This is part of a blog I wrote years ago, but I revisit it and try to update it a bit each year.
Like most families, Halloween and Christmas have always been big at our house. Lisa and the kids are on the Halloween side, while I'm with Santa.
I learned long ago not to try and convert any of them. I think what happened at Disneyland once illustrates it best. In one of the studios at California Adventure, you can use this machine to determine which hero or villain you are.
I was Tarzan. All three of them were villains.
Like most families, Halloween and Christmas have always been big at our house. Lisa and the kids are on the Halloween side, while I'm with Santa.
I learned long ago not to try and convert any of them. I think what happened at Disneyland once illustrates it best. In one of the studios at California Adventure, you can use this machine to determine which hero or villain you are.
I was Tarzan. All three of them were villains.
Oh, well. They love me, anyway.
So as we move toward October, I'm super-busy working on the new season of the Sounds of Christmas. While I've kept the station on year-round, it goes through a big change in October. The Sounds of Christmas becomes the Sounds of Halloween through Halloween night.
I admit, mostly, it's just for my family, while I kick the tires and otherwise make sure everything is set to go for the coming season. But I've found there are a lot of other people that love Halloween, too, so I've expanded the playlist and hope you have a good time with the Sounds of Halloween.
With all that said, what exactly is Halloween music?
Some of it is pretty obvious. Monster Mash. Purple People Eater. Ghostbusters. Songs about things you associate with Halloween - ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires and witches. Some are scary stories, and some are about candy or trick-or-treating.
I also include songs from scary movies and TV shows. Some of those are pretty creepy. And some are funny. Many are in-between.
While there are some kids' songs (like The Count from Sesame Street), a few of the songs do have bad language. And some of the themes of some songs are straight out of horror movies, and those probably aren't for little kids, either.
On the Sounds of Christmas, I play many versions of some songs, so you won't just hear Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas". I do the same thing with the Halloween tunes. I have at least a dozen versions of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" (though I may not get to all of them this year, as I try to separate songs and artists so you don't hear the same songs and same voices over and over).
You will hear from many of your favorite Christmas music singers and bands, including Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mannheim Steamroller and even Bruce Springsteen!
There are songs about Killer Tomatoes, Black Magic Women and Haunted Houses. There are also songs about Aline Invasions, Invisible Men and over twenty takes on "I Put A Spell On You" (I won't get to all of those, either).
I play lots of Disney songs, from movie villains and from spooky shows on the Disney Channel. I also have at least half a dozen songs from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
To give you a better idea, here are a dozen of the songs I listened to as I put this blog together...
George Thorogood "Bad To The Bone"
Percy Sledge "Spooky"
Heaven 17 "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Aurelio Voltaire "Raised By Bats"
Bryan Ferry "Sympathy For The Devil"
Moody Blues "Forever Autumn"
Sofia Carson "Rotten To The Core"
The Tubes "Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman"
Blue Oyster Cult "Godzilla"
Motorhead "I'm Your Witch Doctor"
Peggy Lee "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky"
Manfred Mann "I Put A Spell On You"
Hope you enjoy this upcoming celebration of Halloween during the month of October! And then the new season of the Sounds of Christmas will be here!
May you always believe in Santa Claus (and also the Great Pumpkin)!
Ken
P.S. - To listen, just go to our home page (or click LISTEN about) and click on the player. For some reason, the player isn't showing up on some browsers, so you can also just click on the tree which will give you a pop-up player. And you can search for us in the Google Play store and get our free app for your Android Phone and take us along with you!
So as we move toward October, I'm super-busy working on the new season of the Sounds of Christmas. While I've kept the station on year-round, it goes through a big change in October. The Sounds of Christmas becomes the Sounds of Halloween through Halloween night.
I admit, mostly, it's just for my family, while I kick the tires and otherwise make sure everything is set to go for the coming season. But I've found there are a lot of other people that love Halloween, too, so I've expanded the playlist and hope you have a good time with the Sounds of Halloween.
With all that said, what exactly is Halloween music?
Some of it is pretty obvious. Monster Mash. Purple People Eater. Ghostbusters. Songs about things you associate with Halloween - ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires and witches. Some are scary stories, and some are about candy or trick-or-treating.
I also include songs from scary movies and TV shows. Some of those are pretty creepy. And some are funny. Many are in-between.
While there are some kids' songs (like The Count from Sesame Street), a few of the songs do have bad language. And some of the themes of some songs are straight out of horror movies, and those probably aren't for little kids, either.
On the Sounds of Christmas, I play many versions of some songs, so you won't just hear Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas". I do the same thing with the Halloween tunes. I have at least a dozen versions of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" (though I may not get to all of them this year, as I try to separate songs and artists so you don't hear the same songs and same voices over and over).
You will hear from many of your favorite Christmas music singers and bands, including Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mannheim Steamroller and even Bruce Springsteen!
There are songs about Killer Tomatoes, Black Magic Women and Haunted Houses. There are also songs about Aline Invasions, Invisible Men and over twenty takes on "I Put A Spell On You" (I won't get to all of those, either).
I play lots of Disney songs, from movie villains and from spooky shows on the Disney Channel. I also have at least half a dozen songs from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
To give you a better idea, here are a dozen of the songs I listened to as I put this blog together...
George Thorogood "Bad To The Bone"
Percy Sledge "Spooky"
Heaven 17 "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Aurelio Voltaire "Raised By Bats"
Bryan Ferry "Sympathy For The Devil"
Moody Blues "Forever Autumn"
Sofia Carson "Rotten To The Core"
The Tubes "Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman"
Blue Oyster Cult "Godzilla"
Motorhead "I'm Your Witch Doctor"
Peggy Lee "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky"
Manfred Mann "I Put A Spell On You"
Hope you enjoy this upcoming celebration of Halloween during the month of October! And then the new season of the Sounds of Christmas will be here!
May you always believe in Santa Claus (and also the Great Pumpkin)!
Ken
P.S. - To listen, just go to our home page (or click LISTEN about) and click on the player. For some reason, the player isn't showing up on some browsers, so you can also just click on the tree which will give you a pop-up player. And you can search for us in the Google Play store and get our free app for your Android Phone and take us along with you!
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