Grindlay had already released recordings with The Soul Agents, The Underdogs and Cruise Lane, toured New Zealand with The Underdogs and tried his luck in Australia, but that early morning in the emergency department at Auckland Hospital, he decided it was time to sink or swim on the strength of his songwriting.
Alongside a host of drag queens and mates in dress-up, the video for ‘Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang’ featured a cameo by country music singer Al Hunter, who appeared in white face and red lipstick.
Murray Grindlay produced the Red Hot Peppers LP Toujours Yours at Stebbing Recording Studio in 1976 although he would later call it a disaster due to his inexperience and not knowing what to do with the band.