November 2013 Discussion Post: The Creepypasta/Music Connection

There is a question that is frequently asked on forums and boards. This question is phrased in different ways, but always evokes a wide range of interesting answers. Basically, the question is this:

“What is the creepiest/scariest/most disturbing song that you know?”

After noticing how often this question came up and how eager others were to answer, I decided to start compiling a playlist of songs that people gave as answers (I frequently screened the songs beforehand to see how adequately they qualified). Originally the playlist was named NOSLEEP after the subreddit and existed on Songza, but it currently exists on Spotify and is called SONGS TO PLAY IN THE DARK.

http://open.spotify.com/user/deusdiabolus/playlist/0vSzl2EPXHiL2QReeXOgKq

There is one instrumental that I listen to as my personal,universal theme for all creepypastas: Triptykon’s Crucifixus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5_i4CXuTt4

ok, i listen to metal songs when i read creepypastas. Avenged Sevenfold, Seether, Three Days Grace, stuff like that. Theme songs:
Jeff the Killer- Animal Ive Become or Pain by Three Days Grace
Jane the Killer- Its never Too Late by Three Days Grace
Slender Man- World So Cold by Three Days Grace
Laughing Jack- Circus for the Phsyco by Skillet
The Rake- Down with the Sickness by Disturbed
Eyeless Jack- Hero by Skillet
yeh….some of these songs might not go with them -according to SOME people- but i dont care….i think they do so they obviously do

and vanes…unnatrual situation…fatal lullaby…dark lullaby prelude to a nightmare…phycopaths anthem…scary halloween piano instrumental…most of the amnesia ost…andshadow symphony…and um… awkward meeting…unnatural situaton and vanes. those three are on one youtube vid called “top ten creepy music” the pic is a little blonde girl looking out a window. not sure who those three song are by so youll have to ask the youtuber yourself.

…uhm…i-i know uhm…theres one called uhm…darklore manor music box…uhm…if you guys uhm…im sorry…

I listen to mostly Marilyn Manson while reading creepypasta especially Jeff the killer

This is a playlist I made for when I write stories, I can listen to these amazingly creepy songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81uOP52RhhM&list=PLaWmp5jDdpI9Z5yo2hfx0ZFSiV-jW1ODE

Resident Evil music is a very nice balance of creepy and peaceful music. Also, “DontWorryWe’llAlwaysBeWatching” is a VERY creepy song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6V_44ibou8

For Laughing Jack, I have this one song that always pops into my head when I hear his name, it’s “Circus” by Britney Spears

Usually listen to film soundtracks for movies such as Donnie Darko or I listen to myuu.

Room 13943
It’s yet another vocaloid song and it seems to go well with Jeff the Killer
Link:
http://youtu.be/Zr6VPIbH_Fk

I Think Sallys Song For Sally And Jane

I usually listen to classical pieces such as “A Night on Bald Mountain” or “Danse Macabre.”

I don’t really listen to music while reading because I focus too much on the music and not on what I’m reading, but these songs have a bit of a creepy atmosphere (or at least I think so):
-16 Horsepower’s cover of Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
-Tell Me About the Forest by Dead Can Dance
-If I had A Heart by Fever Ray
-Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine
-O Death by Jen Titus
-My Manic and I by Laura Marling
-The Drowning Man and One Hundred Years by The Cure
-Mirror’s Image by The Horrors
-Lighthouse by Hush Sound
-Black Lake Nidstang and The Lodge by Agalloch (okay maybe more sad than creepy)
-The Gate of Nanna by Beherit
-At the Gallow’s End and Dustflow by Candlemass
-Skelepht by Drapsnatt
-Att Älskas by Hypothermia
Also a lot of horror movie soundtracks of course.

I could post a long list of (metal) songs and bands that have creepy/sadistic lyrics, like Autopsy, Watain, Carach Angren, Lord Belial and Skeletonwitch, but personally I don’t think they have a creepy/spooky mood and that songs with a gloomy piano tune are much creepier.

Sorry for the long post.

Our group works in a number of electronic-based genres, and the dark nature of much of our music is usually appropriate. That being said, being such fans of the genre, we’ve written a couple pieces specifically to enhance the reading experience. Here are links to two of them:

http://soundcloud.com/musicbydor/interior

http://soundcloud.com/musicbydor/sleeping-was-something-we

Would love to hear if these increase the engagement for anyone while reading some of the works here.

Also, have to echo the one poster about Aphex Twin, in specific his Selected Ambient Works Volume II. That is some straight up creepy stuff.

