Monster Mash

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"Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Pickett was an aspiring actor who sang with a band called The Cordials at night while going to auditions during the day. One night, while performing with his band, Pickett did a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff while performing The Diamonds' "Little Darlin'". The audience loved it and fellow band member, Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation.

Pickett and Capizzi composed "Monster Mash" and recorded it with Gary Paxton, Leon Russell, Johnny McCrae Rickie Page and Terry Berg, credited as "The Cryptkickers". This song was partially inspired by Paxton's earlier novelty hit "Alley Oop", as well as by the Mashed Potato dance craze of the era.

The song is narrated by a mad scientist whose monster, late one evening, rises from a slab to perform a new dance. The dance becomes "the hit of the land" when the scientist throws a party for other monsters. The producers came up with several low-budget, but effective sound effects for the recording. For example, the sound of a coffin opening was imitated by a rusty nail being pulled out of a board. The sound of a cauldron bubbling was actually water being bubbled through a straw and the chains rattling were simply chains being dropped on a tile floor. Pickett also impersonated the horror actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula when he said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?"

On October 20, 1962, eight weeks after it was recorded, "Monster Mash" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart just in time for Halloween. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since.

The single was re-released twice, first in 1970 and again in 1973, the latter peaking at #10. It was also released in the UK in 1973 where it peaked at #3 in the early October. (The BBC had banned the record from airplay in 1962 on the grounds that the song was "too morbid".)

"Monsters' Holiday", a Christmas-themed follow up, was recorded by Pickett and released in December 1962, peaking at #30 on the Billboard chart. The tune was penned by the renowned novelty song composer Paul 'Oops! upside ya head' Harrison.

In 2005, "Climate Mash", a version with re-written lyrics about global warming and new vocals by Pickett, was released on the Internet by the organization Clear the Air.

1 Cover versions
2 Occurrences in the media
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Cover versions

Horror punk group The Misfits covered this song on their album Monster Mash, and Project 1950.
British ska band Bad Manners released a cover of the song on their 1980 debut album, Ska 'n' B.
Vincent Price recorded a version of the song in 1977.
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band covered the song for their 1969 album Tadpoles. Their performance of the song on the set of the British television series Do Not Adjust Your Set is also contained in a DVD compilation of the series.
Horror film actor and DJ Mike Raven performed a version of the song on the music show 2 G's and the Pop People, in 1972.
Cult reggae band The Toyes recorded "Monster Hash", a cover with the lyrics altered to be about marijuana use.
The Beach Boys covered the tune on their 1964 album Beach Boys Concert.
The Bollock Brothers covered it.
Horror rock group Zombina and the Skeletones covered this song on a Halloween 2007 EP released for download from their MySpace page.
Pickett himself produced a cover entitled "Climate Mash," the lyrics of which described the growing problems of the world.
The Mexican surf band Lost Acapulco covered the tune with alternative lyrics on their EP titled Que Monstruoson, the song was retitled as the album.

[edit] Occurrences in the media

The 1993 Simpsons episode "I Love Lisa" featured this song when a radio disc jockey played the wrong record twice, once on Valentine's day, and again on President's day.^[1]
The Cheers episode "Bar Wars V: The Final Judgment" featured this song prominently, played repeatedly as a prank by rival bar owner Gary on Halloween.
Ron Howard performed the song on Happy Days (episode 124, "The Evil Eye" 10/31/78), but used a Peter Lorre impression rather than Boris Karloff.
In 1995, a movie musical called Monster Mash: The Movie, written in the spirit of the song and starring Bobby Pickett himself, was produced.
Mentioned in the Dire Straits song Your Latest Trick.
Boris Karloff was so taken with the song that he performed it himself on a 1965 episode of Shindig!. (Skal. The Monster Show, 279)
This song was used as the theme song for the My Pet Monster live-action movie in 1986.
Mike Tyson appeared with Bobby Brown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing a duet of the song.
The song was performed by The Bonzo Dog Band in the first episode of Do Not Adjust Your Set.
The song appears in Good Will Haunting, a Halloween episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
In a related follow-up, Caroline Rhea brought Bobby Pickett on her show during Halloween, to sing the song.
Mannheim Steamroller's 2006 album, Halloween, Vol. 2 features a slightly re-worked version of the song.
In American TV spots, the song was used to promote the film, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
In the Freaks and Geeks episode "Tricks and Treats", Mrs. Weir sings "Monster Mash" at dinner to the amusement of her children.
Bob Dylan is a fan of the song and played it on the Halloween 2006 edition of his Theme Time Radio Hour program on XM Satellite Radio.
The song features in a well-known Shock Site on the web.
In the 2006 film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, young Jack Black's acoustic guitar is affectionately referred to as "Monster Mash".
The main menu title music in the 1993 Apogee game Monster Bash is a rearrangement of the song.
The song appears in the opening credits of the 1994 game The Ultimate Haunted House.