"Stars on 45" | ||||
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![]() Original Dutch 7" single sleeve | ||||
Single by Stars on 45 | ||||
from the album Long Play Album | ||||
Released | January 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1980 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label |
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Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Jaap Eggermont | |||
Stars on 45 singles chronology | ||||
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Audios | ||||
"Stars on 45" (original 7-inch A-side) on YouTube | ||||
"Stars on 45" (original 12-inch version,maxi disco single) on YouTube | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Stars on 45" (TopPop,1981) on YouTube |
"Stars on 45" is a song medley issued in January 1981 by Dutch studio group Stars on 45. In some countries,including the UK,Ireland,and New Zealand,the band was credited as 'Starsound' and only the medley itself was named "Stars on 45".
The song's origin comes from an underground 12" that was big in clubs in the late 1970s. It used the actual songs,rather than the re-recorded cover versions,with a drum backing. At the end of the underground 12",was the track "Doing It to Death" by the J.B.'s featuring James Brown.
Its official title in the US and Canada (as on the record and in Billboard and RPM ) is "Medley:Intro 'Venus' / Sugar,Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Wanna 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" and was credited to Stars on 45. It is to date the longest titled song to ever chart on Billboard and was conveniently shortened to "Stars on 45 Medley",or "'Medley' by Stars on 45". The length of the name surpassed the previous record set by the Ray Stevens song "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills",and (among songs that reached number one) "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" by B. J. Thomas. The reason for the long title was copyright requirements for the use of the Beatles' songs.
It reached number 1 in the Netherlands on February 21,1981;number 2 in the UK on May 9,1981;and number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 20,1981. In the US,the single also peaked at number 18 on the dance chart. [3] In the US,the song's one-week stay at the top of the Hot 100 interrupted "Bette Davis Eyes"'s run as the number 1 single at five weeks. The next week,the Kim Carnes song regained its number 1 status for an additional four weeks.
The origin of the single was the Netherlands where numerous bootleg disco singles were floating around,most importantly Alto Passion's "Let's Do It in the 80's Great Hits". Willem van Kooten,the owner of one of the copyrights,decided to make a similar,legitimate record of a 12" single titled "Let's Do It in the 80s Great Hits" credited to a Canadian group called Passion (though the snippets of songs were taken from the original recordings). [4] He found singers who sounded similar to John Lennon and Paul McCartney,including Smyle's Bas Muys and Sandy Coast's Okkie Huysdens,and decided to make the single focus on the Beatles. The Beatles medley was later extended to a full 16-minute album side. It appeared on the Stars on 45's first full-length release, Long Play Album (US title:Stars on Long Play;UK title:Stars on 45 —The Album).
The album version of the song moved "Venus" and "Sugar,Sugar" to Side Two into a different medley,and added several more Beatles songs as well as a 32-second instrumental extract from George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and even a fleeting reference to new wave band Sparks' "Beat the Clock",for a total length of about 15 minutes. The album version was released as Long Play Album in the Netherlands,and retitled to Stars on Long Play in the US and Stars on 45 —The Album in the UK. A detailed listing of the source material can be found in the Long Play Album article.
The song also became a huge success in the UK where it kicked off a craze for medleys,with a large number of records in the Stars on 45 mould reaching the UK Top 40 in 1981. For example,The Hollies recorded "Holliedaze",a medley of some of their previous hits,which reached 28 on the UK charts with Graham Nash and Eric Haydock briefly rejoining the group in September 1981 to promote the record. Likewise,in the US,the song started a medley craze that lasted for about a year and introduced not only other medleys by Stars on 45,but medleys by the Beatles themselves,the Beach Boys,the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,Meco,and Larry Elgart and His Manhattan Swing Orchestra.
"Stars on 45" (Medley - 7" version) - 4:48 (US:4:05)
"Stars on 45" (Theme - 7" version) (Eggermont,Duiser) - 3:30
"Venus" is the 1970 Shocking Blue song,written by the band's Robbie van Leeuwen and later covered by Tom Jones and Bananarama. Only the opening guitar riff is used in the medley. "Sugar,Sugar" was originally recorded by The Archies (written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim). The next eight songs are Beatles songs (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).
