Rednex
Rednex is a Swedish musical group whose style is a mix of country music and eurodance, with their appearance and stage names taking inspiration from American redneck stereotypes. The band has gone through multiple lineup changes throughout its existence and none of the original members remain in the band.
The name "Rednex" was chosen as a deliberate misspelling of the word "rednecks".
The group enjoyed success throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, with the novelty songs "Cotton Eye Joe", "Old Pop in an Oak", "Wish You Were Here" and "The Spirit of the Hawk" all reaching #1 in several European countries. "Cotton Eye Joe" was the group's only U.S. hit; it reached number 25 on the Billboard charts in March 1995.
Band history
1994–1995: Formation and ''Sex & Violins''
Rednex was the idea of Swedish producers Janne Ericsson, Örjan "Öban" Öberg, and Ranis Edenberg, Edenberg was inspired by a version of "Cotton-Eyed Joe" by Ricky Scaggs, added bass and a dance beat, and titled the remix "Cotton Eye Joe". They hired a band as a subcontractor to record the song. After a year, they played the remix for Martin Dodd. Over the first few years, Edenberg and his friends earned 40 to 50 million Swedish kronor.Edenberg was replaced in the band by BB Stiff after the "Cotton Eye Joe" release. The group's debut studio album titled Sex & Violins followed, spawning several more hit singles including "Old Pop in an Oak" and the ballad "Wish You Were Here". Two more tracks of the album, "Wild 'N Free" and "Rolling Home", were released and became moderate hits. A promotional one-off single, the Nicole cover version "Ein bißchen Frieden", was released and labeled as "Collo Rossi" for the release.
1996–1997: Departure of Ljungberg and ''Riding Alone''
In 1996, Rednex were featured on the charity single "Children", as part of the supergroup "Hand in Hand for Children". That year, Ljungberg was fired partly due to disagreements with the other band members, and pursued a solo career.In 1997, the remaining four men released "Riding Alone", out of Sex & Violins, two years after the previous release "Rolling Home". Arstrand started a side project that same year called Explode, a progressive power metal band, and released the debut studio album Live Forever in Sweden.
1998–2000: ''Farm Out'' and controversial lineup changes
In autumn 1998, Whippy became the new female vocalist. They released their first single "The Way I Mate" in 1999. Soon after that release, Arstrand left the band, reducing the quintet to a quartet. The second studio album entitled Farm Out followed in 2000 and found some success in Europe, with the most successful single from the album, the second release "The Spirit of the Hawk", peaking #1 in the German Singles Chart. The album spawned a third and final single, the ballad "Hold Me for a While", which became a moderate success. In 2000, due to the rise in popularity of Napster, co-founder Edenberg changed the group to an entertainment group rather than just a band, so not to be solely dependent on record sales. As he presented this idea to the performers during the video shoot for "Hold Me For A While" in Kenya, he was met by great scepticism. Nilsson replied: "We will not become a goddamn circus act!". The aftermath of this conflict resulted in the whole band, all four members, Löfgren, Olander, Nilsson and Landgren, being replaced for the first time.2001–2004: ''The Best of the West'' and more lineup changes
As of January 2001, the group consisted of the female lead singer Scarlet from England, alongside the three male members Dagger from Sweden, Joe Cagg and Jay Lee from the Netherlands. It was the first time the band were not all Swedish. In 2001, the single "The Chase", the first single out of their 2002 first compilation album The Best of the West, was released and charted in Germany and Switzerland. In 2002, the second and final single from the album, a reworked 2002 remix of "Cotton Eye Joe", was released and made the Top 30 in Austria. In 2003, the two Dutchmen van der Haagen and Engeln were replaced by Ace Ratclaw from Sweden and Boneduster Crock from Germany. In October 2004, Tulley resigned from the group due to exhaustion.2005–2006: Return of Ljungberg and Comeback
In 2006, original female vocalist Ljungberg returned as Tulley's replacement in the group, she was assigned exclusive rights to license the Rednex trademark until January 1, 2009. During this period the group's focus shifted towards Scandinavia. In January 2005, Ljungberg fired Scheffler, replacing him with her husband Snake. In 2006, Sandberg was also fired and replaced by Maverick. Four former members, Scheffler and Sandberg, alongside Tulley and van der Haagen, and later in April 2007 joined by Penten, also a former Rednex member, began to tour under the name "Rednex Tribute".Rednex performed at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Helsinki.
In March 2006, Rednex entered the song "Mama, Take Me Home" in Semifinal 4 of the Melodifestivalen in Gothenburg. They qualified for the final via the Second Chance Round, finishing an overall sixth in the final. "Mama, Take Me Home" was released as a single in a few European countries.
