In The Air Tonight, in the dark, on headphones. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

uber muppet Leo Sayer doing'I won't let the show go on' again,1971.I thought(think) it was great.But my sister used to shit herself.Maybe she still does,she's only 52..welcome from another shy virgin.Long time since I said that.Sighs.

A neighbour who looked like Paddy Considine's character in Submarine gave six-year-old me the 7" single in 1987. It scared the life out of me.

The inclusion of the phrase "political stunt" baffled me back then, too. I knew what 'political' meant and I knew what a 'stunt' was but marrying the two brought to mind Mrs Thatcher (or, as she was known in my grandad's house, "That Bloody Woman") jumping over a row of London buses on a motorbike a la Mr Knievel.

Still can't listen to it having been scared to death by it in the back seat of my Dad's Cortina in the late seventies. That laughing . . . yeesh.

(Obligatory joke alert) (All together now) - I was twenty seven at the time . . . .

My early days of following pop music were conducted under the wing of my big sister. One of the records she loved, and so I subsequently grew to love, was My Cherie Amour by Stevie Wonder. I was about 6 at the time and she went and spoiled it all by telling me that Stevie Wonder was blind. When you're 6 the idea of being blind is really frightening and upsetting and I couldn't - and still can't - listen to the record without feeling really sad. My analyst tells me it's just something I have to work through.

p.s. Good topic, OrangePeel and welcome aboard.

that laughing...it was my mum..I think..(sobs)

... unintentionally I hasten to add, at about 4:00 am one Sunday morning by playing 'The Jezebel Spirit' (from Brian Eno & David Byrne's 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts') in the dark.

O Superman. That could do a seven year old's head in, I can vouch for that.

I'll never forget the first time I heard this on the radio waking from a slumber in the middle of the night after a few beverages. The endless repitition of 'check it out now, the funk soul brother...', etc whilst being only half awake did make me feel like I was having some kind of episode. I was a bit freaked out.

... was scared of Mick Jagger.

Frank Ifield's teeth.

I was thrilled/scared by the voice made out of thunder on 'Standin' in the Rain' by ELO (aged about 5 - I was probably only playing it because my parents had the version of 'Out of the Blue' on blue vinyl).

For actually freaking me out, the second side of 'An Electric Storm' by The White Noise still does the job from time to time:

...sheer bloody terror.

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Yikes.

Terrifying.

when I was a teenager and playing Echoes by Pink Floyd on a cassette recorder in the middle of the night....Spooky!

to Strawberry Fields Forever and the orchestral crescendo in Day In The Life used to scare me

The whole of Atom Heart Mother by the Floyd freaked my tiny mind when played by my older brother - especially the 'Mind your throats please' section (from 5:16 in the vid). Even now I have to listen between my fingers...

Lou Reed's laugh-a-minute 1973 opus Berlin reaches its apotheosis with The Kids, which is undoubtedly the biggest bummer I've ever heard on record. And there's a bit where, well, have a listen to this, if you dare. Made me jump out of my skin when I first heard it. Still very hard to listen to, though it's a truly great album.

hi sweetie!

hmmm, i can't recall any *songs* that have scared me but the video for "owner of a lonely heart" gave me the creeps because of the snakes...(i like snakes now, tho!)- and "mexican radio", can't pinpoint just one reason!! also, joe jackson used to scare me (now i love him!) and kim wilson from th fabulous thunderbirds gave me the serious creeps!

oh, and anything by phil collins ;)

When having the Fear in Golders Green in the mid 80s at 4am - cause or effect? Still shuddering 25 years later.

A few years back I was leaving the Metrocentre one grey wintry evening, it was nearly deserted and I was going over the footbridge to the railway station. Normally they play really shite musak but for some reason it was 'Abide With Me' by a brass band - I freely admit to being susceptible to a brass band - as I walked out the far end the last note merged seamlessly into the fading scream of some machinery from over the river in the Vickers tank factory and it was one of those illusory moments when the whole world seemed to be watching me. I still dream about it and I still find the song when I hear it even more upsetting than it already was.

There is an horrendous scream in this. I remember being featured in Sunday's Radio 1 top 40 rundown with someone like Peter Powell, doing the full "that's a sensation, isn't it?" as if it was the latest Shakatak song.

I think it was 1970, and I'd just purchased on the recommendation of an older, hipper friend an excellent compilation 'sampler' album on the Island label.."Nice Enough To Eat". I'd never heard of the likes of Nick Drake, Mott the Hoople, not to mention Dr Strangely Strange. But when the searing riff and disembodied vocals of '21st Century Schizoid Man' jumped out of the speakers, that was a bit of a scary (but thrilling) moment.

By the way those early Island samplers were great value. Others were 'You Can All Join In' and 'Bumpers' Anyone know if these are available on CD ?

by Suicide, when Alan Vega starts screaming.

Also the spoken bit in Bowie's All The Madmen.

A cold Germanic lady singing a mournful minor key dirge with only a harmonium for accompaniment, bookended by screeching and wailing electronic sounds, as if someone had tied a Moog to a rack and were probing it with red hot pokers.

I believe Morrissey used to use it as his gig introduction music in the mid 90s. Now that's how to warm up a crowd!

You damn well think you're God or something. God give life, God taketh it away, not you. I think you are the Devil itself.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

*hides, weeps*

(If I remember correctly, the spoken intro to this song is the statement read by the mother of one of Hindley and Brady's victim outside the court at their trial. It's the way she says "devil ITSELF" rather than "himself" that I find so terrifying.)

I think I may have mentioned some or all of these before but Love 'Forever Changes' I find quite creepy like on Red Telephone at the end where the spoken vocal says 'they're locking them up to day and throwing away the key...we all want our freedom, freedom, freedom and then a kind of Uncle Tom voice goes 'all God's children gotta have their freedom'. Then there's A House Is Not A Motel with reference to blood coming from the tap. Like snatches from a bad trip. The vibe is quite troubling here and there.

Also Nico 'Desertshore', often quite weird with it's trumpets and doomy, deathly sound. It's the drugs again.

And finally Can 'Aumgn' from Tago Mago - soundtrack to a nightmare. Gives me the willies somewhat.

Sense Of Doubt is extremely disquieting, even though I've heard it a gazillion times.

And the 'Hindley' laughing soundtrack within The Smiths' Suffer Little Children remains one of the most chilling moments ever heard in pop music.

The Very Things

Boards Of Canada - backwards!
3:01 - '...a god with hooves...a god with horns..'

Pete and Kate

Kraftwerk - Kometenmelodie 1

Come To Daddy

Last track on side 1 of Brian Eno's "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" creeps me out every time I hear it. It conveys to me a very, very menacing feeling, and at the end everything else fades away except the horrible insectoid background sound that carries on alone before eventually fading right to the final groove of the vinyl so that you have to lift the arm off the record to completely stop it.

Ball of Confusion by The Temptations. I think it was the grunting 'One (pause) Two (pause)' intro followed by a gut rattling bass and intense vocals describing some kind of apocalypse.

Jeepster by T.Rex upset me from 'And I'm gonna SUCK ya' followed by a sweries of pants and screams. I wasn't aware of the sexual lust being expressed at the time.

The whole of The Man Who Sold The World album (especially After All) but The Bewley Brothers off Hunky Dory always freaked me out at the end 'Lay my place.... I'm starving for my gravy...' I think it was the accent (very strange for a young northerner)