Tags
#1 single, banjos, Cotton Eye Joe, debut, Eurodance, fiddles, Music, One Hit Wonder, Rednex, Sex & Violins, Swedish
Cotton Eye Joe (Internal Affairs (UK)/Battery (North Ameria)/ZYX (Germany), 1994)
In August 1994, Swedish Eurodance group Rednex had a massive hit on their hands with Cotton Eye Joe. Rednex loves to combine Eurodance beats with traditional American instruments (think banjos and fiddles). Cotton Eye Joe was taken from their debut album Sex & Violins. Cotton Eye Joe was a major hit in Europe; it spent 15 weeks at #1 in Norway, 13 in Switzerland, 10 in Germany, 8 in Sweden, 7 in Austria and 3 in the UK. It was also #1 in New Zealand for 6 weeks. In the U.S., it peaked at #25.
Blender magazine listed the song at #38 on their list of the “50 Worst Songs Ever.” MTV Dance placed it at #51 on their list of “The 100 Biggest 90s Dance Anthems of All Time.” Paste magazine calls it the 17th best of “60 Best Dancefloor Classics.”