The band released the second single "Fe Fi " in November 2006, after having performed it at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. The single peaked #4 in the Swedish Single chart.
In February 2007, the band competed to be Romania's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 but was rejected after it was determined that their song, "Well-o-wee", was not an original release.
In May 2007, the producers that owned the band's trademarks offered the band for sale for $1.5 million via eBay; however, Ljungberg disputed what the producers really owned. There were no offers.
2009–2011: Second departure of Ljungberg and Singles
On January 1, 2009, after the end of Ljungberg's management licence, control of the Rednex brand returned to the band's founders. The remaining Rednex personnel Ljungberg, Lundström and Sylsjö were fired by the returning management following a dispute, and were replaced by members of the "Rednex Tribute", all themselves former official Rednex. It was the second time the whole lineup had been replaced simultaneously.In January 2010, Rednex released "Devil's On The Loose", in a partnership with The Pirate Bay for free and legal download worldwide. A video for the track was recorded in August 2009 in Norrbyggeby, Sweden. The song was released as the first single from the planned album Saturday Night Beaver, which was never released due low single sales. Tulley soon also left Rednex for a second time, and was replaced by Dakotah, former singer in the Swedish dansband Nova, making her the fourth official female lead singer of Rednex.
2012–2014: Second departure of Tulley and Singles
In January 2012, Rednex dissolved the concept of a permanent band, intending instead to use a larger pool of characters from which one female and three male performers would be chosen for each performance. The pool of performers in 2012 included permanent members Flood, Sandberg, van der Haagen and Penten alongside possible replacements Scheffler, new male member Rufus Jones and new female vocalists Abby Hick and Misty Mae. At the time of the dissolution of the permanent Rednex lineup Tulley again left the band.The second single "Racing" was released in May 2012. This was followed in November 2012 by "The End". The video for "The End" was recorded on September 2, 2012, at Garay Utca, the "ghetto of Budapest" and is a "flowumentary". In a post on Facebook, Rednex refuted the notion that "The End" is related to 2012 doomsday theories. The band in these two videos consisted of Flood, van der Haagen, Sandberg and Penten with Rufus Jones making a cameo appearance in "The End" video.
2015–2017: Return of Löfgren
In 2015, second female singer Löfgren replaced Flood and rejoined the band. Scheffler returned to the group. On New Year's Day, Rednex recorded a music video for "Innit for the Money". The single for "Innit for the Money" followed in 2016.In February performers Cassidy, Rattler, and Pervis the Palergator joined the band. Cassidy left Rednex 3 months later.
In August 2017, the band reproduced their song "Wish You Were Here" specially to perform at the Carl Howell Memorial Music Festival in Carson City, Nevada, to honor fallen Deputy Carl Howell, who was killed while responding to a domestic violence call.
On New Year's Eve 2017, Rednex played for the fourth time at the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin.
2018–2024: Manly Man, livestream and performer turbulence
In early 2018, the Rednex performer pool grew to include 17 people, the highest number so far. Added to the pool were Zoe, Moe Lester the Limp and Jiggie McClagganahan.The single and video "Manly Man" was released in July 2018. The video was recorded in Jelcz-Laskowice, Poland, at a crime scene, without prior authorization. It was criticized by several artist colleagues for being vulgar, sexist, obscene and promoting weapons and alcohol. The main characters are Dagger and Misty Mae, though all 25 Rednex performers through history are featured at some point through video flashbacks.
In August 2018, Rednex started a live streaming channel on Twitch and claimed to be the first pop band, with a worldwide hit to their name, to live stream themselves 24/7 in connection to all their shows. During the same weekend, August 10-12th, Rednex performed with three different line-ups in three different territories, totaling 13 performers, which was a new record. Zoe, Moe Lester the Limp, Spades and Pervis the Palergator did shows in Romania and Hungary, while Billy Ray, Ace Ratclaw, Boneduster Crock, Misty Mae and Jiggie McClagganahan did shows in East Germany, and Abby Hick, Rattler, Cash and Joe Cagg did shows in West Germany.
In September, Abby Hick, Rattler, Boneduster Crock and Joe Cagg left Rednex. Whippy, Billy Ray and BB Stiff became reserves, reducing the pool to 10 performers. The band was still for sale for €2,000,000.
On New Year's Eve 2023, the band was sold to Original Boneduster Crock's son Hollerin’ Fox Duster Bonesteak.
In January 2024, Anders Sandberg died, aged 55.
In April 2024, the music video for "Cotton Eye Joe" received 3 billion views on YouTube in 26 days, breaking a record, after a meme made it a viral video.