"Venus" is a song by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, released as a single in the Netherlands in the summer of 1969. Written by Robbie van Leeuwen, the song topped the charts in nine countries.[5]
The song has been covered dozens of times by many artists. In 1986, English girl group Bananarama covered "Venus" for their third studio album, True Confessions, with the single reaching number one in six countries. The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows, and commercials.
Composition and recording
Shocking Blue in 1970
The song was written by Robbie van Leeuwen, Shocking Blue's guitarist, sitarist, and background vocalist. Van Leeuwen wrote new lyrics set to music based on "The Banjo Song" by Tim Rose and the Big 3, which is in turn lyrically a modification of the 19th century song "Oh! Susanna" by Stephen Foster.[6][7] Influences from other songs include the opening guitar riff that is similar to The Who's "Pinball Wizard".[8]
The song was recorded on a two-track machine in Soundpush Studio in Blaricum, the Netherlands.[9] Van Leeuwen also produced the song.
In the Shocking Blue original version, the song's lead vocals were performed by Mariska Veres. The lyrics, however, contained a typo in the line "A goddess on a mountain top", with "goddess" written as "godness", which was how Veres, who was at the time not perfectly fluent in English, sang it on the record and on television.[10] Later recordings by other artists corrected the word.[11]
Release and reception
"Venus" was issued in the Netherlands in July 1969 as a single, backed with "Hot Sand", on the Pink Elephant label, a label specially created for Shocking Blue by Dureco. The song initially peaked at number three on the Dutch Top 40 on 12 July 1969, and remained at that position for a total of five weeks. It also reached No. 1 in Belgium, France, and Germany.[12]
Jerry Ross, who was in Europe in the autumn of 1969 looking for European hits for release in the United States, was offered the song.[13] He signed The Shocking Blue to his newly-created Colossus Records, and chose the record for release in the United States later that year.[12][14] "Venus" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 7 February 1970, the first song by a Dutch band to reach No. 1 on that chart.[15] On 28 January 1970, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of one million copies in the United States.[16] Its success in the United States prompted further interest in other markets around the world in 1970, and it reached No. 3 again in the Netherlands, as well as the top 10 in the UK.[12][17] The popularity of the song also spurred interests in other Dutch groups.[12] Worldwide, the single has sold over 5 million copies.[18]
In 1981, it was used to open the "Stars on 45" medley.[5] "Venus" was included as a bonus track on the 1989 CD reissue of Shocking Blue's second studio album, At Home, originally released in 1969.
Stereogum said, "It's so clean and propulsive: that strum, that dinky organ riff, the Teutonic sneer in Veres' voice. Veres snarls hard enough that it ultimately doesn't matter whether or not she has any idea what she's singing. The yelp on the hook — 'She’s got it! Yeah, baby, she’s got it!' — means nothing, but it sticks in your head all the same. The song works like a hook-delivery machine."[19]
"Venus" had been a part of Bananarama's repertoire for several years before they actually recorded it. The group's three members, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward, had the idea of turning the song into a dance tune, but they were met with resistance from their producers at the time, Steven Jolley and Tony Swain. The group brought the idea to the production trio of Stock Aitken Waterman, and it became Bananarama's first collaboration with them.
The group had nearly completed recording their third studio album, True Confessions, with Jolley & Swain. Stock, Aitken and Waterman also resisted the idea because they believed that "Venus" would not make a good dance record. After persistence by the group, SAW relented. The track was initially produced in an arrangement more faithful to the Shocking Blue original, but was reworked in hi-NRG style after Fahey suggested that their version should sound similar to Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)".[66]
The collaboration on "Venus" led Bananarama and SAW to work together on the group's follow-up album, Wow!, the following year.
A new mix of the song appeared as the B-side to the 1989 limited release "Megarama '89" in Germany and France. Bananarama has since re-recorded "Venus" for their eighth album Exotica (2001). It was later remixed by Marc Almond, with re-recorded vocals and included on their ninth album Drama (2005).
