This Day in History Class is a production of I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show that hits you with a jolt of history every day of the week. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're talking about the sixties pop sensation Monster Mash, a ghoulishly campy song that, thankfully for dorks like me, just won't die. The day was October two. Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett and the crypt Kickers top the Billboard Hot one hundred chart for the second week in a row. The monster themed novelty song had been released two months earlier on producer Gary Paxton's personal record label, gar Packs. Hundreds of copies were sent out to radio station throughout southern California, and it quickly became one of the top requested songs in the region. That response convinced London Records to strike a deal with gar Packs, allowing the label to distribute Monster Mash worldwide. A few weeks later, with Halloween fast approaching, the campy song reached number one on the Singles chart and stayed there until early November. Monster Mash was the hit of the land, but across the pond, the BBC was having none of it. Despite being released on a British label, the song was deemed too morbid for English airwaves and was banned from play for several years. The BBC did eventually change their tune, though, in light of the songs enduring popularity. If you've somehow never heard Monster Mash before, it tells the story of a group of monsters who attend an impromptu party at Dr Frankenstein's castle. It sung from the perspective of the good Doctor, who happened to sound a lot like Boris Karloff, and recounts how his famous monster came to life one night and immediately sparked a dance craze, the titular Monster Mash. News of the dance spreads quickly, and soon other monsters like the Wolfman and Dracula arrive at the lab to try it out for themselves. Of course, describing a novelty song is kind of like explaining a joke. Nobody really wants you to do it. It's much more fun to just put it out there and let it speak for itself. So with that in mind, here's a taste of the original Monster Mash looking in the love late one light. When my eyes be hid an ey shit saw my monster from his lap began to rise, and suddenly, to my surprise, he did the monster. It was a graveyards man. It caught all in a flag. As you might imagine, it took a very specific set of circumstances for a song like Monster Mash to become the hottest track in the country. The first factor and its success was the movie monster revival going on in America in the early nineteen sixties. Universal Studios had recently dusted off its classic monster movies from the nineteen thirties and forties and repackaged them for TV syndication. That exposure introduced characters like Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, and the Wolfman to a whole new generation, kicking off a monster craze that would last the rest of the decade. Dozens of companies capitalized on that trend, cranking out a host of monster branded products, including model kits, trading cards, posters, and lunch boxes. In that light, it seems almost inevitable that the monsters would lurch their way into the music business as well. Another trend that played directly into the song's success was the series of twist inspired dance crazes that hooked the country in the early nineteen sixties. In the spring of sixty two, the hot new novelty dance of the week was called the Mashed Potato, and the song that went along with it was Mashed Potato Tie by D. D. Sharp. Take a list. You may have guessed that the Mash and Monster Mash was taken from D. D. Sharp song, But did you notice that the chords, melody, and lyrical structure were too. That's because songwriter Bobby Pickett intentionally it out to parody Mashed Potato. Time in nineteen sixty two, Pickett was an aspiring actor who made a living in the evenings by singing as the frontman in a local duop band called the Cordials. He was also a lifelong Monster movie fan, and one night during a gig, he did an impression of Frankenstein's star Boris Karloff during one of their songs. The gag went over so well with the crowd that Pickett's bandmate, Leonard Capezi, suggested they write a song about monsters to showcase his impression, and so that summer the duo sat down and wrote Monster Mash using the current trendy song Mashed Potato Time as their template. It only took an hour or so to write the song, and recording it didn't take much longer. They were helped in that endeavor by producer Gary Paxton and studio musicians Johnny McCrae, Mel Taylor, and Ricky Page, who were credited as the crypt Kickers. Some sources credit renowned songwriter Leon Russell on piano, but others say he arrived at the studio late and only played on the records B side Monster Mash Party. In any case, the lengthiest part of the recording process was creating the many spooky sound effects featured on the track. Because digital audio didn't exist in two all the sounds had to be created the old fashioned way, right there in the studio. Gary Paxton took on the job, using household objects to approximate the atmospheric sounds of a creepy old castle. For instance, the eerie creak of a coffin lid at the start of the song, that's a claw hammer pulling a rusty nail out of a lump of wood. Likewise, the gurgling sound of brewing potions is actually the producer blowing bubbles through a straw and a glass of water. And as for the sounds of clinking chains, well those really are just chains being dropped on the