I remember reading Bobby Pickett's obituary just after he died. Apparently later in life he'd appear with other novelty acts on nostalgia tours. When it was his turn he'd walk on stage and begin by saying "I will now perform a medley of my hit".
@@Saintnick90 I love your reasoning, dude. I always click on 665 or 99, or 999, or 68 if I can find any excuse to agree, and hate changing any number my brain recognises as something cool. My original comment from 4 years ago is now on 669 likes, so if you change your mind, you can upvote it without disturbing the cosmic evil balance.
My dad would always sing those old novelty songs around the house when I was a kid. Even then I was flabergasted when he would say it was the kind of music he heard on the radio when he was a kid. I couldn't imagine songs about "Flying Purple People Eaters" being mainstream. Such a weird time.
Yeah, I grew up with those songs on my cassettes and DVDs as a kid. "Flying purple people eater", "monster mash", and the rest. They are undoubtedly silly, but fun for . . . Well, just fun. :)
I grew up in a fairly isolated part of the world (Appalachia mountains) and I thought Flying purple people eater was just a popular song of the time. Didn't learn til yeas later how old it was.
They played that silly stuff on the oldies station when I was a kid but it was always sandwiched between golden oldies, doo wop, Motown, British invasion, protest rock etc. So I never realized that novelty rock songs constituted..like..an era. The Monster Mash was the number one song in the country?! Yeesh! No wonder the US lost their minds for the Beatles.
I'd have to imagine this guy had a great sense of humor about all this, himself, and life in general. Seems like a great sport, really owning it all. That's why I love that little part at the end where he breaks character and smiles at everyone, it looks so genuine. :)
This is all because Buddy Holly hated riding a frozen bus and insisted on boarding a plane in an ice storm, and because a draft board called Elvis Presley's number, and Little Richard didn't think he could be Christian and a rock and roller.
@Timothy Young He didn't go to war. There wasn't one to go to. They had a peacetime draft in those days, Elvis served his time mostly on a base in Germany, as far as I can remember.
bloodrunsclear at the risk of putting a target on my back, I’ve always hated this song...even when I was a kid. I get that it’s cheesiness is part of its charm but my tolerance has never stretched far enough for this one.
So, this thing reached #1 in the last week in October 1962. You know what else was going on in the last week of October, 1962? The Cuban Missile Crisis. Just imagine - reading your morning paper about the odds of the world ending, while listening to "It was a graveyard smash!" on the radio. Maybe cut the Brits some slack if they thought it was "too macabre".
Matthew VandenBerg nuclear war is not localized war. If someone had launched during the Cuban Missile Crisis, someone would have retaliated and things would have escalated. Some of the USSR's first exchange would target the UK, who as a member of NATO is expected to come to the defense of its allies. I don't think this is why the UK banned the song. It's just important to never become cavalier about the idea of nuclear war.
@@md_vandenberg dude the whole world was on the brink of destruction. Cuban missile crisis was a time the whole world held its breath. They thought they weren't waking up the next morning.
It's a guilty pleasure, yes, but this has to be my favorite novelty song, hands down. The lyrics are rather good for the subject matter, like "From my laboratory in the castle east, To the master bedroom where the vampires feast. The ghouls all came from their humble abodes, To get a jolt from my electrodes" and "Easy, Igor, you impetuous young boy".
@@quentinparhiala9415 It's perfect for what it is: catchy tune, memorable lyrics, and solid backing group/vocals. Topping it all off, of course, is Bobby Pickett's absolutely spot-on, fun but spooky impression of Boris Karloff--I don't think even Boris could out-Boris "Boris"!
I thought the song was cute and the beat was mediocre but OH MY WORD, those clips of the music video you showed; his creepy face looks BRILLIANT. The way his eyes widen and shift, his devious smile, the shuddery movements he makes; it all screams classic horror. I think I have underestimated just how important this song is to the history of Universal Classic Horror.
Oh Christ, we had to sing "Itzy-Bitzy-Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" in primary school assemblies when I was a kid. The most notable were that, Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard and Lean on Me. I went back there like 5 years ago for work experience and they've got them singing Mrs. Robinson.
Oh god.... elementary/primary school assemblies. We had to do the Beatles (Revolution, Eleanor Rigby, Let It Be, Yesterday, Michelle, Yesterday) Hakuna Matata, We Are Family, In America (from West Side Story)... I'm sure among others that I cannot remember
60's doo-woop is perfect symbiology (synergy) for monsters. The Beach Boys did both covers of the Monster Mash and Graduation Day (although the latter is a song by Noel and Joel Sherman), both covers are really good. Only one artist I think made Monster Mash a fair cover, and that's Mike Love, history's greatest monster.
I'm sure the Dr. Demento radio show had a huge role in keeping it alive. I'm Australian and that's the first place I heard it as a teenager in the 1980s and they played it every year around Halloween.
+ScattySafari In many cases I would agree (I'm looking at you, Tom Lehrer), but not for this one. My parents (older-side baby boomers in the U.S.A. who aren't particularly into pop culture or humor songs) know this song, it got featured in a lot of advertising during Halloween on local and national TV...it was never a song which faded into the background and needed to be brought back out by Dr. Demento.
I do enjoy this spooky little song. Several times, I've gone out dressed as a mad scientist exclusively to sing this song at various bars that do karaoke.
