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October 16, 2025 16 mins
This bonus episode is a loving tribute to the greatest and one true Halloween song.
 
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(NOTE: Andrew is of course referring to “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder when he says “Supernatural.” He is humiliated.)
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome to at first.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen to music podcasts for people who don't know I
would want to.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Oh my god, the spookiest interest.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah. Yeah, that was a nice spooky voice.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
I thought it was over for me.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, but I'm Dominique.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh yeah, and I'm Andrew.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I distracted. I scared you with my spooky, spooky voice.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
You scared the professionalism, right. Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Today we're talking about monster Mash.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
One of the in my opinion, greatest holiday music songs
of all time.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I think it is the official Halloween song.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
It is the one.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
There aren't any other one.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
There was all the other quote unquote Halloween songs are
like finag gold into being exactly like Supernatural by Stevie
Wonder is not about Halloween.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
No spooky, but is it Dusty Springfield? And then I
put a spell on you?

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
None of these are these are They're not.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Halloween Eve a Woman, the Yellow Black Magic Woman. All
the woman songs are are actually about a scary woman.
Is a scary woman and fragile masculinity? Yes, and then
which is perhaps the most scary thing?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, No, there's and then we have night Member for Christmas,
Nightmare Revisited, which we might have to revisit, okay, but
it's the only like when you're making when we're all
making our Halloween playlist, you're like, Okay, Monster Mash.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
We're gonna do the mask, yeah, or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
At least you'll probably hear it like twice or three times.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
You can get away with playing it like once an hour,
think on Halloween, and then once Other than that, you're
kind of just like, Okay, we gotta do we just
do like silly like witch cackles, like there's really there's
nothing like this song.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
And it's how long has it's been out? Like forty fifty.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Nineteen sixty two was when it came out.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
So that's it sixty years.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
It peaked at number one on the US Hot one
hundred wow, and somehow number nine on the Hot R
and B.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Sides back when they didn't have black people on the radio.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Or black people just love the Monster Mash could be both,
and they were like, we can play this on our station.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
I want to know by this record?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Was it October?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I feel like this song must hit the number one
of the Billboard charts every October.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh sure, I mean it says it was released in
August of nineteen sixty two, which is the.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Perfect time, plenty of time.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, so you have two minutes, two minutes, two months
to build the snowball of the monster Mash. I also
love that the Monster Mash is a song about a song,
so we're not actually hearing the monster Mash, we're just
hearing about it. And how all these monsters, famous monsters
love doing it. Yeah, and they love listening to it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
No, it's about a party basically that you had. And
again it's not exactly Halloween. I mean, for a monster,
every day is Halloween if you think about it.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, I suppose, so you could.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Do the monster mash. If you're a monster, you could
do a monster mash every day.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Do you want to come through later in mash?

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
So I was reading that the monster Mash, which I
still can't figure out what it is, is a variation
on the mashed potato, which was a popular dance at
the time. But you do like monster hands with.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
It, okay, monster hands, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Similar to thriller, I guess, but I can't find you know,
this was back in the day.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
You had to see it live.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
On Editol or whatever to find out the current trends
of the time, the current dances. You can't just like
go on YouTube. And because there's performances of Bobby quote
unquote Boris Picket.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
We were trying to figure out before we started recording
why it's quote unquote Boris, And we actually think we
figured it out, although we started wondering that aloud in jest.
So it seems like Boris was a character of the
singer Bobby Pickett, and it was based on the horror

(04:38):
movie actor Boris Karloff, who played the Frankenstein monster in
one of the early Frankenstein films. I guess it would
be the pre nineteen sixty two film whatever.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, that was. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I remember watching that when I was a kid and
being like, this isn't scary at all, And now I
watch movies that did scare me as a kid and
I'm not scared. It's crazy how horror changes now. I
need to see, like somebody, you know, getting slashed to pieces.
Can't just be like a tall man standing in a
dark room.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
This is simply too exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
But I I also think that's that's a real says
something about the times that he just this one character
he did like solidified him as that's like who.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
I am now?

