Golden Nuggets #13: Shocking Blue- Venus

Welcome back to the Golden Nuggets series, installment lucky number 13, where I take a listen to the top song on the Billboard charts from 50 years ago, and share my thoughts. This time, we'll be taking a look at the song 'Venus', by the Dutch group, Shocking Blue. If you're unfamiliar, or need to get reacquainted, you can check out the song here. Now let's dive in.

Many of us may have been first exposed to this song from the '80s cover version by the girl group Bananarama. That one has a lot more busy production, with a lot of electronic drums and synths, while the original is a lot more rock based, with even a little bit of country guitar licks thrown in there. In my research for this song, the instrumental for this was actually lifted pretty much wholesale from 'The Banjo Song' by the Big 3, featuring a pre-Mamas and Papas Cass Elliott, which was itself 'Oh! Susannah' set to new music. So, people who ever say that the Shocking Blue song is the original version is kind of right, but not entirely. This song is like rip off inception, which I had no idea about until recently. This is why I do this series; for fun little facts like this.

Another fun fact: Mariska Veres, the group's lead singer, could not speak English until later, and therefore had no idea what she was singing about. In fact, she sings 'the godness on the mountain top' instead of 'goddess' in early versions of the song because the lyricist for the song as well as the group's guitarist, Robbie van Leeuwen, wrote the lyrics down wrong. This was corrected on later issues of the single.

However, as much as there are some shady things going on involving the music of the song, I feel like the group made it their own. While parts of the vocal melody and chord changes are definitely from the Big 3 song (I'm curious to when van Leeuwen admitted to the 'inspiration', before or after someone confronted him about it), the guitar licks, Veres' vocal chops, and punchier arrangement definitelybrought the track a new fire. I'd suggest you dig up this track, the Bananarama cover, and the Big 3 song (which is for all intents and purposes a reference track with different words) a listen to make up your own mind, but for me, this song is still pretty great.

So, that's it for this installment. I actually learned a decent amount about a song I was aready pretty familiar with, which is a fun side effect from doing this series. I was originally going to compare and contrasrt this song with the Bananarama version, but this angle definitely seemed to be the road less traveled. In today's sue happy climate, I doubt that Shocking Blue would have come away clean. Next time, I'll be lookin at the track by Sly & The Family Stone, 'Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Golden Nuggets #12: The Jackson Five- I Want You Back

Hello all, and welcome to the twelth installment of my Golden Nuggets series, where I take a look back, 50 years back in fact, to listen to the top song on the Billboard charts from the time. This go around, we're taking a look at 'I Want You Back'by the world famous and iconic Jackson Five. If you need to reacquaint yourself with the song, or just dug yourself out from under that rock, you can listen to the track here. With that out of the way, let's dive in. 

Let's get one thing crystal clear up front: I've never been a huge fan of Michael Jackson's work. It had nothing to do with his legal problems, or even his eccentric mannerisms; I just never found his brand of pop all that engaging. I was born in the early 90s, after his career had peaked, and the industry definitely wasn't pushing his music like they used to. Plus, no matter how old he was, I couldn't get into his vocal delivery. As a kid, his voice was preccious and grating, but as an adult , it was even worse, bordereing on incomprehensible. With all that being said, this song still slaps.

That late '60s/ early '70s soul sound is pretty irresistible, and the bass line and guitar licks are classic. Lyrically, its more of the same boilerplate stuff, but that doesn't get too grating, unlike the pap another family band would churn out in the near future (I'll be taking a look at the Jackson's Mormon knockoff, The Osmonds, before too long. I'll save most of my bile for when that moment comes around). 

I can definitely see why this took off with the American public. It was bright bubblegum pop with a fat groove, and every housewife ever loves a child singer, and while that sound bugs me, a child Michael Jackson is far more tolerable than a child Donny Osmond. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that the Jacksons did all right for themselves, pumping out hit after hit, and even becoming a bit of a pop dynasty for a minute. All in all, a pretty good track, and the beginnings of a musical juggernaut.

Check back in soon for the next post in the series, where I look at the song 'Venus' by the band, Shocking Blue.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Golden Nuggets #11: B.J. Thomas-Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Hello all. Back to my perpetually late self in delivering this, the eleventh installment of the Golden Nuggets series, where I take a look at the top song from the Billboard charts on or around the 50th anniversary or achieving the position. Then I'll share my thoughts on the track and reflect on the listening habits of the America of yesteryear. In this installment, we'll be taking a look at 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head' by B.J. Thomas. You can listen to the track here to acquaint yourself. Ready? Great. Here we go.

I have actually been listening to this song for a long time, and I actually really enjoy it. It's kind of one of those songs that has some bittersweet kind of tone, but the lyrics are all about overcoming the tough times and being happy. It's definitely something I like knowing exists, and I wish I were better at having that kind of attitude. What I didn't know is that this song was written by Burt Bacharach for the Butvh Cassidy and the Sundance Kid film, and B.J. Thomas wasn't the first choice (thankfully, the first choice, Ray Stevens, either turned it down or was unavailable, since I would hate to see what he would have done to it. An installment on 'Everything is Beautiful' is unfortunately coming sooner rather than later). 

I really like what B.J. Thomas brings to the table. He was a pretty popular singer songwriter type who had some pretty popular hits during the late 60s/ early 70s (he actually did the first version of 'Hooked on a Feeling') before going into rehab for drug abuse and finding Jesus. He mostly did religious music after that. I feel like his voice really taps into the hopeful yet slightly melancholic tone of the song, and I really love this rendition. Whenever I'm feeling down, I like to play it, and sometimes that hopeful outlook is enough to pull me out of the bad mood I'm in.

Stop in again soon for the next installment where I'll be touching on 'I Want You Back' by the Jackson Five.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."