Good observations on how influential monster mash is, many people take it for face value. It's refreshing to know intelligent life still exists out there bro.
That chord progression was so popular and WAY overused in the 50s and early 60s. Basically, if you needed a hit song back then, you would just use that progression, get a few backup singers to repeat the catch phrase, and boom... Doowop hit.
As an eventual consequence of this one hit wonder, Mr. Plinkett referred to that one infamous scene in Star Wars 3 where Anakin became Vader as "Anakin bowed down before Monster Mash and pledged his allegiance to the Graveyard Smash."
This song used the conceit of Tribute decades before Tenacious D came along... the song we are listening to is telling us about a song called The Monster Mash that the narrator heard, but it doesn't sound anything like this song - this is a tribute!
Great stuff, what a brilliant angle to take to begin with, and your follow-throughs are erudite and hilarious. The pathos and comedy of the very fact that there are one hit wonders.
I have never been more glad to know that I was too young to understand the music being played on the radio in the early 60s. Having said that, I love Monster Mash.
Fun fact about My Dinner With Drac- the man singing it is the same man who played Aylmer in Brain Damage! (Another fun fact- the man who sang Purple People Eater is the same man who did the Wilhelm scream!)
Maybe it's because I was raised by my grandparent's, but I actually had heard of "Graduation Day" before I watched this. I'm always surprised by the random crap I'm familiar with because of them.
Answering an ancient comment, but lots of video creators used Netflix's DVD service until it was finally discontinued in 2023. It allowed them to make their own rip of the footage for videos, which would give higher quality video than screen recording a video from a streaming service. Additionally, sometimes Netflix did not have the streaming rights to the video, but were able to rent you the DVD. It was a great service while it lasted.
I saw him once briefly, signing autographs at a tiny convention where the other guests of honor were Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek) and Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith from Lost in Space). I have no real story here, the end.
It's lasted because it's catchy as fuck. The hook is nostalgic and the playful nature of the song plays nicely against what is supposed to be an otherwise scary holiday.
About the part with the classic monsters becoming outdated by the 1960s: Yeah, I'd like to add to that, around the mid to late 1980s, there was a guy who kinda made them "scary" again... perhaps you know him... his name is... Simon Belmont?
Great review! Ok...it's a children's song It uses magic chords It is silly, and it's hilarious. It's not Shakespeare set to Mozart. I love it! Love that so many people know it too! Kids sing it with me on my porch on Halloween.
I couldn't find anyone in the comments mentioning the "Monster Mad Jam"...pretty sure it was Bobby Picket again, this time doing a Woodstock Monster spoof, but it's been a long time since I've heard it.
I cannot describe the vast cosmic nuclear galaxy brain I experienced when I realied that one eyed, one horned giant purple people are the thing the subject of the song eats.
Todd's encyclopedic knowledge of arthouse and B-movie actors to the point that he rattles them off like everyone knows them is what keeps me coming back to a lot of these actor-musician OHWs
12:26 the club in the movie was called The Haunted House . It was in LA and it was also the location for another movie “Girl in Gold Boots” . If you’re a MSTIE, you’ll know that great masterpiece of a film.
Apparently this song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 during the entire Cuban Missile Crisis. So basically while Americans were sitting around terrified by the possibility of an imminent nuclear apocalypse, they were also listening to the Monster Mash.
Great episode -- I knew that Pickett hung in there with acting and the annual Halloween cash-in for Monster Mash but you gave us some great details .... and I love the Groovy Ghoulies cartoon clips - talk about a ride on the Wayback Machine !
I loved this song. Its my first favorite song. I love it. I sat on the 45 and cried for days. My mom taped it together and then it worked again. She aaved the day
Earlier today, I was doing the dishes & listening to my Halloween playlist, the first song on there is Monster Mash so it brought this particular review to mind, I had watched it a few years back, actually first time I watched this wasn't on youtube, you know where, I won't say it due to the controversy. It had me wanting to watch this again & I'm so happy I did, it's hilarious even on second viewing but my first was long enough ago to where I forgot a good chunk of it. What added to that was when you pointed out the cheesy Halloween music of the 50's, of course I have Witch Doctor on my playlist but the most listened to song & one of my favorites on there would have to be Purple People Eater, your line on that song had me laughing. Given that was the number one song of 1958, the year my mom was born & my dad was 4 at the time, it's not apart of my parents' music, I got introduced to it through media or something, I don't fully remember. I just remember in high school, my friend & I both favored the color purple but my friend took it a step further by wearing purple all the time so a teacher in a class we both shared would call her a purple people eater of which of course prompted me to sing the song & she was shocked I knew it. In all honesty, I don't fully remember where I first heard it but I've known it for a long time, I guess it's just one of those silly songs that comes up every once in a while, worms its way into the brains of children, & then comes up when you least suspect it. I may have helped spread the virus given I do work with kids & a few years back when I was working in the craft room around Halloween, helping kids make their own monster hand puppets, I made a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater as a sample & played the song for the kids to listen to while working. Uh yeah, so if tomorrow's young adults are all rocking out to Purple People Eater, I guess I'm to