Craft Recordings announces the first-ever vinyl release of Andrew Gold’s Halloween Howls: Fun and Scary Music. Housed in a gatefold jacket—with ghoulish new cover art by acclaimed illustrator Jess Rotter—this bestselling family favorite includes the viral hit “Spooky, Scary Skeletons,” plus the danceable Undead Tombstone remix of the song as a special bonus. Available for pre-order today, Halloween Howls arrives in stores September 17th, while a special neon orange pressing can be found at select indie retailers. For even more frightful fun, visit the Craft Recordings store to find exclusive “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” merch and album bundles, including a limited number of LP copies signed by Rotter, whose ’70s-inspired psychedelic designs have appeared on releases by the Grateful Dead, Questlove, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Harry Nilsson and more.
When Andrew Gold set out to record Halloween Howls, the hitmaking singer-songwriter and parent sought to fill a serious void in Halloween music. “Each holiday has a mood and usually has music to go with it,” he wrote in the album’s original liner notes. “However, it’s been very hard to find any tapes or CDs of Halloween music. In fact, there’s mostly just scary sound effects available and very few songs. So, I fixed that.” Along the way, he recruited his musical friends to collaborate on a collection of Halloween classics (“The Monster Mash,” “The Addams Family” and “Ghostbusters”) as well as whimsically creepy original tunes, including “It Must Be Halloween,” “In Our Haunted House” and, of course, “Spooky, Scary Skeletons.” Originally released in 1996, the album features contributions from Linda Ronstadt, David Cassidy and Nicolette Larson, plus acclaimed songwriters Karla Bonoff and Stephen Bishop. Upon release the album swept up several awards, including the American Library Association’s “Notable Children’s Recording,” the National Association of Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA) “Honors” as well as “Gold” placement for the Parent’s Choice Awards.
But that’s just the beginning of the story. Nearly 15 years after the album’s release, “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” became a global phenomenon when a YouTuber paired it with a 1929 Disney cartoon called “The Skeleton Dance.” The video garnered over 34 million views, helping to popularize the song. Most recently, a new generation of fans has embraced “Spooky, Scary Skeletons,” thanks to a dance craze imagined by TikTok star Boomer (@minecrafter2011). Today, the song has become a Gen Z anthem, the track amassing upwards of 4 billion views across different incarnations on YouTube, with 7 million-plus individual clips uploaded on TikTok and celebrities such as Will Smith joining the dance phenomenon. The single, meanwhile, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Children’s chart in 2020, as well as No. 2 on TikTok’s Weekly Top Tracks chart.
A prolific singer, songwriter, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Gold (1951–2011) not only enjoyed a successful solo career but also worked with some of the world’s biggest artists. Beginning with 1975’s Andrew Gold, he released more than a dozen solo albums and numerous charting singles, including the Top 10 hit, “Lonely Boy,” the UK Top 5 hit, “Never Let Her Slip Away” and 1978’s “Thank You for Being a Friend”—a cover version of which became the instantly recognizable theme song to The Golden Girls. Over the years Gold penned songs for artists ranging from Trisha Yearwood, Wynonna (the Billboard No. 1 hit “I Saw the Light”), 10cc, Lila McCann, Celine Dion, Alvin & The Chipmunks and Jesse McCartney, to name just a few. As a member of the British pop duo Wax (with guitarist/bassist Graham Gouldman), Gold scored hits like “Right Between the Eyes” and “Bridge to Your Heart” in the ’80s. Throughout his three-decade-long career, Gold was also an in-demand collaborator, who worked in the studio and on stage with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Cher, Art Garfunkel and the Eagles.
