Top 10 Halloween Music Videos
- Posted by Shelley White
- Comments (29)
Psychotic, axe-wielding children. Gore-streaked dancing zombies. A troubled teen with a razor, a death wish and a TV set filled with skeletons -- artists have long mined the depths of the dark side when putting pictures to their music. And whether your youthful memories of Halloween are of tricks (packets of raisins polluting your candy bag) or treats (a randy game of bobbing for apples), most of us are always up for a good shiver come October 31.
So to get you ready -- and keep you creeped -- for this year's Halloween, we've unearthed the 10 most monstrous music videos.
Enjoy ... but don't forget to leave a light on! Mwa-ha-ha!
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 'Y Control'
Karen O gleefully cavorts in a figure-skating costume as an ultraviolent mob of children dismember one another with rusty implements of horror. Spike Jonze directed this schlocky and thoroughly disturbing clip, which Karen said was inspired by her love of Michael Jackson videos. Be warned, dog lovers: Man's best friend doesn't fare very well with these beastly wee ones.
9. Gnarls Barkley, ' Who Cares?'
Baadasssss Mario Van Peebles stars as a washed-up Blacula who just can't catch a break. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse keep things slapstick as we watch this unfortunate bloodsucker fail in his attempts to pick up a lady-slash-meal. This video also includes one of the best bat-on-a-string sequences in recent history.
8. Bauhaus, 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'
Cue graveyard fog, ghostly pallor and minimalist dancing. It's the video that launched a thousand goths -- and the perfect opening track for your Halloween soundtrack. A young and ghoulish Peter Murphy is at his undead best, growling and glaring like he just hopped a train from the netherworld. Watch for scenes from 1983 cult movie classic 'The Hunger' starring the original androgynous vampire, David Bowie (eat your heart out, Edward Cullen).
7. The North American Halloween Prevention Initiative, 'Do They Know Its Hallowe'en?'
It's a dream hipster collective: Arcade Fire! Karen O! Rilo Kiley! Wolf Parade! Beck! Feist! David Cross! Nardwuar the Human Serviette! This 2005 parody of Band Aid-style benefit songs combines a jaunty tune with cute/scary animation. There are hand puppets with zippers for mouths, capering Pac-Man ghosts, a creepy baby and a Ouija board. Appropriately, all proceeds went to UNICEF.
6. Aphex Twin, 'Come to Daddy'
Once again, malevolent kids are on the prowl, sporting the evil grin of Richard D. James and bloodthirsty intentions. It was shot on the same grounds as Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange,' and by the time a very icky monster scares the bejeezus out of Granny, you'll have a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Nobody does twisted like director Chris Cunningham (Björk, Madonna), and his work is especially potent in combination with Aphex Twin's acid-trip-gone-awry techno. For an even spookier trip to Weirdsville, check out the Aphex/Cunningham short film collabo 'Rubber Johnny.' (Shudder.)
5. The Horrors, 'Sheena Is a Parasite'
Once again, Chris Cunningham does a lot with a little, using alien-eyed Samantha Morton to great effect as a transmogrifying freak show who twitches around ominously and tosses something slimy from under her skirt. (Um, eww ... is that a tentacle?) The band's gothic cool and thumping beat are more stylish than sinister, but we still get the impression Sheena is someone you'd rather not encounter on the way home from trick-or-treating.
4. Daft Punk, ' Prime Time of Your Life'
This clip by the French techno duo may be low-budget, but that doesn't stop it from being highly unsettling. A wide-eyed teenage girl stares at a TV screen filled with images of skeletons exercising, reading the news and reporting the weather. It's soon clear that nothing good can come of this. Then you realize she's bent on joining her bony friends and wielding something razor-sharp. Yikes!
3. Dead Man's Bones, 'Dead Hearts'
Composed of Canadian-gone-Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling and his best friend, Zach Shields, Dead Man's Bones not only created the ethereal soundtrack, they also directed this video about a wishbone moseying into town. It's less a promo for the band than an eerie and enigmatic short film. The wishbone occupies a miniature world, complete with unearthly light, graveyard gatherings and the ghost of a horse. See also the cemetery-set performance piece 'Name in Stone' and 'In the Room Where You Sleep,' in which Gosling leads a chorus of kids in full Halloween regalia.
