Oct 17th in Pop History

On this day, October 17th, in…

• 1962 - Monster Mash by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers tops the pop charts at # 1. The Halloween hit re-enters the charts again in 1970 and 1973, hitting # 10 on the last go-around.

Massachusetts singer Bobby “Boris” Pickett wrote novelty song Monster Mash in 1962 to spoof dance crazes such as The Twist and The Mashed Potato that were prevalent at the time. ... With lyrics like "it was a graveyard smash", the BBC failed to see the funny side and banned the song for being "too morbid.” 

Bobby “Boris” Pickett

Bobby “Boris” Pickett was an aspiring actor who sang with a band called the Cordials at night, while going to auditions during the day. One night, while performing with his band, the crowd seemed to be restless and started thinning out. Pickett tried not to panic as the crowd was sort of dispersing, but he thought fast and began remembering a horror flick he’d seen recently. So he started doing impressions of the monster’s voices for the audience to keep them from leaving. It turned into a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff while performing the song Little Darlin’ by The Diamonds. The audience ended up going absolutely nuts for these little gnarly voices. As a result, fellow band member Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation. Thus was born the Monster Mash. 

Pickett and Capizzi collaborated to compose the song and recorded it with Gary S. Paxton, pianist Leon Russell, Johnny MacRae, Rickie Page, and Terry Berg, credited as The Crypt-Kickers. Also credited on the record was Mel Taylor, the drummer for The Ventures. 

The Monster Mash single was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20–27 of that year, just before Halloween. It has been an annual Halloween favorite ever since. 

Hear this fun song now on Spotify:

Also, on this day, October 17th, in: 

• 1960 - The Drifters’ Save The Last Dance For Me hits # 1 in the US for the 1st of 3 weeks

• 1963 - The Beatles record I Want to Hold Your Hand at EMI Studios in London

Also, on this day in…  

• 1970 - The Jackson Five started a 5 week run at # 1 on the US singles chart with I'll Be There. The group's 4th # 1 of 1970, it made # 4 in the UK. Motown records claimed the group had sold over 10 million records during 1970

• 1981 - Christopher Cross started a three week run at # 1 on the US singles chart with Arthur's Theme, (Best That You Can Do), his second US # 1 and a # 7 hit in the UK