blame on that. Your Halloween specials are my favorite given they often are on older songs & I don't know anything about modern music at all, only time I ever listened to modern music was 1999-2010, most of what I listened to at that time was country but I resorted to it because my favorite oldies station had closed & I was a kid, my mom listened to country so I picked up on it. I feel uncomfortable trying to watch a review of a song that apparently everyone in the world knows about except me since I mainly listen to stuff from the 50s-80s but I prefer 60s & 70s. This of course stands as your best Halloween special, it's fun, hilarious, & silly, a lot like the song itself is. I've watched other reviews & lists such as the Top Best Songs of 1976, I saw that one three times actually, I also like your review of Play that Funky Music which did come off a commenter from the other video I mentioned. Just, your Halloween episodes get me excited for the season, even the review of One Tin Soldier did. The reason why I bring that up something like Purple People Eater does technically count as a pop song, it was the number one song of 1958 after all so maybe next Halloween you could torture yourself with a pop song review of Purple People Eater? Too much to ask, I know, it probably will never happen but hey, it gives you some fun Halloween content. A suggestion I have if you wanna stick with One Hit Wonderland for Halloween is Dancing in the Moonlight, I guess it might end up being a boring review, I actually know nothing about King Harvest so it could end up being a real snore so I'd understand if you would skip that. For some odd reason, my dad hates the song Dancing in the Moonlight yet I enjoy it greatly, I guess it comes from there not being much in the way of Halloween music & just the tone the music sets in that song makes me feel like a full moon on a cold Halloween night so back when I use to burn a new CD every year just in case I got invited to a Halloween party & was asked to bring music, I always put Dancing in the Moonlight on those CDs, yeah, now when I think about it, I wasted a lot of CDs since my Halloween party music mostly consisted of the same songs with slight differences each year like my rules of not putting two songs from the same group on the same CD, one year there was Hotel California & Evil Ways on a CD & the following year was Witchy Woman & Black Magic Woman, why I didn't do those two first, I really don't know, they're more Halloweeny. I know why I'd opt for Hotel California over Witchy Woman, Hotel California is my favorite Eagles song but as far as the Santana songs go, Black Magic Woman is better than Evil Ways, I do not know what I was thinking. Best thing is, I did not label these CDs so somewhere in my parents' house, there's a bunch of unmarked CDs filled with Halloween music. I'm still waiting for my mom to ask me about it, guess she hasn't come across them yet. I'm kinda sad, there's a Halloween song that I found only a few years ago so it never made it onto one of the Halloween party music CDs I made but it is in my Halloween playlist, it's Little Old Lady from Transylvania, it's a parody of Little Old Lady From Pasadena but man, it's a lot of fun to listen to around Halloween. I always liked the warm, beachy sounding music, you know, the sound that the Beach Boys have, I automatically just enjoy a lot of bands that can carry that sound & feel so take one of those songs that has that sound to it & make it into a Halloween song, oh yes, that's what I'm talking about. I obviously have way different tastes than you but if you decide to weird yourself out & question what the hell you just listened to, just take a listen to Little Old Lady From Transylvania, it's weird, you might regret listening to it, but it's worth it, even if you don't realize it at the time of listening to the song. How I got subjected to this one is that it was playing on the overhead speakers at a Spirit of Halloween store & I knew I had to have that song so I made a note to myself to look it up. Hey, maybe just sit inside a Spirit of Halloween for about an hour & make notes on the music that plays to get ideas for next year.
+TheMarg0r oh that's not what I meant at all believe me, I meant when Todd was listing off Halloween listening material like rob zombie he left out Voltaire
All of the contemporary music that you referenced was my mom's favorite music. As in, just about every single one she taught to me. I don't know what to make of that.
Todd, if you're interested in Halloween music, search the genre called Psychobilly. It's kind of like punk, mixed with Stray Cats rockabilly, with gothic overtones. My favorite bands include Kitty In Casket, The Creepshow, Cold Blue Rebels, Zombina & The Skeletones and Nekromantix. None of them will ever even be a one-hit-wonder, but it's a lot of fun!
But which psychobilly song is a hit qualifying for One Hit Wonderland? I understand enjoying listening to Tiger Army and Horrorpops, but they don't exactly come up as groups with songs Todd could cover on this show at Halloween... Dia De Los Muertos is still kinda stuck in my head 20 years after the last time I listened to it, but I don't expect Todd to cover it for Halloween.
@EmeraldLavigne Reverend Horton Heat ' Psychobilly Freakout is a one hit wonder. Also I saw Tiger Army live twice around 2011-2012 & it was awesome. Mike Vallely's band opened for them too.
I...kind of have a soft spot for these fun novelty songs (the kind that get spotlighted on Dr. Demento--who, you'll remember, gave Weird Al his start). When I was a young kid, we had this K-Tel album called "Dumb Ditties" which featured this and other crazy novelty songs (like "Polka Dot Bikini", "Beans In My Ears", "Alvin's Harmonica", etc. I think it was the first place I ever heard the Chipmunks) Then when I was a little older we had an 8-Track called "Fun Rock" that we played in the car. It also featured "Polka Dot Bikini", as well as "Mr. Bassman", "The Streak", "My Old Man's A Dustman", the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", as well as some legit rock/pop hits like the Monkees' "I'm A Believer" and the Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You." So I have fond memories of many of these songs, even if they are rather silly. And "Monster Mash" is on my Halloween playlist.
