A song Andrew Gold wrote, performed and produced thirty years ago just landed on the Hot 100 for the first time. It took a Halloween tracking week, a remix and a cartoon skeleton dance to get there.
The chart debut
"Spooky, Scary Skeletons (Undead Tombstone Remix)"enters the Hot 100 at No. 35 on the chart dated Nov. 14. The tracking week ran Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, so it caught all the Halloween activity that pushes a seasonal song up the chart. The Living Tombstone remixed the track in 2013 as the"Undead Tombstone Remix,"and that's the version doing the climbing now.
The long road to the top
Gold first released"Spooky, Scary Skeletons"in 1996 — written, performed and produced by him. A 2010 YouTube pairing with Disney's"The Skeleton Dance"popularized the track. Gold died in 2011 at age 59, which means he never saw this chart run. The same Halloween week that lifted the single also sent his album"Halloween Howls: Fun&Scary Music"to No. 1 on the Kid Albums chart. That's Gold's first-ever Billboard No. 1 — an album chart-topper more than a decade after his death, for a record built around one spooky little song.
What it means for us here in Lawton
I love this one because it's a reminder that a song doesn't have to be new to be discovered. If you're like me, you've probably got a Halloween playlist that only gets one week of play a year — so here's my question for you: is there a seasonal song in your rotation you'd defend as a year-round listen, or does it stay boxed up until October? I'm genuinely curious where our listeners land on that.
What's your favorite song that only gets played one time of year?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.