An extended version of the "Stars on 45" intro and finale was put on the flip side of the single.
"Stars on 45" (Medley - 12" version) 11:30 (US:10:15)
"Stars on 45" (Theme - 12" version) (Eggermont,Duiser) - 6:18
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Canada (Music Canada) [40] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
Germany (BVMI) [41] | Gold | 500,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [42] | Gold | 500,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [43] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
The success of the single in North America even resulted in Radio Records rush-releasing a second single for the US market. The last four minutes of the album version of the Beatles medley ("Stars on 45"/Good Day Sunshine"/"My Sweet Lord"/"Here Comes the Sun"/"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"/"Tax Man"/"A Hard Day's Night"/"Please Please Me"/"From Me to You"/"I Wanna Hold Your Hand"/"Stars on 45") was released under the title "Stars on 45 Medley 2", but peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second Beatles medley single was not released in the Netherlands or any other part of the world.
"Medley II" - 5:11
All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney unless otherwise noted
"Stars on 45 II" (Eggermont, Duiser) - 3:19
"Stars on 45 (Medley)" - 5:11
All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney unless otherwise noted
"'45 Stars Get Ready" (7" version) (Eggermont, Duiser) - 3:12
The Beatles medley was remixed and re-released in a house music version in Europe in 1989 under the title "Stars on '89 Remix", then featuring an alternate selection of Beatles tracks taken from the album version of the medley, coupled with a new "Stars on 45" theme called "Rock the House". The single was remixed and reproduced by Danny van Passel and Rutti Kroese and released on the Red Bullet label as a 7", 12", and CD maxi singles, all formats backed with an extended version of the "Rock the House" theme.
"Stars on '89 Remix" (radio version) – 4:01
"Stars on the House" (van Passel, van Passel, Kroese) – 3:40
"Stars on '89 Remix" (extended version) – 6:17
"Stars on the House" (super club mix) (van Passel, van Passel, Kroese) – 5:01
1. "Stars on '89 Remix" (radio version) – 4:04
2. "Stars on '89 Remix" (extended version) – 6:12
3. "Stars on the House" (super club mix) (van Passel, van Passel, Kroese) – 4:57
A parody of "Stars on 45," entitled "Stars Over 45," was done by Chas & Dave. It was a hit in the UK, where it reached No. 21 in early 1982. [44]
Scottish band Orange Juice, recorded a medley of their own songs, set to a rhythm similar to that of Stars On 45, for a radio session in 1981 for John Peel, called "Blokes On 45".
"Maoris on 45" (1982), a song inspired by the "Stars on 45" concept but instead featuring popular traditional Māori music set to guitar, was a hit in New Zealand. [45]
"Weird Al" Yankovic has regularly included polka medleys of popular hits on most of his albums. The tradition began as a parody of "Stars on 45" (billed as "Polkas on 45") on Yankovic's second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D . [46]
"Get Back" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, written by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston". The song is one of the few examples of John Lennon featuring prominently as lead guitarist. The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning, which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialogue taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert. This version became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was released just after the group split up. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.
Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was successful in Europe, the United States and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland, it was always known as Starsound. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, recorded medley recordings made by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and joining them together with a common tempo and underlying drum track.
"Taxman" is a song by English rock band the Beatles, from their 1966 album Revolver. Written by the group's lead guitarist, George Harrison, with some lyrical assistance from John Lennon, it protests against the higher level of progressive tax imposed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, which saw the Beatles paying a 95% supertax. The song was selected as the album's opening track and contributed to Harrison's emergence as a songwriter beside the dominant Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was the group's first topical song and the first political statement they had made in their music.
Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although Let It Be (1970) was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly recorded in April, July, and August 1969, and topped the record charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. A double A-side single from the album, "Something" / "Come Together", was released in October, which also topped the charts in the US.
"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart but the second, after "Please Please Me", on most of the other singles charts published in the UK at the time. "From Me to You" failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. Instead, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song's becoming the first Lennon–McCartney track to enter the US pop charts. The Beatles' original was re-released in the US in January 1964 as the B-side to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.
