When you concentrate on it, there are countless bands that embody the Halloween spirit. The Cramps had been foundational within the horror-punk style we all know and love right this moment, howling out anthems like “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” and “The Creature from the Black Leather-based Lagoon.” Ice 9 Kills’ music encompasses the final word slasher flick, dreaming up gory songs that reference A Nightmare On Elm Avenue, The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath, and Friday the thirteenth. Davey Havok’s involvement in horror supergroup Son of Sam within the early 2000s — alongside Danzig guitarist Todd Youth and Samhain bassist Steve Zing — created a really highly effective mix of deathrock, psychobilly, and the traditional Misfits-esque sound that impressed AFI’s beginnings in Berkeley. However what about songs which are simply plain terrifying?
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With Halloween drawing close to, we wished to search out out what our readers think about the creepiest rock songs ever. Discover the highest fan picks ranked beneath.
5. Nirvana – “Polly”
When Nirvana’s major-label debut, Nevermind, got here out in 1991, it was stuffed with defining highs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come As You Are.” On the opposite finish, although, there have been ballads like “Polly,” a music that had been written and recorded years prior, however many individuals are unaware of its disturbing real-life inspiration. The music is predicated on the kidnapping and assault of a 14-year-old from Tacoma, Washington, in 1987, solely an hour-and-a-half away from their hometown of Aberdeen. It’s a tough pay attention however tougher to disregard, which is precisely the purpose. Kurt Cobain was an outspoken feminist and used this music to precise his horror of sexual violence and misogyny, delivered in an eerie calm that makes listeners really feel its ugliness.
4. The Remedy – “A Forest”
The forest generally is a menacing idea. There’s the isolation, the specter of hazard, and the thick, darkish, and unknown surroundings that triggers an innate worry of intense vulnerability. All of this performs into the Remedy’s “A Forest,” the place its creepiness doesn’t come from shock or gore however from its tense environment. The music builds round a hypnotic bassline and minimal guitar riffs, whereas Robert Smith is lured to “come nearer and see/See into the timber/Discover the woman/Whilst you can.” It went on to develop into the lead single from their second album, Seventeen Seconds, and took extra time to file than another music on that album, although the hassle paid off. “It was in all probability the turning level when individuals began listening to the group and pondering we may obtain one thing, together with me,” Smith informed Chicago Tribune in 1992.
3. Radiohead – “Creep”
Maybe it was our readers being cheeky, however Radiohead’s “Creep” didn’t make this listing due to its sheer horror — however reasonably due to its deeply unsettling environment. Is there something extra terrifying than intense self-loathing? A lot has been written about this music, sufficient that even probably the most baseline fan is aware of that Radiohead have a famously complicated relationship with it — their largest hit became frustration after countless radio play, refusing to play it dwell — although it did assist to pave the trail for his or her whirlwind profession. There’s no OK Laptop or In Rainbows with out its success.
2. My Chemical Romance – “Mama”
In relation to My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, “Mama” stays its most original music, however our readers additionally think about it the creepiest. Weaving collectively nightmarish cabaret, black humor, and an surprising collaboration with Liza Minnelli, the observe is a complete showstopper. As “Mama” goes on, it turns into clear that the narrator is coming undone, entrenched in guilt and loss of life from his time at struggle. The ending — screaming, laughing, a violin — is simply the cherry on high. In case you’d reasonably see for your self, try the dwell model from Mexico Metropolis in 2008, the place the band go for broke.
1. Korn – “Daddy”
“Daddy” is the darkest that Korn have ever gotten, which is why our readers voted it because the creepiest rock music, interval. Because the finale of their 1994 self-titled debut, “Daddy” is a near-20-minute sprawl by Jonathan Davis’ broken headspace, recounting an expertise with baby abuse and breaking down in the course of the recording session with producer Ross Robinson (who was identified to encourage this kind of response). For that reason, Korn by no means performed the music dwell, although they did throw it into their setlists across the full-length’s twentieth anniversary. “Going out and touring that file, I spotted how darkish it’s — it’s some miserable shit,” Davis mentioned in 2022. “As we bought into Comply with The Chief, it grew to become extra about groove. The emotion was there, but it surely wasn’t that specific darkness we captured on that first file.”
