Zombies, Ghosts & Skeletons. Oh my!

A thin slice of the massive genre of Rock 'n' Roll is devoted to the macabre, the spooky, and the scary fun that is Halloween. Here's just a small taste. Enjoy!

"Zombie" by Jamie T. Ever hear a loveable zombie sing their guts out? This track rocks, but it also has a lot of heart. "Don't be afraid to be a friend," Jamie T sings on the bridge. Zombies have feelings too, you know.

"Astro Zombies" by Misfits. Any Halloween Rock 'n' Roll playlist would be incomplete without some good ol' fashioned Horror Rock. The Misfits embody the genre—arguably more so than anyone else.

"Handsome" by The Vaccines. To understand why this track is a Halloween song, one must witness the majesty of its music video in which the Creature from the Black Lagoon trains the band in Kung-Fu so they can battle an evil lizardman and his henchmen. Plus, the song is quite catchy.

"Walking with a Ghost" by Tegan and Sara. Keeping with the theme of ghastly ghouls in rock songs, "Walking with a Ghost" really rocks and reminds us that all it takes to make a kick-ass rock song are few chords and a dash of moxy. This 2004 single by Tegan and Sara is a classic.

"Ghost Boyfriend" by Baby Ghosts. Baby Ghosts are a hidden gem from Salt Lake City. This band has wicked chops, and a unique sound. The band followed a tight theme of ghosts throughout their 2014 album Maybe Ghosts. "I just want a friend/I don't care if they're alive or dead," they sing in one verse. This is a great rock song for making friends with cute ghosts and telling off your exes from the the other side of the grave.

"Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The spooky organ chords of this track set the mood right away with an eerie Phantom of the Opera vibe. This ambiance is only reinforced when Karen O, the lead singer, belts out the words, "Off with your head!" over this organ intro. She sings, "Off with your head /Dance 'til you're dead/Heads will roll /On the floor." Then a thumping beat comes in, creating a song you can really step to.

"Ghost" by Neutral Milk Hotel. So much distorted fuzz! This track comes right from one of the greatest Indie Rock albums of all time, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Be sure to listen all the way to the end of the song where a singing saw solo imitates the sound of ghosts wailing overhead.

"Halloween" by Dead Kennedys. This is another oldie, but a classic nonetheless. Dead Kennedys are legends to the punk rock genre, and obviously, with a title like "Halloween," I can't help but include this song. The bass guitar rips forward relentlessly as the lead singer wails in his signature quivering, nasal voice: "So it's Halloween /And you feel like dancin'!" Why yes, I do!

"Necromancer" by Seratones. That grungy guitar riff that kicks off this song is so rad! This hook-heavy song comes from another hidden gem of a band. The Seratones blend together elements of R&B, funk, and punk rock into a sound that is more than the sum of its parts.

"Zombies" by Childish Gambino. Despite being more funk than rock, this song still strikes just the right tone of spookiness. A chorus drones in the background like that of a choir of undead, and Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) chuckles at one point in the song with an echoing effect that evokes clichés of an evil villain's laugh. Zombies are used as a metaphor for all the forces at play in a creative person's life pushing to commodify everything they do, a sentiment Donald Glover no doubt has felt many times in his multi-faceted career.

Happy Halloween!