Band name Musician Barry Harris said the name "Kon Kan" is a play on the term "
Can Con", the Canadian radio regulation that states radio stations must play Canadian artists at least 35% of the time. Harris named the group "Kon Kan" as a subtle advertisement to Canadian stations that he was Canadian. However, he said the move didn't work, and he wasn't noticed by the stations until
Atlantic Records signed them.
"I Beg Your Pardon" "
I Beg Your Pardon" was inspired in part by both the
Pet Shop Boys hit single "
Always on My Mind" and an increasingly prevalent use of
sampling by artists such as
Public Enemy,
M/A/R/R/S and
Coldcut. The track sampled
Lynn Anderson's 1971 hit "
(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden",
Silver Convention's 1976 hit "Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)",
GQ's "
Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)",
Tones on Tail's "Go!",
Spagna's "
Call Me",
National Lampoon's "Disco Hotline" sketch from their ''
That's Not Funny, That's Sick album, and the opening bars from the theme music from The Magnificent Seven'' (which was also well known as the theme to a commercial for
Marlboro cigarettes in the 1960s).
Move to Move (1989) Kon Kan's debut album,
Move to Move, was recorded in Los Angeles in January and February 1989. Later that year, it appeared on the
RPM Top 100 Albums chart. As well as "I Beg Your Pardon", it also spawned the singles "
Harry Houdini", "
Move to Move" and "
Puss N' Boots". The latter track included samples and interpolations of
Led Zeppelin's "
Immigrant Song" and "
Good Times Bad Times",
Nancy Sinatra's "
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and
the Champs' "
Tequila".
Vida!... (1993) Following the commercial failure of
Syntonic, Kon Kan was dropped from Atlantic Records' roster. For the next album,
Vida!... (Hypnotic Records), Harris resumed songwriting duties with Bob Mitchell and Kon Kan expanded to a 4-piece band. Along with original songs such as the album's lead single "Sinful Wishes", there was a remake of "Move to Move" and a cover of
David Bowie's "
Moonage Daydream". The second single released from the album was "S.O.L." (short for "shit outta luck"). In April 2020, Harris released
Vida! worldwide digitally with additional previously unreleased remixes. ==2013 reformation, Lost 80's Live 2022 tour and 2023–2024 live tour==