In 1962, This Classic Halloween Song Hit No. 1 After Record Labels Rejected It

There's no song associated with Halloween more popular than "Monster Mash," and it topped the pop chart in a seasonal and spooky fashion back in October 1962. However, it was once nearly left for dead — not a single record label had any desire to release the piano-powered and groovy "graveyard smash" attributed to Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers.

"Monster Mash" was a musical outgrowth of a comic bit that aspiring actor and part-time singer Pickett had been doing for years. Raised by a movie theater-operating father on a cultural diet of old-time monster movies about Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and the like (and often starring Boris Karloff), Pickett developed a crowd-pleasing impression of the actor. After winning numerous Boston area talent shows with a comic routine built around Karloff imitations, Pickett headed for Hollywood, joined a vocal group called the Cordials, and did the bit during the spoken-word breakdown of their cover of the Diamonds' "Little Darlin.'" At bandmate Lenny Capizzi's suggestion, they built a funny novelty song around the premise. "Monster Mash" would eventually hit No. 1, only after a trip through the dark side of the '60s music industry.

It took Bobby Pickett and Lenny Capizzi all of two hours to write and record a rough demo of their song, something of a parody of dance craze records focusing on a bunch of monsters getting together to cut loose in a mad scientist's laboratory. Pickett thought it should be the "Monster Twist" and Capizzi advocated for "Monster Mashed Potato." They ultimately compromised and went with the snappier "Monster Mash." Along with giving Pickett the Karloff-suggesting middle name "Boris," the Crypt-Kickers was the name given to session musicians who played on the track, led by producer Gary Paxton, who had experience directing a fake band with a silly song — he was behind the Hollywood Argyles, whose "Alley-Oop" was a Top 10 hit that took over the summer of 1960. A quickly composed song, "Monster Mash" was even more rapidly recorded — the musicians needed just one take and some after-the-fact corrections.

Paxton shopped "Monster Mash" to four big Los Angeles record labels, and they all passed. So, Paxton paid to print 1,000 copies and he personally gave them to radio stations throughout Southern California. So many DJs played the song, and it became such a heavily requested piece, that the previously passing London Records apologized to Paxton and agreed to distribute "Monster Mash."

On Billboard's Hot 100 dated October 20, 1962, "Monster Mash" took over the No. 1 position, and it held the spot for the two weeks leading up to Halloween. And as big as the single was in the U.S., its success was virtually non-existent in the U.K. — the BBC refused to broadcast "Monster Mash" on account of how it could be too ghoulish for general audiences.

And then, Bobby "Boris" Pickett keenly kicked off a whole career revolving around "Monster Mash." By the end of 1962, he already had a sound-alike Christmas-themed sequel (and a full LP) in stores — "Monsters' Holiday" hit No. 30. Almost inexplicably, and seemingly unconnected to Halloween, the original "Monster Mash" kept coming back to the pop chart, squeaking on at No. 91 in the summer of 1970 and lurching all the way No. 10 in the spring of 1973. Less impactful variants: 1989's self-explanatory "Monster Mash Rap" and 2004's "Monster Slash," an anti-George W. Bush presidential campaign tune criticizing the incumbent president for his team's idea to log federally protected forests. Pickett even played Dr. Frankenstein in 1995's horror-comedy adaptation "Monster Mash: The Movie." Since 2021, the original "Monster Mash" recording annually returns to the Hot 100 each year, getting as high as No. 21.