Halloween Music

Halloween music is a seasonal repertoire of popular songs, novelty records, film scores and sound recordings associated with the 31 October holiday, unified by subject matter rather than a single style. Its canon spans *Bobby "Boris" Pickett*'s novelty hit "Monster Mash" (1962), horror-film themes by *John Carpenter* and *Mike Oldfield*, and mainstream pop songs such as *Michael Jackson*'s "Thriller" (1983), whose imagery, sound effects and videos made them permanent fixtures of Halloween programming. Compilations of spooky instrumentals, haunted-house effects records and horror scores form the genre's commercial backbone.