Cotton Eye Joe Hitmakers Rednex Return With Another 'Turkey'

There was barely a 90s school disco that didn't have Cotton Eye Joe blaring from the speakers. In 1995, Rednex emerged from Sweden to inflict their hybrid of American country folk and bad Eurodance on the world. The classic tune hit #1 across Europe and the UK and peaked at #8 here in Australia. Known as a one-hit wonder, the band actually did have other songs- many of them direct rip offs of their own original hit. The followup Old Pop In An Oak was essentially Cotton Eye Joe with new lyrics while their attempt at a comeback in 1999, The Way I Mate was..... well, Cotton Eye Joe with new lyrics. 

The "band" was essentially some producers with a bunch of haggard-looking actors miming instruments or simply dancing in an old fashioned hoedown with missing teeth. The last of their original members left in 2020 and the band have continued largely as a nostalgia covers act on the live circuit (even creating a New Zealand-based version of the band in 2012). 

The band made headlines in 2007 when the band's owners tried to sell the band including all copyrights in their catalogue and the rights to tour the band for the bargain price of US$3 million. The price eventually dropped to $1.5 million when they placed the whole business on eBay. It did not attract any bids. 

The band then released a new single in 2010 exclusively on The Pirate Bay as a free and legal download. The track was supposed to be the first single from a new album Saturday Night Beaver, but due to unprecedented fan  interest in not caring, the album remained shelved. There were more cast changes, more singles that didn't go anywhere and even a Twitch channel launch. In 2018 they had another crack at selling the band for 2 million Euros and kicked off a fan club where you could, for a yearly fee, get exclusive merch and even a performance at your house depending on how much you pledged. Turns out that didn't go well either because the club has been dissolved and the band are going back to a more traditional business model... dropping bangers.

Fast forward to 2022 and it seems like the world is ready for the return of Rednex. COVID is over and we're ready for the second coming of the underrated musical genius of Rednex, so how do you announce the return of such an act? 

With a reworking of Turkey In The Straw of course. The new single is Glad Rags Jug and it's everything you expect from a Rednex jam. Frankly, that's not much. And if you go into it expecting that, then you won't be disappointed. We'd love to report that the band's classic sound has moved with the times, but it really hasn't. The song is more annoying, the vocals are weaker, the video is lower budget and it doesn't have the novelty factor of Cotton Eye Joe, given its yet another straight rip. 

Is it the worst thing to happen to music in 2022? Well. You be the judge.