Critical reception
Initial response
Jerry Smith of the Music Week magazine considered Bananarama's cover as a "lively version" of the original song, "catchy enough for minor success" but "lacking substance" with its SAW production.[67] Michael Pilgrim of Record Mirror was not enthusiastic, wondering why the Bananaramas needed to record another song, describing it like this: "There's beefy DOA-style hi-NRG electronics, the odd male vocal and at one point the girls go 'Wooaarrlll!'".[68] In a review published in Smash Hits, Martin Degville and Neal X of Sigue Sigue Sputnik criticized this cover version, saying about Bananarama that "they've destroyed it" and "They're completely boring and they've got boring hair".[69]
Impact and legacy
In 2014, Matt Dunn of WhatCulture ranked the song at number five in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, describing it as a "timeless classic of 80s synth pop, an instantly recognisable foot-tapping gem", while underlining the "provocative video and all its fire, sexy choreography, coffin dancing and red patent-leather devil outfits".[70] In 2021, British magazine Classic Pop ranked "Venus" number two in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs".[71] In 2023, Tom Eames of Smooth Radio ranked the song at number two in his "Bananarama's 10 greatest songs, ranked" list.[72]
Chart performance
Bananarama's version of "Venus" peaked at number one in the United States, Australia, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Switzerland, while reaching number two in Germany and the top-ten in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom (number eight on the UK Singles Chart, matching the same peak of Shocking Blue's version). It also topped the US Dance Club Songs chart for two weeks.[73]
Music video
The accompanying music video, directed by Peter Care and choreographed by Bruno Tonioli, was extensively aired on MTV and video channels across the world, and presented the trio in various costumes, including a she-devil, a French temptress, a vampiress and several Greekgoddesses. In one sequence of the video, Sandro Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus is adapted as a tableau vivant. The video marked a pivotal shift towards a more glamorous and sexual image for the group that contrasted with the tomboyish style of their earlier work. In the music video there's a cameo of the Polish-German dancer Andreas Wisniewski, who appears as a dancer during the synth solo.[citation needed]
Track listings
UK / US / Canadian 7-inch vinyl single
UK: London Records NANA 10 / US: London Records 886-056-7 / Canada: London Records LDS 227 / Australia: Liberation Records LS 1789
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
BHF/Don Pablo's Animals remixes
"Venus" was remixed and re-released by dance producers The BHF (Bisiach Hornbostel Ferrucci) Team in May 1990. Titled "Venus '90", the remix featured a hip house rhythm and samples. "Venus '90" reached number 78 on the UK Singles Chart and number 49 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.[118][17] An instrumental version was also released independently under the producer's alias, Don Pablo's Animals, without referencing Shocking Blue. The instrumental version became the highest-charting version of the song, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart.[119]
Other versions
Dutch DJ Pieter Gabriel remixed the song for the opening ceremony of The Grand Final of The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 held in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The remix was used as a backdrop for the 26 finalists being introduced onto the stage in a flag ceremony.[120][121]
Popular media
Shocking Blue's "Venus" was featured in the sixth episode of the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit. The protagonist Beth (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) dances and sings to the music video. The scene takes place in 1967, well before the song was released in 1969.[122][123]
Bananarama's cover of "Venus" was featured in the 2011 video game Just Dance 3.
The song was used in the commercial for Gillette Venus Women's Razor.[11]
In 2023, the song appeared as part of the soundtrack of the comedy-drama film, The Holdovers.
^"A Settevoci arriva "Venus" dall'Olanda". Corriere della Sera. 7 March 1970. Retrieved 6 April 2022. Gli shocking blue sono a Milano per registrare una puntata di "Settevoci" (che andrà in onda domenica 22 marza). Nella trasmissione di Pippo Baudo il complesso olandese presenterà la canzone che li ha resi fulmineamente famosi nel mondo, "Venus". Di questo disco sono state vendute tre milioni e più di copie (soltanto in Italia trecentocinquantamila)
^Breihan, Tom (December 14, 2018). "The Number Ones: Shocking Blue's "Venus"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 16, 2023. When Bananarama covered it and brought it back to #1 sixteen years later, they turned it into bloopy synthpop...
^"Top 3 Singles in Europe"(PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 3, no. 32. 16 August 1986. p. 16. OCLC29800226. Retrieved 13 September 2023 – via World Radio History.
