You know what time of year it is...the best holiday for music writers trying to come up with lists: Halloween. There are plenty of bands that do track oriented around the "holiday," but few wrote a song as venerated and covered as The Misfits, a band basically built for the Halloween season (as Music Times staffer Joseph "Danzig" Degroot has already mentioned. Probably multiple times).
The tune is, of course, "Halloween," which was released a a 7" single during 1981 along with the B-side and totally different track "Halloween II," which shared only a chorus. The first is a tale of trick-or-treaters, killing trick-or-treaters, and hanging their burning bodies on poles. Your mom won't notice this however and will adore the "cute" repetition of "Halloween" during the hook. Part II is more heavy metal-oriented, with verses sung in Latin.
Music Times has assembled seven covers of the two tracks for your consideration, and ranked them from worst to first. Tell us how wrong we are at the bottom.
07) "Halloween II" by Tenebre (2000)
Tenebrae is a classic representative of Italian horror and all the gore and bizarre sex that comes with it. Tenerbre the band doesn't have as lasting impact with its cover of the second version of "Halloween." The vocalist seems to have something going by mumbling the verses as if it were a Gothic chant but it just sounds silly when he begins the "Hallow-eeeee-eeen" hook. This track surpasses three minutes (unlike "Halloween I") and the band's approach just begins to sound silly after the first verse. It should be noted that as part II is simply below part I means that the back of this list will be littered with it. Such as when we...
06) "Halloween II" by Samhain (1986)
What?!? How dare we rank Glenn Danzig's cover of himself so far back? As you know, Samhain was the Misfits vocalist's official transition to heavy metal. Very often that meant he ditched his more melodic moments (he's got a great singing voice) in exchange for heavier plodding. The gang vocals made famous by The Misfits just sound disorganized in his new outfit, plus he feels the need to holler "OHHHHHHHHHHH" every other line (that ain't Latin, to be sure). We dig the heavier riffs with the new band however.
05) "Halloween" by Alkaline Trio (2002)
We were torn on this one. On one hand, Alkaline Trio's decision to convert "Halloween" into a spooky piano ballad goes against everything we imagine The Misfits stand for. Hell, the band even opted out of the classic gang vocals during the hook, as Matt Skiba handles the vocals solo. On the other hand, we'll at least give them credit for trying to shake up the formula, unlike most of the bands on this list with their respective covers.
04) "Halloween" by Dropkick Murphys (2000)
Eh. There's nothing wrong per se with this Dropkick Murphy's cut from the 2000 EP Back On The Streets. There's just not much of a moment where the band really makes it theirs. Al Barr's vocal performance is up to snuff, just not different enough from Danzig's to interest us (you can call us crazy). Unfortunately this release came just before the band added its first bagpipe player, Spicy McHaggis, who could have added a distinct color to the cover.
03) "Halloween" by Winds of Plague (2009)
We were pleasantly surprised by the offering of American metalcore band Winds of Plague, which was dropped as an iTunes exclusive on its album The Great Stone War. Vocalist Johnny Plague switches between high and low registers with his death growls (it's possible, just listen) to make these verses the most interesting in the list but the cover gets sabotaged during the hook. As the band only has one vocalist, Plague emulates the gang vocals by screaming like usual over a recording of himself singing clean vocals. It's an awkward approach that doesn't accomplish the same thing as the original.
02) "Halloween II" by Cradle of Filth (2006)
At least one cover of "Halloween II" was worth keeping. Cradle of Filth was smart and avoided adding any of the flourish that a faux-black metal band might consider: No shrieking vocals from Dani Filth and no guitar solos from Paul Allender. Filth growls the Latin lyrics in a way that metal vocalists do best and the riffs remain simple behind him. Most impressive is the evenhanded approach to the hook. It's totally understandable that some bands would want to wail and break all hell loose but Cradle keeps its group vocals down and somber for better effect.
01) "Halloween" by AFI (1999)
AFI. is the perfect band for covering The Misfits...largely because the band's early hardcore approach was based on its morbid idol. Davey Havok keeps his voice a yell (versus his more recent yelps) and the rest of the band is well-trained for the gang vocals during the chorus. Although coming three years before Alkaline Trio's version, AFI gets the piano addition right. After finishing the song in its typical two-minute format, the song continues for another two minutes, playing only the sounds of what seems to be a piano getting tuned in a large empty space. It's creepy and thematic but without watering down the original contribution of the original band.
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