Monster Mash, a song that was recorded by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett in less than an hour, got banned by the BBC, then won No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, just in time for Halloween.
Massachusetts singer Bobby Pickett and his friend and bandmate Leonard Capizzi wrote the song in 1962. While performing as the frontman of a local band called The Cordials, Pickett regularly did voice impressions of horror film actor Boris Karloff. Capizzi suggested building an entire original song around it so they can also enter the popular dance trends of the era, such as “The Twist” and “The Mashed Potato”
In less than an hour, Pickett and Capizzi recorded “Monster Mash” with a band they called The Crypt-Kickers.
“Lenny Capizzi, like myself, was a horror movie freak and love Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. So, he and I were the perfect team to get this idea kicking…and he had suggested it one night after we had sung “Little Darling” by the Diamonds. You know there’s that monologue in there…and I did at as Boris Karloff…and the audience cracked up. After the set he said, “you know we oughta do a novelty record, they do very well.” And I said “No, I’m a serious actor, I’m off to other places…so I got an agent and after two weeks, the agent died of a heart attack. So, I called up Lenny and I said, “you know that idea you had, like, a few months ago? Let’s get together and do that. So we did,” Pickett said.
Pickett brought the recording to a record producer, who took it to four labels, but it was rejected at each, as many record labels were hesitant to release a spooky, horror-themed song that didn’t fit standard music formats of the ‘60s.
Then in August 1962, the song was released on producer Gary S. Paxton’s Garpax Records label, alongside the full-length LP titled The Original Monster Mash.
The song quickly became a hit on radio, but BBC Radio, saying it was “too morbid” to play on the air, banned it. 11 years later, the ban was lifted, and upon its re-release in 1973, the song quickly found success.
Monster Mash hit the Billboard charts three times. On October 20, 1962, the song hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, then it re-charted in August 1970, and again in May 1973.
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