Destination Zululand - King Kurt

King Kurt are best known for this single, 'Destination Zululand', which was their biggest hit in the UK, peaking at number 36 in October 1983. The rockabilly band played rowdy gigs where nobody left the room unscathed. A good example of their live presence can be seen in this YouTube video of 'Destination Zululand'.

Subtitled 'Humdiddledu mhoowahaya', this song was produced by Dave Edmunds.

My collection: 7" single no. 5431
Found: unknown
Tracks: 'Destination Zululand' / 'She's as hairy'

Banana banana - King Kurt

Music doesn't always have to be serious. The psychobilly rock band King Kurt specialised in wild and funny singles, such as the hilarious cover version of Mack the knife which I described previously.

In August 1984, they followed up that single with 'Banana banana', a 2'38 minute piece of fun that reached number 54 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 5430
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag

Cost: 3,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Banana banana' / 'Bo Diddley goes east'

Mack the knife - King Kurt

Purists would probably hate King Kurt's version of 'Mack the knife', because it is slightly over the top. Originally entitled 'Die Moritat von Mackie Messer' ('The ballad of Mack the knife'), the track was composed by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht for their music drama 'Die Dreigroschenoper', which premiered in Berlin in 1928.

The 'psychobilly' band King Kurt had a minor hit with the track in 1984, reaching number 55 in the UK singles chart. The video was a regular on the music television channel Music Box. In the early Eighties, King Kurt were known for their stage performances in which eggs and bags of flour were thrown around and buckets of wallpaper paste dumped into the audience. Sometimes they also had a large wheel on stage called 'The Wheel of Misfortune' which fans were strapped to and force fed Snakebite through a tube pushed down into the throat, then spun round until they threw up. Nice...

My collection: 7" single no. 2279

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, May 6, 1995

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'Mack the knife' / 'Wreckaparty rock'

Download: here