Prefab Sprout - The King of Rock 'n' Roll
Another mondegreen for a name, or so some sources would have you believe, with singer-songrwiter Paddy McAloon supposedly mishearing a line from the song “Jackson” (“We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout”). It’s a nice story, but seemingly as invented as the name itself, which McAloon liked for its air of mystery, not giving anything away about the band or the music. And because it was less awful than Chrysalis Cognosci, another contender.
The King of Rock n Roll is a straightforward account of a former one-hit-wonder, accompanied by a somewhat strange video, in which the band lounge around by a pool, and which takes the nicely literal approach of featuring a frog and some hot dogs. It’s a frothy piece of nothing, mercilessly featured in Spaced as the first song that plays when Daisy Steiner, looking to bring add a bit of spice to a housewarming, brings out the Party Mix tape. Daisy, completing the mondegreen circle, replaces Albuquerque in the lyric with ‘I’m a cookie’, and as the episode continues, the tape rolls mercilessly on, through “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis, “Centerfold” by J Geils Band, and that Don McLean song, until Tim is finally broken by Time Warp. We’ve all been there.
I still quite like it, though. The King of Rock n Roll, that is. Not Time Warp. God I hate Time Warp.