Tim Burton’s musical The Nightmare Before Christmas is the most popular animated Halloween feature since Charlie Brown got a bag of rocks. Arriving in time to hype the film’s big-screen 3-D rerelease, the expanded reissue of its soundtrack features covers of show tunes by five emo and rock stars.

The solo numbers are the highlights. Fall Out Boy turns “What’s This?” into a punky power-pop blast. Fiona Apple delivers the slinky lament “Sally’s Song” in her husky voice over a tiptoe electro beat. Marilyn Manson recreates the cast number “What’s This?” as an industrial calliope tune. And Panic! at the Disco turns a layup into an airball on a second version of the song: Famous for singing with a cane and top hat, frontman Brendon Urie has clearly spent many a long, lonely afternoon dreaming of kick-stepping across a Broadway stage. But when it’s time to belt out a “la-la-la” chorus, the band shrinks from the spotlight. She Wants Revenge turns showstopper “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” into a dour techno thumper. The Great Pumpkin won’t be visiting them.

This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2006.