“The Chauffeur”
Duran Duran
Rio — 1982

Nobody did spooky quite like ’80s pop groups. Maybe it’s the way the darkness contrasts with the pastel, wind-blown image we all have in our heads of those early MTV days. And maybe they were just on to something: spooky just works better when it’s glitzy and glossy. Whatever the reason, if I’m building a Halloween playlist, I’ll take “The Chauffeur” over any tired death metal act every day of the week.

I’ll be damned if I can figure out what the lyrics mean, though. “The aphids swarm up in the drifting haze” — sounds like something a Hybrid would say. But gods, how great is that musical section that starts at 2:15? Like a drunken conga line on a ship of the dead.

A bonus: “Drive,” a hip-hop beat I wrote that incorporated samples from “The Chauffeur.” Because I love it that much.