"All Those Years Ago" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison, released in May 1981 as a single from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon, following the latter's murder in 1980. Ringo Starr played drums, and Paul McCartney overdubbed backing vocals onto the basic track. The single spent three weeks at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped Canada's RPM singles chart and spent one week at number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary listings.
"Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by "P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States in 1964 and topped the nation's song chart. Re-released in 1982 as part of EMI's Beatles 20th anniversary, it re-entered the UK charts and peaked at number 4. "Love Me Do" also topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand.
Ringo is the third studio album by English musician Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the RPM national albums chart.
"Come Together" is a song by the British rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 studio album Abbey Road. It was also a double A-side single in the United Kingdom with "Something", reaching No. 4 in the UK charts.
"Please Please Me" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was their second single in the United Kingdom, and their first in the United States. It is also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single. It is a John Lennon composition, although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by producer George Martin.
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album Please Please Me and their debut US album Introducing... The Beatles.
"Do You Want to Know a Secret" is a song by English rock band the Beatles from their 1963 album Please Please Me, sung by George Harrison. In the United States, it was the first top ten song to feature Harrison as a lead singer, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1964 as a single released by Vee-Jay, VJ 587. In the UK, Billy J. Kramer released a cover of the song as his debut single, reaching No. 1 on the NME singles chart and No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart.
Long Play Album is the first album by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in the Netherlands in March 1981. In the US, the album was retitled Stars on Long Play, released on Atlantic Records' sublabel Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'. In the UK and Ireland, the group was renamed 'Starsound' and the album itself was listed as Stars on 45 or Stars on 45 – The Album and released by CBS Records. In Spanish-speaking countries, both the group and the album were launched under a fourth name: Estrellas en 45. Stars on 45 was released in the Soviet Union and large parts of the Eastern Bloc on the state-owned Melodiya label, credited to Stars on 45 but the Russian title of the album translates as Discothèque Stars and in Czechoslovakia on the state-owned Opus label as "Stars on 45". In the Philippines, it was released under the title Stars on 45 Long Play Album
"Free as a Bird" is a single released in December 1995 by English rock band the Beatles. The song was originally written and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995, 25 years after their break-up and 15 years after Lennon's murder, his then surviving bandmates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released a studio version incorporating the demo.
Longplay Album – Volume II is the second album by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in the Netherlands in August 1981. In the US, the album was retitled Stars on Long Play II, released on Atlantic Records' sublabel Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'. In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, the album was listed as Stars on 45 Volume 2 or Stars on 45 – The Album – Volume 2, credited to 'Starsound' and issued on CBS Records. Just like the first Stars on 45 album Longplay Album – Volume II was also officially released in the Eastern Bloc by state-owned czechoslovak label Opus, credited to Stars On 45 but under the title Stars on 45 – Volume II. In the Philippines, it was released under the title More Stars! Stars on 45 Volume Two or Stars on 45 Long Play Album - Volume 2.
The Superstars is the third album by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in the Netherlands in March 1982. In the US, the album was retitled Stars on Long Play III, released on Atlantic Records' sublabel Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'. In the UK and Ireland, the album was instead titled Stars Medley, again credited to 'Starsound', and released by CBS Records. Just like the first Stars on 45 album The Superstars was also issued in the Soviet Union and large parts of the Eastern Bloc by the state-owned label Melodiya, credited to Stars on 45 but released under the title Discotheque Stars 2.
"More Stars" is a song medley released in July 1981 by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45. It was the follow-up to the US and Dutch #1 and UK #2 single "Stars on 45". "More Stars" was later included on the group's second album Longplay Album – Volume II.
"Volume III" a.k.a. "Stars on 45 Volume 3" is a song issued in 1981 by the Dutch studio group Stars on 45, in the UK credited to 'Starsound'. It was the second single from the band's second full-length release Longplay Album - Volume II.
"Stars on Stevie" is a song medley released in February 1982 by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45. It was the first single from the band's third full-length release The Superstars and it was the Stars on 45's fourth single release in both Europe and North America.
"The Greatest Rock 'n Roll Band in the World" is a song medley released in June 1982 by the Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45. It was the second single from the band's third full-length release The Superstars.