"Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Kunts | ||||
Released | 27 May 2022 | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
Length | 1:46 | |||
Label | Radical Rudeness | |||
The Kunts singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" on YouTube |
"Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" is a 2022 punk rock single by The Kunts, a band created by the dark comedy singer Kunt and the Gang. The song is directed at Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and references his relationship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; the word "nonce" is British prison slang referring to child molesters or, more generally, pedophiles. The song reached No. 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and No. 1 in the UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Singles Sales Chart. The song is a follow-up to the band's previous tracks "Boris Johnson Is a Fucking Cunt" from 2020, and "Boris Johnson Is Still a Fucking Cunt" from 2021.
In May 2022, Kunt announced in a newsletter that the Kunts would release "Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" on 27 May, to coincide with the charts at the time of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II on 3 June. As with the previous chart attempts, multiple versions of the song and 24-hour streams were released. Versions have been made by Ricardo Autobahn and Rob Manuel. [1] The tracks were released by the band's independent Radical Rudeness label. [2] In the newsletter, Kunt said that the song was: "our attempt for the Jubilee chart Number 2 (let's face it, even if we did sell enough they'd never let it be Number 1 anyway!)" This references the Sex Pistols song "God Save the Queen", which reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart during Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee (1977), leading to claims that the song was deliberately kept off No. 1. [3] In a press note, Kunt said the single was intended to reopen the conversation around Prince Andrew at a time the establishment wanted to hide it, and in particular Prince Andrew's relationships with Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre. [2]
The song's lyrics and promotion exploit the poorly received 2019 Newsnight interview in which Prince Andrew alleged an inability to sweat to rebut one accusation and a trip to PizzaExpress in Woking as an alibi for another. It also refers to Andrew's out-of-court settlement of Giuffre's lawsuit, for an undisclosed amount reported at £12 million by some news sources.
The song features a satirical reworking of the nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York", which includes the following lyrics:
A video for the song was to be released on Kunt's YouTube channel on 20 May, but on 19 May the channel was taken down before he was able to post it. Within half-an-hour he appealed, but this was turned down. Kunt criticised the channel's removal saying it was "most unusual" for it to be taken down the day before the video's debut. He also said it was annoying that unlike "Boris Johnson Is a Fucking Cunt", which was not played on radio due to the swearing, "Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" has no swearing, and the only explicit content is at the end when a man playing Prince Andrew has his naked buttocks censored by a PizzaExpress logo (though with the words "Pizza Express" replaced by "Sweaty Nonce"). [4] He thus encouraged his followers to download the video from the song's website princeandrew.info and post it on as many YouTube channels as possible. [5]
The song peaked at No. 1 on the UK iTunes charts on 2 June 2022, with another version of the song peaking at #7 on the same day. [6] The song also achieved #74 on the Worldwide iTunes charts. [7] At 4:06 PM, the song achieved No. 1 on the Amazon Charts for Music. On 2 June 2022, the song reached #3 on the Trending Page of YouTube Music. Kunt attacked media outlets for not playing the song, complaining about being denied freedom of speech. [8]
To promote the song, Kunt hosted a flash mob on 29 May at the Woking PizzaExpress. [5] The band also put out a video of the "Randy Andy's Memory Loss Remix" via the website Chortle, which uses footage from the Newsnight interview. [9] In the mid-week Singles Chart update on 30 May, "Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce" reached No. 36. [10]
The song's cover image shows Prince Andrew, holding a slice of pizza while smiling and sweating profusely. He stands underneath a string of bunting made from Union Jack pennants, with one section replaced with a slice of pizza. [11]
Before the song was released, Andy Malt at Complete Music Update compared the song to "God Save the Queen", saying that the Kunts make the Sex Pistols track "seem a bit twee". [12]
On 31 May 2022, the Official Charts Twitter account announced it was one of the 'highest trending' songs in the UK. [13] In June 2022, at the Glastonbury Festival, graffiti of the words 'Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce' appeared. Kunt responded to the news saying that it was: "Nice to see the good folk at Glastonbury are ready to welcome Prince Andrew back into public life." [14]
On 6 April 2023, the Kunts announced they would be releasing a follow-up song under the new name the Krown Jewels. The song, "Scrap the Monarchy", was released on 5 May 2023, the day before the coronation of Charles III and Camilla. [15]
The performers on the track are:
Chart (2022) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles (OCC) [16] | 20 |
UK Indie (OCC) [17] | 1 |
"The Grand Old Duke of York" is an English children's nursery rhyme, often performed as an action song. The eponymous duke has been argued to be a number of the bearers of that title, particularly Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827), and its lyrics have become proverbial for futile action. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 742.
Travis are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1990, and composed of Fran Healy, Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop, and Neil Primrose. The band's name comes from the character Travis Henderson from the film Paris, Texas (1984). The band released their debut album, Good Feeling (1997), to moderate success where it debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart and was later awarded a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 2000.
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was later included on their only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
www.tism.wanker.com is the fourth studio album by Australian alternative rock group TISM, released in June 1998. The album peaked at number 26 on the ARIA charts.
