The now-iconic and enduring original version of the song was released by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers in 1962, and it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, just before Halloween. It has reentered the Billboard Hot 100 five times over the years, reaching #10 in 1973 and the Top 30 within the last few years.
In the early '60s, Pickett was an aspiring actor who was also in a band. At a show one night, he started doing an impression of Boris Karloff, a horror movie icon best known for his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the original 1931 version of Frankenstein. The crowd loved Pickett's impression, so he decided to capitalize on it. He and his fellow band member Lenny Capizzi wrote "Monster Mash," with Pickett doing his Karloff impression as he sings about a mad scientist whose monster arises and starts dancing (a variation of the popular dance craze the Mashed Potato), and then he invites all of his monster friends. And then they fucking party.
In 1997, The Misfits recorded a cover of the song as part of a promotion relating to the DVD release of a 1967 Rankin Bass stop motion animation film called Mad Monster Party -- which starred, you guessed it, Boris Karloff. The Misfits then released their version of "Monster Mash" as a single in 1999 and rerecorded it for their 2003 album Project 1950. The song is notable because it was the first song on which bassist Jerry Only sang lead vocals. I'm posting the 2003 version because I like that version slightly better than the 1997/1999 version. Like the original, they use bubbling and chain sound effects at the beginning, before it turns into a punked-up, fast-paced version of the song, with sing-along backing vocals. All in all, a pretty damn fine cover that both pays homage to the original and makes it their own at the same time.
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