VJ Samsonite's Top 15 80's Songs for Your Halloween Party! : 80's Halloween Songs (must plays for your Halloween Party!)

Oi! We will get back down to the Top 100 Countdown shortly, but first I have had a few people as me about what music they might play at their upcoming Halloween Parties, and I have also been working on a lengthy play-list of mine own which consists of music from many decades and genres (not just 80's). But seeing that this is 'Your 80's Music Authority' I had felt it my duty to enlist a Top 15 80's Halloween Songs To Play at Your Party in list format. And so, Without any further ado.....






1.) "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (1983) (note: This one is a must! Its a true 80's Halloween staple-song, and if your Halloween party doesn't play it, then it ain't a Halloween party at all!)
2.) "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell (1984)
3.) "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo (1985)
4.) "Peek-A-Boo" by Siouxsie & the Banshees (1988)
5.) "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. (1984)
6.) "Dead Souls" by Joy Division (1980)
7.) "Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo (1985)
8.) "Lost in the Shadows" by Lou Gramm (1987)
9.) "Bad Ghostbusters" by Michael Jackson & Ray Parker Jr. (1987) (note: it seems arduous to locate a high quality version of this song?)
10.) "Sweet Dreams (Dance Remix or Original Mix)" by Eurythmics (1983)
11.) "I Got You" by Split Endz (1980)
12.) "Sex Dwarf" by Soft Cell (1981)
13.) "Living on a Video" by Trans X (1981)
14.) "Shout at the Devil" by Motley Crue (1983)
15.) "People are Strange" by Echo & The Bunnymen (1987)

Well that's a start anyways, I could keep going and going but I think I have given you all a good starter-list to warm up your Halloween Parties. Cheers everyone, I Hope this helps ring in All-Hallows Even 2010, and perhaps even some future ones too.

***I just want to note here that I will be posting a Top 20 (or so) 80's Christmas Songs in December, so stay tuned***

**This very same post and more 80's posts can be found at my other Vlog here**

Song of the Day for October 5th, 2010: "Somebody to Love Me" by Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.

And the song of the day is....Somebody to Love Me, by British guitarist and music producer Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. This song is interesting as it features Boy George on vocals, and also includes  Andrew Wyatt (from The Bird and the Bee). It is a slower song, not like the first two singles Bang, Bang, Bang or The Bike Song, and it harkens back to some of Ronson's soul sounds, as are found more in his previous albums. Somebody to Love Me comes off of his latest album release titled Record Collection, which is now out in stores, as it was officially released in full on September 27th, 2010. Record Collection has already peaked at #1 on the UK Album Download Chart, and at #2 on the UK Albums Chart, so its out there in a big way already, and this is actually the 3rd track off of that album I have featured on this vlog, so enjoy and be sure to check out the album in its entirety.

Song of the Day for October 4th, 2010: "All The Things We Did" by Radio Star

And the song of the day is...All The Things We Did by Australian indie-rock-pop group Radio Star. Radio Star originate out of Melbourne, Australia's Upper East Side and consists of members Zack, Will, Patty and Jake. All The Things We Did comes off of their first EP release of the same name, it was released on August 31st, 2010 and its available on Itunes as of now. Also, if you are interested in more info on this band you can check out their myspace page here. 

#51 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! "Looks That Kill" (1983) by Mötley Crüe

Here's #51 of the Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown, and the song is....Looks That Kill, by American hard-rock band legends Mötley Crüe.  Mötley Crüe is a well known hard rock band, obviously, they arose out of Los Angeles California back in 1981 and are still actively touring and doing shows to this day (in fact the ticket prices were over AUD$450.00 each at their concert in Sydney a few years back if I remember correctly). The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were soon joined by lead guiarist Mick Mars and of course lead singer Vince Neil. To date, Mötley Crüe have sold over 80 million albums worldwide and over 25 million in the USA. These four have also done their best to live up to the "rockstar persona" having histories full of drug-abuse, alcoholism, jail-time, celebrity, image alterations, and celebrity relationship/sex scandals, as well as their fair share of tats. They have definitely lived up to their name over the years. Looks That Kill first appeared on their second studio-album release (back in 1983), and was later released as a single in 1984 where it spent 10 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, peaking at #54. The main guitar riff in this song is considered to be Mick Mars best work, and it has been ranked as #41 on Guitar World's best riffs/solos. Books could be and have been written about this band, but for now we are finished with trivia, so stay tuned find out what #50 will be, and then we can get started on the final 49 80's dance hits, bloody half-way 'innit!

Song of the Day for October 2nd, 2010: "Pray" by Seven (ft. Michael Tomlinson)

And the song of the day is....Pray, by Australian hip-hop/electronic emcee Seven (ft. Michael Tomlinson). Seven is a young emcee based in the Gold Coast, in Queensland Australia, and he started out in the music biz as a member of the Brisbane-based hip hop group called Publik Relation, but has since gone solo as an Aussie hip-hop artists. He has released an EP, which is available in stores now, and which can also be found on Itunes. Pray, comes off of that self-titled EP, which was officially released on September 10th, 2010. There certainly are heaps of great Aussie hip-hop artists hitting the scenes these days, and I reckon they will be a force in the years to come. Also, if you like this song you will be happy to know it is still available as a free mp3 download at this link. In fact, you will have to go to that link to hear the song as it is not up on youtube as of yet, enjoy!

