HALLOWEEN NOVELTY SONGS: Music To Die For! Volume 6

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Welcome to yet another edition in our very popular series, Music To Die For! Each entry covers an assortment of audio cd’s specializing in music to help get you in the mood for the Halloween season. This is actually the sixth entry and features 8 new cd’s (and a surprise bonus track available for download) that I came across that I recommend for all Halloween music libraries! I initially started this series in September of 2011 (see original post HERE) and it is nice to see that five years later there is still enough material out there for new editions! As of this writing all of these discs are available for purchase on Amazon!

THE BEST OF HORROR

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This first entry is definitely a great starter collection with 75 songs on three cd’s. There is enough music here, all by original artists, to keep a Halloween party rocking well into the midnight hour! Most of these songs can be found on other releases but this collection, by IMS Distribution, is perfect if you are just getting into Halloween-themed songs.

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HALLOWEEN NOVELTY SONGS: MUSIC TO DIE FOR! Part 5

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On September 7, 2011 I published the first in a three-part series (seen HERE) covering a favorite topic of mine, Halloween novelty songs. I initially became a fan thanks to the Dr. Demento Show (visit the official website HERE) that I would listen to as a young teen every Sunday night, pulling in a weak signal from a Boston-area station. Like all good things, the Dr. Demento Show eventually went off the air in this area but thanks to Rhino Records I was able to start building up a collection of novelty songs, with an emphasis on my favorite holiday, Halloween.

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“Jammin with Jamie” brings back Halloween Novelty songs in local Dr. Demento-style Radio Show!

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Terror from Beyond the Daves is pleased to see our fellow Sven-fan, Jamie Lee Cortese, bring a little “Dr. Demento” to local radio with  her very own show “Jammin with Jamie!” Jamie, a student at Northwestern University, is no stranger to the college airwaves and will be on every other weekend including this one!

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Music to Die For – Halloween Novelty Songs Part 2

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Welcome to part 2 of my overview of Halloween-themed novelty songs. If you missed part 1 you can see it HERE. Before I get down to my recommendations let me warn you about buying Cd’s like this. When you see Halloween Cd’s in stores ALWAYS look to make sure that the songs are by “original artists”. Many times these Cd’s available in major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target feature popular Halloween songs but done by people you have never heard of. If they don’t list the MONSTER MASH as being sung by Bobby “Boris” Pickett then guess what, it’s not! Even if it says by “various artists” it is probably done by artists you have never heard of. That’s the reason so many of these Cd’s cost so little. All of the Cd’s I present here feature songs by the original artists, unless noted otherwise.

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Music to Die For – Halloween Novelty Songs Part 1

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With the end of Labor Day weekend also unofficially signifies the end of summer (even if the calendar says otherwise). This is actually my favorite time of year. The cooler nights, shorter days and Halloween decorations galore in every store. Yes…Halloween is my favorite holiday, even at my age. Growing up has many fond memories for me, especially at Halloween…carving pumpkins, dressing up as one of my favorite monsters, trick or treating and even listening to the Dr. Demento Show with his annual Halloween special. It’s a real shame that kids these days make little effort to keep the Halloween traditions alive (perhaps they should watch the movie TRICK ‘R TREAT to see what can happen!). Kids rarely dress up as scary things anymore. Witches, vampires and ghosts are a thing of the past, replaced with super-heroes, princesses and whatever top 40 music star is popular that year (or my favorite costume, wearing army fatigues and painting your face black…ooooh scaary! Could you tell that I was just extremely sarcastic?). Also missing these days is the Dr. Demento Show, at least in my area. According to the good doctor’s website he is in fact still broadcasting every week, just in more of a limited capacity. It’s too bad that Sirius/XM wouldn’t pick up his weekly show.

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“Dark Night of the Scarecrow” – The Soundtrack!

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Shortly after the 4th of July, I stopped over at our local TARGET store and was annoyed to see that they’d already begun their “Back to School” sales. Although I understand the motivation of businesses for engaging in this long-standing practice of “pushing the holidays,” it still doesn’t prevent me from routinely rolling my eyes and getting irked by it. “Back to School” in July? Sheesh, let the poor kids enjoy their summer!

Behind the large bins of notebooks, pens, and Elmer’s Glue (all supplies that will be as scarce as water in a desert a few short weeks from now) was a few items indicating yet another holiday was in the department store wings. Unlike the advent of a new school year or even Christmas, however, I greeted this occasion more as a welcomed friend along with the knowledge that a monster & horror fan’s favorite season is just around the corner.If you are reading this blog, its a good bet that you will agree that Halloween is one of the BEST holidays along with all the wonderful Fall festivities associated with it!

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