One of the few things I love as much as, if not more than, Halloween is music.
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How many times have I written that phrase on the blog over the years? 😂 Probably too many, but it bears repeating because it’s true.
As a fan of both, I find the Halloween music genre fascinating.
Right about now, you’re probably going, “Wait – Halloween music is…a thing?”
And I would tell you YES, it is absolutely a thing. But, like any art form, what qualifies as Halloween music is incredibly subjective. To one person, “The Purple People Eater” might be a Halloween song. To another (*ahem*), it might be a kitschy kid song best left off the party playlist.
But that’s a blog post for another day…

Today I want to tell you about “Graveyard Groove: The Haunted History of Monster Music from ‘Monster Mash’ to Horror Punk” by David Acord:
In the mid-1950s, a new genre of novelty music emerged that mixed humor and horror. The result: Monster Music! Suddenly, jukeboxes were filled with songs about Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, creatures from outer space and a multitude of supernatural terrors. The genre reached its peak in 1962 with Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s smash “Monster Mash,” but there are many more songs worthy of rediscovery — and Monster Music still lives on today, thanks to the influence of punk pioneers like The Cramps and The Misfits. Here is the complete, untold story of Monster Music — the genre that refused to die!
This flew by on my Twitter timeline in early 2020, and I bought a copy immediately. It took me nearly a year to dive into it because I ordered it just before 2020 really kicked into gear, and I wanted to save it for when I needed the off-season Halloween feels.
What better time than January?

At just over 100 pages, it is a quick read that lives up to its promise of giving a comprehensive overview of how monster music became a thing.
And that journey might surprise you if you think all Halloween and horror music stemmed from “Monster Mash”. Quite a bit came before that, and quite a bit has come after it. I had a blast discovering some new songs – esp. the ones that led up to “Monster Mash” – while also learning the history of so many of the songs I love on DeadAir.
While there is SO much more to Halloween music than just “Monster Mash”, the book also gave me a new-found appreciation for this classic I was 100% burnt out on.
One of the things I appreciated about this history was the clear line drawn from the phenomenon of murder ballads to the heavy influence of blues lyrics to how post-World War II movies and comics became the catalyst to launch monster music. It is fascinating and has given me so many more things I want to dig into, like the 1950s trend of local TV horror hosts or the backstory of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

Because I’m me, as I read I created a playlist of every song mentioned in the text of the book. If only I had flipped to the back sooner to discover TWO appendices of songs that fall under the monster music moniker.
As someone who takes great care in building her own playlists, I can only imagine how much research went into creating these lists. I can’t wait to dig into both…and maybe make a playlist or two of my own based on them.

So…should you read “Graveyard Groove” by David Acord? If you love music and Halloween, it’s a must-read. Grab a copy and enjoy!
Graveyard Groove Playlist
And just in case you’re interested in hearing some of the music and artists discussed in this book, I put together a little playlist to get you started:
Happy grooving,

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