Shocking Blue

Shocking Blue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. The band spawned a number of psychedelic rock hits throughout the counterculture movements era during the 1960s and early 1970s, including "Never Marry a Railroad Man", "Mighty Joe", "Love Buzz", "Blossom Lady", "Inkpot" and "Venus". The latter became their biggest hit and went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and many other countries during 1969 and 1970.

The band had sold 13.5 million records by 1973, but the group disbanded in 1974, during the final years of the hippie, flower power and other counterculture movements around the world.[1]

History

Shocking Blue was founded in 1967 by Robbie van Leeuwen. Other members of the group at this time were Fred de Wilde, Klaasje van der Wal, and Cor van der Beek. The group had a minor hit in 1968 with "Lucy Brown is Back in Town". After de Wilde left in 1968, Mariska Veres took over the vocals and the group charted a world-wide hit with the song "Venus", which peaked at No. 3 in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1969. The song was released in America and Great Britain at the end of the year, and it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. It subsequently sold 350,000 copies in Germany, and topped the U.S. chart for three weeks, the first song from the Netherlands to do so. It sold over one million copies there by January 1970, and received a gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. Global sales exceeded five million copies.[1] The song was based on "The Banjo Song" (1963) by The Big 3.

Other hits include "Send Me a Postcard" in 1968/69 and "Long and Lonesome Road" (often mistakenly named as "Long Lonesome Road") in 1969. Shocking Blue's songs also received quite a large amount of radio airplay on Dutch channels.[2][3]

"Venus" was followed by "Mighty Joe" (flip-side "Wild Wind") in 1969 and "Never Marry a Railroad Man" (flip-side "Roll Engine Roll") in 1970, which both sold over a million records. The latter also became a top ten hit in several countries around the world.[1][4] Later songs – including "Hello Darkness" (1970), "Shocking You", "Blossom Lady" and "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" (1971), "Inkpot", "Rock in the Sea" and "Eve and the Apple" (1972) and "Oh Lord" (1973) were successful in Europe, Latin America and Asia, but failed to chart in the U.S.

In 1974 both Robbie Van Leeuwen and later Mariska Veres left the group, leading to its split. Veres enjoyed a solo career until 1982. Her singles "Take Me High" (1975) and "Lovin' You" (1976) were popular mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. She also released the singles "Tell It Like It Is" (1975), a cover version of Dusty Springfield's "Little By Little" (1976), and "Too Young" (1978).

Shocking Blue reformed in 1979 and recorded "Louise" as their first single since their breakup in 1974. However, the song was never released for unknown reasons. They did, however, perform live with their earlier songs such as "Venus" and "Never Marry a Railroad Man" in 1980. They attempted another comeback in 1984, and recorded "The Jury and the Judge" with "I Am Hanging on to Love" as the B-side in 1986. That same year, they recorded another unreleased song, "Time Is a Jetplane".

Drummer Cor van der Beek died on April 2, 1998, at the age of 49 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mariska Veres died of gallbladder cancer on December 2, 2006, at the age of 59 in The Hague, Netherlands.[5][6]. Bassist Klaasje van der Wal died on 12 February 2018 at the age of 69.

Cover versions

  • Bananarama covered "Venus" in 1986, hitting number one in the United States and reaching the UK Top 10 (#8).
  • Nirvana covered the song "Love Buzz" as their debut single in 1988, and it also appeared on their 1989 album Bleach.
  • The Prodigy covered the song "Love Buzz" on their 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, renaming the song "Phoenix".
  • Mint Royale remixed Shocking Blue's version of "Acka Raga" (itself a cover from John Mayer and Joe Harriott's Indo-Jazz Fusions song of the same name) for their 1999 track "From Rusholme with Love", featured in several films of the time.

Members

The initial line-up consisted of
  • Robbie van Leeuwen (guitar, sitar and backing vocals) (1967–1973)
  • Fred de Wilde (vocals, 1967–1968)
  • Klaasje van der Wal (bass guitar, 1967–1972; died 13 February 2018)
  • Cor van der Beek (drums) (1967–1974; died 2 April 1998)
Later members were
  • Mariska Veres (vocals, 1968–1974; died 2 December 2006)
  • Leo van de Ketterij (guitar, 1970–1971)
  • Martin van Wijk (guitar, 1973–1974)
  • Henk Smitskamp (bass guitar, 1972–1974)
Also
  • Wim Voermans
  • Jan Pijnenburg
  • Michael Eschauzier
  • André van Geldorp
  • Charles Pesch

Discography

Albums

  • 1967 Shocking Blue (Polydor) also known as Beat with Us (German title) #31 US
  • 1969 At Home (Pink Elephant)
  • 1970 Scorpio's Dance (Pink Elephant) also known as Sally Was a Good Old Girl (Japanese title)
  • 1971 Third Album (AKA Shocking You, Pink Elephant)
  • 1972 Inkpot (Pink Elephant) – The official music of Mark Six
  • 1972 Live in Japan (Pink Elephant)
  • 1972 Attila (Pink Elephant) also known as Rock in the Sea (Japanese title)
  • 1972 Eve and the Apple (Same as Attila with one different track, Polydor)
  • 1973 Ham (Pink Elephant)
  • 1974 Dream on Dreamer (Same as Ham, but with 3 different songs and 6 alternate versions, Polydor)
  • 1974 Good Times (Pink Elephant)

