Monsters invade Bakersfield!

While monsters are not allowed to Mash on this blog, they are allowed (and encouraged!) to celebrate their very own holiday in other ways, such as breathing down Buck Owens' neck and putting him on the run.

Owens released "Monsters' Holiday" in 1974 and it ended up becoming one of his last big solo hits. After his longtime guitarist Don Rich died in a July 1974 motorcycle accident, Owens began to relinquish creative control to producers. As a result, his music began to sound more like country-pop than his hard-edged Bakersfield sound, which was originally a reaction against over-produced Nashville records. 

"Monster's Holiday" still rocks with Owens' signature Bakersfield style, though: electric and stripped-down with a big drum beat. These monsters are hardcore honky-tonkin' Californians, through and through! In case of confusion, this "Monsters' Holiday" is not the same-named 1962 Christmas follow-up to "The Monster Mash" by Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kickers. These monsters aren't decorating a tree or making a wishlist, they're on a West Coast rampage!