2. Metric, 'Monster Hospital'
What's a hapless rock chick to do? Emily Haines plays hunted heroine in this 'Nightmare on Elm Street' come to life. Hands are pulsing through the ceiling, scary people are grabbing at her through the floor, and her bandmates have turned into zombies. And then there's that bleeding bathroom sink to contend with. Yet Haines still manages to deliver an ass-kicking rock anthem amidst all this carnage.
1. Michael Jackson, ' Thriller'
Sure, it's an obvious choice, but you just can't top this classic pop-culture gem. It's MJ at the peak of his fame and is the scary clip that all Halloween videos must be measured against. There are shuffling zombies that can cut a rug and the rumbling wicked laugh of Vincent Price (who also raps about grisly ghouls come to "terrorize y'all's neighhborhood"). Not to mention a surgery-free Michael Jackson transformation that actually holds up pretty damn well. Still thrilling.
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Reader Comments(1 of 2)
atj801at 10-19-2009
What about The Ramones Psycho Therapy?
Martinat 10-19-2009
"Spookiest" music video has to be Fever Ray's If I had a Heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HvjK29Gpn0
Larsat 10-20-2009
Fever Ray! Thanks for recommending that. I've never heard of them but that was really cool shit. I'll be checking out more of their stuff.
Seviahat 10-19-2009
How about Skinny Puppy's vids?! And "Thriller as #1?! It's a video with a bunch choreographed zombies! Comical and entertaining (@ least when muted), but hardly scary enough for the number one spot.
Alilokilokiat 10-19-2009
These were all lame. I love Bella Lugosi's dead but I wouldn't call it creepy or scary. The Aphex Twin was pretty fitting, though. This was the best they could find? Geez. I agree with the rest of the posters choices. And what about slipknot's Psychosocial and Devil Driver's Not All Who Wander Are Lost. And who in their right mind would leave out Rob Zombie in a list like this?
argusprada2at 10-19-2009
I think marilyn manson's "beautiful people" is the creepiest video even though it really has nothing to do with halloween.
GandalfTheBaldat 10-19-2009
What, nothing from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'? The whole movie is a holloween send up!!
Mikeat 10-19-2009
How the hell is Marilyn Manson's beautiful people not up there? That should be #1 and its not even on the list
Leeat 10-19-2009
What's with the dead dogs? Was Michael Vick around?
Looks like it!
RyanKat 10-19-2009
Wow, I was gonna be mad if Marilyn Manson would ahve been #1 because it would have been so typical, but looking at this list, I beg of them to put him on there. I agree with the individual who said who in their right mind would levae Rob Zombie's work off this list...
leslieat 10-19-2009
i so knew thriller would be first. its a given. a true classic.
Paulaat 10-19-2009
Ya think Michael Jackson is gonna come back on Halloween really looking like that?
Alanat 10-19-2009
What about 1962's Monster Mash!?!?
Vinceat 10-20-2009
Fabulous Halloween song, but did it have a video?
debbieat 10-19-2009
ok I'm not that old but the only artist or song I reconize is Michael Jacksons Thriller I listen to the raido hot stations in my area and I am very open minded about music but who are all these people.
iLovetheMonsterMashat 10-19-2009
I AGREE COMPLETELY!!!! (Ihate saying OMG unless I mean it)OMG-Monster Mash ROCKS! I MEAN IT!
It's like a cross between beach boys&thriller. And if you don't like either, you'll still like this.
Watch this people, if you haven't seen it, you need to. Only the people who disagree with me wouldn't agree with me, so pretty much, just watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thH3qnHTbI
copy then paste(right click to copy/paste)into url bar (url bar = web address at top of page)
Thomas Izaguirreat 10-19-2009
What about Cabaret Voltaire's "I Want U" with its tribute to "Nosferatu"?
Orlendaat 10-19-2009
many of these WERE lame! What about disturbia by Rhianna? Or Fun House by pink? Or Beautiful People by marilyn manson?
xoxomOlLy123xoxoat 10-19-2009
Rob Zombie should have been on here.
annaat 10-19-2009
Thriller was obviously going to be the number one choice. But seriously, it's not that scary. Perhaps the number on a Halloween song list or something...but not number one on a list for scariest videos.