I have a tape of xmas comedy songs from the early 80s, and among other things, it has legendary actor Lon Chaney Jr. covering Monster's Holiday, and it is pretty great.
Loved this song as a kid. One song like it I loved even more was Haunted House by Gene Simmons. I'm guessing it was a one hit wonder. The mental imagery was fascinating to a child.
I remember reading Bobby Pickett's obituary just after he died. Apparently later in life he'd appear with other novelty acts on nostalgia tours. When it was his turn he'd walk on stage and begin by saying "I will now perform a medley of my hit".
Just one hit??
@@catsupempire3920 that's the joke
OK, so I really like this comment, but the like counter is currently at 666, and I don't want to mess with that.
@@Saintnick90 I love your reasoning, dude. I always click on 665 or 99, or 999, or 68 if I can find any excuse to agree, and hate changing any number my brain recognises as something cool. My original comment from 4 years ago is now on 669 likes, so if you change your mind, you can upvote it without disturbing the cosmic evil balance.
@@chrisball3778 Done!
My dad would always sing those old novelty songs around the house when I was a kid. Even then I was flabergasted when he would say it was the kind of music he heard on the radio when he was a kid. I couldn't imagine songs about "Flying Purple People Eaters" being mainstream. Such a weird time.
Yeah, I grew up with those songs on my cassettes and DVDs as a kid. "Flying purple people eater", "monster mash", and the rest. They are undoubtedly silly, but fun for . . . Well, just fun. :)
I grew up in a fairly isolated part of the world (Appalachia mountains) and I thought Flying purple people eater was just a popular song of the time. Didn't learn til yeas later how old it was.
They played that silly stuff on the oldies station when I was a kid but it was always sandwiched between golden oldies, doo wop, Motown, British invasion, protest rock etc. So I never realized that novelty rock songs constituted..like..an era. The Monster Mash was the number one song in the country?! Yeesh! No wonder the US lost their minds for the Beatles.
@@SgtTwilight ah a fellow Appalachian! Don't come across too many of us on the internet!
Brian Cole It was a different time between 1959-1964.
Best quote from the movie:
"I'm Count Dracula. And here's my wife. She's a Count too, but she spells it differently."
I'd have to imagine this guy had a great sense of humor about all this, himself, and life in general. Seems like a great sport, really owning it all. That's why I love that little part at the end where he breaks character and smiles at everyone, it looks so genuine. :)
That part makes me smile every time I rewatch. Just a good vibe.
This is all because Buddy Holly hated riding a frozen bus and insisted on boarding a plane in an ice storm, and because a draft board called Elvis Presley's number, and Little Richard didn't think he could be Christian and a rock and roller.
chuck berry and the mann act.
then eddie cochran was killed in the same car wreck which also severely injured gene vincent.
@Timothy Young He didn't go to war. There wasn't one to go to. They had a peacetime draft in those days, Elvis served his time mostly on a base in Germany, as far as I can remember.
It was his time in the US Army though, that both his mother died, and he got hooked on drugs.
Not to mention the fact that Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year old cousin!!!!
I can't hate this song. It's too damn fun.
bloodrunsclear at the risk of putting a target on my back, I’ve always hated this song...even when I was a kid. I get that it’s cheesiness is part of its charm but my tolerance has never stretched far enough for this one.
Ehhh, I can't hate it.
That Random Encounter Guy ok, get out.
Nobody dislikes this song
@@ThatRandomEncounterGuy
I feel that. I like monster mash, but I can't stand Flying Purple People Eater.
So, this thing reached #1 in the last week in October 1962. You know what else was going on in the last week of October, 1962?
The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Just imagine - reading your morning paper about the odds of the world ending, while listening to "It was a graveyard smash!" on the radio. Maybe cut the Brits some slack if they thought it was "too macabre".
Why would the Brits care? They weren't under a nuclear threat from Cuba. Todd's "stick in their ass" comment stands.
Matthew VandenBerg nuclear war is not localized war. If someone had launched during the Cuban Missile Crisis, someone would have retaliated and things would have escalated. Some of the USSR's first exchange would target the UK, who as a member of NATO is expected to come to the defense of its allies.
I don't think this is why the UK banned the song. It's just important to never become cavalier about the idea of nuclear war.
@@md_vandenberg dude the whole world was on the brink of destruction. Cuban missile crisis was a time the whole world held its breath. They thought they weren't waking up the next morning.
Joe Jackson ‘Muricans had Vid Nasties too
62 aeh? That was before Who.
It's a guilty pleasure, yes, but this has to be my favorite novelty song, hands down. The lyrics are rather good for the subject matter, like
"From my laboratory in the castle east,
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast.
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes,
To get a jolt from my electrodes"
and
"Easy, Igor, you impetuous young boy".
I agree with you the lyrics are good
@@quentinparhiala9415 It's perfect for what it is: catchy tune, memorable lyrics, and solid backing group/vocals. Topping it all off, of course, is Bobby Pickett's absolutely spot-on, fun but spooky impression of Boris Karloff--I don't think even Boris could out-Boris "Boris"!
Kungfu Christmas hits exactly the same mark
I thought the song was cute and the beat was mediocre but OH MY WORD, those clips of the music video you showed; his creepy face looks BRILLIANT. The way his eyes widen and shift, his devious smile, the shuddery movements he makes; it all screams classic horror.
