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Goth Nation Mourns Its Leader: RIP Bobby "Boris" Pickett

THURSDAY APRIL 26 2007 9:00 PM

Submitted by PointBlank. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: one hit wonders, obituary, Bobby Pickett

Bobby "Boris" Pickett who scored a number one hit with The Monster Mash passed away yesterday at the age of 69. The one hit wonder, dubbed "the Guy Lombardo of Halloween," actually hit the charts twice more with the ode to monsters and novelty dances after it hit number one in 1962.

The novelty hit's fans included Bob Dylan, who played the single on his XM Satellite Radio program last October. "Our next artist is considered a one-hit wonder, but his one hit comes back year after year,'' Dylan noted.

The hit single ensured Pickett's place in the pantheon of pop music obscurities, said syndicated radio host Dr. Demento, whose long-running program celebrates offbeat tunes.

"It's certainly the biggest Halloween song of all time,'' said Demento. The DJ, who interviewed Pickett last year, said he maintained a sense of humor about his singular success: "As he loved to say at oldies shows, `And now I'm going to do a medley of my hit.'''

Boris Pickett is dead. Undead, undead, undead.

7 Comments

Altarboy

Maplewood, NJ

November 2002

APR 26, 2007 09:13 PM

Boris Pickett is dead. Undead, undead, undead.

That's an eerily coincidental way to end the piece. The last time I heard the song played was at my wedding six years ago. We'd requested that the band play Bela Lugosi's Dead, which they did, but they turned it into a medley of that song and the Monster Mash. It fit somehow...

rodan

Baltimore, MD

February 2005

APR 26, 2007 09:14 PM

I wonder if you could do a mashup (pardon the pun) of monster mash and bela legosi is dead?

aleksa

Tacoma, WA

April 2006

APR 26, 2007 09:43 PM

A local DJ was relating a story about Boris Pickett today. He said he got a call some years back from a woman who said she believed the man who sang "Monster Mash" was her father, and asked if the DJ knew any way to contact him. He managed to help get them in touch. She was at his bedside when he died.

Squire

I'm lost

November 2003

APR 26, 2007 10:00 PM

Rodan said:
I wonder if you could do a mashup (pardon the pun) of monster mash and bela legosi is dead?

whoa . . .

I guess you should prolly find the band that played at Alterboy's wedding.

otaku

I'm lost

January 2004

APR 26, 2007 10:04 PM

Altarboy said:

Boris Pickett is dead. Undead, undead, undead.

Please tell me there's audio/video of this somewhere!

NotJason

Orono, ME

October 2004

APR 26, 2007 11:48 PM

First, two jokes:

While "The Monster Mash" was certainly quite influential, I'd say the first record that ever really covered that topic was "Halloween Shindig" by Ed Twilly and the Creepers, which was released in 1952.

We must not forget, Monster Mash is also an appropriate song for Valentines Day and Presidents Day.

Now for real sentiments:

It's sad when people die. He wrote probably the best song about Monsters having a party that is really possible to write.