STARS ON 45
Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, the United States and Australia in 1981. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland it was known as Starsound. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, popularized medley recordings made by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and joining them together with a common tempo and underlying drum track. (More from Wikipedia)
Speaking of the Beatles, I mentioned Stars on 45 in passing in my last post, but they deserve more attention than that. The “Stars on 45 Medley” (Beatles medley) that this Dutch band made into a Number One hit never got any respect, so you can imagine how their other albums were received. The dismissive review in the Rolling Stone Record Guide went something like this: “In case you just arrived here from another planet, ‘Stars on 45’ is a group of songs that sound just like the Beatles. There is additional music on the other side of the record, but you won’t play it (doesn’t sound like the Beatles). Ten thousand years of civilization for this?”
To begin with, there are other songs in the medley besides those by the Beatles. I brought it up in the first place because the opening chords of the Shocking Blue hit “Venus” are given at or near the beginning of the song. Additionally, a short section of “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies is also near the front of the medley; they are surely the only band consisting of animated characters that reached the top of the charts. (They are not the only animated rock band, however: Many of you might remember Josie and the Pussycats, who were featured in one of the very few Saturday morning cartoon series that ever focused on a group of women; they also released an album in 1970). Amazingly, “Sugar Sugar” was the Number One song for the entire year of 1969 and, if memory serves, outsold every single Beatles 45. Then there is the extremely catchy bridge that Stars on 45 wrote and performed as themselves rather than as the Beatles.
I have a confession to make though. When I first heard the Beatles medley, there were several songs that I was actually not familiar with. I don’t think that I have ever told anyone this before now; I wonder how many other Beatles fans were similarly chagrined. My own experience with the band is being caught up in the excitement in late 1963 and early 1964, but I quit buying Beatles albums sometime in 1965, though I still bought a lot of their 45’s. Naturally, I bought Sgt. Pepper right away, and it wasn’t long before I figured out how good the preceding album Revolver was. However, I didn’t buy Rubber Soul until I got the box set, The Beatles / The Collection. Basically, between “Yesterday” and Sgt. Pepper, if it wasn’t on the radio, I hadn’t heard it. Thus, for this music fan at least, Stars on 45 reawakened my interest in the Beatles, and I definitely took to heart their exhortation: “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t forget!”
(September 2012)
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