I think I have underestimated just how important this song is to the history of Universal Classic Horror.
his beats wack
his flow wack
i was making fun of the original comment that said the beat was wack lmao
Monster Mash rules
me to
That's what Unuversal's "Dark Universe"needed - Bobby Boris Pickett! At least, he's a lot more scary than Tom Cruise as a monster....
I want a movie where some 14 year old kid gets sent back to the 50's and just blows everyone away with his hit dance craze "The Default Dance"
the man even died at the age of 69.
what a legend.
I almost upvoted. But you're at 69, and it felt wrong, so I left a comment instead.
When I got here he was at 70 so I downvoted to help preserve the legend.
I’d click like but you are at 269 right now.
It's at 420 right now
Awkward In Living and at 420 it wil stay
Oh Christ, we had to sing "Itzy-Bitzy-Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" in primary school assemblies when I was a kid.
The most notable were that, Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard and Lean on Me.
I went back there like 5 years ago for work experience and they've got them singing Mrs. Robinson.
Wut? they had kids singing about a song from a movie about adultery and people ruining their lives? Even the song is pretty dark.
@@John12494 When my kid was in elementary school, his class sang "Born To Be Wild" at a revue for the parents. This was about 1998.
Oh god.... elementary/primary school assemblies. We had to do the Beatles (Revolution, Eleanor Rigby, Let It Be, Yesterday, Michelle, Yesterday) Hakuna Matata, We Are Family, In America (from West Side Story)... I'm sure among others that I cannot remember
In middle school, we had to sing a Nickleback song.
My sister had to sing Kid Rock. Poor thing.
its an innocent and catchy song thats fun to listen to and one of the only halloween songs in existence, thats why its still around
Your right
60's doo-woop is perfect symbiology (synergy) for monsters. The Beach Boys did both covers of the Monster Mash and Graduation Day (although the latter is a song by Noel and Joel Sherman), both covers are really good. Only one artist I think made Monster Mash a fair cover, and that's Mike Love, history's greatest monster.
You should listen to the Oingo Boingo cover, it has a great sax solo
Misfits did a pretty good cover too
Their cover of Monster Mash is the only time Mike Love have ever seemed remotely likeable
Beach Boys are the most overrated band in the history of music, right above Nirvana.
"the more I find out about this guy, the more incredible his life becomes to me." XD
@@ordinarychef who is being sarcastic?
@@ordinarychef He wasn't being sarcastic. Bobby was excellent.
Same with me
I actually like Novelty music, It's all about having fun and a good laugh, nothing wrong woth that
But it's dumb,such a very dumb genre.
@@HolyGoddessMotherAnne It’s dumb in a fun way
god bless you, Boris Pickett.
You and your musical monster troupe.
I'm sure the Dr. Demento radio show had a huge role in keeping it alive. I'm Australian and that's the first place I heard it as a teenager in the 1980s and they played it every year around Halloween.
+ScattySafari In many cases I would agree (I'm looking at you, Tom Lehrer), but not for this one. My parents (older-side baby boomers in the U.S.A. who aren't particularly into pop culture or humor songs) know this song, it got featured in a lot of advertising during Halloween on local and national TV...it was never a song which faded into the background and needed to be brought back out by Dr. Demento.
This song will be played at every Halloween party(ironically or not) till the end of time.
I agree
Fun fact: Darlene Love is singing backup on this song. That is rad.
She sang backup on the 1980s remake. The female on the original is session singer Ricki Page.
I do enjoy this spooky little song. Several times, I've gone out dressed as a mad scientist exclusively to sing this song at various bars that do karaoke.
That's incredibly lame.
I wanna seeeeeeeee
I T W A S A G R A V E Y A R D
S M A S H
glory to the motherland R U S S I A Lemme graveyard smash
Necrophiles be like
ok, yes it was dumb, but bobby "boris" was IN ON THE JOKE, which makes it legendary
Good observations on how influential monster mash is, many people take it for face value. It's refreshing to know intelligent life still exists out there bro.
Everyone kneel before Monster Mash and pledge allegiance to the Graveyard Smash.
metalmugen
I clapped! I clapped when I saw that reference!
That chord progression was so popular and WAY overused in the 50s and early 60s. Basically, if you needed a hit song back then, you would just use that progression, get a few backup singers to repeat the catch phrase, and boom... Doowop hit.
"Duke of Earl" "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Stand By Me" all used it.
There was even a song in "Grease" about how that chord got used a lot.
Still works for today.
Still works for today
Still works for today
@@LeviBulger I agree with you
As an eventual consequence of this one hit wonder, Mr. Plinkett referred to that one infamous scene in Star Wars 3 where Anakin became Vader as "Anakin bowed down before Monster Mash and pledged his allegiance to the Graveyard Smash."
This song used the conceit of Tribute decades before Tenacious D came along... the song we are listening to is telling us about a song called The Monster Mash that the narrator heard, but it doesn't sound anything like this song - this is a tribute!
The Misfits did a nice cover, thanks for including it at the end.
Wow.
I can’t believe I made it through the video. It was so spooky! 👻🎃
I gotta sit down and collect myself. Phew.
The record section at Value Village is always full of those albums from the early 60s people forgot. And a lot of Christian music.
