ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega

Speaking of mambo (or mamba) have you ever thought of covering "Knee Deep in the Hoopla" by Starship for Train Wreckords? I just learned that "We Built This City" has shown up on the top of a lot of "Worst Pop Song of the 80s" lists, which is surprising to me, and would love to hear your take on the history of the band and the album. No pressure, of course, but if you ever decide to take a crack at it, I will devour it!

Call Me Christina {PuellaDocta}

Yo Todd, can you do a OHW on Wayne Wonder?

Please Do a OHW on Stay by Eternal

Michael Jones Jr.

A Girl Like You by Edwyn Collins for OHW Spooktacular? (with the devil imagery and the appearance in Lucifer)

Simon Ritter

great shout!

Albert Farkas

Werewolves of London for OHW Spooktacular Edition

Nick DeCicco

Coincidence? I think not.

Rish Outfield

. . . and then the swirlies began.

Rish Outfield

Hey Todd, when you get back from vacation can you consider doing a One Hit Wonderland on Gucci Gucci by Kreayshawn. It's a great rap song and Kreayshawn has a tragic story with her record label to boot

BMJ614

joke's on you: Mambo #5 is my favorite song from when I was 10, s o h a

Ducky of Bulk Noise

I absolutely unironically love mambo number honk and it is the best thing to come from this one hit wonder

Lanth

Back in the late 90s I called this genre "Fun Music" - it was a long party from 1997-2001. Music that was fun and unpretentious: You throw on a playlist of Lou Bega, TLC, Goo Goo Dolls, Brandy, Britney, Sixpence, and no one is too worried about the future. Heck, even Creed's big hit from 1999 was positive and happy. BTW, fun trivia from this song: It was banned from the Democratic National Convention in 2000. The line "A little bit of Monica" may have had something to do with it...

Justin V

Yeah, I was just out of college when this song went nuts. I know we can't re-create the energy of counting down to a new millennium (excuse me, Will-ennium) but there was a lot of fun around that time -- tons of musical diversity too. Rap? Boy Bands? Nu-Metal? Ska? Latin? Crooners? Alt-rock? Hip-hop? All there on one chart.

Justin V

This is my cousin's go to Karaoke song

gerald oxford

This needs to be a song vs song with Steal My Sunshine by Len.

Keith Badje

I done some smack in Texas, done some ludes in Rome/ Snorted coke off a nuns a** in the Vatican dome.

Keith Badje

My parents bought that cd. I was determined to hate it, but honestly, it was and still is a fun listen. I play it for my kids sometimes now.

Not sure if it would be necessary, but the only suggestion I can think of is maybe a flashing/flickering lights warning before 10:58? Anyway, this may be Mambo No. 5, but your videos are always Mambo No. 1 in our hearts

Laura Tate

I was half expecting his failed followup to be a song about drug addiction.

Specter Koen

Great episode! Minor editing error around 7:40, your voice cuts in halfway through the word “Bega.” Also Todd (and anyone else reading this) needs to listen to the Manu Chao album “Clandestino,” which has the original “Bongo Bong” and is just an absolute killer record.

the purple shaman

I’ve always wondered what that Kung Fu sounding guy going “hiya!” In the background is supposed to be. Like who tf was producing this and said “oh yeah we need to have this in here.”

"The Vatican Dome", like, is he seeing a nun or something?

Grace

fun fact: Bob the Builder's cover of Mambo No. 5 topped the charts in the UK. It also hit #2 in Australia.

I, II, II, IL

I definitely had the sense that Lou Bega had no interest in developing his career as an artist: he got big with one song, went 'this is as good as it'll get', and rode that for as long as it had legs I remember feeling a little contemptuous of that when I first heard of it in the early 2000s, but these days I know better; his was the kind of hit that you cannot build a creatively varied career on. Everyone's there for the novelty, not for the creative possibilities of electromambo.

Matt Cramp

I’m sorry, “I got a girl in Rome, I even got a girl in the Vatican Dome” is one of my favourite stupid-genius lines I’ve ever heard.

CS Drennan

Swing dance is still here! Lots of clubs around the country hold dances and stuff; it never went away.

This was my FAVOURITE song when I was like....4, because my name is in it. I completely agree with the end, the world would absolutely be missing something without this silly song in it.

Ha, Todd’s first sentence was exactly my thought when I saw this. Surely you’d done this one already!

