The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Never even mind his biggest radio hit, the classic lycanthropic dance tune “Werewolves of London” — the songwriting oeuvre of WARREN ZEVON (1947-2003) conjures a twisted universe where upwardly mobile zoo gorillas steal the lives of urban yuppies, the ghosts of murdered mercenaries stalk their old battlefields, and Earth itself fades to the entropic assault of chemical pollution while love blooms in the mall. Unsettling, surreal, and wickedly funny, Zevon died too soon, but his specter haunts rock & roll forever.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

TOM WAITS (1949– ) has built his oeuvre singing odd stories of life on the road, chronicling hobo existence, underground Americana, and downright weird folks through sordid lyrics and abrasive melodies. Every album is a singular experience, a collection of unique tales told in musical notes and gravel-throated vocals. His latest album, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards is a tour de force through the weird world of his creativity.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

His voice thunders at you with an undeniable allure. You will never, never understand the songs of NICK CAVE (1957– ) on the first, second, or fifth listens, and you will sometimes question why you’re still trying — and yet, you can’t quite turn him off. He twists mythic language into an apocalyptic sound of fury and decadence, populating his world with killers, wanderers, and fallen angels. It’s as if he could fall apart at any minute — but is haunted by his muses to continue his drunken stumble through your head.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

A touchstone of surrealism in modern pop music, the narrative songs of KATE BUSH (1958– ) evince a fierce intellect and dream logic. She’s well infused with the fantasy genre, addressing it directly in tracks like “Hammer Horror” and “Strange Phenomena.” Her two magical-realist masterpieces, The Ninth Wave and A Sky of Honey, address the nature of reality itself. And at her most wonderfully abstract, in “Suspended in Gaffa” or “Sat in Your Lap,” she uses powerful imagery, redolent of genre, getting into our heads like the best psychological writers.

The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

The first space alien rock star, DAVID BOWIE (1947– ) has at various times portrayed a dehydrated space traveler, the Goblin King, a vampire, the Elephant Man, a spooky clown, a blue-skinned religious zealot, and Nikola Tesla. He brought rock & roll rebel attitude and artistic credibility to movie roles and lyrical ideas (“Look out your window, I can see his light / If we can sparkle he may land tonight”) normally the province of geeks. He made weird cool.