It's a graveyard smash!

October 31, 2014 10:39 AM

You might know the Monster Mash, but how much do you know about the original artist, Bobby "Boris" Pickett? The article includes a link to the official website of The MoNsTeR mAsH, a revenant from Web 1.0

Not ready to stop mashing? Here's a bunch of covers! (cribbed from Wikipedia)
Beach Boys
Boris Karloff
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Luis "Vivi" Hernandez - "El Monstruo," a Spanish cover
Vincent Price
Bad Manners
Ill Repute
The Big O
Murphy's Law
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Misfits
Kidz Bop
Mannheim Steamroller
Zombina and the Skeletones
Bruce Springsteen
CrabCorps - from the Silver Linings Playbook soundtrack

posted by Small Dollar (29 comments total)

My Dad was a childhood friend of Pickett's. Pickett's father owned a movie theater, I think, and they both worked there. I always felt really special around Halloween because I knew someone "famous."
posted by xingcat at 10:43 AM on October 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

how much do you know about the original artist, Bobby "Boris" Pickett?

I know that in seventh grade I was the only person to get extra credit on my science quiz for knowing who sang the Monster Mash!

My dad had two jukeboxes and I listened to a ton of oldies and very little contemporary music. I was not...cool.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:50 AM on October 31, 2014 [4 favorites]

Obligatory Mr. Show
posted by symbioid at 10:56 AM on October 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

Damndest thing happened the other day. I haven't thought about the Monster Mash in I can't tell you how many years. But I was singing it to the baby the other morning before work, and then not ten minutes later, in the car, I flipped to a bluegrass cover on one of the local college radio stations. Really bizarre. Halloween is following me.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2014 [3 favorites]

CBC played some Modern Monster Mash this morning.
posted by Kabanos at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2014

Don't forget the original, NSFW version.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 11:05 AM on October 31, 2014 [4 favorites]

I always thought Igor was musical. How could you not be with a humped existence?
posted by Mblue at 11:08 AM on October 31, 2014

Also, this was crazy!

During one of the first live performances of “Monster Mash, he was backed by a then-unknown Beach Boys.

Thanks for posting this -- it was pretty cool!

Unlike me in middle school.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:10 AM on October 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

And Pickett's 1983 "hip" followup, The Monster Rap.
posted by themanwho at 11:11 AM on October 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

On the one hand, I love the fact that they re-cut the track in 1993 to own the master, but it's ... really not as good as the original, unfortunately.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:12 AM on October 31, 2014

Pickett's mugging would make Jim Carrey blush.

Awesome.
posted by edheil at 11:14 AM on October 31, 2014 [3 favorites]

Todd in the Shadows does a reverent One Hit Wonder retrospective of Monster Mash that's a fun and insightful watch. (transcript)
posted by danabanana at 11:23 AM on October 31, 2014

Apparently Pickett's song was a graveyard smash.
posted by fairmettle at 11:25 AM on October 31, 2014

This strikes me as a good opportunity to link to one of my favorite ever comments.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:26 AM on October 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best Halloween song ever.
posted by blucevalo at 11:30 AM on October 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

Obligatory Mr. Show
posted by symbioid at 10:56 AM on October 31 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]

Three whole comments before the Mr Show link? You're slipping, Metafilter!
posted by Zerowensboring at 11:34 AM on October 31, 2014

Whatever happened to the Transylvania Twist?
posted by Sangermaine at 11:35 AM on October 31, 2014

It's now the Mash!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:36 AM on October 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

(I seriously really love the Monster Mash.)
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:37 AM on October 31, 2014

Bobby "Boris" Pickett is one of my idols. I'm so sad I never had the chance to meet him.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:41 AM on October 31, 2014

Monster Mash event attendees in St. George, Utah, prevented from dancing because dancing not on permit (per the cops).
posted by emjaybee at 12:07 PM on October 31, 2014

My wife, who's lived in the United States of America all her life, has never heard "The Monster Mash." How is this possible?
posted by escabeche at 1:03 PM on October 31, 2014

danabanana: Todd in the Shadows does a reverent One Hit Wonder retrospective of Monster Mash that's a fun and insightful watch. (transcript)

One fun fact about Monster Mash is that it's the only song I can think of that's charted on four separate occasions.
posted by ob1quixote at 1:07 PM on October 31, 2014

"My wife, who's lived in the United States of America all her life, has never heard "The Monster Mash." How is this possible?"

Clearly your wife was abducted by aliens and replaced with an near exact, though flawed, duplicate. Sorry for your loss.
posted by cccorlew at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2014 [3 favorites]

Halloween is following me.

In fact...

...IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:27 PM on October 31, 2014

The story behind the Transylvania Twist, Syracuse's answer to the Monster Mash.
posted by CCBC at 2:50 PM on October 31, 2014

I can't get over how much those old B&W photos look like MAD magazine illustrations from that era.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:26 PM on October 31, 2014

WAIT!
What were the few words from the respected Helene Curtis???
posted by chococat at 10:04 PM on October 31, 2014

Is that a young Dick Clark introducing the song ?
posted by Flood at 5:53 AM on November 1, 2014