For those of you who took the quiz and came out as Frankenstein, I have some music for dancing: The Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers..
Pickett was born in Somerville, Massachusetts. His father was a theater manager, and as a nine-year-old he watched many horror films. He would later incorporate impressions of them in a Hollywood nightclub act. He became a virtual one-hit wonder with The Monster Mash, which he wrote in 1962, as a spoof of dances popular at the time such as the Twist and the Mashed Potato. When performing the song, Pickett did impersonations of veteran horror starts such as Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The song became a million seller, reaching #1 on the Billboard Top 100 for two weeks before Halloween in 1962. His track actually came back on the music charts in 1970 and again in 1973 and remains a Halloween perennial on the radio and iTunes.
I wonder if he made enough money from his one-hit wonder to not have to worry about a day job any longer? I’ve always enjoyed that song – fun and spooky at the same time.
Don’t know about that – he had a variety of jobs after that, two more songs, and he was a Korean War vet, so maybe a pension there.