floor. That one was kind of a freebee. The resulting song was a bit of a monster itself, a do wop parity about dancing monsters that sung by a Boris Karloff impersonator and loaded with haunted house sound effects. It doesn't seem like the recipe for a hit song, but in the fall of nineteen sixty two, that's exactly what it was, and Pickett and Capezi knew that. They recognize that the two dominant elements of that strange moment in pop culture were classic monsters and dance fads. Either one of those would have been a ripe target for parody on its own, but by frankensteining them together, the writers captured the true spirit of the era, in all its gleeful, campy glory. That makes monster mash a decidedly gentle form of parody. It celebrates the things that lampoons, rather than sneering at them. The songwriters didn't think people were stupid for liking cheesy monsters or silly dances. They thought those were a blast and that they'd be even more fun mashed together. That said, Monster Mash isn't a totally toothless parody either, and the song's fourth verse is proof. For most of the track, Pickett narrates the story as Dr Frankenstein, but then for one line he switches characters and adopts the voice of Bella Lugosi's Dracula to deliver some cutting, yet still playful commentary about the fleeting nature of dance crazies. Here's the cliff out from his coffin wrecked voice, did ring shamed? He was trouble bar just wing opened the lid and shook his fish and said it just like the Transylvania twist before it. The Monster Mash eventually fell out of fashion too, but unlike most other novelty songs, it actually rose from the dead. More than a decade after its debut in vent three, the song returned to the Billboard top ten, and not even at Halloween time either. It recharted in early August. By that point, the b BC had warmed up to Monster Mash, and the song climbed to number three that year on the UK charts as well. A one time revival would have been impressive enough, but Monster Mash managed to live on from one Halloween to the next. In doing so, the song has outlasted both of the fads that inspired it, to the point that most people no longer realize it's a parody at all. Clearly, the track stands on its own merits. It's sold well over four million copies to date and plays in heavy rotation on radio stations and at Halloween house parties each year. It's more or less become the anthem of the holiday. Though Dracula is right, the Transylvania twist is pretty great too. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can send your questions and comments straight to me by writing to this Day at I heeart media dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Monstrous Day in History class. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

This Day in History Class is a production of I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show that hits you with a jolt of history every day of the week. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're talking about the sixties pop sensation Monster Mash, a ghoulishly campy song that, thankfully for dorks like me, just won't die. The day was October two. Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett and the crypt Kickers top the Billboard Hot one hundred chart for the second week in a row. The monster themed novelty song had been released two months earlier on producer Gary Paxton's personal record label, gar Packs. Hundreds of copies were sent out to radio station throughout southern California, and it quickly became one of the top requested songs in the region. That response convinced London Records to strike a deal with gar Packs, allowing the label to distribute Monster Mash worldwide. A few weeks later, with Halloween fast approaching, the campy song reached number one on the Singles chart and stayed there until early November. Monster Mash was the hit of the land, but across the pond, the BBC was having none of it. Despite being released on a British label, the song was deemed too morbid for English airwaves and was banned from play for several years. The BBC did eventually change their tune, though, in light of the songs enduring popularity. If you've somehow never heard Monster Mash before, it tells the story of a group of monsters who attend an impromptu party at Dr Frankenstein's castle. It sung from the perspective of the good Doctor, who happened to sound a lot like Boris Karloff, and recounts how his famous monster came to life one night and immediately sparked a dance craze, the titular Monster Mash. News of the dance spreads quickly, and soon other monsters like the Wolfman and Dracula arrive at the lab to try it out for themselves. Of course, describing a novelty song is kind of like explaining a joke. Nobody really wants you to do it. It's much more fun to just put it out there and let it speak for itself. So with that in mind, here's a taste of the original Monster Mash looking in the love late one light. When my eyes be hid an ey shit saw my monster from his lap began to rise, and suddenly, to my surprise, he did the monster. It was a graveyards man. It caught all in a flag. As you might imagine, it took a very specific set of circumstances for a song like Monster Mash to become the hottest track in the country. The first factor and its success was the movie monster revival going on in America in the early nineteen sixties. Universal Studios had recently dusted off its classic monster movies from the nineteen thirties and forties and repackaged them for TV syndication. That exposure introduced