Imagine that it’s the day after Thanksgiving for a second. You are just now getting over your food coma, you are getting ready to implement another food coma with leftover pie and stuffing, and you turn on the radio…just because. What music do you hear playing? That’s right. More than likely, the tunes of “Jingle Bells” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” will be stepping out of hibernation and into the spotlight for the next two-ish months. Yes, Christmas is quite a lovely time of year, and there is some great music that comes out of this holiday season, but it seems like we don’t even have time to digest our turkey before we start hearing songs about silver bells and red-nosed reindeer.
Now, there is another holiday that is coming up very soon that, like Christmas, requires elaborate preparations, is associated with a particular season, and is tied into consumer culture (just walk into any Wal-Mart or Target right now and see for yourself). Right again! Halloween is in our midst, and the only music that we have to show for it is Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and some spooky scary ambiance music complete with randomly placed high-pitched screams and screeching cats. Why the lack of Halloween music, huh? Musically speaking, it seems as if we jump right over the Fall holidays and go right into Christmas. It can’t ALL be “Ghostbusters” and “Monster Mash, right? Let’s look at a couple of reasons why Halloween might not be as much of a musically inclined season as Christmas.
- Holiday vs Event
As far as holiday’s go, Halloween and Christmas are celebrated in different ways. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, you might purchase copious amounts of candy, pumpkins, and costume supplies, but do you actually think of these days as the “Halloween season”? And are these trips to the grocery and retail stores part of your “Halloween shopping” experience? No, probably not. This is because Halloween (compared to Christmas) is celebrated as an event rather than a holiday. There is a lack of Halloween music in the same way that there is a lack of Super Bowl music; both mark more as events as opposed to holidays.
2. “Halloween-esque” Music
Now, with the above being said, there is more to Halloween music than monsters mashing and SFX ghosts moaning. You can find “Halloween-esque” hits (spooky sounding and/or spooky lyrics) throughout many genres of music. Heck, I even created a whole playlist of these songs in a blog I wrote a few weeks back (you can check that out right here!). Rock, pop, and even classical genres have provided us with some creepy tunes that might not be labeled directly as Halloween songs, but definitely carry some Halloween themes amidst the lyrics and chord progressions. Take the Camille Saint-Saëns Op. 40 “Danse Macabre” for example. This French 19th century work, complete with violin playing the “Devil’s chord” and a xylophone making sounds symbolizing “rattling bones” just screams Halloween!
So, I guess that while there is a lack of music that is specifically designated for the Halloween holiday due to its event tendencies, the amount of Halloween themed songs/compositions compensates. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have even more Halloween songs in the future, and we might even play them all the way into November (sorry Thanksgiving, where is your music?!?)!
I hope you all enjoyed this post! Do you think Halloween deserves more songs of its own? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! You can also email me (ofmusicandmuses@gmail.com), contact me here, or message me on Twitter! Until next week…
♪ Lauren
PS: Read the NPR article that was the inspiration for this blog here!
PPS: Learn about a Stevie Nicks Halloween-inspired song on last week’s blog!
Of Music & Muses 