Brief Movie Review for "The Black Balloon" (2008)

**** 4/5 Stars

A Good Aussie film and definitely not your run of the mill formula flick. It relates to the challenges of autism and its really about families and how they manage through situations that aren't always easy. I would recommend this movie, its one that might just make you think critically a little bit, and god-forbid that ever happen! However, I wouldn't watch it again, more of a serious film and not really one for just entertainment. I still don't know what the title is about, did I miss the black balloon part?

Steve Judd's Global Forecast October 2010

Song of the Day for October 1st, 2010: :"O.N.E." by Yeasayer

And the song is....O.N.E. by American experimental rock group Yeasayer. Yeasayer orignate out of Brooklyn, NYC,  they formed back in 2006, and they consist of members Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, Anand Wilder, Jason Trammell, Ahmed Gallab. This band is quite an eclectic mix of sounds and have some serious artistic/psychedelic elements to their productions. O.N.E.  can be found as the 5th track on their 2nd studio release album titled Odd Blood, which was released in February of 2010. The album peaked at #63 on the US Album Chart, and #64 on the UK Album Chart.

#52 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! "Weird Science" (1985) by Oingo Boingo

Welcome back once again, here we are at #52, lets have a moment of silence...ok and the song is....Weird Science by American new-wave band Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo formed orignally back in 1972 (under the title The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo) and were located in Los Angeles, California, and they were active as a band up until 1995. "Weird Science" appeared as track 9 on their fourth studio release album (released in August of 1985), and it also was featured as the theme song to infamous John Hughes 80's teen-comedy and all-time 80's classic film of the same name. It was also became the theme-song for the mid-1990's Weird Science television series. I must add that Weird Science is one of my favorite movies of all time and it is definitely on my top 5 80's movies of all time, but that will be a topic for a later post, and mark my words but I figure its only a short matter of time before they try to remake this 80's classic too, I just hope they don't butcher it too bad...

Song of the Day for September 30th, 2010: "Rest" by The Temper Trap

And the song of the day is....Rest by the Temper Trap. I heard this song being played on a diet coke commercial yesterday, kind of strange, but I guess that's how it goes in the music biz. The Temper Trap are an alternative-rock band from Melbourne Australia, yet another Melbourne based band that is up and coming in a big way. No doubt that this album, titled Conditions (released in June or 2009) was a great one, but I just find it interesting to see which bands make it big and end up getting press and which ones don't despite being just as good if not better. The album reached #175 on the Billboard Top 200 albums in 2009, and it peaked at #25 on the UK Albums Chart. Now generally I like to post songs and bands that aren't all that well known, but I have to give props to Melbourne bands as I lived there for 2 years and heard heaps of amazing music, and have managed to stay somewhat connected thanks to Triple J online radio. That said, enjoy the song and definitely take some time out to check out the whole album. Also, one quick note, the song doesn't actually start up til about 15 seconds into it, so if audio doesn't seem to working its because there is a pause at the beginning of this track.

Song of the Day for September 29th, 2010: "Save Our Town" by Philadelphia Grand Jury

And the song is....Save Our Town by Australian indie-rock band Philadelphia Grand Jury. Philadelphia Grand Jury are a 3-piece band from Sydney, Australia but who are now based in the UK. They consist of band members Simon Berckelman, Joel Beeson, and latest addition Calvin Welch on drums. This song was released as a single from their new album titled Hope is for the Hopeless, and this single was released in August 2010. Also, be sure to take note that this song is still available as a free mp3 download at the following web-page, and like all of the other posts I have made of free mp3 downloads, yes, it is a legal download and in fact the band wants to their stuff out there, so there. Enjoy!

Consumer Reports video for "Driving impression: Honda CR-Z hybrid coupe" 2011

I am hoping to cover some more car stuff, and seeing that this vlog/blog is focusing a bit more on "the new" that I want to cover the new generation of cars coming out here in the USA. I would also like to cover the new gen. of cars in Europe/UK, such as Citroen and Peugeot but I really don't have any exposure to them so hang in there with me. Here is the recent consumer reports review for the 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid sport coupe innit.

#53 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "The KKK Took My Baby Away" by The Ramones (1981)

Well now, its been a bit too long this time hasn't it? I have been away at weddings and DJ gigs and what not, but I am back here today to present #53 of the countdown! And the song is....The KKK Took My Baby Away by the legendary American punk-rock band The Ramones. The Ramones are one of those staple punk-bands of all time, and they will always be out there in the spot light, at least they will be if I have anything to say about it. The Ramones originated in Forest Hills, in the burrow of Queens, New York, and they were active as a band from 1974-1996. They had a major influence on punk rock music in the USA and in the UK. All of the band members adopted the surname of Ramone, despite the fact that not of them were actually related. According to wikipedia The Ramones toured almost non-stop for more than 22 years and that they performed at 2,263 concerts during that time, and in 1996 they disbanded following one final show at the 1996 'Lollapalooza.' By 2004, the 3 lead members of the band had all died, inlcuding lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone. In 2002 The Ramones were inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The KKK Took My Baby Away appeared on their 6th studio release album which was titled Pleasant Dreams and was released in July of 1981, and it was written by Joey Ramone. Well there it is in all its glory, now what could #52 be?? I reckon I should do that one sooner innit?