characters like Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, and the Wolfman to a whole new generation, kicking off a monster craze that would last the rest of the decade. Dozens of companies capitalized on that trend, cranking out a host of monster branded products, including model kits, trading cards, posters, and lunch boxes. In that light, it seems almost inevitable that the monsters would lurch their way into the music business as well. Another trend that played directly into the song's success was the series of twist inspired dance crazes that hooked the country in the early nineteen sixties. In the spring of sixty two, the hot new novelty dance of the week was called the Mashed Potato, and the song that went along with it was Mashed Potato Tie by D. D. Sharp. Take a list. You may have guessed that the Mash and Monster Mash was taken from D. D. Sharp song, But did you notice that the chords, melody, and lyrical structure were too. That's because songwriter Bobby Pickett intentionally it out to parody Mashed Potato. Time in nineteen sixty two, Pickett was an aspiring actor who made a living in the evenings by singing as the frontman in a local duop band called the Cordials. He was also a lifelong Monster movie fan, and one night during a gig, he did an impression of Frankenstein's star Boris Karloff during one of their songs. The gag went over so well with the crowd that Pickett's bandmate, Leonard Capezi, suggested they write a song about monsters to showcase his impression, and so that summer the duo sat down and wrote Monster Mash using the current trendy song Mashed Potato Time as their template. It only took an hour or so to write the song, and recording it didn't take much longer. They were helped in that endeavor by producer Gary Paxton and studio musicians Johnny McCrae, Mel Taylor, and Ricky Page, who were credited as the crypt Kickers. Some sources credit renowned songwriter Leon Russell on piano, but others say he arrived at the studio late and only played on the records B side Monster Mash Party. In any case, the lengthiest part of the recording process was creating the many spooky sound effects featured on the track. Because digital audio didn't exist in two all the sounds had to be created the old fashioned way, right there in the studio. Gary Paxton took on the job, using household objects to approximate the atmospheric sounds of a creepy old castle. For instance, the eerie creak of a coffin lid at the start of the song, that's a claw hammer pulling a rusty nail out of a lump of wood. Likewise, the gurgling sound of brewing potions is actually the producer blowing bubbles through a straw and a glass of water. And as for the sounds of clinking chains, well those really are just chains being dropped on the floor. That one was kind of a freebee. The resulting song was a bit of a monster itself, a do wop parity about dancing monsters that sung by a Boris Karloff impersonator and loaded with haunted house sound effects. It doesn't seem like the recipe for a hit song, but in the fall of nineteen sixty two, that's exactly what it was, and Pickett and Capezi knew that. They recognize that the two dominant elements of that strange moment in pop culture were classic monsters and dance fads. Either one of those would have been a ripe target for parody on its own, but by frankensteining them together, the writers captured the true spirit of the era, in all its gleeful, campy glory. That makes monster mash a decidedly gentle form of parody. It celebrates the things that lampoons, rather than sneering at them. The songwriters didn't think people were stupid for liking cheesy monsters or silly dances. They thought those were a blast and that they'd be even more fun mashed together. That said, Monster Mash isn't a totally toothless parody either, and the song's fourth verse is proof. For most of the track, Pickett narrates the story as Dr Frankenstein, but then for one line he switches characters and adopts the voice of Bella Lugosi's Dracula to deliver some cutting, yet still playful commentary about the fleeting nature of dance crazies. Here's the cliff out from his coffin wrecked voice, did ring shamed? He was trouble bar just wing opened the lid and shook his fish and said it just like the Transylvania twist before it. The Monster Mash eventually fell out of fashion too, but unlike most other novelty songs, it actually rose from the dead. More than a decade after its debut in vent three, the song returned to the Billboard top ten, and not even at Halloween time either. It recharted in early August. By that point, the b BC had warmed up to Monster Mash, and the song climbed to number three that year on the UK charts as well. A one time revival would have been impressive enough, but Monster Mash managed to live on from one Halloween to the next. In doing so, the song has outlasted both of the fads that inspired it, to the point that most people no longer realize it's a parody at all. Clearly, the track stands on its own merits. It's sold well over four million copies to date and plays in heavy rotation on radio stations and at Halloween house parties each year. It's more or less become the anthem of the holiday. Though Dracula is right, the Transylvania twist is pretty great too. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can send your questions and comments straight to me by writing to this Day at I heeart media dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Monstrous Day in History class. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.