Holiday Rap

"Holiday Rap"
Single by MC Miker G & DJ Sven
B-side "Whimsical Touch"
Released 1986
Format 7" single, 12" maxi, CD maxi
Genre Hip hop, pop-rap, dance-pop
Length 4:25
Label Rush Records,
High Fashion Music
Writer(s) Brian Bennett
Curtis L. Hudson,
Bruce Welch
Lisa Stevens,
Lucien Witteveen,
Sven van Veen
Producer(s) Ben Liebrand
MC Miker G & DJ Sven singles chronology
"Holiday Rap"
(1986)
"Celebration Rap"
(1987)
Audio sample
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"Holiday Rap" is a 1986 rap song recorded by Dutch duo MC Miker G & DJ Sven. The debut single of the duo, it was released in most European countries in 1986 and achieved success, topping the chart in France (it was the first number-one rap hit and the 591st best-selling single of all time in that country[1]), Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. While a relative failure in the U.S., the single managed to reach the Top 10 in Canada in the spring of 1987.

Music and lyrics

Musically, the song is based on Madonna's 1983 hit "Holiday". DJ Martin van der Schagt had a home studio where he recorded the demo version of "Holiday Rap" using the original tape loops of Madonna's "Holiday". Not possible for a commercial release, producer Ben Liebrand figured out which instruments were used in the original and re-recorded the music from scratch as opposed to sampling the original, with different lyrics and new melodies.[2] In the lyrics, both singers tell of their summer vacations in various towns, such as London and New York.[3] The song also features an interpolation of the chorus of Cliff Richard's "Summer Holiday". Following the success of the "Holiday Rap", Russian Sergey Minaev, a pop singer of the mid-1980s, performed his cover called "DJ's Rap (Рэп дискжокея)", which gained strong popularity throughout the USSR in 1989.

The music video illustrating the song was named by MuchMusic as the worst video of 1986.

Track listing

CD maxi
No. Title Length
1. "Holiday Rap" (extended) 6:22
2. "Holiday Rap" (a cappella) 6:10
3. "Whimsical Touch"   5:01
4. "Holiday Rap" (radio edit) 4:27
7" single
No. Title Length
1. "Holiday Rap"   4:25
2. "Whimsical Touch"   5:00
12" maxi
No. Title Length
1. "Holiday Rap"   6:20
2. "Holiday Rap" (accapella) 6:09
3. "Holiday Rap" (hip hop instrumental) 6:20
4. "Whimsical Touch"   5:00

Charts and sales

Peak positions

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[4] 2
Canadian Singles Chart[5] 9
Dutch Top 40[6] 1
French SNEP Singles Chart[4] 1
German Singles Chart[4] 1
Norwegian Singles Chart[4] 3
Swedish Singles Chart[4] 7
Swiss Singles Chart[4] 1
UK Singles Chart[7] 6

End of year charts

End of year chart (1986) Position
Austrian Singles Chart[8] 29
Dutch Top 40[9] 14
Swiss Singles Chart[10] 27

Certifications

Country Certification Date Sales certified Physical sales
France[3] Silver 1985 200,000 496,000[11]

Chart successions

Preceded by
"The Edge of Heaven" by Wham!
Dutch Top 40 number-one single
August 2, 1986 - September 16, 1986 (3 weeks)
Succeeded by
"Sing Our Own Song" by UB40
Preceded by
"Lessons in Love" by Level 42
German number-one single
August 22, 1986 - September 19, 1986 (5 weeks)
Succeeded by
"Rage Hard" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Preceded by
"Lessons in Love" by Level 42
Swiss number-one single
September 28, 1986 (1 week)
Succeeded by
"The Final Countdown" by Europe
Preceded by
"Les Démons de minuit" by Images
French SNEP number-one single
October 18, 1986 - October 25, 1986 (2 weeks)
Succeeded by
"Ève lève-toi" by Julie Pietri

See also

References

  1. Best-selling singles of all time in France Infodisc.fr (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  2. Ogg, Alex (1999). "The Hip Hop Years: A History of Rap", p. 233. Macmillan, UK.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Elia Habib, Muz hit. tubes, p. 85 (ISBN 2-9518832-0-X)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Holiday Rap", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  5. RPM 100 Singles Chart
  6. Dutch Top 40 Radio538.nl (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  7. UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  8. 1986 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  9. "Single top 100 over 1986" (pdf) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  10. 1986 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved September 21, 2008)
  11. Certifications and sales of singles in France, database Infodisc.fr (Retrieved September 21, 2008)

External links