| Banditos | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Refreshments |
| Album: | Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Pop punk, cowpunk,[1] post-grunge[2] [3] |
| Length: | 4:17 |
| Label: | Mercury Records |
| Next Title: | Down Together |
| Next Year: | 1996 |
"Banditos" is a song by American band The Refreshments from their album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy. The song is the band's best-known hit.
A music video was produced to accompany the single, in which the members of the band robbed a bank in Mexico and fled in lead singer Roger Clyne's Toyota Land Cruiser. They eventually give the police the slip through the use of a ridiculous disguise. The video was directed by David Dobkin.
Singer Roger Clyne said he came up with the idea for the song as a broke college student. He imagined making a run to Mexico and getting some money on the way by robbing a store like a Circle K. He wrote the song one morning over coffee with his friends laughing at him, and threw in a reference to Jean-Luc Picard because they were all Star Trek fans. "That was it. Just kind of the compassionate bandito. The guy who really wouldn't hurt a fly. You go to Mexico, you know, that's me," said Clyne.[4]
Clyne also said the choice of whether to release "Banditos" or "Blue Collar Suicide" as the lead single from Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy came down to a coin flip upstairs in the studio.[5]
| Chart (1996) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | 56 | |
| Canadian Alternative 30[6] | 13 | |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 20 | |
| US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 14 |