Castle Walls by Styx, 1977 & Theme from John Carpenters Halloween, 1978 Coincidence or an Influence?

Been wondering this for a long time. First time i ever heard Castle Walls by Styx off of their 1977 Grand Illusion album i was like, wow tell me that ain’t a direct rip off of the Halloween theme, then i looked at the years and realized that The Grand Illusion album came out in 1977 and John Carpenters Halloween came out in 1978, so, who copied who? Is it a coincidence? Am i just crazy and theres no similarity whatsoever? You be the judge of that. If youre a fan of the Halloween series, or of Styx, then id say this video is a must see! Im very curious to see what other people think on the subject.

[BobSiefken]

Just searched John Carpenter Castle Walls because I knew I wasn't the only one who noticed this. 👍

[WithLoveTony]

I literally just discovered this myself as I type and thought I was alone. I typed this in to see if anyone else did, and here it is! Grand Illusion in 77, Halloween movie is late 78. Can’t make it up.

[bradm]

I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR 46 YEARS

[jesselawrence]

Litterally just listening to the vinyl of this record for the first time right now and I was like wtf? That's the halloween theme.

[Jahjamz]

I know this is an old post, but i just stumbled here and im gonna mention that "real american" hulk hogans theme song also completely rips off this song. Listen to the cadence

[KICKYOASH]

I’ve been telling people this since the late 80s !

[angrodNumenesse]

I can kind of hear a similarity but it sounds like a bit of a stretch. The wiki article mentions the musical influences: "...composed and performed by director Carpenter with Carpenter admitting that the music was inspired by both Dario Argento's Suspiria (which also influenced the film's slightly surreal color scheme) and William Friedkin's The Exorcist."

Speaking of influences and references in music; that Japanese metal band I like? I was listening to one of their songs the other night and I realized that the main riff sounds suspiciously similar to the main riff from the song The Last Fight by Bullet for My Valentine.

[candistacey]

I believe John Carpenter got the Halloween song from Castle Walls totally. He just used the key board but...a year later. Come on you know.

[tiffanybarnes]

Thank you! I knew I couldn't be the only one!

[cassidyfit]

I know this is an old video, but Halloween is on right now, and I was just thinking if anyone else has ever noticed this “coincidence “…..I noticed this back in the 80’s…….
I never could believe that Styx never sued them. !!!!

[sabbath]

Styx was very musically educated they could have been using music style concept that had been out for a while and incorporated it with rock, it may very well be the other way around even though the stick song was a year earlier. Music's funny that way s*** has been being used borrowed and sampled for decades and decades I've heard songs from the '40s that match songs to today.

[bradm]

CARPENTER IS AWSOME BUT HE TOTALLY STOLE IT BUT NOBODY CARED 😂😮😢

[TheChenny]

There different enough but probably influenced. Also both of these are probably influenced by some classical harpsichord pieces