Stars on 45 Medley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Stars on 45 Medley" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by Stars on 45 | ||
| Released | 1981 | |
| Format | 45 | |
| Genre | Disco | |
| Length | 4:05 | |
| Label | Radio Records | |
| Producer(s) | Jaap Eggermont | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
US:#1 ("Hot 100"), #11 (AC), #18 (Disco) |
||
The "Stars on 45 Medley" was a song issued in 1981 by the studio group Stars on 45. Its official title (as on the record and in Billboard) was "Medley: Intro 'Venus' / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45". It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 20, 1981 (interrupting Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes"). It is (to date) the longest titled song to ever chart in Billboard, and is subsequently known by the shorter nickname, "Stars on 45 Medley". The reason for the long title was copyright requirements for the use of The Beatles' songs.
The origin of the single is the Netherlands where numerous bootleg disco singles were floating around and Willem van Kooten, the owner of one of the copyrights, decided to make a similar, legitimate record. He found singers who sounded similar to John Lennon and Paul McCartney and decided to make the single focus on The Beatles. The original version was a full album side (and appeared on the Stars on 45's first album, Stars on Long Play), then a 45 version was also released.
The song was also a huge success in the UK where it kicked off a craze for medleys, with a large number of records in the Stars on 45 mold reaching the UK and US Top 40 in 1981.
[edit] Songs
- "Venus" is the version from 1970 by Shocking Blue (and later covered by Bananarama). The song was written by Robbie van Leeuwen, Dutch guitarist of The Shocking Blue.
- "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies (written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim).
- The next eight songs are Beatles songs (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).
- The finale, "Stars on 45", was from the flip side of the single.
The album version of the song moved "Venus" and "Sugar Sugar" to Side Two into a different medley, and added several more Beatles songs for a total length of about fifteen minutes.
[edit] References
- Bronson, Fred. The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. New York. Billboard Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6
| Preceded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single June 20, 1981 |
Succeeded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
