VENUS
“Venus” is a 1969 song by the Dutch band Shocking Blue which the group took to number one in nine countries in 1970. In 1986, the British girl group Bananarama returned the song to number one in seven countries. The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows and commercials, and covered dozens of times by artists around the world. (More from Wikipedia)
My own Wikipedia handle is “Shocking Blue”, the name of a Dutch rock band that I have been particularly enamored with for several decades.
Everyone knows Shocking Blue’s big hit song “Venus”, a massive, worldwide Number One hit in 1970 and I believe the biggest-selling single ever by a Continental European band. In 1986, “Venus” was Number One on the charts for a second time as performed by the British pop band Bananarama. A third version of “Venus” by a Japanese singer named hitomi came out in 2005; while not a hit song over here, her version was featured in commercials for the Gillette female razor line called Venus beginning in 2006 (it still is if I am not mistaken). Finally, the curious band Stars on 45 (also from the Netherlands) had a Number One hit in 1981 consisting of a medley of Beatles songs. The opening chords from “Venus” are played at or near the beginning of this song (often called “Stars on 45 Medley”); arguably, then, “Venus” made the top of the charts on three occasions – a feat no other song has ever achieved. Another remarkable fact is that the Shocking Blue version of “Venus” appeared in the soundtrack of two major motion pictures during the same year (1995): The Brady Bunch Movie and Grumpier Old Men.
(August 2012)
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