15. Type O Negative “Be My Druidess” (1996)
Toeing the line between metal and goth, Type O Negative has been inspiring us to host dinner parties at the local cemetery for decades. Remember to serve red wine because it’s one of the few beverages that looks like blood, unless you can get your hands on the real thing. Always go with the legitimate blood when available.
14. Fields of Nephilim “Chord of Souls” (1988)
They somehow made the vocalist of this one sound like he’s singing from beyond the grave, which is one of the few musical quirks that other genres simply don’t offer this time of year.
13. The Cult “She Sells Sanctuary” (1985)
Contrary to popular belief, goths do experience love and by that we mean they listen to the album called “Love” by The Cult. See? Goths embrace all ranges of goth album title emotions.
12. Horror Vacui “Lost” (2020)
If you aren’t imagining yourself standing motionless in the middle of a field that houses hundreds of dead bodies six feet below the surface while playing this song in your earbuds, you aren’t listening to it right. Please respect the genre.
11. Alien Sex Fiend “I Walk the Line” (1986)
Go above and beyond this Halloween season and dress up as the lead singer of Alien Sex Fiend at the costume party. Sure, people will think you are a dapper zombie in a top hat or Nosferstu’s younger brother, but deep down you’ll know you are the guy from the band you just heard about last week.
10. Pink Turns Blue “I coldly stare out” (1987)
One of the few goth bands whose name doesn’t seem terribly gothy on the surface. They didn’t get the memo that it is a requirement to name your group after an old Boris Karloff movie, like “Isle of the Dead,” “Corridors of Blood,” “The Boogie Man Will Get You,” or “Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome.”
9. Xmal Deutschland “Incubus Succubus II” (1984)
This one has everything you want in a goth track: A band name that sounds like it’s Latin for some devil shit, a song title that could very well be a name of a horror movie sequel from the ‘60s, and an overall feel that just somehow syncs up perfectly with a late-night funeral procession.
8. Skeletal Family “Promised Land” (1983)
“Promised Land” feels like a great running track. By running, we mean sprinting at full speed through a cemetery while imagining a world where you are being chased by the undead. This is just one of the many ways you can have fun at a graveyard.
7. Clan of Xymox “Back Door” (1986)
Clan of Xymox had a chokehold in the late-night boneyard circuit. It’s been well-documented that you couldn’t set foot in a graveyard to visit your dead grandmother without hearing Clan of Xymox playing somewhere. No one knew where the music was coming from, but no one really questioned its existence because it just made sense.
6. Joy Division “Heart and Soul” (1980)
Joy Division could manifest an eerie atmosphere almost without trying, and “Heart and Soul” feels like the kind of track you play during a seance to conjure the dead. That’s probably why cemeteries have a strict “No Joy Division” policy. We can’t be having spectral-like beings walking around thanks to Ian Curtis.
5. Cocteau Twins “Wax and Wane” (1982)
Sometimes you just need to pump yourself up to go hang out in a crypt or sepulcher for the day, and Cocteau Twins music crushes in those instances. “Wax and Wane” is the “Whoomp! (There It Is)” of ‘80s goth.
4. Sisters of Mercy “Alice” (1982)
If you close your eyes while playing this song you immediately see a bunch of ravens, leafless and wet trees even though it didn’t rain today, and uneven tombstones protruding from the ground over a transparent gray filter. Sisters of Mercy has been inducing this vision in unsuspecting listeners for decades, so they make for the perfect band for getting hammered on the Saturday before Halloween with your friends who are all wearing Hawk Tuah costumes.
3. The Cure “Disintegration” (1989)
Robert Smith seemed like he probably lived in a two bed, one bath catacomb throughout the entire ‘80s. That’s why nearly every Cure song from this decade pairs so well with rolling out a blanket across the burial site of some guy who died in the 1700s while having a little picnic lunch and looking up at the sky for bats.
2. Siouxsie and the Banshees “Halloween” (1981)
There just isn’t enough time in a day or days in October to stress the importance of Siouxsie Sioux on goth and cemetery culture. At your Halloween party, just straight up read her Wikipedia page for your guests. Costume parties are for teachable moments.
1. Bauhaus “Bela Legosi’s Dead” (1979)
Without Bauhaus, no one would have any reason to ever set foot in a cemetery. They basically put graveyards on the map and brought crypt hangs to the masses. Before Bauhaus, no one had any interest in seeing the patch of grass their deceased loved ones were under. For that, we must honor their legacy by putting them on a playlist ever October.
Listen to the playlist and share it with your goth friends:
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