As the mind behind some of the most prolific unsettling and terrifying titles in history – including The Shining, It, Carrie and Pet Sematary – you might think that Stephen King spends his time listening to deep, brooding classical music, or perhaps some heavy metal to get himself in the horror mindset.
Not so, apparently.
In fact, during a new interview, the King Of Horror reveals he was at one point so obsessed with a certain novelty hit from the late 1990s that his wife had to sit him down and have a word with him.
During an interview with Rolling Stone, King was asked about whether rumours he was a fan of Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5, to which he confirmed: “Oh, yeah. Big time.”
“My wife threatened to divorce me,” he then admitted. “I played that a lot.”
King continued: “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’.”
Go on, shall we have it on, then? (Cover your ears, Tabitha King).
Mambo No. 5 topped the UK singles chart upon its release in 1999, while across the pond it peaked at number three (perhaps if streaming had been around in those days, King could have single-handedly pushed it to number one).
The track was later re-recorded by Lou Bega for the Disney Channel, featuring shout-outs to the company’s most popular characters in place of the women who receive name-checks in the original.
It was also covered by Bob The Builder in 2001, earning the fictional construction worker his second number one single.