Pioneers of Horror Rock - John Zacherley

Wait a second, I hear you ask - Wasn't Zacherley a TV horror host? 

 Why of course he was - he also happened to record some pretty fine albums of horror music, which have in turn influenced quite a number of musicians and have even been covered by several bands.

In 1958, inspired by the recent craze in horror novelty songs,  Zacherley recorded the song "Dinner with Drac." That song was a huge success and even cracked the top ten charts nationally! He released a full length LP of songs to go along with it called Zacherley's Monster Mash Party. The songs are all chock full of Zacherley puns and wittiness, and are just loads of fun.

Here's the track listings:

Tracks:

1. Dinner With Drac
2. Come With Me To Transylvania
3. Pistol Stomp
4. Ghoul View Commercial
5. Dummy Doll
6. Happy Halloween
7. Let's Twist Again
8. I Was A Teenage Caveman
9. Hello Dolly
10. A Tisket A Casket
11. Surfboard 109
12. Coolest Little Monster
13. Clementine
14. Hurry Bury Baby
15. Zacherle For President
16. Little Red Riding Hood
17. Limb From Limbo Rock
18. The Spider And The Fly
19. A Wicket Thought
20. Igor
21. Spiderman Lullabye

Want a copy of this? Go here

Zacherley went on to record several more LPs. In 1962 he recorded his own version of Bobby Boris Pickett's classic song "The Monster Mash." That was followed by another full length LP.

Tracks for this one were:

The Monster Mash

Hury Bury Baby

Weird Watusi

Gravy

The Pistol Stomp

The Ha-Ha-Ha

I'm the Ghoul from Wolverton Mountain

Let's Twist Again

The Bat

Dinner With Drac

Popeye

Limb from Limbo Rock

1968 saw the Cool Ghoul return to the recording booth, this time turning out "Spook Along with Zacherley". Again, another full length LP...

Track listings:

Coolest Little Monster
A Wicked Thought
Ghoul View Commercial
Sure Sign of Spring
Transylvania P.T.A.
Frank and Drac Are Back
Come With Me to Transylvania
Spider Man Lullaby
Ring-A-Ding Orangoutang
Baying at the Moon
Zacherley for President

He returned the following year with "Scary Tales featuring John Zacherley" in 1963.

The songs this time were:

A-B-C

A Tisket, A Casket

Clementine

Dear, Dear Valentine

Dummy Doll

Hansel and Gretel

Happy Halloween

Hello, Dolly

Igor

Little Red Riding Hood

Lunch with Mother Goose

Monster Monkey

Scary Tales #1

Scary Tales #2

Scary Tales #3

Surfboard 109

The Ha-Ha-Ha

The Spider and The Fly

Weird Watusi

Zacherley took a break from music for a while, although he did pop up on various compilations throughout the years. In 1996 he returned with a vengeance, however, with Zacherley's Dead Man's Ball.

Track Listings:

1. Dead Man's Ball
2. Happy Halloween
3. Grave Robbing Tonight
4. Dinner With Drac
5. Come With Me to Transylvania
6. Zach TV Audio
7. Formaldehyde
8. Spiderman Lullabye
9. Zach TV Audio
10. Doc Frankenstein
11. Eternal Polyester
12. Zach TV Audio
13. Werewolf Bite Me
14. Zach TV Audio
15. Coolest Little Monster
16. Zach TV Audio
17. Zack Is Back
18. Zach

And in 2006 Zach retured yet AGAIN with the CD "Interment for Two". The ghoul from Wolverton Mountain is unstoppable I tell ya!! And best of all, this one won a Rondo Award for Best Cd! Huzahh!

The cover is by my buddy George Chastain who runs E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts, a fantastic website. This album was made in collaboration with musician and longtime Zach fan Mike Gilks.

Tracks:
1 DEAD-ication 3:18
2 Interment for Two 2:23
3 Zombie Zoo 2:36
4 Dear Valentine 1:47
5 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#1) 1:02
6 Satan's Country Line Dance 2:26
7 Renfield Laugh 3:18
8 A Wicked Thought 2:25
9 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#2) 1:09
10 Frankenstein's Den 3:09
11 Isobel 1:37
12 Monster Blues 3:33
13 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#3) 1:03
14 Satan's Country Line Dance w/Hoedown 2:29
15 Hercules Commercial Loop (1963) 6:21
16 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#4) 1:00
17 Steve Allen Visits (1963) 10:21
18 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#5) 1:02
19 Missing Monster (1958) 5:24
20 Vintage Zach Radio Ad (1967) (#6) 1:03
21 Dirty Danube

 What's ahead for the Cool Ghoul? - only time will tell. He still appears live at the Chiller Theatre Convention in Pittsburgh yearly to sing with organizer Kevin Clement's rockin' monster band The Dead Elvi. Here's to Zacherley, King of the Horror Hosts and Pioneer of Horror Rock.