King Kurt

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King Kurt was a 1980s psychobilly rock band from the UK.

1 Career
2 Specials
3 Discography
4 Source
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Career

They formed in 1981 with Jef Harvey on vocals, replaced by "Smeg" (Gary Cayton) after their "Zulu Beat" 7in single, and before the Stiff Records contract; Paul ("Thwack") Laventhol, and John Reddington on guitars; Rory Lyons on drums; Bert Boustead on bass guitar, plus schoolboy "Maggot" on saxophone. Originally known as Rockin' Kurt & The Sour Krauts before settling for King Kurt.

They had a few minor hit singles that featured in the UK Singles and UK Indie Charts, such as "Zulu Beat", "Mack The Knife" and "Banana Banana", along with their Top Forty hit - "Destination Zululand ".

During 1988 the band effectively split, though between 1992 and 1996 the group featuring three of the original members were performing as a live act. John Reddington, on the other hand, is now a solicitor with the London office of Jones Day

[edit] Specials

In the early 80s, King Kurt were known for their stage performance in which eggs and bags of flour were thrown around and buckets of wallpaper paste dumped into the audience. They also had a wheel which a fan was strapped to and force fed beer or cider, then spun round until he vomited.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

	Year	Title	Chart Position	Record Label
	1982	"Zulu Beat" / "Rockin' Kurt"	dnc	Thin Sliced Records
Oct	1983	"Destination Zululand" / "She's as Hairy"	#36	Stiff Records
Apr	1984	"Mack the Knife" / "Wreck a Party Rock"	#55	Stiff Records
Aug	1984	"Banana Banana" / "Bo Diddley Goes East"	#54	Stiff Records
Jun	1985	"Billy" / "Back on the Dole"	#81	Stiff Records
Sep	1985	"Road to Rack n Ruin" / "Poppa Wobbler"	#94	Stiff Records
Nov	1985	"Slammers" / "Ape Hour"	dnc	Stiff Records
Nov	1986	"America" / "High and Mighty"	#73	Polydor
May	1987	"Land of Ring Dang Do" / "Zulu Beat" / "Horatio" / "Gather Your Limbs"	#67	Polydor
	1988	"Bye Bye Baby" / "Prussian Stomp" – (as The Kurts)	dnc	GWR