Spine chillers : songs that give you the creeps

Yep. Sutherland Brothers and Quiver trying to replace a departed Bruce Thomas with bass player from Ace, I think. They ended up getting somebody else. (if i'm way off/incorrect here, my apologies)

 

Pink Floyd's Careful With that Axe, Eugene is pretty atmospheric and builds to a spooky release. I'm pretty sure you can completely deeply freak trick or treaters with that one. Richard Thompson's Hope You Like the New Me is chilling and effective in conveying the horror of obsessive fandom. CCR's Effigy comes across when you consider its Vietnam era context. Pretty much the whole Black Sabbath first album brings the evil vibe.

 

My first thought was of Dickey Lee's "Laurie (Strange Things Happen") which was a Top 20 hit in 1965.

It's hokey and the lyric is a bit labored in spots, but it works because of its haunting chord progression and his matter-of-fact delivery. The second-to-last verse (where the grieving dad talks to him) is chill-inducing.

 

This one is completely intentional. But that guy gnashing away in the background gets to my soul....




[When I was 5 listening to I Am The Walrus when my parents weren't home, I found the fade quite unnerving with the zombie-like chorus "HoHoHo, HeeHeeHee, HaHaHa", talking about "what is he dead?", and the panning from side to side... But now I think it's just brilliant!]

 

Glad somebody brought up "A Day In The Life" (yeah, as if somebody wouldn't)...seeing The Band I Grew Up Loving grow beards and start dressing creepy, confused me at that young age. Then hearing they were into "druuuggggs, maaaaaannn!", was a tough thing to accept at my tender age. But familiarity got me over it eventually.

The only two pieces I found sufficiently creepy for this thread are:
Wendy Carlos' "Winter" movement from her Sonic Seasonings album, when her fake wolf-howl comes in (oddly, "Wolf Eyes" by the Paul Winter Consort, is one of my favorites).
The last half of Zero 7's Yeah Ghost album, which I always assumed was a deliberate attempt to break their contract or something, it was so off-putting for an act that was so accessible up to that point. Really felt like they were intentionally burning bridges.

 

O, Superman by Laurie Anderson; perfect for that cold-war era: a vast emptiness and 'here come the planes'...

 

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by The Beatles scared the hell out of me. I was just a little kid, and it was about a young student killing teachers and other people by bashing their heads in with a hammer. It was the most horrible thing I ever heard of, and it upset me very much.

 

First time I heard this.

 

"Halloween II" is my pick - that weird rhythm has always reminded me of, like, dancing skeletons.

The 'Fits version, of course. The Samhain take just makes me want to bang my head.

 

White Noise "My Game Of Loving":



Agreed that the album has more obvious candidates ("Blackmass: An Electric Storm In Hell" anyone?) but this positively reminds me of certain scenes in 1973 movie "The Legend Of Hell House". More unsettling and disturbing than erotic and sexy.

 

"Karen" by Half Japanese

"The man who calls and doesn't say nothing
Has called again and doesn't say nothing...
Get out of the house Karen
Karen go home
Get out of the house Karen
Take the baby and go..."

 

Somewhere between the bad dream of Cry Baby Cry and the nightmare of Revoluten#9, this track fits perfectly.... The Beatles at their bleakest.

 

Thunder Road

Backstreets

Born to Run

Jungleland

 

that gave me the creeps. until i stopped it. well played.

 

Bobby Beausoleil's soundtrack to Lucifer Rising really gives me the creeps.

 

When I played this backwards on my turntable, I heard a garbled "Help me! Oh god help me!" No kidding. I can show it for proof.

 

PJ Harvey / “Taut”

 

Lisa Germano - A Psychopath

 

Although I love this song, I must admit that it’s a bit spine chilling:

 

Those overdubbed extra drums really add to it!

 

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Faith Healer.....a haunting unearthliness to that classic Harvey song, both audibly and visually.

 

Any of the burzum albums from the 90s.

 

This goes for the entirety of my first listen to the first disc of the Blue Album one day when I was home alone at age 14. I'd never really heard much psychedelic music before and I found myself more confused than anything, a "this is not music!" kind of gut reaction - but I quickly came to love those songs!

 

The intro to The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash, from the book of Revelation.



Further reading here