"Spooky, Scary Skeletons" is a

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

song by American musician

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop rock, pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold played on scor ...

, first released on his 1996 album ''Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music''. Since the 2010s, the song has received a resurgence in popularity online as an

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. In 2019, ''

Intelligencer Intelligencer is an archaic word for a person who gathers intelligence, like a spy or secret agent. The term may refer to: Newspapers * ''Daily Intelligencer (disambiguation)'', multiple papers * ''Edwardsville Intelligencer'' (1862–present) ...

''s Brian Feldman called the song "the Internet's Halloween anthem", and that same year, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s E. J. Dickson referred to the song as the "Halloween meme" of

Generation Z Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the Western world, Western demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular me ...

. In 2021, Alexandra Petri of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' ranked the song number two on her list of the 50 best Halloween songs of all time.

Background and recording

"Spooky, Scary Skeletons" was one of nine original songs on the album ''Halloween Howls'', released, according to Gold on his 1996 liner notes, to fill a void of availability of fun and scary Halloween original songs. Andrew produced, mixed, sang and played all the instruments on the track.

Release and Internet popularity

In 2006,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

included the song on their

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

''Disney Sing Along Songs: Happy Haunting''. They paired the song with the 1930s animated short film ''

The Skeleton Dance ''The Skeleton Dance'' is a 1929 ''Silly Symphony'' animated short subject produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. In the film, four human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example o ...

'' by

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious ...

. In 2010,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

user TJ Ski remade the video from the Disney DVD, pairing the animated short with the song, after he was unable to find the original video online. TJ Ski's video has garnered over 31 million views since it was uploaded. "Spooky, Scary Skeletons" has since become an

, with its origins in

gaming culture. One example of an early viral video featuring the track is a video that features

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

dancing to the song. Since the 2010s, the song has become a standard in music playlists for Halloween parties, along with the 1962 song "

Monster Mash "Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song 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 ...

". In 2013, Israeli-American remix musician Yoav Landau, known as ''The Living Tombstone'' created an electronic dance-like remix of the song with a faster tempo than the original. Their upload of the remix to

has garnered over 94 million views. ''

'' Brian Feldman called the Living Tombstone's remix "probably the most well-known version of the song". This remix further propelled the song's status as an Internet meme; both the original song and the Living Tombstone remix are often paired with such visuals as ''The Skeleton Dance'' and a video of a man dancing while wearing a pumpkin head and a black

unitard A unitard is a skintight, one-piece garment with long legs and sometimes long sleeves, usually stopping at the wrists and ankles. It differs from a leotard which does not have long legs. The leotard is also usually considered a more feminine cloth ...

, the latter being from a mid-2000s broadcast on local

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

news station

KXVO KXVO (channel 15) is a television station in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Mitts Telecasting Company LLC, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with the Sinc ...

. In 2019, "Spooky, Scary Skeletons" and its Undead Tombstone remix experienced a resurgence of popularity on the short-form video and social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, where over 2.5 million videos featuring the song—including videos by such celebrities as

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

dancing to the track—have been posted. By 2022, there were over 5 million TikTok videos featuring the song. In 2021, Craft Recording issued a first-ever

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

release of ''Halloween Howls'', adding one of the more popular remixes of "Spooky, Scary Skeletons" to the tracklist. New cover art was created by Jess Rotter. Craft dedicated a web page to the song.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Elizabeth Blair recommended the vinyl release for children. Official merchandise relating to the song, including hoodies and T-shirts, is also available at Craft Recording's official store.

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

, Andrew Gold's former

Bryndle Bryndle was an American folk-rock band first formed in the late 1960s in Los Angeles. The original lineup consisted of singer-songwriters Andrew Gold, Karla Bonoff, Kenny Edwards (founding member of The Stone Poneys), and Wendy Waldman (songw ...

bandmate

Karla Bonoff Karla may refer to: People * Karla (name), a feminine given name * Petras Karla (1937–1969), Soviet Olympic rower Places * Karla, Kose Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Karla, Rae Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Kärl ...

, Stephen Bishop, and

Nicolette Larson Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contem ...

all joined in to do the "Monster Mash." In addition to that graveyard smash, the other guest Howl-ers include the late

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

on "Halloween Party". Gold's daughters, Emily and Victoria, were credited for background vocals.

Charts

Cover versions and use in media

In 2018, the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

performed a cover of the song at a live Halloween performance. A cover of the song by LvCrft was used by Freeform to promote their " 31 Nights of Halloween"

programming block Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...

in both 2020 and in 2021.

Album releases

* 1996: ''Halloween Howls'' * 2019: ''Halloween Howls Deluxe Edition'' (Digital including remix bonus tracks) * 2021: ''Halloween Howls'' (Vinyl with remix bonus track)

Single releases

* 2020: "DMA ILLAN REMIX" * 2021: "The Remixes" (including SharaZ remix) * 2022: "Undead Tombstone - Slowed & Reverb Remix

References

{{Andrew Gold Andrew Gold songs Halloween songs Internet memes introduced in the 2010s