Monster Mash

"(The) 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 Boris Karloff in the middle of a song. The audience loved it and a member of the band encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation.

The song was recorded with Pickett on vocals in an imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff. Also on the recording were Gary Paxton, Leon Russell, Johnny McCrae and Rickie Page, credited as The Cryptkickers. This song was partially inspired by Gary Paxton's song "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 a hit 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 was simply chains being dropped on a tile floor.

On October 20, 1962, eight weeks after it was recorded, "Monster Mash" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart just in time for Halloween. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. This song was later covered by The Misfits.

"Monster's Holiday", a Christmas-themed follow up, was released in December 1962 and reached #30 on the Billboard chart.

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.

Monster Mash was written by Pickett and Leonard Capizzi.

Occurrences in the media

• In the movie The Beniker Gang

• A popular student greasy spoon establishment known as Monster Mash (which exclusively serves bangers and mash) can be found in Edinburgh

• It is played twice during the Simpsons episode I Love Lisa.

• In an episode of Cheers where they rigged the juke box to loop the song.

• In the song Limbo by Rush on the 1996 album Test for Echo.

• In 1995, a movie musical called Monster Mash: The Movie, written in the spirit of the song and starring Bobby Pickett himself, was produced.

• Boris Karloff was so taken with the song that he performed it himself on a 1965 episode of Shindig.

• In the popular show, Futurama, Philip J. Fry refers to sexual intercourse as "The Horizontal Monster Mash.", in the episode "Spanish Fry"

References

• Bathroom Reader' Institute (1991). Uncle John's Fourth Bathroom Reader. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312064845. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Official "Monster Mash" site