| "Stars on 45" | ||||||||||||
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The US Radio Records release with its famous forty-one word title. |
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| Single by Stars on 45 | ||||||||||||
| from the album Long Play Album | ||||||||||||
| Released | 1981 | |||||||||||
| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||||||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||||||||||
| Genre | Disco | |||||||||||
| Length | 7": 4:48 (US: 4:05) 12": 9:45 (West Germany 11:30, US: 10:15) |
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| Label | CNR Records (NL) CBS Records (UK) Radio Records (US) |
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| Producer | Jaap Eggermont | |||||||||||
| Stars on 45 singles chronology | ||||||||||||
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"Stars on 45" was a song issued in 1981 by the studio group Stars on 45. In some countries including UK, Ireland and New Zealand the band was credited as 'Starsound' and the medley itself was named "Stars on 45". Its official title in the US (as on the record and in Billboard) where it was credited to 'Stars on 45' 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 #1 in the Netherlands in February 1981, a few months later #2 in the UK and #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 20, 1981. In the US, the single also peaked at number 18 on the dance chart.[1] It is (to date) the longest titled song to ever chart in Billboard, and is usually known by the shorter nickname, "Stars on 45 Medley", or "'Medley' by Stars on 45." The reason for the long title was copyright requirements for the use of The Beatles' songs. In the U.S. the song's one-week stay at the top interrupted the Kim Carnes single "Bette Davis Eyes" run as the #1 single at five weeks. The next week, Carnes' song regained its #1 status for an additional four weeks.
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 nine minute 45-second 12" mix, then a 45 version was also released and the Beatles medley was later extended to a full 16-minute album side and appeared on the Stars on 45's first full-length release, Long Play Album (US title: Stars on Long Play, UK title: Stars on 45 - The Album).
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 Top 40 in 1981. Likewise, in the U.S. the song started a medley craze that lasted for about a year and introduced not only other medleys by Stars on 45, but medleys by The Beach Boys, the Royal Philharmonic and others.
Contents |
The album version of the song moved "Venus" and "Sugar Sugar" to Side Two into a different medley, and added several more Beatles songs as well as a 32-second instrumental extract from George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and even a fleeting reference to new wave band The Sparks for a total length of about 15 minutes. The album version was released as "Long Play Album" in The Netherlands, and retitled "Stars on Long Play" in the US and "Stars on 45 - The Album" in the UK. A detailed listing of the source material can be found there.
The success of the single in North America even resulted in Radio Records rush-releasing a second single for the US market. The last four minutes of the album version of the Beatles medley ("Good Day Sunshine"/"My Sweet Lord"/"Here Comes the Sun"/"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"/"Taxman"/"A Hard Day's Night"/"Things We Said Today"/"If I Fell"/"You Can't Do That"/"Please Please Me"/"I Want to Hold Your Hand"/"Stars on 45") was released under the title "Stars on 45 Medley 2" but peaked at #67 on Billboard's Hot 100. The second Beatles medley single was not released in either the Netherlands, the UK or any other parts of the world.
The Beatles medley was remixed and re-released in a house music version in Europe in 1989 under the title "Stars on '89 Remix", then featuring an alternate selection of Beatles tracks taken from the album version of the medley, coupled with a new "Stars on 45" theme called "Rock the House". The single was remixed and reproduced by Danny van Passel and Rutti Kroese and released on the Red Bullet label as a 7", 12" and CD single, all formats backed with an extended version of the "Rock the House" theme.
In 2006, The Global Deejays released a updated version of "Stars on 45," but the medleys were not included.
In 2011, Stars on 45 was given the house treatment, with the single released as "45." This version also omitted the medleys. Interestingly, there are two different "official" videos for this single, one issued by Kontor Records, the other by Spinnin' Records.
"Stars on 45" (Medley - 7" Mix) - 4:48 (US: - 4:05)
"Stars on 45" (Theme - 7" Mix) (Eggermont, Duiser) - 3:30
"Stars on 45" (Medley - 12" Mix) - 9:45 (US: - 10:15, West Germany: - 11:30)
"Stars on 45" (Theme - 12" Mix) (Eggermont, Duiser) - 6:18
Radio version - 4:01
Extended version - 6:17
| Chart (1981) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Australia | 1 |
| Austria | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Germany | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| The Netherlands | 1 |
| Norway | 5 |
| Sweden | 7 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Preceded by "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton |
Canadian RPM number-one single June 6 - August 22, 1981 (12 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Gemini Dream" by Moody Blues |
| Preceded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single June 20, 1981 |
Succeeded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
| Preceded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one single July 20, 1981 - August 10, 1981 |
Succeeded by DEV-O Live EP by Devo |