Deadly Day 9: The Misfits "Skulls"

The Misfits took the Ramones' trick of taking fairly straight forward rock song arrangements and melodies and then playing them very loud and very distorted. Then they added the additional twist of plugging in over-the-top horror movie inspired lyrics, often with extreme sexual references thrown in just to make sure someone, somewhere got offended. Some of their tunes, like "Hollywood Babylon" even had a little Cramps-like nod to rockabilly.

The corpses all hang
Headless and limp
Bodies with no surprises
And the blood drains down like devils rain
We'll bathe tonight

I want your skulls
I need your skulls
I want your skulls

I need your skulls

Job well done.

After making a couple of records they speeded up and went full on hardcore punk. Then they broke up and lead singer Glenn Danzig went full on metal. Or something like that.

Haunting Day 8: The Cramps "The Human Fly"

For all their relatively simple appearances - a small, albeit strange, 3 piece ensemble - the Cramps are actually a lot of things all balled up into one very weird sonic phenomenon.

Part throwback to early primitive rockabilly, part throwback to 60s novelty horror music (like our beloved Munsters theme or Screaming Lord Sutch, for example). Recall (or not) that the late 70s and early 80s had its own 50s retro revival that you can see in TV shows like Happy Days and bands like the B-52s and the Stray Cats. The Cramps were at the extreme end of that - the revival of the 50s underworld in all its pulpy, sleazy, drugged out, perverted and decadent glory. I love the B-52s, but the Cramps make them seem like the Carpenters, no offense!

And then to top it all off, the Cramps coined the term "psychobilly" to describe their music, and the genre has lived on up to the present in the form of bands like The Horrorpops and The Creepshow.

Frightening Day 7: Christian Death "Cavity - First Communion"

Ok, I admit it, I'm biased in my love for some of these bands - Christian Death is one of them.

Like 45 Grave, they're another one of those early deathrock bands that came out of Los Angeles. I won't bother to tell their story, there is plenty of info out there already, like here, here and here.

Let's just say that for one of their key members, it didn't end happily, sadly.

Most of the attention that Christian Death gets is focused on their ill-fated genius front man and band founder Rozz Williams. All well and good, but I have to confess that I'm just as much a fan of the entire band's musicianship, song writing and overall style. These guys wrote great songs by any standard. The two albums of theirs that I'm most familiar with - Only Theatre of Pain and Catastrophe Ballet - are chock full of perfect, hook-laden, beautifully depressing tunes.

Scary Day 6: 45 Grave's "Evil"

Jen's stories about being a teenage deathrocker in Los Angeles back in the 80s never cease to amuse me. Being deathrock back then required such commitment - especially as a teenage kid dressed up in all black goth gear riding the bus or trudging along the sidewalk during the height of a typical blindingly bright and hot LA summer. It still does require commitment I imagine, even though you're a lot less likely to get beat up for it.

Yet somehow Los Angeles became one of the main birthplaces of US deathrock/goth music. Strange. It all happened during that intensely creative period in the late 70s/early 80s when dozens of great punk, new wave and hardcore bands sprung up out of decaying old Hollywood, LA's rundown trashy beach neighborhoods and eventually the endless tract home dystopias at the city's edges.

Led by Dinah Cancer, 45 Grave was one of those early bands (along with others like Christian Death, for example). Sounding raw, very 70s punk and very new wave, "Evil" has got to be on your Halloween soundtrack.

Scary Day 5: The Sonics "The Witch"

Okay, here's another one you gotta crank up. Seattle's original soulful grimy gritty garage punks, the Sonics doing their classic "The Witch," another horror themed classic from the 60s. The trebly sharp attack of the guitar riffage plus warbly creepy organ makes for a solid Halloween party monster stomp. It's got a dash of Munster's theme plus a a bit of the garagey-ness of Lord Sutch. Don't leave your playlist without it.

"She got a long black hair
And a big black car
I know what you're thinking
But you won't get far...

Crawly Day 4: Screaming Lord Sutch's "Dracula's Daughter"

This one strays back into novelty territory, but in entirely enjoyable fashion. Screaming Lord Sutch seems to have made a full on novelty act out of his love for campy musical treatments of horror film material and the like, including tunes with names like "Jack the Ripper," "Murder in the Graveyard," and "The Wolfman Strikes Again."

Sadly his love of the darker side of life wasn't a joke - according to this, he committed suicide by hanging in 1999. RIP Lord Sutch.

He left behind his musical legacy plus, interestingly enough, a British political party called the "Official Raving Monster Loony Party."

Creepy Day 3: Screamin' Jay Hawkins Puts A Spell On You

Too bad the quality on this version of "I Put A Spell On You" isn't better - still though, crank this up if you can. This tune is firing on all cylinders - gritty, dirty, bluesy dirge-like instrumentation accompanied by Screamin' Jay Hawkins' amazing textured screams, laughs and moans - sounding like something emanating from a dark basement voodoo club on some mist shrouded New Orleans night. Know what I mean? This one walks the line of novelty tune and full on classic, and well frankly, I think it's outright art.

Originally release in 1956, "I Put A Spell On You" is considered one of the greatest songs of all time and has been covered by dozens of other great artists.