Singles 93–03 is a compilation album by English electronic music duo The Chemical Brothers, released on 22 September 2003. It is a collection of singles from the duo between 1993 and 2003, plus two new songs "Get Yourself High" and "The Golden Path". Early copies of the CD came with a bonus CD. It was certified gold by the BPI on 24 October 2003.
John Matthews, better known by his stage name Ricardo Autobahn, is an English producer, songwriter and musician. He is also known in collaborations with Daz Sampson as in Rikki & Daz and the projects like Barndance Boys, Cuban Boys, and his current project Spray.
Rob Manuel is the English co-founder of the website B3ta.
Jonathan Morter is an English radio DJ, social media pioneer and campaigner. He helped launch various internet campaigns. He launched the Condescending Corporate Brand Page, a page that harshly ridicules corporate social media techniques.
Kunt and the Gang is a British dark musical comedy songwriter and performer from Basildon, Essex. Despite the "and the Gang" in the stage name, the act comprises a single performer, whose real name is Wayne Clements.
Azealia Amanda Banks is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. She subsequently signed with Interscope and Polydor Records before separating in 2013. Banks became an independent artist and started her own independent record label, Chaos & Glory Recordings. She later signed to Parlophone and Warner Records before quitting her label in 2023.
"Sing" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, of Take That, and British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and performed by a number of artists assembled by Barlow from across The Commonwealth, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The track was released via digital download and CD single on 28 May 2012, and was performed as part of the Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert celebrations on 4 June 2012.
English glam rock singer Gary Glitter released seven studio albums, four live albums, 13 compilation albums, one extended play (EP) and 42 singles, including three UK number-one singles. He became known for his energetic live performances and extremely glam rock image of glitter suits, make-up, and platform boots.
Lewis Marc Capaldi is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was nominated for the Critics' Choice Award at the 2019 Brit Awards. Capaldi also won the 2020 Brit Award for Best New Artist. In March 2019, his single "Someone You Loved" (2018) topped the UK Singles Chart where it remained for seven weeks, and in November 2019, it reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; it was nominated at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and won the 2020 Brit Award for Song of the Year. "Someone You Loved" was the bestselling single of 2019 in the UK. In May 2020, it was announced that Capaldi's song "Someone You Loved" had become the longest-running top 10 UK single of all time by a British artist.
Mark Ian Hoyle, known professionally as LadBaby, is an English YouTuber, musician, and blogger. His content focuses on his experiences as a father and is usually filmed in collaboration with his wife, Roxanne. The couple garnered the Christmas Number One on the UK Singles Chart for five years from 2018 to 2022, the most consecutive and overall for any artist, with the sausage roll-themed novelty songs "We Built This City", "I Love Sausage Rolls", "Don't Stop Me Eatin'", "Sausage Rolls for Everyone" and "Food Aid". This made them the first musical act in British history to secure five Christmas No. 1 hits, surpassing the record set by the Beatles, who had four Christmas No. 1 songs in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
"Boris Johnson Is a Fucking Cunt" is a single by the Kunts, a band created by Kunt and the Gang. The song is directed at the then prime minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson and consists of the words "Boris Johnson is a fucking cunt" being repeated. Originally released on the 2020 album Kunts Punk in Your Face, the track was later released as a single, and Kunt campaigned to make the single the 2020 UK Christmas number one. The song reached number five, although the BBC refused to name either the song or the artist due to the very strong language in both. In November 2021, the band announced a sequel, "Boris Johnson Is Still a Fucking Cunt", once again campaigning to top the Christmas chart. It also reached number five.
"Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal" is an episode of the BBC's news and current affairs programme Newsnight broadcast on BBC Two on 16 November 2019. In the 58-minute programme, Prince Andrew, Duke of York was interviewed by Emily Maitlis about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted sex offender. Andrew's responses in the interview received negative reactions from both the media and the public. In May 2020, it was announced that he would indefinitely withdraw from his public roles.
"Fuck the Tories" is a single by the Kunts, a band created by Kunt and the Gang, released in 2022. It is a satirical protest song attacking the Conservative Party, known colloquially as the Tories, who formed the government of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2024. The song was released in an attempt to be the UK Singles Chart Christmas number one.
"Scrap the Monarchy" is a single by the Krown Jewelz, a band created by Kunt and the Gang, who had previously released songs as the Kunts. The song, aimed at the British monarchy, serves as a follow-up to the Kunts' 2022 single "Prince Andrew Is a Sweaty Nonce"; the track attacks Prince Andrew, Duke of York, William, Prince of Wales and King Charles III. The single was released on 5 May 2023, the day before the King Charles III's coronation, reaching No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 in the UK Independent Singles Chart.
"Proper Christmas" is the latest single by the Krackpots, a band created by Kunt and the Gang, released on 8th December 2023. It is a follow-up to three previous singles released by the group under the name the Kunts, with which they attempted to make the UK Singles Chart Christmas number one, a trio of swear-word-laden satirical punk rock songs entitled "Boris Johnson Is a Fucking Cunt" from 2020, "Boris Johnson Is Still a Fucking Cunt" from 2021, and "Fuck the Tories" from 2022.