Terrorvision 'Tequila'

Chart Peak: 2

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Party anthem 'Tequila' was a No. 2 hit for Yorkshire band Terrorvision in January this year... A departure from their usual rock style, the single was given a funky re-working by dance outfit Mint Royale.

Yes, to be clear this is the Mint Royale Shot mix: the original version, produced by Edwyn Collins, features an excerpt from the Champs hit of the same title, so at least having a hit with the remix meant they kept all the publishing royalties. As I mentioned on their one previous appearance, Terrorvision had four Top 20 hits out of four from the Regular Urban Survivors album, so they must have been as disappointed as I was when they reappeared in 1998 with the Number 23 hit 'Josephine'. I bought it on pink vinyl, but not many other people did. On the other hand, I didn't buy this one and it went on to become the biggest hit of their career, so maybe it's my fault.

I've never drunk tequila in my life and indeed never been a big fan of drunkenness, so perhaps I wouldn't have liked the song so much had I not been kindly disposed to the people involved already. But as I mentioned before, Terrorvision were fun in a way that most hard-rock bands of the time weren't, and Tony Wright had proved himself an entertaining minor celebrity. Mint Royale had already come to my attention through their remix of Kenickie's 'I Would Fix You' (some fans suggested after 'Tequila' that the remix should have been the A-side) and their own single 'From Rusholme With Love' so I thought we were in good hands here. And they do succeed in making this song sound like a party, picking up the atmosphere and even leaving in some background chatter. What helps for me is that the song is about a man's love-hate relationship with the drink, in the tradition of old folk songs, rather than being a straightforward celebration. It's all very good-natured and whilst it has the same external problems as the previous track; it got overplayed and overshadowed the act's other work, I could never bring myself to dislike this.

Also appearing on: Now 33
Available on: Whales And Dolphins - The Best Of [Explicit]