Ah, the classic autumn Eurotrash hit. Played in bars across Europe all summer, and belatedly making #1 in the UK after the leaves have started to fall…
The Ketchup Song (Aserejé), by Las Ketchup (their 1st and only #1)
1 week, from 13th – 20th October 2002
To Whigfield, Eiffel 65 and DJ Ötzi we can now add Las Ketchup, with this slice of Spanglish surf rock. And, of course, the accompanying dance routine. They were a Spanish girl group, three sisters, and this was their first hit. And call me cynical, but when your group and your first single share a title, and that title involves ‘Ketchup’, then it’s safe to assume you’re not aiming for longevity.
But also, call me surprised, because this isn’t at all as bad as I’d expected. It’s horribly catchy, sure, and largely nonsense (‘aserejé’ is not a Spanish word, nor is ‘buididipi’, nor ‘seibuinova’) with a chorus based on ‘Rapper’s Delight’, but it’s much more of a rock song than I recalled, with the guitars switching between eighties soft, and growling surf, rock. It’s not as in-your-face irritating as some of the Eurotrash that’s gone before and, despite its obvious disposableness, it still sounds like a real song.
This is all a revelation, presumably because sixteen-year-old me wrote this off as novelty crap without giving it a proper listen. I’d still not choose to listen to it, but couldn’t promise that it wouldn’t get me on a dancefloor in double quick time after a jug of sangria. And at least it came out when I was too old to be haunted by its dance routine at primary school discos, unlike ‘Saturday Night’ and ‘Macarena’.
My teenage aloofness has also caused me to miss how bloody massive this song was in 2002. It made #1 in twenty-seven countries, and Wiki lists it as being a chart-topper in every territory in which it was released except the US, Japan, and – the only European hold-outs – Croatia. It didn’t lead to any lasting success, however, and Las Ketchup are gold-star one hit wonders in the UK. Their last release was in 2006, when they represented Spain at Eurovision, finishing twenty-first with ‘Un Blodymary’, though they continue to perform.
One other thing that had passed me by regarding ‘The Ketchup Song’, as well as its relative quality and its success, was the fact that the gibberish lyrics are alleged in Latin America to be secretly demonic… ‘Aserejé’, some religious types argued, sounds like ‘a ser hereje’ (‘let’s be heretical’), with other lyrics supposedly referring to hell and Satanic rituals. The song was banned by a TV station in the Dominican Republic on these grounds… So, press play below at your peril!
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Would this be considered a novelty song? I probably would but I’m not sure.
I think so, but at the more bearable end of the scale.
Oh…I like some novelty songs…so it wasn’t a put down. Not my cup of tea but…it is melodic…
The definition of novelty and even of “power pop” can be trying at times.
I unashamedly love this record – catchy but not irritating, cheesy but classy, and it sounds fab today when it pops on in holiday bars and clubs, and seems still beloved of that generation of kids. Happily I was long past caring about music credibility when this was big – and I was still going clubbing so i could see young folk having fun to it at the time, and that tends to be contagaious in a good way. It’s the sort of unabashed fun that steers clear of music charts these days (bar, as I have said already, Apt. and the occasional K-Pop track – looking forward to see how you respond to another not-guilty-fave-at-all-about-it Gangnam Style down the line) 🙂
Aha Gangnam Style is a fun track. Got a bit sick of it at the time, as a teacher in a primary school you find songs like that get a bit overdone, but it’s great
Its annoying, but it’s not that bad really.
I don’t think I ever heard this song growing up, even though it was a #1 hit in Australia and was #3 for 2002. Maybe I did, I just have no memory of it, though tbf I was 3 when it was big. I like it a lot. This is really nice actually. It’s very catchy. It’s labelled as reggae/europop on Wikipedia but it sounds more like latin pop/latin dance to me. It sounds a decent bit like the type of reggaeton/latin pop that would become quite big in the 2010s and the 2020s in Central America/North America/South America, just with not as much hip hop/trap influence. Song was a minor hit in the US when it came out but if it had come out 15-20 years later would’ve been a huge smash in the US. Damn this song was a monster hit in all over the world especially in Europe and Oceania. It even did better in Japan than it did in the US which is quite incredible. It’s nice.
I was suprised by how good it is. I remembered it as tack on a par with DJ Otzi, when it is far superior. It also (sort of) heralds a mini surf-rock revival, with Girls Aloud’s debut hit and a Britney classic to come soon.