Singles

Year Title US UK AUS NED NOR GER FRA NZ BEL JPN
1967 Love Is in the Air / Fix Your Hair Darling - - - - - - - - - -
1968 Lucy Brown Is Back in Town / Fix Your Hair Darling - - - 21 - - - - - -
1968 Send Me a Postcard / Harley Davidson - - - 10 4 - 4 - - -
1969 Long and Lonesome Road / Fireball of Love 75 - - 17 - - 6 - - -
1969 Venus / Hot Sand 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 1 - 15
1969 Mighty Joe / Wild Wind 43 45 43 2 - 6 8 - - -
1970 Never Marry a Railroad Man / Roll Engine Roll 102 - 40 1 5 10 1 4 19
1970 Hello Darkness / Pickin' Tomatoes - - - 4 - - - - 12 -
1971 Shocking You / Waterloo - - - 10 - - 1 - 21 -
1971 Serenade / Sleepless at Midnight 110 - - - - - - - - -
1971 Blossom Lady / Is This a Dream - - - 2 - - - - 3 -
1971 Out of Sight, Out of Mind / I Like You - - - 6 6 - - - 5 -
1972 Inkpot / Give My Love to the Sunrise - - - 5 - 21 1 - 4 -
1972 Rock in the Sea / Broken Heart - - - 14 - - 3 - 21 -
1972 Eve and the Apple / When I Was a Girl - - - 15 - - 1 - 18 -
1973 Let Me Carry Your Bag / I Saw You in June - - - - - - 2 - - -
1973 Oh Lord / In My Time of Dying - - - 14 - - - - 6 -
1974 This America / I Won't Be Lonely Long - - - - - - - - 16 -
1974 Dream on Dreamer / Where the Pick-Nick Was - - - - - - 4 - - -
1974 Good Times / Come My Way - - - - - - - - - -
1975 Gonna Sing My Song / Get It On - - - - - - - - - -
1980 Louise / Venus - - - - - - - - - -
1986 The Jury and the Judge / I Am Hanging on to Love - - - - - - - - - -
1990 Venus '90 (UK Only) - 75 - - - - - - - -
1994 Body and Soul / Angel - - - - - - - - - -

Compilations

LPs

  • 1969 Sensational Shocking Blue (Discofoon)
  • 1971 Hello Darkness (Pink Elephant)
  • 1972 The Shocking Blue, Perfect Collection (Polydor)
  • 1972 The Best of Shocking Blue (Pink Elephant)
  • 1973 Shocking Blue's Best (Metronome)
  • 1973 With Love from... Shocking Blue (Capri)
  • 1978 The Shocking Blue Double Deluxe (Polydor)
  • 1980 Venus (Piccadilly)
  • 1981 The Shocking Blue Greatest Hits (CNR)
  • 1986 Best of Shocking Blue (CNR)
  • 1986 Classics (21 Records)

CDs

  • 1986 The Best of Shocking Blue (Victor)
  • 1990 The Very Best of Shocking Blue (Red Bullet), (Arcade, 1993)
  • 1990 Shocking Blue 20 Greatest Hits (Repertoire)
  • 1990 Venus (Castle Communications AG)
  • 1994 A Portrait of Shocking Blue (Castle)
  • 1995 Shocking Blue The Golden Hits (Red Bullet)
  • 1997 Singles A's and B's (Repertoire)
  • 1997 Shocking Blue Grand Collection (A.R.O.)
  • 1998 Shocking You (Laserlight)
  • 2000 Shocking Blue Golden Collection 2000 (Lighthouse)
  • 2000 All Gold of the World Shocking Blue (Mekkophone & Castle Communications)
  • 2004 Shocking Blue Greatest Hits (Red Bullet)

DVDs

  • 2004 Greatest Hits Around the World (Red Bullet)

References

  1. ^ a b c Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 267 and 285. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
  2. ^ "Shocking Blue". Alex Gitlin. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
  3. ^ "Shocking Blue Mini Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
  4. ^ "Hits of The World". Billboard. Google books. 1971-01-09. Retrieved 2017-07-25. 
  5. ^ "Mariska Veres, 59, Singer for Shocking Blue, Dies". The New York Times. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2017-07-25. 
  6. ^ "NewsObituaries Mariska Veres Singer with Shocking Blue". The Independent. 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2017-08-28. 

External links

  • Shocking Blue discography at Discogs
  • Shocking Blue biography
  • Shocking Blue discography
  • Shocking Blue (unofficial) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2009)
This page was last modified 29.06.2018 22:34:46

This article uses material from the article Shocking Blue from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.