TRACK #427:

The Monster Hop by Jimmy Dee and The Meteors

Wait, wait wait. What? You got second song about a fuckin’ hop? And it’s a whole other song actually called The Monster Hop?

Yep.

Well, I mean, if you wanna be annoying about it, this isn’t technically another Monster Hop. Bert Convy’s 1958 tune is The Monsters Hop, and Jack and Jim’s 1959 diddy is Midnight Monsters Hop. But yeah, there is yet another hop with monsters in attendance and that’s a little weird.

A hop, by the way (in case you were at all curious, or are under the age of 70, which is statistically most probable) was an informal dance mostly held at schools. It’s actually a shortening of Sock Hop, which they were called because all the kids were made to take off their shoes as not to scuff up the gymnasium floors.

You may be familiar with the song At the Hop, by Danny and The Juniors, which hit number 1 on the billboard charts in early 1958. So, Bert Convy and Jack and Jim seem to be right at the cutting edge of adding monsters to this particular event. Shock Theatre + Popular Teen Activity apparently = 3 goddamn songs basically called the same thing in 4 years, because this particular Shoeless Monster Dance is from 1962, the same year as Boris Pickett’s The Monster Mash.

So how does the 3rd installment in our Monster Hop Trilogy differ from its predecessors?

Well, for one, there aren’t many monsters on the roll call here. We get a vampire woman and a Frankenstein eating people’s blood. There’s some Grave Robber named Harry (question mark, am I hearing that right?) and he’s there with a Sasquatch lady. That’s it? Ok then, I guess. Cool party, bro.

Both Jack and Jim and Bert’s hops are much better attended than Jimmy’s here. Jimmy’s hop, in fact, sounds like kind of a drag, the way he describes it anyway. I will say, there does appear to be a monster band though, much like in Midnight Monsters Hop, and that’s definitely a plus. There’s a werewolf on drums, some guy in a hood I guess, and maybe a zombie playing a saxophone? I dunno. It’s hard to tell, cause Jimmy’s song’s a bit lacking in the “making me give a shit about this party at all” department. I’m practically falling asleep over here. What gives? This is a monster party, buddy. Why am I so bored?

Anyway, like Bert, Jimmy says he’s scared of this party, but I don’t buy it. Nothing about this song is scary, nor is Jimbo’s reaction to any of it all that appalled. Bert Convy is horrified by what he sees, and I believe him. This guy? I feel like he ain’t even at this party the way he’s so nonplussed about it all. Oh, fuckin Draculas or whatever? Yeah they’re dancing, I guess. What?! That’s crazy, Jimmy. Why you acting like it ain’t fuckin bonkers to see a Frankenstein eating blood. Even if you’re ok with seeing a Frankenstein, why the fuck is he eating people’s blood? That’s not what he does, Jimmy! There’s no reason to be this nonchalant about this shit.

Jack and Jim on the other hand, now they’re some cool customers. They’re cold chillin at their party. I don’t think they’re perturb at all by what they’re seeing. In fact, they seem kinda into it and what they’re describing sounds like a great time.

Now, I can appreciate that we just came off of a pretty whack monster party. I apologize for serving up two in a row. But, Jimmy Dee’s party, lame though it may be, is a far sight cooler than Earl’s. He’s got a monster band, a larger roster, more monster happenings; it’s just better. But maybe that says more about Earl’s Hop than it does about Jimmy’s.

Either way, they’re both prime examples from the golden age of Monster Songs that should definitely appear on The Shindig, however uneventful they might be.