Ryan Lind

definitely never ever heard of this song before. Also Black-Eyed Peas are good and not annoying.

RedBedroomRecords

Be glad he at least had the dignity not to record "Mambo No. Sex", which yes, is a real Perez Prado ripoff of its own.

Jacqueline Sailer

Have a nice break Todd! I also feel like I need a month long break after hearing that bicycle horn cover x_X

Seamus Yossarian (A Serpent Perplexed)

My mon likes to tell the story of the time she was doing chores around the house while I was watching Disney Channel around the time the song was super popular (so I would have been in kindergarten), and when she heard the opening bars to Mambo No. 5, she RAN to turn off the tv lest I hear inappropriate lyrics. However when she got there she realized I was happily watching the Disney version’s music video and my ears remained pure 😅

Jen

Most of all I firmly recall the duet version he performed with Pikachu on the same Kids WB block featured in this episode. It was, naturally, called "Pika Pika."

maruhkati

"A Little Bit of Mambo" was the first album I ever bought with my own money. I saved up a little allowance and lawnmowing money and made my way to Wal Mart. My hometown didn't have a Sam Goody, which is the lone detail keeping this from being the most stereotypical "ONLY 90'S KIDS REMEMBER" Reddit post possible.

maruhkati

Are you really going to bring up the Bob the Building cover without mentioning it went to Number One in the UK?? Still makes me laugh 20 years later!

Dorian Wainwright

For all those curious, the first four Mambos can be found in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C4uBDXvoXg

Russet Burbank

A high note to go out on. Enjoy the break

Nowhere Girl

God when the bike horns came back on at the very end I lost it, great choice

Zachary McAnally

i enjoyed the five minutes in 2014 when this song wasn't in my head. (enjoy your break, man--i hope it helps. and for what it's worth, i've been getting a lot of comfort out of rewatching your videos lately. good stuff, all around.)

Zack Handlen

Hot Dad rules

Wyatt

I was 11/12 in 1999 and this song was such a hit with kids because we would sing it with each other’s names in it and it’s the kind of song where the sexiness goes over kids’ heads. “A little bit of Mary all night long” like when we stay up late watching movies and giggling at slumber parties!!!

Kind of weird to see Mike Bullard pop up interviewing Lou at 5:43. He seems so specific to late 90s/early 2000s late-night Canadian TV that it feels odd to see him in any other context

Don McHoull

Also I had no idea he did a cover of Bongo Bong/King of the Bongo and I'm gonna have to go listen to that now!

I saw Lou Bega in 2019 in Oslo at We Love the 90s. He performed this and I Got A Girl. He had a sense of humor about it at least.

Felicia Prehn

Mambo #5 is my go-to karaoke song. I luv it so much. Thank you for diving into it.

It's true that people, including me, knew he would be a one-hit-wonder from the first time I heard it (though, like you, I did hear "Tricky Tricky" a few times). Also: If you think this song is #problematic, don't check out parodies called "Combo #5" or "Matzah #5."

Jon Heiman

I forgive Lou Bega for everything now that I know he made a tribute to Scatman John.

Home Theater of Cruelty

I admit I like this song but it's mainly because I'm a pretty good swing dancer (it was basically the one thing to do in my town when you were under 21, go dancing on Tuesdays, and I'm a jazz drummer so I already knew the music) so I can flex at weddings and shit.

The horns are awesome. No wonder it has so many knock-offs.

Beau Dure

Bike horn covers will never not be funny to me.

please enjoy your break... you desere it with all the content you make

duke86fan

I'm glad the Scatman song ended up in this.

Harrison Bieth

I went through all five stages of grief in that 15-second passage

Cameron Cook

I'm glad the Bob the Builder version got mentioned because I can say one of my favourite pieces of dark trivia, that being that it was the number 1 song in the UK when 9/11 happened.

Chris Renwick

Enjoy your break, I hope it does you good.

I remember it more from the Fox Kids version! I see you have WB, but I specifically remember a fox kids one too... am I wrong? Maybe worth including?

Taylor Abrahamse

I have to say, I think Tricky Tricky has held up pretty well in being in the US music consciousness. I knew it the second it started playing, and might be his most enjoyable single to listen to (but Mambo No.5 is the karoake king)

I stumbled across that “Scatman vs. Hatman” song after your episode on Scatman John. And I thought that it was just a beautiful convergence of one hit wonderdom. Glad you mentioned it.

