Halloween '13

No one has influenced my mix-making more than Ellen, who gave me first ever mix CD. For years, she made one mix every Halloween season, each of which soundtracked much of my high school and college years. Ellen's mixes were the first place that I heard Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone, Joanna Newsom and others.

It's been a few years since she's made a Halloween mix, but I'm hoping to get her back into the habit this year.



Halloween '13

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry"
2. Daikaiju, "Attack of the Crab Women"
3. Fantômas, "Night of the Hunter"
4. Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, "Lil' Red Riding Hood"
5. Johnny Cash, "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"
6. My Bloody Valentine, "Feed Me With Your Kiss"
7. Link Wray, "Jack the Ripper"
8. Danzig, "Mother"
9. Guns N' Roses, "You're Crazy"
10. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, "Frenzy"
11. Black Sabbath, "Supernaut"
12. Jarvis Cocker & Beth Ditto, "Temptation"
13. The Specials, "Ghost Town"
14. Public Image Ltd., "Flowers of Romance"
15. The Edgar Winter Group, "Frankenstein"
16. The Five Blobs, "The Blob"
17. Thom Yorke, "Black Swan"
18. Fiona Apple, "Dull Tool"
19. Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
20. Pixies, "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"

Rather than compete with Ellen's mixes, which came with the aura of pumpkin-carving and costume-donning, mine are meant to sound a little more sinister. Black Sabbath's most underrated song gets a spot, as do the reliably creepy Hawkins and Sam the Sham. I'm also to playing Ellen's love for movies with Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Fantômas' tribute to Night of the Hunter, the Pixies' take on Eraserhead's "In Heaven" and the original Blob theme, which, amazingly, was written by Burt Bacharach.

Ellen is also a big Fiona Apple and Jarvis Cocker fan, so I've included non-album tracks from both of them. I'm hoping she'll appreciate the cabin fever horror of "You're Crazy" and the beautifully bleak "Black Swan," and I'm pretty sure she'll find Danzig hilarious. But if she doesn't, she can always rock out to "Frankenstein."

The Five Best Dancers in Metal

I am by no means a dance expert, but I also don't see why dancing is considered wussy in some male circles. Norman Mailer can talk all he wants, but I'd bet against him in a fight with Rahm Emanuel.

The fact is, any dude who wants to put on a good show needs to do more than just sing or play his instrument, and that requires being confident enough with your masculinity to not care about what other people think. Here are five admirable guys who aren't afraid to leave their friends behind.

5. David Lee Roth

The only one on this list who clearly took dance lessons, David Lee Roth can't do anything but entertain you. Those high-kicks, splits, vaudeville steps and irrepressible ad-libs helped make him the greatest hard rock frontman in the world during his first stint with Van Halen.



4. Rob Zombie

Rob's sense of rhythm must have come from a different planet. Other than Jarvis Cocker, I've never seen another musician who seemed to know what the audience was seeing as well as what he was doing. Clearly a future director at work. Watch how even in the cramped space of the Letterman Show studio, Zombie knows how to let himself fly.



3. Iggy Pop

Yes, it's amazing that Keith Richards and Ozzy Osbourne are still alive, but the most remarkable might be Iggy, who not only survived but also still puts on a more violently energetic show than any number of mortals. Here he is schooling the stars of Trainspotting in a promotional video for "Lust for Life."



2. Axl Rose

In the wisest available piece on Axl Rose, John Jeremiah Sullivan dubs him "the only indispensable white male rock dancer of his generation, the only one worth imitating in mockery." He cites a tender moment from the "Patience" video as evidence, but it's the abrupt yet rhythmic spasms of Axl's now-infamous snake dance that made the world take notice.



1. Angus Young

Can you imagine matching the performance intensity of everyone else on this list...while playing a guitar? How about if you're playing the foundation of hard rock and the best blues-metal solos in history? Angus' duck walks and spins remind most folks of Chuck Berry, but a more accurate comparison would be Prince, the only other artist who can pack intrinsic showmanship and picking virtuosity into a 5' 2" frame.