Great stuff, what a brilliant angle to take to begin with, and your follow-throughs are erudite and hilarious. The pathos and comedy of the very fact that there are one hit wonders.
I have never been more glad to know that I was too young to understand the music being played on the radio in the early 60s. Having said that, I love Monster Mash.
Halloween 2015 Spooky Scary Skeletons
Spooky Scary Skeletons for Halloween 2016
spooky scary skeletons for halloween 2017
@@bluebaconfilms 2019
Unfortunately, Andrew Gold was not a one hit wonder. He had a huge Top 10 hit in 1977 with the song Lonely Boy.
@@jakerboss3534 He's also a prolific writer of TV theme songs, his most famous being the theme from Golden Girls.
Without all those wonderfully hokey novelty songs we wouldn't have Dr. Demento albums! :)
This is a Halloween tradition for me. Not the song, but this video--I watch it every year now.
Yup, same xD
I watch all the Halloween one hit wonders
Only 3 days to halloween, and also 5 days until a far more terrifying event--the us election
Great job with these, Todd. They are addictive viewing.
Fun fact about My Dinner With Drac- the man singing it is the same man who played Aylmer in Brain Damage! (Another fun fact- the man who sang Purple People Eater is the same man who did the Wilhelm scream!)
Maybe it's because I was raised by my grandparent's, but I actually had heard of "Graduation Day" before I watched this. I'm always surprised by the random crap I'm familiar with because of them.
Jacob Smith your grandparents were hardcore!
We sang "Graduation Day" at my elementary school graduation one year.
Hey! I know it too!
Graduation Day was performed by The Beach Boys too. Not sure if Boris was the first to record it or not but a lot of people did it in the sixties
My dad for me.
I want to have a life like him, make one song that's popular to the point I never have to work again. And spoof people.
Oh my God, did Todd record this when Netflix was still a mail order service?
It still is. There's a DVD option at the top of the page.
Netflix never stopped
I still use it.
Answering an ancient comment, but lots of video creators used Netflix's DVD service until it was finally discontinued in 2023. It allowed them to make their own rip of the footage for videos, which would give higher quality video than screen recording a video from a streaming service. Additionally, sometimes Netflix did not have the streaming rights to the video, but were able to rent you the DVD. It was a great service while it lasted.
I saw him once briefly, signing autographs at a tiny convention where the other guests of honor were Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek) and Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith from Lost in Space). I have no real story here, the end.
I love this song and I love the 90s movie so much. When I was a kid we rented it from our video store over and over.
Holy Shit! This sounds great on piano.
I'm definitely gonna have look and see if there's any sheet music for it.
I love this song, I like a lot of the novelty songs featured i this episode, precisely because they are ridiculous.
It's lasted because it's catchy as fuck. The hook is nostalgic and the playful nature of the song plays nicely against what is supposed to be an otherwise scary holiday.
About the part with the classic monsters becoming outdated by the 1960s: Yeah, I'd like to add to that, around the mid to late 1980s, there was a guy who kinda made them "scary" again... perhaps you know him... his name is... Simon Belmont?
Bob Pickett's dad had a movie theater near my home town growing up. Both my Mom and Dad knew him growing up.
Great review!
Ok...it's a children's song
It uses magic chords
It is silly, and it's hilarious.
It's not Shakespeare set to Mozart.
I love it! Love that so many people know it too! Kids sing it with me on my porch on Halloween.
Bring back 60s production techniques! Props to Pickett being a Korean War vet who did something memorable for pop culture.
Novelty songs are pretty good cause they give pop a reprieve from endless love songs
Fun fact: Rush incorporated a few samples from "Monster Mash" into the instrumental track "Limbo" from their Test For Echo album.
WHAT??
Are we in another Early 60s period? Little creativity in the music scene, so many different dance crazes.
I couldn't find anyone in the comments mentioning the "Monster Mad Jam"...pretty sure it was Bobby Picket again, this time doing a Woodstock Monster spoof, but it's been a long time since I've heard it.
MechaRandom42 I can only imagine the disaster that ensued after Dracula took the brown acid...
@@SatoshiKong Simon had a terrible off-screen addiction to heroin, so why not?
The Monster Mash is the greatest song ever written.
I cannot describe the vast cosmic nuclear galaxy brain I experienced when I realied that one eyed, one horned giant purple people are the thing the subject of the song eats.
No no no, silly. The subject has one eye, one horn and eats purple people
I've watched this video again, and loved it again. My month of Halloween is complete.
Now, I'm off to listen to the Monster Rap again.
I love "The Monster Mash." The great thing about this song is that it's supposed to be stupid.
There need to be more Halloween songs! I like Werewolf Bar Mitzvah from 30 Rock, which is probably a parody of this and there's the ghostbusters song.
There’s no probably about it, hahaha
Todd's encyclopedic knowledge of arthouse and B-movie actors to the point that he rattles them off like everyone knows them is what keeps me coming back to a lot of these actor-musician OHWs
Needed a John Waters mention lol.
That piano cover is one of Todd's best. Hands down.
0:40 ORVILLE PECK
One of the greatest holiday songs ever!!! Top 2
I love dance crazes. I love songs that mention dances and walk you through how to dance them. That stuff is right up there with surf guitar.
