It's Halloween on Saturday, and somewhere in Britain a man in his fifties is digging out a Ghostbusters 7" he bought in Woolworths in 1984 and swearing it still sounds better than the version on his phone. He's right. This is our guide to Halloween vinyl records: the spooky singles, the goth 12"s and the shock-rock LPs worth having on the turntable this weekend, plus what to check before you buy a used copy. Every record below is in our Mansfield record shop crates right now.
Why Halloween sounds better on vinyl
Halloween has always been a bit theatrical, and so is putting a record on. You pick the sleeve, you drop the needle, you hear that little crackle before the first note, and for a few minutes the room changes. A playlist can't do that, and it certainly can't give you a gatefold to read by candlelight.
There's a practical side too. Most of the best Halloween songs on vinyl were hit singles, which means they were pressed in big numbers and turn up second-hand for pocket money. You can build a proper spooky party stack for less than the price of a shop-bought pumpkin costume, and the records will still be playing long after the costume's gone in the bin.
So here's how we'd fill the crate, split into the party end (singles you can actually dance to) and the late-night end (the darker stuff for after the trick-or-treaters have gone home).
The party end: spooky singles for a fiver or less
Who you gonna call?
Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters 7" (ARIST 580), graded VG+/VG, £2. The theme from the 1984 film went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1984 and stayed there for three weeks. Over here it peaked at No. 2, where it sat for three weeks that autumn, and it was still hanging around the chart well into 1985. It's the one record at a Halloween party that gets the kids and the grandparents shouting the same word at the same time. This copy is VG+, so it's been played and looked after, with only light marks.
The witch who outsold everyone but Rod
Redbone – The Witch Queen Of New Orleans 7" (EPC 7351), graded VG/VG+, £2. Redbone were an American band of Native American and Mexican American musicians, and this swampy little voodoo tale was a much bigger hit in Britain than at home. It reached No. 2 in the UK in October 1971, kept off the top only by Rod Stewart's Maggie May, while in America it stalled at No. 21. Released on Epic in 1971, and still one of the best two minutes and forty-five seconds of spooky pop ever pressed. The vinyl's a VG, so expect some background noise, but it's the right kind of crackle for the song.
Alice, at his most cheerful
Alice Cooper – No More Mr Nice Guy 7" (K16262), graded VG/VG, £2. If there's a patron saint of Halloween rock, it's Alice Cooper. No More Mr Nice Guy came off the Billion Dollar Babies album and reached No. 10 in the UK in May 1973, on Warner Brothers K16262, which is the catalogue number on this copy. It's a cheerful stomp about being so wicked that even your mum gets punched at church. Very 1973.
The Damned get grimly fiendish
The Damned – Grimly Fiendish 7" (GRIM1), graded VG+/VG+, £2. By 1985 the Damned had swapped the spit and safety pins for capes and cobwebs, and Grimly Fiendish is the sound of a punk band discovering Hammer Horror and liking it. It's a gloriously daft, organ-heavy pop song, and the GRIM catalogue prefix is a nice touch you'll want to show your mates. Both the vinyl and sleeve are VG+ on this one.
Ozzy, howling at the moon
Ozzy Osbourne – So Tired / Bark At The Moon 7" (A4452), graded VG/VG, £2. Bark At The Moon is the title track of Ozzy's 1983 album, a werewolf story with a riff to match, and here it sits alongside So Tired on a 1984 single. Fair warning: the vinyl's a VG, so it's had a fair few spins. For a Halloween party, that's not a problem.
The late-night end: goth 12"s and shock-rock LPs
Once the little ones are in bed, the lights go down and the music gets longer. This is where the 12" singles and the albums come in.
Goth's big moment
The Sisters Of Mercy – This Corrosion 12" (MR39T), graded VG/G+, £10. Andrew Eldritch hired Jim Steinman, the man behind Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell, to produce this, and the result is goth at its most gloriously over the top: a huge choir, thunderous drums and a song that refuses to end. Released in September 1987 on the band's own Merciful Release label, it reached No. 7 in the UK. The 12" version runs past eight minutes, which is exactly why you want it on vinyl. The sleeve is G+, so it shows its age, but the vinyl is VG.
Siouxsie after dark
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Candyman 12" (SHEX 10), graded VG+/VG, £10. Siouxsie Sioux was the first lady of British goth, and Candyman, from 1986, is one of the Banshees' darker, more menacing singles. It's a 12" on Polydor, with VG+ vinyl that's been played and cared for. If your idea of Halloween is less "monster mash" and more "dramatic eyeliner and a candelabra", start here.
Alice, the full album experience
Alice Cooper – Muscle Of Love LP (K 56018), graded VG/G+, £12. The original Alice Cooper band's final studio album, from 1973. It's less straight-up horror than some of their records, but it has all the swagger and theatre that made Alice the godfather of shock rock. The sleeve is G+, so expect wear.
Alice Cooper – School Days 2LP (K66021), graded EX/G+, £15. A 1973 double LP, with the vinyl graded EX: it shows light signs of handling but plays cleanly. The sleeve is a G+, so it's the records you're paying for here. If you want to go back to where Alice started, before the big hits and the guillotines, this is a great-value way in.
Buying used Halloween vinyl: what to check
Most of these records are forty or fifty years old, and they've lived through a lot of parties. Here's what we'd look for, whoever you're buying from.
Read the grade, not just the title. A VG record has been played plenty and you'll hear some noise between tracks. VG+ means light marks and a quiet play. EX is close to how it left the factory. Our vinyl grading guide goes through each grade with real examples.
Check the catalogue number. Every record above has its catalogue number listed, so you can compare it with Discogs and see exactly which pressing you're getting. On 7" singles, the number on the label and the number on the sleeve don't always match, because singles often ended up in the wrong bag.
Picture sleeves matter. Plenty of 1970s singles came in plain company sleeves, but 1980s singles like Ghostbusters and Grimly Fiendish usually came in picture sleeves. A clean picture sleeve adds to the value and looks far better on the wall at a party.
12" singles are worth a second look. They're often extended mixes you won't find on the album, and they're cut louder and wider than a 7", so they tend to sound great on a decent system. This Corrosion is the perfect example.
Buy from someone who plays them. We visually grade every record by hand and clean it before it's posted. Our guide to buying used vinyl online in the UK has more on spotting a good second-hand record.
A five-record Halloween party stack
If you just want to be told what to buy, here's our cheap-and-cheerful party stack: Ghostbusters, The Witch Queen Of New Orleans, No More Mr Nice Guy, Grimly Fiendish and Bark At The Moon. That's five spooky singles at £2 each. Add This Corrosion for when the party gets serious, and you've got a night sorted.
Multi-buys, Autumn10 and a proper clean
Buy any three records and 10% comes off the whole crate at checkout. New customers can use Autumn10 for 10% off instead (one code per order). Every record gets a Pro-Ject VC-S3 clean before it's posted (see why choose us), and you can add a Degritter ultrasonic clean for £2; details are on the cleaning service page.
Got a haunted box in the loft?
If there's a box of old records lurking in the loft, the garage or the cupboard under the stairs, we'd love to hear about it. We buy single records and whole collections, from Alice Cooper to the Banshees. Have a look at how we buy vinyl records, or just get in touch with a few photos. We promise not to scream.
Dig the crates
There's more spooky stuff in the shop than we can fit here, including more Alice Cooper, the Damned, Siouxsie, Meat Loaf and a pile of Mike Oldfield. Browse our Alice Cooper records, the full shop, or tell us what you're hunting for on our wanted list. You can reserve online and collect from our Mansfield record shop.
Happy Halloween. Mind the cobwebs on the stylus.
