“Night Of The Living Dead” The Misfits
“Stumble in some ambulance so
Pre-dawn corpses come to life
Armies of the dead surviving
Armies of the hungry ones”
The Misfits’ single “Night Of The Living Dead” was released at their Halloween show at Irving Plaza in 1979, with the B-sides “Where Eagles Dare” and a cover of Allan Sherman’s “Rat Fink”. The song was re-recorded for their debut album released in 1982, Walk Among Us. It’s almost odd to think that The Misfits were writing songs about the George Romero classic ten years after its release when it seems so long ago now.
“George Romero Will Be At Our Wedding” Showbread
“Night turns to dawn, and dawn into day
And the land overflows with the dead
Where did I last hold you in my arms?
What was the last thing that you said?
Some hide underground, others hide in a mall
I still drag myself through the streets.”
If you know me, you know this song will often make an appearance on my Halloween playlists. “George Romero Will Be At Our Wedding” is on Showbread’s fifth studio album, 2006’s Age Of Reptiles, which was their only album to crack the Billboard Top 200, peaking at #198.
“Living Dead Girl” Rob Zombie
“Who is this irresistible creature
Who has an insatiable lust for the dead?
Living dead girl!”
A quintessential Halloween song, “Living Dead Girl” has been played in Bride Of Chucky, Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake, and even an episode of Dawson’s Creek. The song samples the horror movies Lady Frankenstein, Wes Craven’s The Last House On The Left, and Daughters Of Darkness. Even the music video is an ode to the 1920 silent-horror film The Cabinet Of Dr.Caligari and 1932’s White Zombie.
“Uneeda” Labadie House
“A can of flesh lies in front of me.
Choking and gagging, smoke is all I see.
What have I done to my society?
I feel a presence now surrounding me.
The pain of being dead
The only thing that numbs the pain
Is the thing inside my head.”
Hailing from Oklahoma, Labadie House is a medley of alternative horror stoner punk rock. Their latest release, the EP Labadie House I, was released in July 2020 and helps to make it feel like Halloween in July. The song “Uneeda” takes its name from Uneeda Medical Supply (*ba dum tss*), the warehouse that dooms humanity in the 1985 punk rock zombie flick, Return Of The Living Dead.
“Party Time” The Haxans
“They don’t know the acid rain
Is coming down to make them insane.
Do you want to party?
It’s party time.”
Let’s just hop right to another one about Return Of The Living Dead, shall we?
The Haxans consists of singer Ash Costello from New Years Day and Matt Montgomery “Piggy D” from Rob Zombie’s band. They released their first full-length album, Party Monsters, in 2017. This song is a mix of an original and a cover, taking the intro and chorus from 45 Grave’s “Partytime” but mixing in original verses with lyrics about the movie in a more up-beat version of the song.
“Zombies Ate Her Brain” The Creepshow
“We’ll once upon a time there was a sweetheart
A pretty girl with lips of red
She took a walk down by the graveyard
And out of nowhere something grabbed her head!
I heard that zombies ate her brains.”
A short but sweet song, clocking in at 1:29, Canadian psychobilly band The Creepshow unleashed this ripper on their debut album, Sell Your Soul, in 2006. The song was released as a single with a music video, complete with an RKO Pictures-esque opening production logo.
“Zombies Ate My Neighbors” Single File
“Call the neighbor kids
The trash can lids
With buckets on their heads
‘Cause I’m telling you
We’re gonna need a little help tonight.”
Switching it up with something more pop-punk, Single File’s “Zombies Ate My Neighbors” is on their first, and only, full-length release, Common Struggles. The title comes from the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game of the same name. The video game was released in 1993 and would still make a fun zombie movie, but it’s still stuck in development limbo for about the last ten years.
“Kill Or Become” Cannibal Corpse
“Viral contagion unleashed upon the earth
Billions of infected dead soon rise
Stalking the living to feast upon the flesh
It’s fight or flee to survive.”
Coming from Cannibal Corpse’s thirteenth studio album, A Skeletal Domain, “Kill Or Become” was released as a single with a music video. Known for their horrifically gore-filled song titles and lyrics, Cannibal Corpse has been attacked by conservative critics since the 90s to the point of their records being banned in Australia and Germany.
“Zombie Ritual” Death
“Drifting from the living, joining with the dead
Zombie dwelling maggots, now infest your head
Zombie ritual”
Considered by some to be the first death metal record, Death released their debut album Scream Bloody Gore in 1987. “Zombie Ritual” originally appeared on their Mutilation demo. The song was inspired by the Italian movie Zombie (or Zombi 2) directed by Lucio Fulci.
“Dead As Fuck” and “Not My Type: Dead As Fuck 2″ Motionless In White
“Pulled her from the dirt,
caught a look in her eyes
She’s got worms in her mouth,
spiderwebs in her hair
Yeah she may be fucking dead but I don’t care.”
Motionless In White have a song writing trend of doing a series of connected songs, sequels, if you will. “Dead As Fuck” was released on 2014’s Reincarnate and samples dialogue from Beetlejuice, “To the living, let now the dead come alive”, makes the sexual “boomstick” innuendo, and an animated music video was released.
“And in the glow of the pale moonlight
She goes for a spin on my haunted hayride
Tried out the living but I don’t believe the hype
‘Cause if she’s got a pulse, then she’s not my type”
The follow-up was “Not My Type: Dead As Fuck 2” on their 2017 album, Graveyard Shift. Both songs had shirts with creepy gore-tastic lyrics from their respective titles released for them.
“Early Sunsets Over Monroeville” My Chemical Romance
“Up and down escalators
Pennies and colder fountains
Elevators and half price sales
Trapped in by all these mountains
Running away and hiding with you
I never thought they’d get me here
Not knowing you’d change from just one bite
I fought them all off just to hold you close and tight”
Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas have become known as the “Zombie Capital Of The World” thanks to George Romero and his series of zombie movies. His second zombie, Dawn Of The Dead, was filmed mostly at the Monroeville Mall. “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville” appeared on My Chemical Romance’s debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, an album that also features vampires and other undead characters. Lead singer Gerard Way has described the song as “a sweet song about Dawn of the Dead“, with lyrics that paint it more as a romantic tragedy within a horror movie.
Another One For The Fire 