12:26 the club in the movie was called The Haunted House . It was in LA and it was also the location for another movie “Girl in Gold Boots” . If you’re a MSTIE, you’ll know that great masterpiece of a film.
Bobby (Boris) Pickett's 80's version "Shock The Body" is totally worth a listen!
Every Halloween: Monster Mash, The Monsters’ Hop, Thriller, and Le Danse Macabre.
there is an irony when alot of those songs he shows as example of the bad times of the 60's are considered classics.
I'm amazed at how many of these novelty 1960s were a part of my 1980s childhood.
Apparently this song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 during the entire Cuban Missile Crisis. So basically while Americans were sitting around terrified by the possibility of an imminent nuclear apocalypse, they were also listening to the Monster Mash.
Great episode -- I knew that Pickett hung in there with acting and the annual Halloween cash-in for Monster Mash but you gave us some great details .... and I love the Groovy Ghoulies cartoon clips - talk about a ride on the Wayback Machine !
This song just makes you smile. I challenge all humanity (who speak english) to listen to this song and now start grinning
Now THIS man, THIS man here is who I inspire to be like!
There’s just something so charming about the monster mash. I can’t dislike it. The guy seems like a bit of a legend too.
I loved this song. Its my first favorite song. I love it. I sat on the 45 and cried for days. My mom taped it together and then it worked again. She aaved the day
i love that the sabrina netflix show used this song
Kid rock is deffo a super scary costume.
7:49. This video was made one year before the 2016 clown sightings craze. I can say that there has been at least one scary Halloween now.
Why does he look like the Hitcher about to play "Eels" in the Mighty Boosh?
Earlier today, I was doing the dishes & listening to my Halloween playlist, the first song on there is Monster Mash so it brought this particular review to mind, I had watched it a few years back, actually first time I watched this wasn't on youtube, you know where, I won't say it due to the controversy. It had me wanting to watch this again & I'm so happy I did, it's hilarious even on second viewing but my first was long enough ago to where I forgot a good chunk of it.
What added to that was when you pointed out the cheesy Halloween music of the 50's, of course I have Witch Doctor on my playlist but the most listened to song & one of my favorites on there would have to be Purple People Eater, your line on that song had me laughing. Given that was the number one song of 1958, the year my mom was born & my dad was 4 at the time, it's not apart of my parents' music, I got introduced to it through media or something, I don't fully remember. I just remember in high school, my friend & I both favored the color purple but my friend took it a step further by wearing purple all the time so a teacher in a class we both shared would call her a purple people eater of which of course prompted me to sing the song & she was shocked I knew it. In all honesty, I don't fully remember where I first heard it but I've known it for a long time, I guess it's just one of those silly songs that comes up every once in a while, worms its way into the brains of children, & then comes up when you least suspect it. I may have helped spread the virus given I do work with kids & a few years back when I was working in the craft room around Halloween, helping kids make their own monster hand puppets, I made a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater as a sample & played the song for the kids to listen to while working. Uh yeah, so if tomorrow's young adults are all rocking out to Purple People Eater, I guess I'm to blame on that.
Your Halloween specials are my favorite given they often are on older songs & I don't know anything about modern music at all, only time I ever listened to modern music was 1999-2010, most of what I listened to at that time was country but I resorted to it because my favorite oldies station had closed & I was a kid, my mom listened to country so I picked up on it. I feel uncomfortable trying to watch a review of a song that apparently everyone in the world knows about except me since I mainly listen to stuff from the 50s-80s but I prefer 60s & 70s. This of course stands as your best Halloween special, it's fun, hilarious, & silly, a lot like the song itself is. I've watched other reviews & lists such as the Top Best Songs of 1976, I saw that one three times actually, I also like your review of Play that Funky Music which did come off a commenter from the other video I mentioned. Just, your Halloween episodes get me excited for the season, even the review of One Tin Soldier did.
The reason why I bring that up something like Purple People Eater does technically count as a pop song, it was the number one song of 1958 after all so maybe next Halloween you could torture yourself with a pop song review of Purple People Eater? Too much to ask, I know, it probably will never happen but hey, it gives you some fun Halloween content.
A suggestion I have if you wanna stick with One Hit Wonderland for Halloween is Dancing in the Moonlight, I guess it might end up being a boring review, I actually know nothing about King Harvest so it could end up being a real snore so I'd understand if you would skip that. For some odd reason, my dad hates the song Dancing in the Moonlight yet I enjoy it greatly, I guess it comes from there not being much in the way of Halloween music & just the tone the music sets in that song makes me feel like a full moon on a cold Halloween night so back when I use to burn a new CD every year just in case I got invited to a Halloween party & was asked to bring music, I always put Dancing in the Moonlight on those CDs, yeah, now when I think about it, I wasted a lot of CDs since my Halloween party music mostly consisted of the same songs with slight differences each year like my rules of not putting two songs from the same group on the same CD, one year there was Hotel California & Evil Ways on a CD & the following year was Witchy Woman & Black Magic Woman, why I didn't do those two first, I really don't know, they're more Halloweeny. I know why I'd opt for Hotel California over Witchy Woman, Hotel California is my favorite Eagles song but as far as the Santana songs go, Black Magic Woman is better than Evil Ways, I do not know what I was thinking. Best thing is, I did not label these CDs so somewhere in my parents' house, there's a bunch of unmarked CDs filled with Halloween music. I'm still waiting for my mom to ask me about it, guess she hasn't come across them yet.
