Speedlimit – Holiday in Cambodia.

Although 1997 was a great year if you were a music lover, it was less of a good year if you happened to be a murderous, maniacal dictator. 1997 saw the overthrow of Mobutu in Zaire (more on him when Live 8 rolls around) and the arrest of Pol Pot in Cambodia.

Pol Pot (or 'Brother Number One' as he, rather stylishly, insisted everyone refer to him) came to power as the head of the Khmer Rouge in 1975 after 5 years of civil war. He immediately began to purify Cambodia of capitalism. All institutions were banned (that included hospitals, schools and even families) and the cities were evacuated as people were forced to work in the so called ‘killing fields’. During the three and a half years of the Khmer Rouge power it is estimated that 2 million Cambodians (about 30% of the population) died of disease, execution and, despite the plan to increase agricultural production three fold in one year, starvation.

With the world running at around 33 1/3 revolutions per minute at the time, his regime could not last long and he was overthrown in January 1979. Pol Pot was tried in absentia and was sentenced to death for genocide. However, the Khmer Rouge still had considerable power in areas of Cambodia and it was not until 1997 (when he lost the support of the party after he ordered the killing of Khmer Rouge minister Song Sen and his wife and children) that he was arrested by the Khmer Rouge itself. Pol Pot died in 1998 reportedly of natural causes. His happy legacy was an estimated 10 million landmines left in the ground of Cambodia.

Today’s track is Dutch covers band Speedlimit’s 1997 version of Holiday in Cambodia. Or, if you prefer, RIAA’s mash-up of the original Holiday in Cambodia with Martha and the Vandellas’ Heatwave.


Speedlimit – Holiday in Cambodia

RIAA – Sounds for the Sun-Set

Hire Speedlimit for your wedding or bah mitzvah.