If you’ve been on the internet at all since the mid-2010’s, you’ve probably heard of Danny Gonzalez. Formerly a Vine comedian, is now a YouTube comedian known for his commentary videos about low-budget movies, TikTok and YouTube creators, and other questionable internet trends.
On occasion, however, Danny will bless us with an original comedy-rap song; sometimes standalone, sometimes within a longer videos to parody the subject of his commentary.
Blending humor, unconventional subject matter, and dad-at-a-barbecue dancing, with impressively clever lyrics and a catchy beat, Danny is basically a one-man version of The Lonely Island. Or what Lil Dicky tries to me, minus the cultural appropriation and offensive humor under the guise of edginess.
Since 2017, Danny has released Halloween-themed, “spooky” songs to Spotify and iTunes, with an accompanying music video on his YouTube channel. However, on Twitter he announced that this year’s song would be the last in his “Spooky __” series. In honor of that, and in honor of Halloween, I’ve decided to rank all of his “spooky” songs for entertainment purposes, and despite having no knowledge of music theory. Here they are from best to worst (although all four songs deserve a spot on your Halloween playlist):
- Spooky Guy (2018)
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“Spooky Guy” serves as an effective direct follow-up to 2017’s “Spooky Dude.” It’s similar thematically — they’re both about, well, being spooky (yep, that’s the whole bit), but “Spooky Guy” takes on a more intimidating, flexing tone which feels very suitable for the rap genre. As well, the lyrics are the strongest overall, with this song boasting some of the wittiest lines out of this entire repertoire. Some highlights: “You can call me Drake ‘cause I’m from that 666,” “Hannibal Lecter, yeah I eat the track alive,” “If you see me, you better run outside/You can be Jeckyll but you still couldn’t Hyde,” and my personal favorite, “I’m Dracula, these witches goin’ down for the Count.” Overall, this song is fun to listen to and the backing track incorporates Halloween elements really well. While not the catchiest, this song most accurately captures who Danny is as a comedian and lyricist.
- Spooky Ho (2019)
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“Spooky Ho” comes in as a very close second. This one is the catchiest and easiest to dance to by far — you’ll find yourself bopping to the beat as a very visceral reaction. But this comes at the expense of understating the ghoul screams, skeleton clatters, and other Halloween elements that are more present in all of the other songs. This song is a bit more of a departure thematically — not just about being spooky, this song is specifically about being both spooky and sexy; the refrain “baby bust down, I’mma be a ho for Halloween” serves as a gender neutral, anti-slut shaming, reimagining of the trope of girls wearing revealing costumes on Halloween. Honestly, so iconic. But while I appreciate the nuance and specificity, I wonder if it’s almost a little *too* niche, because not everyone can relate to being a “spooky ho,” and it feels a bit off-brand for Danny. As usual, the lyrics are impeccable, my favorite being “She got long legs, Jack Skellington / She wanna bone, like a skeleton.” Overall, this one is my personal favorite to listen to but I’m trying to be objective here and consider other factors. I take my memes very seriously.
- Spooky Man (2020)
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This one sounds pretty similar to the original song in the series, which provides a nice symmetry. Right off the bat, I’m adding a million points for costume design — the pumpkin suit is on another level. Similar to “Spooky Guy,” this one builds off the “Spooky Boy” theme pretty well by making references to this spooky character’s backstory. The set design of the music video is also the most impressive. Some lyric highlights include, “Witches and Pumpkins, I got that WAP” which is definitely not the cringiest attempt of someone trying to be culturally relevant and coming up with a new WAP acronym. There’s also, “used to be a spooky boy, but I grew some / yeah, now I’m even more gruesome,” which is poetic genius. Danny could have written Sonnet 18 but William Shakespeare could have never written “Spooky Man.” And “Fake spooky dudes lookin’ like zombies / the way they all wish they could have my brain” is another favorite. The main area where I’m taking off points is the pre-chorus and chorus — they’re each a little long and the tunes sound too similar to each other. They feel a little chant-y, which is not my preference.
- Spooky Boy (2017)
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The tune of “Spooky Boy,” is pretty similar to that of “Spooky Guy,” but more upbeat. Halloween elements are present throughout the backing track, and this song has my favorite chorus — it’s extremely catchy and fun to listen to. I’m docking points for one of the lyrics just being “I might go ooga booga booga boo” and for the lyrics and theme being a bit more basic overall. The music video is also the lowest quality. However, I’m adding points for this one being the most advanced in terms of song structure with a pre-chorus and then what I think is two choruses, that each sound distinct enough from each other that it’s interesting to listen to. “Spooky Boy” is still a bop, it just kind of landed here by default.
In quarantine, our options for celebrating Halloween are limited, but one thing we can always do to get into the spirit is to listen to some spooky tunes.