LUCIDMEDIA

10 Halloween Music Videos

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Tuesday, 20 October 2009 09:21

Horror imagery was there at the start of filmmaking, so it should come as no surprise that it was there at the start of the music video as well, and like cinema, it remains a prevalent influence on the medium. So on this occasion we count down 10 cool music videos suitable for Halloween rotation. For these purposes we’re focused on videos made with the artist’s involvement and intended for the purpose of broadcast as a music video. So no golden oldies overtop of generic clips or fan vids. Maybe next Halloween.

10) “This is Halloween” by Marilyn Manson

Already one pick in and I’m breaking my own rules, but when I discovered this on You Tube, I just knew that it was share worthy. Basically, it’s just the opening number from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas with the vocals and music from the 2006 Manson cover off the re-issued soundtrack. As any goth worth their salt knows, Manson and Nightmare go together like bacon and eggs, Ernie and Bert, and black on black. Manson tones down his usual creep factor, not to mention track production to deliver just the right amount of atmosphere and melody in what is the perfect synthesis of artist and material.



9) “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr

This is one of those rare instances where the theme song is as big as the movie it came from. Parker’s song spawned no less than two catchphrases, sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and was honoured with an Academy Award nomination for best song. And in the era of booming artistry and increased production value being put into music videos, “Ghostbusters” was at the forefront including celebrity cameos by Chevy Chase, Irene Cara, John Candy, Danny DeVito and Carly Simon, as well as an appearance by the Busters themselves sashaying down Times Square with Parker. The haunted woman’s neon apartment seems a little Tron, but this video’s still kitschy cool.



8) “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio

The smoke machines were working overtime on the set of this video. With the appearance and aesthetic of a silent movie, TV on the Radio seems to be merely paying lip service to the art form with an otherwise lame story about a guy and a girl at a party; like an episode of the Melrose Placeas directed by Guy Maddin. But then the girl whips out a set of fangs as she comforts the boy after he’s tossed through a window by a bouncer, and they both turn into to some kind of polar bear-looking were-dog thing. All of which is done is stop motion of course, which makes it look a thousand times more awesome.



7) “It’s Almost Halloween” by Panic! At the Disco

Panic! goes old school with the look of this video, which features the band dressed up in several classic costumes like Dracula (Brendon Urie), Frankenstein (Jon Walker), The Mummy (Ryan Ross) and The Wolfman (Spencer Smith). The video switches between what looks like Super 8 footage of a typical party with homemade costumes and silly string fights, and scenes of the dressed up band playing their song somewhere in the woods. Now I know a lot of people don’t carry a lot of fondness for P!ATD, but I’ll be damned if there isn’t something warmly charming about this video.



6) “Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne

Any video that opens with Ozzy Osbourne as a mad scientist definitely makes the cut. “Bark at the Moon’ of course was made before Ozzy was just barking though, in this video turning himself into a werewolf and not just drooling and speaking incoherently like one. This video has the production value of a Hammer horror movie from the 60s, and appealing for that same reason.



5) “Get Ready for Freddy” by The Fat Boys feat. Freddy Krueger

During the 80s, one man said horror like no other, mostly because out of all the big screen slasher villains he was the one that did the most (only) talking. “Get Ready for Freddy” typifies mid 80s, sanitized mainstream hip-hop, but that’s okay because it’s wacky, goofy fun and Freddy Krueger himself, or at least his alter ego Robert Englund, is in on the joke. Not to be left out, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince also did a Nightmare song called “Nightmare on My Street,” which I mention purely out of the interest of balance.



4) “Cities in Dust” by Siouxsie and the Banshees

If you grooved to this band in the 80s, then chances are that everyday was Halloween. Setting the stage for Evanescence, The White Stripes and My Chemical Romance, Siouxsie (pronounced Susie) and the Banshees took gothic imagery and theatricality out from the hands of stadium rock gods and into those of introverted types doing experimental electric music. Perhaps “Cities in Dust” is the best example of the Siouxsie aesthetic as the video opens on images of dancing skeletons and mummified corpses superimposed over film of a boiling red liquid substance. Like a lot of bands from this era, Siouxsie was highly influential, not that they get a lot of props for it.



3) “Welcome to My Nightmare” by Alice Cooper

You just can’t have a Halloween music video list without Alice Cooper, and “Welcome to my Nightmare” seems to be the unanimous choice for his most spook-tatular. It begins with the man himself waking up from a nightmare in what seems to be the master suite of stately Cooper manor. But then this Cooper seems to die, and the eye-shadow and top hat wearing variation we all know and love takes the stage with a trio of male dancers in masks and speedos? Yeah, I guess. Also available on You Tube is a clip of Cooper performing this song on The Muppet Show, and personally, I like that one better.



2) “Sweet Dreams” by Marilyn Manson

It seemed important that Marilyn Manson make two appearances on this countdown, if only because while “This is Halloween” is cool, it could hardly be considered a true Manson video. But while just about all Manson videos could be classified as “Halloween-ish” the selection of “Sweet Dreams” is both significant and chronological. This was the one that launched Manson onto the cultural radar, and if there’s a reason that acts like Slipknot and Insane Clown Posse didn’t make the list, it’s because Manson got there first. Manson’s videos were wild R-rated Tim Burton romps where the music was almost a secondary consideration to the visuals, too bad given the current nature of the industry that Manson’s true calling can barely be realized anymore.



1) “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

The grandpappy of all Halloween-centric music videos, and it is so much so that you can barely qualify it was a music video anymore. Directed by An American Werewolf in London filmmaker John Landis, “Thriller” immediately set new standards for exactly where you could take the music video medium between the cinematic look, the elaborate make-up and celebrity cameos (Vincent Price performed the “rap” portion). Even the most fervent Jackson haters have a hard time admitting that “Thriller” isn’t insanely cool, and not only is it referenced as one of the best Halloween themed videos ever made, but also one of the best videos made ever. In the last 25 years, there have been many imitators, but never once has there been a duplicator.