This one goes without saying. It's a favorite on people's Halloween playlists every year (including mine). It reached #1 in 1962, just before Halloween. It was re-released in 2021, reaching #37. It thus has had a long-lasting impact.
Bobby Pickett was nicknamed Boris because of his ability to impersonate horror-film legend Boris Karloff. The song is about a mad scientist whose monster arises from its slabs one night and begins a new dance, supposedly inspired by the Mashed Potato dance of the early 1960s. The dance becomes "the hit of the land," and the scientist throws a party at which other monsters, such as the Wolfman, Igor, Dracula and his son. Pickett also impersonated Bela Lugosi as Dracula on the record, as well as impersonating Peter Lorre as the voice of Igor (even though Lorre never played that character). The lyrics ask "Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?" a reference to the popular dance The Twist. The "Transylvania Twist" is now the "Monster Mash." This also may be the only popular song to include the word "electrodes" in the lyrics.
Pickett was never able to repeat the success of "Monster Mash," but the song remains a perennial spooky time favorite.
10 comments:
Another fun song, and I don't get tired of it because it's usually played only once a year.
One of the great classics!
This is a very fun song!!
My parents had the album which had this song on it. We loved it!
I had heard of 'Monster Mash' though never the complete song. I'm not really fan of such songs but it's fun. Why does Pickett made those faces in that video? It just seems silly.
Have a lovely day.
A classic!
Ah yes, a classic of the genre. I definitely know this one. (I do believe "electrode" is used in the song "Make a Circuit with Me": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOgJrr7y6bM)
This is a really fun song. It's in my head now, but that's not such a bad thing.
I always loved this song.
Now this takes me back:) Love it.
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