, and Strychnine with Rocket From The Tombs. Just a handful, unless you count the RFTT songs as covers.

Anyway, Stinky put a lot of time and thought into the Dopplenamer concept, and got some grief from a few readers.  How about some encouragement to keep the Dopplenamers coming?

ELSEHWERE ON THE BLOG:  more Halloween music!

 

HALLOWEEN 2025

HALLOWEEN 2025 contains a few bands you may not identify with All Hollows' Eve, but I think you’ll be surprised to find the tracks by THE PRETENDERS, T BONE BURNETT, & MARTY STUART, nestle in nicely (like mutant blood-thirsty ticks) alongside tracks by THE CRAMPS, THE COFFIN NAILS, THE FUZZTONES, & JOHN ZACHERLE!

I always appreciated HELEN REDDY’s Twilight Zone-themed: Angie Baby, and JIM STAFFORD’s Swamp Witch is surprisingly spooky, as is TAV FALCO’s Vampire From Havana.

Some bands' names are enough to warrant inclusion, like BARON DAEMON & THE VAMPIRES, THE TOMBSTONES, & THE 69 EYES.  Others, not so much, like BIG BOB KORNEGAY, THE EARLS OF SUAVE, & THE GINTOWN BOOZERS.

All of them were carefully selected by THE ONE WHO STINKS to darken your HALLOWEEN (as is my annual tradition).  In the words of Creature Feature's Master Of Scare-a-monies DR. PAUL BEARER: “I’ll be LURKING for you!”

 

Halloween Madness 2024!

 

Is there a cooler holiday than Halloween?  Someone once said that the devil has the best tunes, and it is equally true that the best holiday songs belong to Halloween.  

Groovy Library started posting Halloween music last month, and it's Weird October at Nothin' Sez Somethin'.  (EDIT: Opium Hum just posted a creepy one: "haunted house sound effects and rasping vocals [which] morph into the more identifiable shapes of queasy, droning black metal filth.")  Jinkies!

Stinky took a broad-minded approach to his Halloween themed mix this year.  It includes the musical saw (which can sound just as creepy as the theremin) as well as an accapella "Zombie Jamboree" by The Lords, and a lovely (but spooky) piano ballad by Anna Ternheim called "Keep Me In The Dark".

Stinky's Halloween Madness 2023 is still available for download, as well as his kid-tested and uncle approved Halloween mix and my own Halloween Creeps comp from last year. 

And it's never too late (or too early) to take heed of the deeply concerned celebrities at the North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative and their public service message "Do They Know It's Halloween?"

One Of Our Halloweens Is Missing

Forgot about this compilation I made, and now Halloween is over.  But you're still celebrating, right?  Eating the leftover candy, taking down the decorations, putting your masks and costumes away, but still listening to spooky soundtracks and Halloween mixtapes, right?  And you're still going to Frisco for the weekend while they install the hot tub? I knew you were!

Here's a variety of songs that share the lyrical theme of creeps, creepers, and creeping.  Not the most brilliant concept, I'll grant you.  But the songs are all good, and Stinky was kind enough to create a cover image.  I would be some kind of creep if I let that go to waste, just because I was a day late -- or maybe 364 days early for Halloween 2024!  As I write this, it's approaching the midnight hour of Dia de los Muertos.  It's the most creepiest time of the year, and who's to say we can't continue celebrating for another day or so?

Halloween MADNESS 2023!

 

It's almost Halloween!  It's beat time, it's hop time, it's goblin and ghost time!  And your ghost host with the most is Spooky Stinky LeBOO!

There's a whole lotta Halloween hijinks afoot in this creepy compilation: vampires, wolfmen, ghosts, skeletons, headless horsemen, heffalumps and woozles.  Bela Lugosi, Norman Bates, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Boris the Spider are among the ghoulish guests at this freaky fest!

The big names may impress you (The Who, The Damned, Elvis Costello, Little Richard, Brian Setzer, and Commander Cody among them).  But it's the lesser-known gems that (for me at least) make Stinky's Homemade Records a truly unique treat.  Are you familiar with the works of the King Dapper Combo?  The 69 Cats, the Gravediggers 5, and the 4 Flops? Angry Johnny and the Killbillies?  

And check out that tracklist!  Where else can you find "I Work In A Graveyard" by Norman Bates and the Showerheads? Or "Blood-Suckin' Son Of A Gun" by the Stone Coyotes? 

If all of this Halloween Madness seems a bit too intense for your holiday needs, we're still hosting a set of kid-tested and uncle approved Halloween tunes that are suitable for young listeners and the faint of heart.

If you're trick-or-treating around the blogosphere this year, be sure to stop by Groovy Library, Boss Radio 666, Down Underground, Moozler Music, La Dimension de Trastos, Themes From Great Cities, Music Hoarder's Record Vault, Fantastic Retrovision, and Opium Hum (where every day is Halloween).  You can also wax nostalgic with the swinging soundtrack to It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at PP's Halloween Heckhole!

It's A Monster's Holiday!

Stinky to the rescue once again with a set of family-friendly Halloween songs. He compiled these for his nieces and nephews last October.

Everything here is appropriate for young listeners, and affectionately assembled with Stinky's fine-tuned taste in fine tunes.

Werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein and assorted monsters lurk within. The Cramps, The Ghouls and the Fuzztones are among the guests at this Halloween party. Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Screamin' Lord Sutch are both on the bill -- a double creature feature at the Monster Chiller Horror Theater!

My Thanksgiving mix from last year is still available and ready to be reheated. I will dish up something fresh here soon. Happy Fall to all y'all!