Kung Fu Fighting

by Alex Henderson When your big hit is a novelty item, you run the risk of becoming the proverbial one-hit wonder -- and Carl Douglas was exactly that. In 1974, the Jamaican singer enjoyed a major hit with the campy but fun "Kung Fu Fighting," which set out to exploit the popularity of Asian martial arts films like Enter the Dragon. Unfortunately for Douglas, the tune that sent his name to the top of the R&B and pop charts proved limiting -- and the stations that also played the lesser known but equally campy "Dance the Kung Fu" didn't do him any favor (obviously, the song only reinforced the belief he couldn't do anything but novelty items). The media and the public refused to take Douglas seriously, which is why his 1974 LP Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs isn't as well known as the "Kung Fu Fighting" single -- a lot of people who bought the single assumed that the LP was a collection of novelties and decided to pass. But in fact, most of the tracks aren't novelty items. While "Kung Fu Fighting," "Dance the Kung Fu" and "Witchfinder General" fall into the novelty category, the other songs have more romantic lyrics and are competent, if unremarkable, examples of northern soul-pop. Had "I Don't Care What People Say," "Never Had This Dream Before" or "I Want to Give You My Everything" been recorded by Al Wilson, Johnny Bristol, Willie Hutch or Johnnie Taylor in 1974, critics would have at least acknowledged them as decent. But whenever Douglas' name came up, people laughed and say, "Oh, yeah, the Kung Fu guy." This album had been out of print for a long time when, in 1995, Hot Productions offered eight of its nine songs on the 16-track CD Kung Fu Fighting: The Best of Carl Douglas.