History Highlight:

Since it's Halloween, why not dive into a little history of the "Monster Mash"? It's a 1962 novelty song and a career-defining single from Bobby "Boris" Pickett. It was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The "Monster Mash" single was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20-27 of 1962, just before Halloween. Pickett and fellow band member Lenny Capizzi wrote the song (and recorded it with Gary S. Paxton, pianist Leon Russell, Johnny MacRae, Rickie Page, and Terry Berg, credited as "The Crypt-Kickers") after Pickett did a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff at a performance. Though the song wasn't No. 1 on the actual Halloween of that year, it has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since.

Today In:

1952 - Pianist Johnnie Johnson hired 26-year-old Chuck Berry as a guitarist in his band. While playing evening gigs in the St. Louis area, Berry kept his day job as a hairdresser for the next three years.

1963 - Gerry and the Pacemakers were at No .1 on the U.K. singles chart with "You'll Never Walk Alone," the group's third and final No. 1.

1963 - The Beatles returned to London from Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists. Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing. He decided to look into getting this group to appear on his television program.

1967 - Iggy and the Stooges made their live debut when they played at a Halloween party in Michigan. During this early period, the Stooges were originally billed as the "Psychedelic Stooges" and had a very different sound from what they eventually developed - it was much more avant-garde and experimental, with Pop incorporating such household objects as a vacuum cleaner and a blender into intense walls of feedback that one observer described as sounding like "an airplane was landing in the room."

1964 - The Supremes started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Baby Love", the group's second of five consecutive U.S. No. 1's.

1964 - Unseating The Beatles' 14-week run at the top of the U.S. albums chart with A Hard Day's Night was Barbra Streisand with People, which stayed at the top for five weeks.

1969 - David Bowie appeared at a Halloween night at the General Gordon, Gravesend, England. The gig lasted about 15 minutes, after Bowie sang "Space Oddity" to everyone's delight and then dragged a stool on stage, along with a huge book. He then sat and read poems and was booed off stage.

1970 - Led Zeppelin started a four week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Led Zeppelin III - the band's second U.S. chart topper.

1974 - Led Zeppelin held the U.K. launch for their new record label Swan Song in Kent, England. Drinks were served by nuns in suspenders, a naked woman lay in a coffin covered in jelly and naked male wrestlers cavorted in recesses of the caves. Label mates Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell also attended.

1975 - Queen released "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera and it was reportedly the most expensive single ever made at the time of its release, although the exact cost of production cannot be determined.

1989 - The very first MTV Unplugged show was recorded in New York, featuring U.K. band Squeeze.

1990 - During a gig in Seattle, Billy Idol dumped 600 dead fish in Faith No More's dressing room. They responded by walking on stage naked during Idol's set. The Los Angeles Times reported: "When the pay-back came, Idol grinned widely as the naked men cavorted onstage in a conga line, wearing only masks or T-shirts over their heads. Idol kept plugging away at his final song, 'Got to Be a Lover' until the bare band danced off, then blushed a little and broke out laughing."

1991 - After meeting up at their ex-manager's funeral, Spinal Tap announced a reunion. "It was destiny and also because none of us were really making a great amount of money," bass player Derek Smalls said.

1992 - "End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men is the No. 1 song on the Hot 100 for the 12th consecutive week, breaking the record held by Elvis Presley's two-sided "Don't be Cruel/Hound Dog," which was No. 1 for 11 weeks in 1956. The group was knocked out of place three months later by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"; in 1995, Boyz II Men ties Houston's 14-week record with "I'll Make Love To You."

1997 - The Cure embraced the burgeoning internet by cybercasting their Halloween concert at Irving Plaza in New York City. The show, which promoted their greatest hits set Galore, was also broadcast by more traditional means on over 60 radio stations.

1996 - Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N' Roses. The guitarist said that Axl Rose and he had only been civil to each other on two occasions since 1994.

1998 - D'Angelo released "Devil's Pie," the lead single from his second album, Voodoo.

2002 - The mother of pop star Bjork ended a hunger strike she had staged to protest against plans for a US company to build an aluminum smelter and hydroelectric plant power plant in the Icelandic wilderness. Hildur Runa Hauksdottir began eating again after four weeks of fasting.

2005 - The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 at an auction in Las Vegas. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.

2008 - In Nottingham, England, 1,227 people in zombie garb performed the dance from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, setting a new Guinness World Record for largest gathering of zombies.

2011 - The album Lulu, a baffling collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, is released. The first single, "The View," reaches peak lunacy when James Hetfield screams, "I am the table!"

2013 - Marvin Gaye's family took legal action against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement over "Blurred Lines". Three of Gaye's children accused them of copying elements of the song "Got to Give it Up". The Gaye family cited excerpts of magazine interviews given by Thicke to support their claim he had admitted to drawing on "Got to Give it Up" when producing "Blurred Lines".

Birthdays:

Tom Paxton is 82.

Bernard Edwards, producer and member of Chic, was born today in 1952.

Ad-Rock, aka Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, is 53.

Johnny Marr, of The Smiths and his solo career, is 56.

U2 drummer Larry Mullen is 58.

Frank Anthony Lero of My Chemical Romance is 38.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.