Glen Mazza's Weblog

From The Miami News, October 6, 1962:

Rock 'n' roll and the twist have finally come to grips with Horror and the result is a startling eruption in the record-buying field. Now it's spreading to the screen and television.

A little .45 disc titled "Monster Mash," rocketing within a few weeks into a spot among the top 10 sellers, seizes upon weird species from the Frankenstein laboratory, man-made creatures who shake off their electrodes and, to the tune of a shudder-packed production number, stomp around the graveyard in a wild new dance.

The "Monster Mash" has become an overnight hit in Los Angeles ballrooms, and two film studios and at least one TV network are angling for rights to its use for specialty insertions in movies and air shows.

Chief proponent of the new order is Bobby (Boris) Pickett who, like his recording sponsor, Gary Paxton, is bewildered by the smash reception the record has won. Hurriedly, they have marshaled a musical troupe for an invasion of eastern cities, with Boston scheduled as the first stop.

To a set of frightening Karloff-toned lyrics ("I was working in my lab late one night when my eyes beheld an eerie sight...my Monster from his slab began to rise...and suddenly to my surprise...he did the mash. He did the Monster Mash!") dancers the country over may soon be stomping and flailing their arms into a new epidemic--a slow-beat dance which Pickett feels will come as a welcome relief from the swift torturous movements of the twist.

How did Pickett happen on horror as the stepping stone to a new dance madness?

"The door was wide open," replied the young singer, who leads the song and dancers himself. "Horror pictures always have been popular and it seemed funny no one hit upon them for a dance until now. We just drove into a red-hot vacuum."