"Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Author: The Best Song Ever (This Week)

"Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

"Monster Mash" has been a Halloween hit for over five decades. Its roots are in the biggest dance craze inspired by a root vegetable -- The Mashed Potato -- and even Boris Karloff himself was a fan.

You can hear "Monster Mash" along with 160 other Halloween songs in a 7.5 hour mix here:

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Hello, and welcome to the BestSong Ever this week, A short deep
dive into a song and what makesit special. The best song ever this
week this week is Monster Mash byBobby Boris Pickett and the Cryptkickers. I'm

(00:26):
Scott Frampton. We won't be diggingthe song here, I'm afraid, but
if you hedge of the show notes, there's a link to a playlist with
Monster Mash and about one hundred andsixty other Halloween songs. The mix is
about seven and a half hours andwe hope you enjoy it. So let's
begin. Bobby Pickett didn't want torecord a novelty song. He was a

(00:47):
serious actor and gigging around La withhis band the Cordials was a way to
earn some cash while keeping his daysfree to audition for roles. One night,
while covering the Diamonds do Up hit, Little Darlin vised a monologue in
the voice of Barrs Karlov, whichgot good laughs from the crowd. His
bandmate Lenny Kappezi sensed an opportunity totake it further and record a single,

(01:11):
but Pickett demurred, putting his actingcareer first. Until two weeks later,
the death of his theatrical agent broughtthat career to a standstill. Pick and
Capezi wrote a full song for theKarloff Impression in about an hour, basing
the melody on D. D.Sharp's Mashed Potato Time. The Mashed Potato
was the dance of nineteen sixty two. It started out as one of James

(01:34):
Brown's dance moves, and after itwas called out in the contours do You
Love Me, written by Botowns BerryGordy, it blew up into a dance
craze that supplanted the twist. Pickand Capezi simply jammed forty's horror movie Monsters
into a popular dance. It waseffectively a mashup. The Monster Mash was
released on the Garpax label in Augustof nineteen sixty two and went to number

(01:57):
one in the US that Halloween,but not the UK because the BBC deemed
it too morbid. It popped backup in the top forty during the spooky
season in nineteen seventy three, finallyhitting number three in the UK after the
BBC relented, and then it alsoappeared in the top forty in twenty twenty
one. Garpax was named for itsowner Gary S. Paxton, who is

(02:17):
one of those nineteen sixties independent popmusic hustlers who would do anything to manufacture
a hit. He and his roommateKim Fowley had hit with the Caveman novelty
song Aliyup in nineteen sixty with agroup they made up just to slap a
name on the single Hollywood Argyles.To back Pickett's droll Karloff impression, Paxton

(02:38):
put together a band including Leon Russellthe guitar and the ventures Mel Taylor on
drums, and he added sound effectslike bubbling water through a straw to simulate
a gurgling Cauldrin or pulling a rustynail out of a board to create the
creaking of a coffin lid. Itwas fun and campy, like a Halloween
party. This atmosphere is a bigreason for the song enduring popularity. It's

(03:00):
the one horse open sleigh of Halloweensongs. Monster Mash captures the fun of
the holiday even more than five decadeson. It doesn't have much competition for
spooky songs applying horror tropes. It'snot only impossible to manufacture scares in three
minutes with a beat, you candance to thriller of folks being caught in

(03:21):
a horror movie scenario, but it'stwice as long and had the benefit of
a the biggest pop star in theworld, b an all time genius producer
in Quincy Jones, and c amini movie music video with a blockbuster budget.
Monster Mash, on the other hand, feels like a familiar scene beyond
their places in pop culture lore.The monsters are like our friends and family,

(03:42):
right down to Dracula's petty jealousy.It's all knowable, but just a
bit more ridiculous, like a Halloweenparty. Gary Pickett never had the career
he wanted as an actor, butalso never begrudged how Monster Mash paid the
rent. He did win the approvalof another actor, however, Boris Karloff

(04:03):
born William Henry Pratt, he tookthe stage name Boris Karloff to save his
dignified British family embarrassment. He hada lisp and as stutter as a boy,
and you ever came the stutter,but the lisp remained, and along
with the way he caressed each wordas something new to behold, became his
signature as an actor. You canhear in Pickett's Impression. His most famous

(04:26):
role, however, was mostly grunts, and that was in nineteen thirty one
S Frankenstein, where he played Frankenstein'smonster. It was his eighty second film
he'd appear in ninety more. Karloffwas tickled by Monster Mash and sang the
song himself when the team focused varietyseries Shindig. That show's assistant choreographer was
Antonia Basilada, who under the nameTony basil would have a sort of novelty

(04:49):
hit herself in nineteen eighty two withMickey and there was another actor on stage
fore Krlof's performance. One of thedancers behind Karlov was Terry Garr, who
went on to star in Hollywood filmsincluding Young Frankenstein, Happy Halloween. We'll
be right back. The mashed Potatois an easy dance to do and was

(05:12):
easily modified, which was a bigpart of its popularity. Just take a
small step back on one foot,leaving that heel angled up, and swivel
on that back heel on time withthe beat. Then take another step back
with the other foot and repeat.If you put your arms out like carlofs
Frankenstein's Monster Well, voila, you'redoing the Monster Mash. A re release

(05:32):
of Monster Mash was I think thefirst forty five rpm single I ever bought,
back when it climbed the charts againin nineteen seventy three. This was
also back when you could bug yourmom to buy you a record in a
department store while she was trying toget you to decide on new clothes for
the school year. The song holdsup, I think, even if I

(05:53):
prefer with the surface noise and scratchesof my old record scars from parties where
I dress as a pirate or whatevercostume might hubble together from a big bag
of masks and old clothes we hadin the basement. I hope the Halloween
playlist is a fun one for you. I'm sure I'll be tinkering it up
to the thirty first, so there'llbe changes between here and now. And
please follow the best song ever thisweek wherever it is you enjoy podcasts that

(06:16):
helps us out a bunch. Thanksagain and Happy Halloween. See you next week.