Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Monster Mash" (Bobby "Boris" Pickett)

Welcome to Tuesday...(insert maniacal laughter)   You've stumbled into the place where the best jack o' lantern jingles meet songs about The Spirit!!! Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes..the Halloween edition...(insert creepy organ music...isn't most organ music creepy...but we digress).  It's the time of the year for candy and chords, tasty treats and tunes, and the occasional "thump" in the night...wait that's the bass drum...

Long before Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Thriller"), The Edgar Winter Group's  "Frankenstein" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Frakenstein"), or Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Ghostbusters") became the bar setting songs by which every Halloween song is now judged, there was this classic from Bobby Pickett.  With an assist from Dick Clark and American Bandstand...it's called the mash!!!

"Monster Mash" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett from the 1962 album The Original Monster Mash

"Monster Mash" screamed into the #1 position during the Halloween week of its release in 1962.  Bobby "Boris" Pickett was part of a group called the Cordials that played covers of popular music of the times.  "Monster Mash" came as a result of Pickett doing a monologue as Boris Karloff while the band was playing "Little Darlin", the smash hit by The Diamonds.  Pickett's rendition of Karloff was so popular that fellow band member Lenny Capizzi encouraged him to do more.  Pickett and Capizzi cowrote "Monster Mash" and recorded it with session musicians credited as "The Crypt-Kickers". "Monster Mash" continued to be so popular that it also hit the US Billboard charts in December 1962, August 1970, and May 1973.  Surprising since none of these are "Halloween" times.  

There were 2 "sequels" also recorded by Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers.  "Monster's Holiday" (December 1962) was the Christmas tune that follows the characters of the original "Monster Mash" as the celebrate the season, and "Monster's Rap" (1985) where the monster from the original song is taught how to speak by utilizing the "new" genre of music called "Rap".

Believe it or not, the Bible does have something to say regarding monsters.  From Job's "behemoth" (Job 40:14-16 English Standard Bible) and "leviathan" (Job 3:8 ESV, Job 41:1-3 ESV) to the beasts of John's revelation, their are some pretty scary creatures that roam through the inspired Word of God.  From a secular website's perspective, here is a list of the top 10 "monsters" in the Bible:  Top 10 monsters in the Bible by Charlotte Coville toptenz.net July 21, 2011.

While the Bible does address some situations and creatures that should be cause for alarm, the Bible NEVER suggests that those who are bought with THE PRICE, should be fearful.  The Bible instructs believers in fact to not be afraid.  In the King James Version of the Bible, the phrase "fear not" is used 63 times.  "Don't be afraid" is found 59 times in the Holman Christian Standard Bible as well.  If you are a "word searcher" of the Bible you realize that an exact phrase match of this magnitude is something of import and should be given much attention. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus instructs His disciples to not be afraid of the persecution that they will experience:  The Gospel of Matthew 10 Holman Christian Standard Bible/The Message Paraphrase parallel.  Fear could have easily become a way of life for the disciples, however they chose to take Jesus' advice and live in the opposite of fear, joy and confidence in The Truth.  All but one of the disciples was martyred for The Way.  The only one to live out his life was the Apostle John, author of The Gospel Of John, 1,2,and 3 John and The Revelation.  While he was allowed to see old age, his life was not devoid of persecution.  He was exiled to the island of Patmos where he received the visions that would become the book of The Revelation.  He dedicated his life to forwarding the Gospel of The Life.

A few years back and incredible group of books were written by authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.  They became known as the "Left Behind" series.  These books detailed the Scriptural based happenings set in fictional lives of a diverse body of people after the rapture of the Church.  The books were "thrillers" in their own right and caused many a discussion about the fearful "end time" events included in their pages.  I confess to not being a student of this particular portion of the Bible.  I will however suggest that God has instructed us as believers to not be fearful regarding this time.  In essence...HE'S GOT THIS!!!  Our rationale for studying end times should be to invigorate our sense of urgency about spreading the Gospel of Jesus, not being fearful of the events that will take place around us.  While we should certainly be aware of the prophecies coming to pass right before our eyes, our ultimate goal is to focus on seeing as many people as possible escape the perils described in prophecy.  We achieve this goal by having a fear ending faith in who Jesus is and what He says He will be doing during that time.

So dear friend as we go begin the kickoff the season that ruins the "diet" resolutions we made back in January, let us remember that we live in fearful times, urgent times, but we have NO reason to fear because the Creator God of the universe and the Savior God, Jesus, have promised us a Comforter God, Spirit to provide a relief during our times of anxiety.  In fact, one might get so excited about not being afraid they might do the mash...

"No Monsters" from the 1995 album R.I.O.T (Righteous Invasion Of Truth) by Carman

'Til Tuesday

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy