Rednex

Rednex

Rednex is a Swedish manufactured techno-country band. They had an international novelty hit with the song "Cotton Eye Joe" in 1994. Although extremely popular in Europe, "Cotton Eye Joe" remains Rednex's sole hit in the United States.

History

Rednex was initially the brainchild of Swedish producers Janne Ericsson, Örjan "Öban" Öberg, Pat Reiniz and Brian Reddyb, who decided to try mixing country music with eurodance. The name "Rednex" was chosen as a misspelling of the word "rednecks". They reworked the traditional folk song "Cotton-Eyed Joe" into a dance song and released it in 1994, to huge worldwide success. This started the Country House music fad which lasted for a few years afterward.

They recorded their songs with studio musicians, and a group of redneck role players to represent the group were put together. Over the years, these performers have come and gone, and as of 2007 there have been 15 different role players. Though they were not involved in the actual music making in the beginning (except for female vocalists, which always sang on the records), they are responsible for the Rednex image and live shows as a whole, and thus are considered just as much part of the group as the actual musicians. An album titled Sex & Violins (the first album) followed the hit song, and Rednex went on to score other hits in Europe from that album (notably the up-tempo "Old Pop in an Oak" and the ballad "Wish You Were Here"). However, "Cotton Eye Joe" remains their only U.S. hit as of 2006 (#25 on the Billboard charts March 1995).

A follow up album entitled Farm Out was released in 2000 and found some success in Europe. Their single "The Spirit Of The Hawk" was the most successful, finding particular popularity in Germany.

In 2001, the single "The Chase" was released, charting in Germany, and a further top 30 position was earned in Austria, later with the release of Cotton-Eye Joe 2002. In 2003, a greatest hits album was released entitled The Best of the West. It contained a selection of the hits mentioned above (the original versions), plus new material recorded by singer 'Scarlet'.

The first female vocalist was Mary Joe (aka Karin Annika Ljungberg, who sang vocals on Sex & Violins). The second was Whippy (singing on Farm Out). The third who joined in 2000 was Scarlet (singing on Best of the West). At the end of 2004, Scarlet left to pursue a solo career and now works with top DJs, like Jan Wayne and Jekyll & Hyde. So to kick off the 2005 season, Mary Joe returned. Old members, Crock, Dagger and Ace still remained with the group, until later being replaced or leaving, due to disagreements within the group.

The group launched something of a minor comeback when they entered the song "Mama Take Me Home" in Semifinal 4 of the Swedish Melodifestivalen on 11 March 2006 in Gothenburg. They qualified for the final via the Second Chance Round, finishing an overall sixth in the final. The song "Mama Take Me Home" was subsequently released as a single in a few select European countries.

Their comeback continued as they released the single "Fe Fi (The Old Man Died)" in November 2006, after having performed it at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. It was surprisingly successful, reaching #4 in the Swedish Charts.

They also sang at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Helsinki.

In 2007 they were going to take part in the Romanian national final in the preselection for Eurovision, together with the Romanian band Ro-Mania. The song planned for the performance was Well-o-Wee. However, Rednex was disqualified since the judges deemed that several parts of the song had been published and performed as early as 2001.

In 2008 they entered the Romanian Eurovision selection once again, in another collaboration with the band Ro-Mania. The song RailRoad, RailRoad qualified for the semifinals, but failed to qualify for the final. After the withdrawal of another song however, it reentered the final contest to be held in Bucharest on February 23rd.

The new Song "Football is Our Religion" is an unofficial Song for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship which will take place in Austria and Switzerland June 2008.

In 2007, Rednex AB was put on sale on eBay, starting at $1,500,000.

Discography

Albums

Year	Single	Sweden	Austria	Belgium	Finland	Netherlands	New Zeland	Norway	Switzerland
1995	"Sex & Violins"	3	2	20	14	27	21	2	1
2000	"Farm Out"	60	34	-	-	-	-	-	16

Compilations

• The Best of the West (2003)

Singles

Year	Single	Sweden	Australia	Austria	Belgium	Finland	France	Netherlands	New Zealand	Norway	Switzerland	Europe	U.K	U.S.A. Hot 100
1994	"Cotton Eye Joe"	1	8	1	-	-	10	1	1	1	1	-	1	25
1994	"Old Pop in an Oak"	1	-	1	32	-	50	11	7	1	2	-	6	-
1995	"Wish You Were Here"	3	-	1	25	-	-	26	-	1	1	-	-	-
1995	"Wild 'N Free"	37	-	12	-	11	-	-	-	-	24	-	-	-
1995	"Rolling Home"	32	-	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1997	"Riding Alone"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	"The Way I Mate"	7	-	22	-	-	-	58	-	-	37	-	-	-
2000	"The Spirit Of The Hawk"	10	-	1	-	-	-	78	-	-	3	-	-	-
2000	"Hold Me For A While"	-	-	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	19	-	-	-
2001	"The Chase"	-	-	44	-	-	-	-	-	-	54	-	-	-
2002	"Cotton Eye Joe 2002"	-	-	32	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	"Mama Take Me Home"	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	"Fe Fi (The Old Man Died)"	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	61	-	-
2007	"Well-O-Wee" feat. Ro-Mania	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007	"Anyway You Want Me"	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007	"Looking For A Star"	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	"Railroad, Railroad" feat. Ro-Mania	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	"Football is Our Religion"	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

External links

• Rednex official website
• Rednex discography at Discogs
• Rednex official MySpace page