While every music fan could be found guilty from time to time of using the repeat button a little too often on their favorite songs, classic thriller novelist Stephen King almost found himself single listening to Lou Bega's 1999 hit.
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In a new interview with Rolling Stone, writer Stephen King -- the man who gave us The Shining, Pet Sematary, It, and tons of other creepy classics -- spoke a little about his musical taste. And yes, of course, it's odd. King admits back in 2011 he became a "big time" fan of German singer Lou Bega's dance remixes of his 1999 hit "Mambo No. 5 ( A Little Bit Of...)," so much so that Tabitha, his wife of 52 years, threatened to leave him.
Play that a few times above and picture King singing along, "A little bit of Tabitha..."
“My wife threatened to divorce me,” King explains. “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 f***ing leave you.'”
Over the years, King says he's enjoyed incorporating music into his writing process -- listening to techno or disco with no lyrics in order to keep his focus sharp -- and noting artists like Fatboy Slim and LCD Soundsystem as favorites. “I can just listen to that stuff. If you tried to write and listen to Leonard Cohen, how the f*** would you do that?” King asks. “Because you’d have to listen to the words and you’d have to listen to what he’s saying. But with some of the techno stuff, or KC and the Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor, it’s all good.”
These days, however, Stephen has put down the glowsticks and settled into some good ‘ol Classic Rock and even some Country. “I’ve slowed down a little bit, or the thought process is not as limber as it was when I was say 30, 35,” he says. He counts Foghat, Bob Seger, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, and newcomer Oliver Anthony as his favorites now, although he admits he hasn't even heard the latter’s massive hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” just yet. “I haven’t heard the song... but I’ve seen pictures of him. He’s got a beard and he’s got a cool guitar.”
Check out the full interview right here.
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