Buzz
Today, Bobby 'Boris' Pickett is often remembered as a one-hit wonder, but he would’ve been quick to correct that assumption. 'I had two hits and a hit album, so I don’t belong to that group,' Pickett quipped in a response to a Washington Post reader who asked if he'd ever been invited to a 'one-hit wonder party.'
As the creator of the iconic 'Monster Mash,' which he wrote at just 24 years old, Pickett's career was often overshadowed by the song's enormous success. Despite charting several hit follow-ups, collecting 22 acting credits, and even writing a small part in 1995's Monster Mash: The Movie, he was still often referred to as the 'Guy Lombardo of Halloween.'
Pickett’s career took an unexpected turn, considering his true passion was always acting. Growing up in Somerville, Massachusetts, he spent countless hours watching horror films at the local theater his father managed. After high school, Pickett served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps for three years in Korea before heading west to Hollywood. There, he joined a band called The Cordials, where he occasionally performed impersonations of famous actors. His spot-on portrayal of Frankenstein star Boris Karloff became a crowd favorite and marked a pivotal moment in Pickett's career.
It was this audience reaction that set the stage for 'Monster Mash' during the summer of 1962. With cheesy monster movies becoming all the rage, Pickett's bandmate Lenny Capizzi suggested using his Boris Karloff impersonation to poke fun at them in a new novelty track. Together, they decided to also riff on another popular trend: The Mashed Potato dance (made famous by Dee Dee Sharp’s hit ‘Mashed Potato Time’ from the album ‘It's Mashed Potato Time’).
Creating the eternal novelty hit was a breeze. 'The song wrote itself in about half an hour, and recording it took just as long,' Pickett told The Washington Post. The resulting album, titled The Original Monster Mash, featured 15 tracks and was released under the brief-lived label Garpax, which was named after its producer and musician, Gary S. Paxton.
Despite Paxton's efforts, every major label rejected the track. Pickett recalled that after this setback, Paxton took to the road, distributing copies of 'Monster Mash' to radio DJs across Ventura and Fresno counties. That’s when the real magic happened. 'By the time Gary returned to Southern California, his phone was ringing off the hook,' Pickett said.
London Records, who had initially dismissed Paxton's grassroots marketing campaign, eventually agreed to distribute the album when 'Monster Mash' became a massive presence on radio. By October 30, The Original Monster Mash had climbed to the top of the charts, reaching number one in the U.S. and selling a staggering 1 million copies. A Halloween success story, indeed.
Pickett's music career, however, never quite regained that level of success. Though he tried to capitalize on his Halloween fame with follow-up songs like 'Monster’s Holiday' and its B-side 'Monster Motion,' as well as a few TV appearances on American Bandstand, he remained mostly out of the limelight. He appeared in several TV commercials, including for Lipton Tea, Schlitz beer, and 'all the cigarette commercials (before they were banned),' as Pickett put it. His acting gigs included roles in shows like The Beverly Hillbillies (1967) and Bonanza (1969), along with a quirky 1972 film called Deathmaster, which centered on a vampire cult. Pickett also returned to music in 1975 with a Star Trek-themed parody 'Star Drek' and, a decade later, released another spin on his classic hit with 'Monster Rap.' Neither of these tracks matched the success of his iconic debut.
But all was not lost. Like the Halloween monsters Pickett parodied in his songs, 'Monster Mash' refused to fade away. Year after year, that playful Boris Karloff impression resurrected itself with even more energy. Almost a decade after its debut, the song unexpectedly surged up the charts to land in the Top 10 (in August, no less). Then, in 1973, it made another appearance on the charts. More recently, Paste reported that in 2008, it even climbed to No. 60 on the UK charts. As of today, the song has been played over 5 million times on Spotify.
'Let's just say it’s been paying the bills for 43 years,' Pickett told The Washington Post when asked if the royalties from his single would be enough for him to retire. It wasn’t until 1989, under the guidance of his longtime manager Stuart Hersh, that Pickett finally licensed 'Monster Mash' for use in films and TV.
What’s the secret behind the song’s lasting power? The answer remains a mystery. 'What fascinates me about 'Monster Mash' is the fact that it was created to capitalize on not one, but two contemporary trends, yet managed to outlast both to become a kind of timeless classic, even as those trends faded into obscurity,' wrote Grammy-winning producer Steve Greenberg in a Billboard tribute to the Halloween anthem.
Bobby Pickett (left) and Stuart Hersh (right) / Photo courtesy of Stuart Hersh
Hersh, however, has a different view. In an interview with mental_floss, he argued that the only thing that feels dated about 'Monster Mash' is the Mashed Potato dance craze that inspired it.
'There's nothing outdated about the song itself; funny is funny,' says Hersh. 'In my opinion, it was just so charming—it wasn’t like [Senator Bobby's] novelty song, 'Wild Thing,' which has faded into obscurity. This one used Boris Karloff and monsters. The lasting appeal of monster movies and iconic actors like Karloff has kept it alive.'
Hersh also notes that 'everyone who grows up with those original movie references eventually discovers 'Monster Mash,' and that helps keep the song alive through generations.'
However, the song hasn't escaped criticism. Pickett once mentioned that Dick Clark wasn’t especially fond of his music. 'He was always friendly, but I don't think he liked the record. He thought it was kind of silly,' Pickett recalled. He also shared that his most famous detractor was none other than Elvis Presley, who supposedly called 'Monster Mash' 'the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.'
Beyond its omnipresence in pop culture (see: Parks and Recreation, Hotel Transylvania 2, Silver Linings Playbook, True Blood, The Office, and more), 'Monster Mash' found a new purpose in the 2000s as a form of political protest. In 2004, Pickett reworked the song to critique President George W. Bush’s environmental policies, renaming it 'Monster Slash.' He adapted the lyrics to read: 'They did the forest slash / (He did the slash) / It was brutally brash.' In 2005, he released 'Climate Mash' as a response to global warming, which was downloaded nearly 500,000 times during Halloween 2005 alone, according to The Guardian.
Pickett never stopped performing. His final recorded performance took place in November 2006, just five months before his passing from leukemia. But as long as 'Monster Mash' continues to play each Halloween, Pickett's legacy will remain alive and well.
