Stars on 45

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Cover of "Greatest Stars on 45"
Cover of "Greatest Stars on 45"

Stars on 45 (known in some countries as Starsound) were a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the UK, Europe and the U.S. in the early 1980s. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, popularised the medley, by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and stringing them together, with a common tempo and relentless underlying drum track. The point was to provide a danceable disco record which used familiar tunes.

Eggermont originally created the "Stars on 45" concept after hearing a bootleg 12-inch dance record called "Let's Do It in the 80's" and credited to the band Passion. The record actually used original recordings of songs by the Beatles, the Buggles, the Archies and Madness, and used a segment of "Venus", a recording by Shocking Blue, for which Eggermont held a copyright. With the bootleg recording circulating in dance clubs, Eggermont decided to create a licensed version of the medley by using soundalike artists to replicate the original hits.

The Beatles soundalikes were established Dutch singers. John Lennon's parts were sung by Bas Muys of the 70s Dutch pop group,Smyle. The other two singers were the famous Sandy Coast frontman Hans Vermeulen and Okkie Huysdens who worked with Vermeulen in the band Rainbow Train. The female vocalist in the chorus was session singer Jody Pijper.

Apart from the recreated songs, an original chorus and hook was added at intervals to help string differing sections together.

The first such release, "Stars on 45 Medley", mostly featuring songs from The Beatles, went to Number 1 in the US, and Number 2 in the UK, and several follow up records did well too. A second Beatles medley went to #67 on the US charts. Another album followed the same year, featuring medleys using the songs of ABBA, a #2 hit in the UK and Motown, US #55. A third album featured medleys of The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. The single "Stars on 45 III: A Tribute to Stevie Wonder", peaked at US #28 in 1982, but reached #14 in the UK, where it was called "Stars on Stevie".

There was a touring company also called Stars on 45 that promoted their albums (although not using the same studio session musicians as on the record).

In 1982, there was a staged musical show at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Hollywood, CA and a video of that show was released in 1983 by MCA Home Video.

The '45' in the title refers to the playback speed of a vinyl record single — 45 rpm. Such singles are often simply called "45s".

Their first album was Stars on Long Play. Followups included Stars on Long Play II, Stars on Long Play III, and Soul Revue, the latter paying tribute to Sam and Dave and James Brown. Later European-only releases included Stars on Frankie and Stars on 45 : The Club Hits.

A spinoff group called The Star Sisters had a hit in Europe with an Andrews Sisters medley. The albums were released under the moniker of Stars on 45 Presents The Star Sisters.

Track list for the "Stars on 45 Medley" was the name of the songs that make up the medley:

This single continues to hold the record for a #1 single with the longest name on the Billboard charts, due to the legalities requiring each song title be listed.

[edit] Other similar acts

With the development of recording technology, similar subsequent efforts have used the actual recordings combined together rather than re-recordings with session musicians. The best-known example was probably Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, as well as a series of "Hit Mix" albums (e.g. "Hit Mix 86", a medley of many hits from that year).

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded several albums (as well as singles) called Hooked on Classics, while Larry Elgart and his Manhattan Swing Orchestra recorded a series of Hooked on Swing tracks. Hooked on Classics was subsequently parodied by the Portsmouth Sinfonia as Classical Muddly. The single, "Hooked On Classics," peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra peaked at #32 with "Hooked On Swing".

In the spring of 1982, the Beatles hit the charts with their own medley. They peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Beatles Movie Medley," highlighting their hits from the various motion pictures they appeared in throughout their popularity.

In 1982, The Beach Boys had their own minor hit with "The Beach Boys Medley," peaking at #12 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Polkas on 45" parodies the Stars on 45 format, except that the entire song is done in the style of a polka. "Polkas on 45" was included in Weird Al's second album, and with the exception of Even Worse and Alapalooza (the latter of which has a polka version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" rather than a medley), a similar polka compilation has been included in each of his albums since.

In the early 1980s, Ivor Biggun released "Bras on 45" (a.k.a. "Bra Size 45"), a novelty song about a woman with huge breasts, which was very close to sounding like a Stars-on-45-style medley of recognizable songs, including Gary Numan's "Cars."

Also in the '80s, Stevens & Grdnic released "Commercials on 45", which was a compilation of that duo's parodies of commercials set to music.

The rock band Squeeze recorded a medley of their own classic hits, calling it "Squabs on Forty Fab", and releasing it as the B-side to their single "Labelled With Love."

The Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice also recorded a Stars on 45-like medley of their earliest singles called "Blokes on 45" for John Peel's BBC show. It was released on The Glasgow School, a compilation of their early work recorded for Postcard Records.

For their 1981 release, "Christmas Jamboree Bag", the Cockney musical act Chas & Dave recorded a medley parodying the "Stars on 45" format. Entitled "Stars Over 45", the song featured a selection of traditional London songs.

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