ElectricGecko

today i learned the ending song to Stuart little is NOT mambo no 5 like my memory told me....

Brittney With An E

Lou Bega is a big enough deal for five OHW so rest easy todd

John Rogan

Hold on a minute: In "I Got a Girl" he lists the countries of the world she's from and in "Tricky, Tricky" he's listing the currencies of countries she's used--is Lou Bega's girl Carmen Sandiego?

Joe G

Had to pause the video less than three minutes in to say the thing you do with the hat and voice sample at 2:42 is the single coldest thing you’ve ever done and I love it so

The Hand Of The People

Had a soft spot for this one. I played in a big band swing ensemble that my dad and his friends had, so I learned a few songs from Perez Prado, Xavier Cugat and their contemporaries. But mambo dancing wasn't high energy enough to get swept up in the swing revival, so it was never going to spark a trend.

Joe G

"This was the last of the Mambos...The name of the track is Mambo No. 5"

Joe G

One of my favourite details: Even when it was at the top of the charts, everyone knew it was a one hit wonder and were making fun of it for that reason. http://brunching.com/loubega.html

Sean Riley

Take all the time you need to relax, duder. But also if you'd ever consider it I'd love to hear you cover "Jerk It Out" by Caesars Palace, tbfh

Cameron Kirkpatrick

Have you heard of Revolution No. 5 by Neil Cicireiga? That’s some cursed shit there

CarlWheezer24

It's awesome how much I learn watching these videos!

Jennifer Layton

Too bad the bike horn version kind of has to be the end credits, cause Hot Dad did a marvellous cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFZChBPQvXY

walterxbenjamin

oh my, that song vs. song... that's a juicy one! also, after covering this one you deserve a year long break mate. take all the time you need

surasshu

I've always assumed Mambos 1-3 were destroyed lest they bring peace to the galaxy. Or maybe they just sank into a swamp. Mambo #4 either disappeared off the map (probably through time-travel shenanigans), or it may have burned down, fell over, and sank into a swamp.

Josh Liller

Hi! The song titled "Bongo Bong" around the 18:30 mark sounds like it's a cover of the Manu Chao song of the same name: https://youtu.be/cfLIlP-GAmg

As someone who graduated high school in 1999, I desperately miss that "endless supply of happy energy" (and $0.99/gallon gasoline and a decent lunch or matinee movie for $5). I don't have any high school glory days to be nostalgic for, but the zietgiest of the late 90s was just so much more upbeat than the last two decades.

Josh Liller

Man, between this and Whoomp There It Is, how is this TWO ‘90’s One-Hit Wonder acts you’ve covered this year that have had Disney-fried versions done of their big hits?

Tom Carter

Even before you did this episode I was expecting the end credits music to be the Bob the Builder cover. At least it got mentioned.

Unfortunately, I heard the Disney version first, so every time I hear the original I think "This feels off"

Ellie Davis

Thanks for getting this out, Todd. Enjoy your break, dude!

Vinyl Acropolis

NGL, as soon as Gina G started playing I pumped the volume all the way up!

Kit Whittaker

I appreciate Lou Bega's commitment to good vibes. It's hard to get mad at him.

Juan Nunez

you deserve a break, guy. Rest up.

candidgamera

Todd, no reference to how Lou Bega was a playable character profile in the first Tropico game (right next to, among others, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Augusto Pinochet)? Son, I am disappoint.

Empyre18

So when I was in grade school, there was one talent show where this kid re-wrote Mambo No.5 but with teacher’s names.

Yvette

Audibly gasped when I saw the thumbnail. Finally… this white whale shall be conquered.

Shiny Skunk

"1999, the last good year" - I feel like Todd and James Acaster would get along.

Man, I didn't realize how good the 90s were until literally everything that happened after the 90s happened. This isn't mindless nostalgia, I know there was a lot of shit we were pissed off about, but compared to NOW...

Alright, great to see you getting to this! This is probably one of your most requested episodes EVER, and this should be fun to see!

Tom Carter

Ooooah!

GregD

Now this is one I've been waiting for! Still praying for a third wave ska episode.

waywardlaser

Hope your doing Ok

YoCallMeRob

Woo! I’ve been asking for this one for years. Such an icon of my childhood.

Henry Kiley