John Zacherle

John Zacherle, later known as John Zacherley, was more of a radio / TV personality than a recording artist; he specialized in horror. He did books also. Dinner With Drac was a fluke hit at the outset of his career, recorded for Cameo, with Dave Appel, and Dick Clark’s encouragement. The track shows up on Dr. Demento collections and the like. Happy Halloween…

---

John Zacherle:

• Dinner With Drac – Another minor subgenre of pop / rock is born: horror music. This record is clearly meant to be funny, and, perversely, it is. The rhymes are outrageous, ("veins of a mummy named Betty / ...tasted very much like spaghetti"), and it features just the right amount of gruesomeness (“what a swimmer is dracula’s daughter, but the pool is more red than it oughter”). To follow was The Monster Mash, Spooky, Frankenstein (ok, ok, I’m pushing it). This was a hit in the winter of 1958.