A Very Goth Halloween: Spooky Halloween Music

Photo by Gioele Fazzeri on Unsplash.

Every year on this blog, I make Spotify playlists around holiday times as a way to help me get in the mood for the changing seasons. Whether it’s lighting candles around the apartment, doing Spirit Halloween runs, carving pumpkins, compiling costume ideas together and more — Halloween is truly one of the only holidays I care to celebrate. Regardless of how you feel about the consumerism of these kinds of festivities, this is my favorite time of the year, and I take full advantage of it. 

Over the past few years, I’ve definitely begun to lean into a darker aesthetic than I’ve allowed myself to do in the past. There’s lots of reasons for that, be it healing, stepping into my power and gaining more confidence, turning 30 and just not giving a hoot about what others think of me anymore, being surrounded by a better crowd of friends, whatever you want to attribute it to — it’s no big secret that I’ve embraced an edgier side of my personality, one that I’ve kept hidden and suppressed for a long, long time. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, and I never thought I’d have the privilege of saying so. I feel like my most authentic, true self when I don all black, put up my favorite pieces of strange art, or watch scary movies. And it’s nice.

I’ve covered Reno’s goth nights multiple times on this blog and I’ve got to say the populace that has surprised me the most in recent years is the goth subculture. I’ve never met a group of people that’s been so kind and accepting from the get-go, and more than willing to educate when asked. While I feel like I’m being a little redundant in covering this corner of our community again, I couldn’t enjoy this Halloween without holding space for the “goth” bands that have reignited my joy for the macabre, the taboo, as well as the beautiful, open-hearted new friends I’ve been able to make because of the gang over at Ritual.  

After listening to hours and hours of dark wave, post-punk, synth pop, industrial, and the infinite list of genres that people note as “goth” online (and I hesitate to even use the label because you know, it’s 2024) I’ve made a Halloween playlist I’ve endearingly titled “Goth Vibes.” I’ve noticed some common themes within the category, especially in musical style. Reverberating drumming, dreamy, soaring guitar notes complimented by low, rumbling bass-lines and eerie synth keys, goth has a sound that is ethereal, otherworldly, but above all: dark. Vocals are usually characterized by either twangy cries, exaggerated vibrato or breathy, haunting whispers or rasps. Lyrical content usually surrounds the occult and mysticism, crafted in a poetic fashion always. If there are love songs, they’re usually twisted in an angsty and forlorn way, which makes it oddly romantic in the end. With goth music, the rule is: the stranger, the better, and if you can make it slightly unnerving you’ve nailed the aesthetic. Spooky music is an acquired taste of eccentricity and for some of us it’s not limited to October 31st, it just tickles something in our brains and clicks. 

Usually this time of year for my Halloween music I reach for my classics like Creature Feature, but after spending more time expanding my horizons, putting myself out there and seeing where I fit in, where “my people” are: the goth flavor of life just appeals to me more and more. Call me cheesy, but my teenage self would have been proud of my current tastes, and I’m glad I’ve surrounded myself with people who finally support me showing up as my genuine self. This journey into the more mysterious, spine-chilling section of tunes has been such a fun ride, and I hope that even if you’re not sold, that this spooky Halloween music I’ve curated brings you some small sense of merriment this fall, as it does for me. Some of it is “traditional” goth, some of it isn’t. There’s old stuff, new stuff, weird stuff — but it’s all hand-picked, carefully chosen to suit the mood. 

Enjoy and wishing you all a Happy Halloween / Spooky Season from Funk Punk Lives. 

If you want to check out the next Ritual Goth Night, visit its Facebook page here for updates.

Access to this playlist here: “Goth Vibes.”