64 Years Later, This Monster-Sized Halloween Hit Still Generates an Estimated $1 Million a Year

I think it’s every songwriter’s dream to have an “All I Want For Christmas Is You” level hit. A song that, every year, like clockwork, reenters the charts and the minds of listeners during the holiday season.

When it comes to Halloween, a couple of songs fulfill this tradition, from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to the “Ghostbusters” theme song. “Monster Mash” by comedian and singer-songwriter Bobby “Boris” Pickett, however, might just top them all. It reportedly makes about $1 million in royalties annually, according to a 2023 Billboard article.

In 1998, the Halloween icon even told The Memphis Commercial Appeal that, although he hadn’t yet made millions with “Monster Mash”, Pickett had “been paying the rent” for 36 years with just the one hit. That kind of seems like the dream to me.

The Story Behind One of the Biggest Novelty Songs Ever

So, how did one of the biggest novelty songs of all time come to be? Pickett, who moved to LA in the 50s to pursue an acting career, was a part of a band called the Cordials. He did auditions during the day and sang with the band at night. It was with one of the band members, Lenny Capizzi, that he wrote “Monster Mash”.

Pickett had grown up watching horror films and had a knack for doing a pretty good Boris Karloff impression. Karloff played Frankenstein in the iconic franchise from 1931 to 1939, which established him as a horror icon. It was Pickett’s bandmate, Capizzi, who encouraged him to do more of the impression. That’s what you hear him do in “Monster Mash”. They collaborated in writing the hit, which was produced by Gary S. Paxton.

If you look at the lyrics of “Monster Mash”, it’s not hard to see that the words are inspired by the Frankenstein story just as much as Pickett’s voice is.

I was working in the lab late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight

For my monster, from his slab, began to rise

And suddenly, to my surprise

(He did the Mash) he did the Monster Mash

(The Monster Mash) it was a graveyard smash

(He did the Mash) it caught on in a flash

(He did the Mash) he did the Monster Mash.

In 1962, just before Halloween, “Monster Mash” hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for two weeks. Every year, it’s revisted by Halloween fans everywhere, because at this point, the song is just about as traditional as the holiday itself.

Photo by: Bettmann / Getty Images

The post 64 Years Later, This Monster-Sized Halloween Hit Still Generates an Estimated $1 Million a Year appeared first on American Songwriter.