Warning: Like VH1's "Top 100 Bands of All Time" or Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time," I am bound to get complaints from readers who feel I left off some essential songs for this category. Rest assured, this is simply a list of 20 songs that will scare the living daylights out of listeners who "let the music do the talking."
20. "Spectra Sonic Sound" - The Nation of Ulysses
• This blitzing punk riot of a song almost leaves you breathless during the verses containing pure angst and commotion. You can feel lead singer Ian Svenonius' eyes popping out of his skull as he sings the spooky lines of the chorus.
19. "Blur the Technicolor" - White Zombie
• While your palms are sweating profusely, you can't help but feel like you're trapped in some futuristic horror house as Rob Zombie belches out barely-audible haunting ramblings.
18. "Not to Touch the Earth" - The Doors
• Jim Morrison does his typical unorthodox poetic preaching, but the chiming keyboards Ray Manzarek provides on top of the bass couldn't be any more perfect for an Edgar Alan Poe flick - a scene in which a psychopath gets closer and closer to a defenseless young woman.
17. "Driving Death Valley Blues" - The Mark Lanegan Band
• If you know Lanegan's haunting past, the song is even scarier. After the thundering drum intro, you're immediately wisped into a speeding, broken-down '63 Lincoln convertible filled with hallucinating junkies as you bolt through Death Valley.
16. "The Becoming" - Nine Inch Nails
• One of the noisier Nine Inch Nails songs, this one is saturated with tiny, spooky noises throughout its duration. Along with Trent Reznor's haunting whispering, some sounds are reminiscent of a computer or fax machine coming to life and feasting on your brains.
15. "Again" - Alice in Chains
• Though the words are fairly simple, Layne Staley's gothic-like, echoed vocals throughout the ultra heavy-sounding mix are startling enough to convince you that a ghost is hovering directly in front of you singing along.
14. "Holiday in Cambodia" - The Dead Kennedys
• Politics can be a scary thing, and when Jello Biafra adds his fast and unusual singing tactics to the lyrics composed of attacks on both Eastern totalitarianism and Western complacency, you are greeted with one evil-sounding anthem.
13. "Kim Gordon & The Arthur Doyle Hand Cream" - Sonic Youth
• Though this song is rumored to be a satirical look into Mariah Carey's breakdown - a subject which is spooky enough - the "trippy" background guitar noises set the tone of a scary song. Singer Kim Gordon offers a wicked vocal performance that is highlighted in the chorus of the repeated lines, "Hey, hey little baby breakdown, before you fall and hurt someone."
12. "Zulu Mask of Death" - Deadbolt
• Do not listen to this song in the dark after intoxication!
11. "Mexicola" - Queens of the Stone Age
• With a gut-twisting bass intro, the song wallops in a slow and heavy rumbling, with singer Josh Homme making his voice sound almost as if he was crying out for help.
10. "Brain Damage" - Pink Floyd
• This song will freak the hell out of you with its casual tone describing a real-life nightmare. The song's content involves former Pink Floyd front man Syd Barrett completely losing his mind, and the band's music is nothing more than slow, psychedelic chords.
9. "The Most Exhalted Potentate of Love" - The Cramps
• A surf guitar riff from hell, this ditty blasts from the Monster Mash right to your innocent ears and shakes you until you fall down.
8. "Young Einstein on the Beach" - Man Man
• Andy Kondrat, of the local band Hollywood Begs, referred to this ear-blistering piece as "a circus gone horribly wrong." The entire track sounds like somebody is screaming bloody murder.
7. "Lovely Butterfly" - The Melvins
• The last thing on your mind will be a "lovely butterfly."
6. "Singapore" - Tom Waits
• Though Singapore is not typically known as a beautiful vacation spot, you still wouldn't want to head over there after Waits freaks you out with his grunted ramblings over a gothic rhythm section.
5. "Birdman" - Rocket from the Crypt
• The song starts with a little feedback and a few guitar plucks … then a pause … then, wait for it … wait for it … boom! All hell breaks loose as lead singer Speedo's distorted voice growls out incoherent melodic phrases over what sounds like a voodoo-driven beat from the underworld.
4. "I" - Bad Brains
• The song is loud, fast and angry. It's not too scary until lead singer H.R.'s squealing shocks you to death with its alien-like sound.
3. "Fight" - Motörhead
• Motörhead is arguably one of the scariest, most feared bands of all-time, and they have plenty of material that will terrify you. "Fight" has the typical Motörhead, speed-demon, cocaine, whiskey and blood-induced metal but with a haunting overdubbed deep voice over the chorus chanting, "Fight!" repeatedly.
2. "Der Golem" - Fantômas
• Take cover and watch out. That's your only warning.
1. "Just One Fix" - Ministry
• Like Motörhead, everything Ministry does is unbelievably frightening. Beware, "Just One Fix" is mind-numbing with a gothic and industrial blitz creating imagery that is difficult to escape your head.
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