I’m surprised this isn’t listed here . . . but I’m going to say the theme song from Rosemary’s Baby.

I feel like a lot of masterful creepy music has been composed for video games. A lot of Silent Hill and Resident Evil music stands out in my mind. Off the top of my head I remember the theme music for the Navistador enemies in RE4 are pretty creepy. The Regenerators in RE4 have a creepy soundtrack as well. But their music can have a creepy, and somber tone to them as well. Like Secure Place in RE2 (or any saveroom music for that matter) is really soothing, but you still have that erie sensation because you know you’re still surrounded by zombies. In Earthbound when you fight the creature Giygas, the music is downright disturbing.

I think The Mars Volta has some truly demonic rock music, but also am a big fan of dark ambient like Lustmord and Akira Yamaoka for inspiration. Also Scott Walker probably makes the scariest music around… Not for the faint of heart
I am also member of a group Penrose Stairs that is about to release our album Spider Island. If you’re looking for truly freaky music you won’t be disappointed. We are giving it away free for the next 24 hours if you join our mailing list.
http://www.penrosestairs.com

Myuuji, who composes the score for most of Mr. Creepypasta’s stories, has some really great creepy music. Pretty awesome dude.

What many people fail to realize is that “creepy” has been a trend, twice before. Music from Ozzy, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath are all based on dark, “creepy” ideas. The dark music theme was a popular trend in the seventies and wouldn’t come back until the late 90’s and early 2000’s with System of a Down, Rob Zombie, and a bunch of other psycho sadistic fueled songs of the era.

Various pieces from the Silent Hill Soundtrack, particularly 1 and 2.
In particular, “Ordinatry Vanity” fits perfectly into “On a Hill”; I would say, and “Promise (Reprise)” + “Lost Carol” also make me think of the feeling conveyed by “In the Land of Black and White.”
For psychological discrepancies like “Psychosis”, the latter part of the Evangelion OST(Separation Anxiety, Mother is the first other, three of me; one of someone else)fit quite nicely.

I’ll come back to post a more thorough name of song + sample link list, later on.

Once again, here I am practically promoting myself. Ugh, I’m sorry.
But this topic sits very nicely with the one thing I’ve written in the last… I don’t even know how many years.

Gone With The Sin (linked in my username) was both written to and named after the HIM song of the same name. I can’t find every version of it, or even my favourite versions, on youtube (dammit) so here’s one, anyway. I really recommend looking for the other versions as well, though. http://youtu.be/Ifwf8RrU-94

My favourite versions – including the one the story was written to, on repeat – have to be the “OD version” on Uneasy Listening and the one on XX – Two Decades of Love Metal. When I found out they’d redone my favourite song for XX, and then when I heard what they’d done with it… Wow. Just wow.

I first heard it in a friend’s garage, sitting out there by myself basically borrowing her car as a big heavy stereo, the garage conveniently having perfect acoustics to hear the beautiful layers of bass and almost baroque yet still understated flourishes the boys had added to what was already an incredibly beautiful song. I sat there in a whole other world, just listening and watching the smoke from my cigarette trailing up toward the ceiling and pooling in there in lazy loops and spirals… I have no idea if I blinked. I was just lost in it. My story has a similar moment in it, that one instant of emotion and surreal perfection for the main character, subjectively stretched out for what seems an eternity, only to end with a jolt as the music (or in my character’s case, something a bit less wholesome) ends and the real world forces its way back.

Also, on a relevant side note, the whole thing happened with such perfect timing. I’d bought the album while on the other side of the country for an Australia Day party with certain… friends of the band (not to name-drop, but for the sake of setting the tone and showing relevance, if you’ve ever watched Jackass or CKY… well yeah), but had not been able to listen to it at the time, then the story was inspired soon after I got back, and was written not that long before I finally got to listen to the CD. It was also the first remake of that particular song in a while, I had not expected it to be included on that album at all… so in a way, it felt almost like Ville and the others had somehow known, and that incredibly beautiful new version was for me.
Incorrect and illogical, I know, but… ♥

I think some of Aphex Twin’s music fits well with reading creepypastas. There are no lyrics, but many of their music videos are inherently creepy, and the songs fit so well with them that after awhile they take on a life of their own. This may not work as well if you haven’t seen any of the music videos though, haha…
Windowlicker and Come To Daddy are some of the more popular ones. The Rubber Johnny video is really creepy too, although the music isn’t necessarily. I guess it all depends on perception, but I find that their music accompanies the average pasta strangely well.