Welcome to another edition of ‘On This Day’, in which we look back at chart-topping hits and stories from a particular date.
While the UK singles charts have had plenty of Christmas hits, and summer-themed hits; other times of year don’t seem to generate as much pop potential. We are still waiting for an Easter #1, for example (Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ having been robbed). And, while certain tunes regularly re-enter the charts around 31st October – ‘Thriller’, ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Monster Mash’ etc. – there has never been a specifically ‘Halloween’ themed number one either.
So, I’m going to cast my eyes back, and choose the most unofficially ‘scary’ number one to have been sitting on top of the charts for Halloween. In ascending order of spookiness…
Qualifying for the serial-killer vibes of the title if nothing else, ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ does at least have a woozy, slightly sinister appeal to it. It also has two connections to Halloween, as the Flamingo’s original was recorded on this day in 1958, while Art Garfunkel’s cover was at number one today in 1975. I did name this as one of my most ‘meh’ chart-toppers, sadly, so it has to rank lowest on today’s spook-o-meter. Read my original post here.
Possibly the best number one to have been on top at Halloween, but not quite the scariest. Though this is named after a satellite… which goes into space… alongside UFOs… and aliens are a standard Halloween costume… So there is that. Yes, ‘Telstar’ was at number one in the UK sixty-four years ago today. (It was also famously the first US #1 by a British group, pre-dating the British Invasion by a couple of years.) The eek factor is upped by this being at #1 for the duration of the Cuban Missile Crisis, probably as close as humanity has come to a nuclear wipeout, as well as by being one of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite songs. (Original post here.)
‘The Fly’ qualifies as our next, somewhat Halloweenish chart-topper for two reasons. Firstly, The Fly was a character, invented by Bono, and the song is apparently sung from the POV of a man calling home from hell, revealing what he has learned. Secondly, U2’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr. was born on 31st October 1961. For his thirtieth birthday, this track gave his band their second British chart-topper. (Original post here.) ‘The Fly’ was a big departure for the band, but personally I like the experimental direction it heralded for the rest of the 1990s, a period that gave us some of my favourite U2 tracks.
Topping the charts on this day in 1972, we have the third creepiest Halloween number one. I love ‘Mouldy Old Dough’, and the fact that it features a fifty-eight year old lady named Hilda on piano, as my original post detailed. But by God, it needs to be used in a horror movie. Can you imagine a piano coming to life in the middle of the night and playing this drunken, boogie-woogie riff? While the songs only lines (Mouldy old dough… and Dirty old man…) are delivered in the sort of growling, unearthly voice that you’d usually only hear at a seance. A catchy, creepy classic.
Our next chart-topper, sitting on top of the charts for Halloween 1981, is this trippy cover of the sixties classic ‘It’s My Party’. There are covers that sound identical to the original, and there are covers that try something different. And then there’s this… I’m qualifying it as the second creepiest Halloween #1 for the simple fact that Stewart’s production and Gaskin’s vocals transform teenage melodrama into what sounds like it may end up as a mass murder. Tell me that the way she sings the Oh what a birthday surprise, Judy’s wearing his ring… doesn’t suggest she’s slowly reaching for the cake knife. (Original post here.)
What other song could top this list of spooky chart-toppers? What other time of year could this epic have been number one? Thirty-three years ago today, Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ was beginning its third of seven weeks on top. Where to start with this Gothic epic? One of the longest number ones by runtime, with what must surely be one of the most preposterous music videos ever made – levitating chaise longues, anyone? – it remains beloved, and regularly bellowed out at karaoke nights. All this despite people still not being clear on what ‘that’ is… (Original post here.)
