Drawing us in with a cerebral monster ad-lib and the sound of bubbling liquid, expanding with textured drums and a 60s piano, Sheldon Mashugana opens his cover of Monster Mash with intrigue, drama and the timeless lyrics, “I was working in the lab late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight for my monster, from his slab, began to rise and suddenly, to my surprise…”
The opus expands with the self-referential hook, “Mashugana… he does the Monster Mash”, essentially replacing the original lyrics “he did the mash”. We love this twist, perfectly timed for this year’s spooky season, and learn that Sheldon Mashugana is indeed the comedic alter ego of Dallas-based performer Dean Morgan, bringing his wonderfully goofy persona into one of the most recognisable Halloween songs of all time.
There is something genuinely joyful about this cover release. In a world that can feel increasingly heavy, Monster Mash doesn’t ask us to overthink. Dean just invites us to have fun. We connect with the nostalgia, the absurdity and the deliberately uncomplicated vibes.
We can easily imagine this being the soundtrack to a live performance at a Halloween party, a retro horror montage or one of those wonderfully camp cinematic sequences. It would also work well if Sheldon was to re-create his own version of The Addams Family/Wednesday or The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
We also love that Sheldon isn’t attempting to reinvent the song into something unrecognisable. The magic is in recognising the original and then watching his personality slowly take over. The karaoke backing track, recorded at Justin Pierce Music studio in Dallas, actually adds to the charm, keeping the focus firmly on the character, delivery and comedy.
As the comedic alter ego of Dean Morgan, Sheldon Mashugana has already appeared across eighteen slapstick comedy films on YouTube, and this release feels like a natural extension of that universe. There is a genuine mission behind the silliness too. Morgan explains, “In today’s world there is a lot of depression and problems, Sheldon Mashugana makes things a lot nicer and happy feeling.”
Needless to say, Monster Mash is exactly the kind of wonderfully absurd Halloween release we can get behind. We have added the track to our New Music Spotlight playlist. and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream Sheldon’s debut single, Sheldon Mashugana Does Surfin Bird (Live).