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Like I like, if I could come up with a
character that, first of all, inspires the greatest Halloween song
of all time, I would have to be the second greatest.
Now if I did this now, and anytime I showed
up anywhere, people were like, I don't care about your
new stuff. I want to see your Boris like if yeah,

(05:56):
I It's on one hand, it's like a curse, But
on the other hand, you're like, I'm printing money.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I mean, you think about the gold rush that is
creating a hit Christmas song and trying to get a
song that recurs every Christmas, like Mariah carry All I
Want for Christmas is You easily her biggest song because
it gets played every Christmas. It doesn't she doesn't need
to be active and touring for radio stations and people

(06:25):
all over the world to play All I Want for
Christmas is You? Bobby quote unquote Boris Pickett has Halloween
all to himself. And then, I mean, would Thriller even exist?
We're not for the monster.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Mash See, these are the questions we need.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
These are the questions nobody's asked to ask. But you
also touched on one of the reasons I like the
Monster mash so much. You said that nowadays you need
to see someone get torn to pieces in a film
to recognize it as scary. That is one of the
things I don't like about Halloween is.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
The gore and how scary it is, how scary it is.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
But the you know, the gore, this like murder porn
thing that people do at Halloween, whereas like the classic
monster is like a baby in a funny costume. Yeah,
that is some good Halloween for me, where it's like
whimsical and silly and it's a spooky ghost.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
No, I agree. I think that Halloween is for kids.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I mean as a Halloween adult, I can say
and I do like to be scary because I think
here's the problem is, though Halloween is for kids, there's
really not I guess us spooky people, we just want
a day, and this is our day. Not every hobby

(07:57):
needs a day, I will say that. But for all
of the cheerful types, they get to they get to
sing their Christmas songs and do their Santa hats for
the whole freaking winter. And we want to have our scary,
scary stuff and we get to celebrate all August, I
mean October, we get to say, we get to we

(08:21):
get to watch horror movies. And so I'm I'm on
both sides of it. I feel like it's kind of
like there's there's good people on both sides. Famous famous
quote by a great person that it's basically until an
hour after sunset.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
It's for kids, basically until sunset.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
In New York, back where I'm from, you could go
trigger treating at night and be out as a kid
at night in Austin.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
In New York, it is not advised because there are.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Soil are so drunk by the time.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes, exactly, all the all the college students and all
the people partying.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
It's just a Halloween that like in the wrong hands,
which is the hands of most people, it can just
it just goes sideways where it's like, Okay, this is
a night where we're going to binge drink on a
Tuesday because it's Halloween. Why don't we have work off
the next day. It's not a real holiday, is why.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Okay. But also, my birthday isn't a real holiday.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
My birthday is a day after. To our listeners, my
birthday is a day after Halloween, and it's all Saints
Day and Day of the Dead, so it is a
real holiday.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
So you want Halloween off as well.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
No, I just want the day after off.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Well I hope you get that.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I mean I have quit a job before because they
didn't give me that day off.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
I was already on my way out, but I was like,
I want to take off my birthday day after Halloween,
and they were like, actually, you have to come in,
and I was like, actually I could.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
I just don't think we need to be lionizing like
serial kill and mass murders and genocide. On any holidays.
We can celebrate spooky ghosts and zombies and stuff, but
we don't need to be like, oh, I'm Jeffrey Dahmer
because it's Halloween, Like, please don't be.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
It definitely is a time for people to show the
worst sides of themselves.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Show people their blackface.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah they're blackface. That's a bad one.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Halloween has claimed a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's true. It's true. Somebody thinks they have a creative idea,
which is blackface, and blackface is the idea. Yeah, And
that is honestly what I love about it. How I
have adopted Halloween is it is. It's about the darkest
parts of ourselves. And normally we want to glaze over

