For some ungodly reason, swing music had a big revival in the late 90s. I blame Satan. It seemed to just pop up out of nowhere when Brian Setzer’s “Jump Jive and Wail” was on an Old Navy commercial, then suddenly it was all over radio, and all your friends have been totally into it for a long time and why aren’t you!? Or something, I don’t know. It just seemed very abrupt, and then in like 6 months, everyone hated it again.
Well, amongst all this zoot-suit rioting came a group out of North Carolina known as the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Apparently the name came from a nickname for moonshine (“Nut Zipper”) and a headline about a nut zipper hiding from cops in a tree. It’s also an old candy!

Apparently all these swing bands were patiently waiting for their big chance, and after ska had a mini-revival in the mid-90s, it was time for it’s better-dressed cousin, Swing, to come back. 1996’s Hot was indeed hot, And that’s where lead single “Hell”comes in.
This song hearkens back to the Spooky Songs of the 30s and 40s, which were about having fun at the local jazz club, but also realizing that Satan and his goons were going to rip your chest open at any moment, making you gaze at your own beating heart before you were thrown into the fires of hell. Real dandies! This song fits great next to Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and any of the “spooky” jazz instrumentals from that time.
Amazon.com(opens in a new tab)
The Zippers lay a great jazz/swing bed over a single microphone in the room, while singer Tom Maxwell tells us that death lurks around every corner, and if we don’t change our ways, we’ll be fitted for a suit of flames… IN HELL!!! He even spells out “Damnation” so we’re clear on what he’s talking about.
Now the D and A and the M and the N and the A
And the T and the I-O-N
“Dam Nation”, aka Norway.
We get some terrific horrific hell-screaming and then we’re out in a blaze of horns.
The video is great, filmed as if a band already in hell, providing us a warning before we get there. Maxwell is perfect in this.
The song peaked at No. 12 on the Alternative chart, and was played a bit on “regular” radio. To this day, it’s Squirrel Nut Zipper’s biggest hit and signature song. Tom Maxwell left the group in 2000 and now writes for Al Jazeera(?) That’s random. He and his wife moved into an old plantation home in North Carolina but had to abandon it after a series of hauntings! Perhaps his suit of flames still awaits.