'Monster Mash' Song -- A Halloween Classic

Posted on Oct 29th 2010 11:00AM by AOL Music Staff

Monster Mash Record Cover Getty Images

'Monster Mash' started out as a novelty song in 1962, and through various incarnations has gone on to become a Halloween classic. Originally recorded by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and released on an LP called 'The Original Monster Mash,' the single reached No. 1 on Oct. 20, 1962, and has been a perennial Halloween favorite ever since.

At the time Pickett was in a band called the Cordials when he and fellow bandmate Lenny Capizzi composed 'Monster Mash.' They would go on to record it with a group of studio musicians, who they slyly referred to as the Crypt Kickers. 'Monster Mash' would go on to be re-released several times, renewing popularity, and even landing on the Billboard charts on three different occasions after the original release -- in 1970, '73, and it re-entered the British Charts in 2008.

Incidentally, the 'Monster Mash' was originally deemed "too morbid" for British listeners and was banned from the BBC. Now, 48 years later this October, 'Monster Mash' celebrates it's legacy once again as an indispensable Halloween classic.

Listen to 'Monster Mash' after the jump.