(10:46):
all the all of the bad things and say, oh,
but everybody's good. But truly, everybody's not good because or
else we wouldn't have war and violence and all things
like that. So having which again, it's all mixed up
because it's like, oh, celebrating the dead I think is good, yes,
but like we don't need to use it as an

(11:10):
opportunity to celebrate murderers. But if you are, like, for example,
a future politician, and you feel like, oh, perfect opportunity
to do blackface, this is going to be hilarious, and
then a picture shows off of you, that's a gift
to all of us because that was inside that person
all along. And so whenever people get the opportunity to

(11:33):
show their asses, I think I thank them for that
because they're not hiding it.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
And that's the magic of Halloween exactly.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
And that's and one day we all will I think
what I love. Okay, another thing about the monster mash.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
He's not a graveyard smash, is what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, and it was a graveyard smash.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, that's what I was gonna say yeah, but in addition,
you it's not actually asking you to do the Monster.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Mash like you don't like the electric slide exactly?

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh to the left, to the right, take it back
all these rules and assignments for me. While with this
you just get to hear about a fun party that
someone had. While it's where where a kooky guy tells
you about it. It's like a once a century thing
for a holiday because think about it, all I want
for Christmas is you. It changed the game unparent like,

(12:28):
uh this Christmas? Oh yeah, and all I want for
Christmas is you. Those are like the two pop Christmas
songs that anyone ooh.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
What's happening?

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Something's happening with my audio? Oh ok, maybe my headtones?

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah wow.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
You just looked at me and I thought like, oh,
something's behind us.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Who know it's the Monster Mash.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Uh No, I like it's it is like lightning in
a bottle. It seems like to create a holiday song
that is widely a preciated as as like canon to
the holiday, cause it's not like if you play Monster Mash.
Let's say like at fourth of July, people are like,

(13:11):
what is this? I don't want to hear this, but
when it comes to me October, everybody is down for
the Monster Mash. So I'm just saying it's it's like
a magical thing to make a people make all. Like
you said, people are making holiday songs all the time.
I'm sure there's probably dozens of Halloween albums. I mean
probably tons of metal bands and scream mo bands and

(13:33):
spooky type of bands. They make scary songs all the time.
But I think the kid friendliness of this is probably
a big part of it. But it's just a it's
a graveyard smash. Nobody's made a graveyard smash like this since.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
We didn't even know about them until the Monster Mash
came out, And uh, I don't know. Maybe we should
think about that as we go forward into the new year,
which is for the purposes of this episode November.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, so this was not our first listen, that's true, but.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
You can tell us about yours.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
That's that's my mistake. Actually, yeah, on that one.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
This is false advertising. Whoops.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
If somebody we should find someone who's never heard.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Them, that's what I was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
We but we might have to go to like a
remote village in the Amazon or something somebody that's never
heard music.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
I don't think we have the budget.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, if anyone who listens to our podcast has never
heard the Monster Mash, please leave it in the comments.
But for all the people that have, why don't you,
you know, let us know your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Off if you remember the first time you ever heard it,
it's like you're born hearing this song.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Well I certainly was, Oh, I certainly was.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
They were, definitely, I can hear it now from the womb.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
But here they're trying to make Christmas start in November.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
First, and that is outrageous.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
So if you were born in this generation, a zoomer
or whatever is after, you would have heard you had
heard last Christmas by Wham.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
It makes me sick, It makes me absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's really the department stores today trying to get there,
trying to sell.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
I don't want to see tinsel before Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yes, yeah, Thanksgiving whatever you want to call it, Indigenous
People's Day where you eat a lot and you say
that was bad. Genocide is bad. That is before. So
everybody start doing the Monster Mash right now and.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Don't talk about any other holidays for a while.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
They get out of your system. Yeah, all right, thank
you for listening. We'll be back next week with it
new episode of A First Listen. Bye bye,
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