The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 753

Number 753

Stars On 45

"Beatles Medley"

(1980)
.
.

Genre:Dance

The Beatles had been apart for ten years when this "clever" medley came out in the very early 80s. Adults and (gasp) even children knew who the Beatles were still. Beatle songs were so instantly recognisable that the formula for this hidden group were guaranteed a hit, no matter what. Did i hate it? God no, it was so great to see everyone once again singing the lyrics to the Beatles even via a medley, and it once again made the Beatles popular again. That is the day until John Lennon was shot in December 1980. Cleverly Stars on 45 switched to Abba and Hooked on Classics. Wise move indeed.

"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 very 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."

Jaap 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."

For the Beatles see Numbers 894 & 947

For the Buggles see Number 699

For Madness see Number 794

The Beatles soundalikes were established Dutch singers. John Lennon's parts were sung by Bas Muys of the group Smile. The other two singers were the famous Sandy Coast frontman Hans Vermeulen and Okkie Huysdens who worked with Vermeulen in Rainbow Train. The first such release, "Stars on 45 Medley", 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. Another album followed, featuring medleys using the songs of ABBA and Motown. 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."

For Rolling Stones see Numbers 689 & 767

For Abba see Number 919

"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.
Beatles Medly:
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
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."

Not even gonna bother what Rolling Stone Magazine have to say, it would be a complete waste of time.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (We hardly think so) and the Album ranked at Number (We have an image you know, just like Time Magazine)

(Oh please)

This song has a total crowbarred rating of 65.9 out of 108

MDW-Stars-on-45-medley-beatles
Uploaded by les_pp. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Previous Song 752 ..... Next Song 754