6 Completely Tasteless Dead Musician Costumes You Can Ruin Halloween Parties With

Kurt Cobain With Missing Back Of Head (optional: shotgun)

Yeah, yeah. I know...cheap shot. But, you gotta start with something simple. It was either this, or Elliott Smith with a knife sticking out of his chest, and I feel like this costume would take less explaining. The worst thing about this costume—besides the poor taste—is the random misogynists that will come up to you and be like, "Actually shouldn’t Courtney Love be holding that shotgun? Huck, huck, huck." [ED: Actually, it was El Duce]. No, asshole, Kurt Cobain suffered from chronic debilitating depression and the bottom finally gave out. How dare you trivialize such a great artist’s tragic suicide! Then, turn around in a huff and walk away, revealing the mess of fake blood and brains dripping from the back of your cheap, blonde wig.

Mama Cass With Cartoon X-Ray Over Chest, Depicting Broken Heart

Because she died of a fucking heart attack, not from choking on a goddamn ham sandwich. The only point of this costume, is to repeatedly inform partygoers of this fact, in a very indignant tone, when they ask what the hell you’re supposed to be. While this costume is not particularly tasteless, it does grant you an opportunity to ruin the party, by constantly reminding everyone about the correct and documented circumstances of Ms. Elliot’s death. A good bonus of this costume, is that it could double as a tasteless depiction of Adele and the lyrical content of her first two albums.

Elvis Presley With Pants Around Ankles

I mean, why not, right? It’s perfect. It gets the point across. No reason to lug around a fake toilet with you all night—just penguin about the party with your pants around your ankles. I suppose you could go for broke and also drop underwear and freeball it, with chocolate fudge smeared up and down your legs. That might be going a little too far, but, remember, we’re trying to ruin this Halloween Party here, not make friends. Carry a bottle of pills with you as well. I said tasteless, remember? Go G.G. or go home.

Billy Murcia Holding A Cup Of Cofiee

This one is a little obscure. And, by a little, I mean a lot. Billy Murcia was the original drummer for the New York Dolls. So, your best bet is to go in full drag (blonde wig) and stick a pair of drumsticks in your sash or something. It’ll take some explaining and people are going to assume you’re in Twisted Sister. Regardless, this proto-punk pioneer did not die of a heroin overdose, as was the industry standard (although, he did suffer from one at an after party in London, while on tour). That’s not what killed him. Seeing that Billy was unresponsive at said afterparty, his bandmates did the most punk rock thing you could do, and poured hot coffee down his throat, in an attempt to revive him. The coroner’s official report for the cause of death, was drowning—by coffee. I wish I could make this shit up. Either way, the three people who "get" the costume will find it very tasteless and offensive and at the very least, you’ll ruin the party for those three humorless assholes. The perk of this costume is you’ll have a nice cup of coffee for the duration of the party.

Ian Curtis With Noose Around Neck (optional: copies of Iggy Pop’s The Idiot and Werner Herzog’s Stroszek)

I mean, not much else to say about this one. If anything, this is probably the least tasteless costume of the bunch—and, really, you’ll just bond with a bunch of Joy Division fans. I initially had this idea for a Halloween party, where we just watch Stroszek and listen to The Idiot on repeat, while we all wear nooses around our necks. It’d probably be just me and two other people, but we’d have a swell time. The annoying thing about this costume is having to carry a vinyl record and VHS tape around all night, but it’ll be worth it for those three peeps you bond with, and the rest of the party, that you make feel very uncomfortable. If you feel like you’re not getting enough of a response, just drop to the floor and fake an epileptic seizure. Someone will get offended.

Sam Cooke Wearing Only A Sports Jacket And One Shoe, With Bleeding Hole In Chest

Regardless of whether or not anyone gets this costume, I think this is just a good party outfit (and an even better going-out out- fit). Hopefully, a group splits off from this Halloween party to head to a bar and you force yourself amongst them, just to see the look on the bouncer’s face. And, for people who do get the reference, you will be bombarded by both sides of the story, and quite likely erupt the shindig into a civil war, thus successfully ruining it. Watch and laugh, as people who insist that Mr. Cooke kidnapped and attempted to rape Elisa Boyer at the Hacienda Motel fling racist insults at the Soul Legend, while sexist slut-shamers insist that Ms. Boyer was a dirty whore, who seduced Sam and attempted to rob him. Either way, everyone loses and you win, because they’re arguing over the integrity of someone they own some records by (and don’t know personally), and you are at a party wearing just a sports jacket and one shoe. One thing they can’t argue is this is exactly what Sam Cooke looked like when he died.

Happy Halloween.