The one classic rock band Stephen King “never liked”
Stephen King and music. How much of a musical maverick can we consider someone whose wife nearly left him because of his obsession with ‘Mambo No. 5’?
Yes, the catchy pop song nearly landed King’s marriage in hot water once upon a time. I mean, we all like the song, sure, but is there anybody out there who likes it as much as King? Not likely, whether it was the original or the remix, you could hear some variation of the Lou Bega hit somewhere in the King household.
“I played that a lot,” the author admitted, “I had the dance mix. I loved those extended play things, and I played both sides of it. And one of them was just total instrumental. And I played that thing until my wife just said, ‘One more time, and I’m going to fucking leave you.’”
So, I repeat, how much of a musical maverick can we consider someone whose wife nearly left him because of his obsession with ‘Mambo No. 5’? Well, it turns out, a lot of people value the opinion of this horror author when it comes to music. As someone pretty intrinsically linked with the world of rock ‘n’ roll, many consider King a go-to when it comes to head-banging recommendations, and as such, when he was doing interviews for the recent film adaptation of The Long Walk, people asked for his take on some music.
The question was what songs he would have on a playlist if he were taking part in said long walk. King admitted that it would depend on whether he was talking about when he was writing the book or when he was answering the question, as his music taste has changed a great deal in that time.
“Back then,” he confessed, “I would have picked ‘Get Together,’ by the Youngbloods, ‘Eve of Destruction,’ by Barry Maguire (sic), ‘Carol,’ by the Rolling Stones, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues,’ by (Bob) Dylan, maybe ‘Summertime Blues,’ by Eddie Cochran, ‘Rock and Roll is Here to Stay,’ by Danny and the Juniors.”
These days, things have changed slightly, given King has now become entrenched within the world of hard rock music. He has previously admitted to loving bands like AC/DC, so much so that he enlisted the help of the blues-adjacent Australians to put together the score for his film Maximum Overdrive. As such, his other recommendations were as you might expect.
“Now, I’d load my playlist with AC/DC, Rancid, Metallica, Stones, (Bruce) Springsteen,” he said, before removing one band from his playlist that might surprise a lot of people. While King might evidently have an adoration for heavier rock music, the pioneers of such a sound have never quite rubbed him the right way. Yes, turns out Stephen King hates Black Sabbath. “Not Black Sabbath,” he said, “I never liked them.”
This will no doubt come as a shock to people for a couple of reasons. The first is because a doom-metal band with mystical imagery and horror-esque themes sound like it would be right up King’s street. Secondly, all of the other bands which he said he was a fan of, arguably, wouldn’t exist were it not for Sabbath. Apparently, though, King wants nothing to do with the Birmingham rockers. He wants a little bit of Monica, Erica, Rita, Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Tina, Mary and Jessica by his side, but Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill can take a hike.