I'm kinda sad, there's a Halloween song that I found only a few years ago so it never made it onto one of the Halloween party music CDs I made but it is in my Halloween playlist, it's Little Old Lady from Transylvania, it's a parody of Little Old Lady From Pasadena but man, it's a lot of fun to listen to around Halloween. I always liked the warm, beachy sounding music, you know, the sound that the Beach Boys have, I automatically just enjoy a lot of bands that can carry that sound & feel so take one of those songs that has that sound to it & make it into a Halloween song, oh yes, that's what I'm talking about. I obviously have way different tastes than you but if you decide to weird yourself out & question what the hell you just listened to, just take a listen to Little Old Lady From Transylvania, it's weird, you might regret listening to it, but it's worth it, even if you don't realize it at the time of listening to the song. How I got subjected to this one is that it was playing on the overhead speakers at a Spirit of Halloween store & I knew I had to have that song so I made a note to myself to look it up. Hey, maybe just sit inside a Spirit of Halloween for about an hour & make notes on the music that plays to get ideas for next year.
How did you remember the cramps and forget the Misfits? They more or less created the horror focused band.
Lol what about Voltaire. I listen to When You're Evil every day of October
+Gabriel Martinez i don't think Voltaire's a one hit wonder. He has a small but dedicated fanbase.
+TheMarg0r oh that's not what I meant at all believe me, I meant when Todd was listing off Halloween listening material like rob zombie he left out Voltaire
Gabriel Martinez
Oh yeah, now I see your point and I agree.
+TheMarg0r Possible he doesn't know. The Nostalgia Critic does though.
+Sarvis The Buck What? When did the NC mention Voltaire? I have to find it!
Was that movie called "it's a bikini world" just another version of "girl in gold boots?" That stage looked familiar.
OMG! I was trying to find Monster Mash the Movie on IMDB, and shock of all shocks Todd has an IMDB credit for One Hit Wonderland!
This makes me hope you cover Disco Duck by Rick Dees.
He did. 😊 Very recently.
@@jenniferschillig3768 That vid was glorious.
All of the contemporary music that you referenced was my mom's favorite music. As in, just about every single one she taught to me. I don't know what to make of that.
Great Video, as usual.
This song has a place of honor in Music Choce's Halloween playlist, alongside Monster Swim, Werewolf Watusi and Monster's Holiday.
Todd, if you're interested in Halloween music, search the genre called Psychobilly. It's kind of like punk, mixed with Stray Cats rockabilly, with gothic overtones. My favorite bands include Kitty In Casket, The Creepshow, Cold Blue Rebels, Zombina & The Skeletones and Nekromantix. None of them will ever even be a one-hit-wonder, but it's a lot of fun!
! That...sounds kinda awesome. I seriously gotta look into that now. :)
Psychobilly is awesome!
RHH is the best Psychobilly, don't leave them out
But which psychobilly song is a hit qualifying for One Hit Wonderland?
I understand enjoying listening to Tiger Army and Horrorpops, but they don't exactly come up as groups with songs Todd could cover on this show at Halloween...
Dia De Los Muertos is still kinda stuck in my head 20 years after the last time I listened to it, but I don't expect Todd to cover it for Halloween.
@EmeraldLavigne Reverend Horton Heat ' Psychobilly Freakout is a one hit wonder.
Also I saw Tiger Army live twice around 2011-2012 & it was awesome. Mike Vallely's band opened for them too.
I...kind of have a soft spot for these fun novelty songs (the kind that get spotlighted on Dr. Demento--who, you'll remember, gave Weird Al his start). When I was a young kid, we had this K-Tel album called "Dumb Ditties" which featured this and other crazy novelty songs (like "Polka Dot Bikini", "Beans In My Ears", "Alvin's Harmonica", etc. I think it was the first place I ever heard the Chipmunks) Then when I was a little older we had an 8-Track called "Fun Rock" that we played in the car. It also featured "Polka Dot Bikini", as well as "Mr. Bassman", "The Streak", "My Old Man's A Dustman", the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", as well as some legit rock/pop hits like the Monkees' "I'm A Believer" and the Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You." So I have fond memories of many of these songs, even if they are rather silly. And "Monster Mash" is on my Halloween playlist.
So the early sixties is much like the early thousands where everyone just makes music parodies and joke songs with no regard for quality
13:40 I can imagine the Wolfman doing the Werewolves of London.
This was my very first favorite song that I remember. 😝
Aw. I liked Hotel Transylvania. Haven't seen the sequels yet, but it's clever, inventive, and heartwarming.
Heh you want obscure Halloween song, rocking in the graveyard by Jackie Morningstar.
Well, I think The Locomotion is a great song, but you're spot on about this time period.
This was the #1 song the week I was born- and that explains so much about me!
I have a tape of xmas comedy songs from the early 80s, and among other things, it has legendary actor Lon Chaney Jr. covering Monster's Holiday, and it is pretty great.
Loved this song as a kid. One song like it I loved even more was Haunted House by Gene Simmons. I'm guessing it was a one hit wonder. The mental imagery was fascinating to a child.
I find myself rewatching this video every October.