I spent the 1982-83 school year in Salamanca, Spain. I was very much into music before I left for Spain so I was quite surprised how different the Top 40 was over there compared to the American charts. Some groups which were big in the US were unknown in Spain and vice versa. In Spain I also started going to discotheques (as opposed to just going out to see bands) so I got exposed a lot of new stuff there as well.

One band which was HUGE in Spain in the early 80’s was Kid Creole and the Coconuts. They were created by August Darnell (Kid Creole) and vibist Andy Hernandez (Coati Mundi) in New York City around 1980. The Coconuts part of the band was a trio of rotating back up singers. Kid Creole was one of the first multi-culti bands around in that they were white, black, Latin, Caribbean, and everything else, creole in other words. Musically their style was wide ranging too incorporating salsa, rock n roll, calypso, disco, Cab Calloway jazz and many other genres.

“Stool Pigeon”, “Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy” and “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” all charted in the UK as well but hardly made a dent in the US. “Endicott” the song I’ve chosen here is one of my favorites by them. It did air on MTV briefly but I remember it from smoky Spanish discos back in the day…