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How Bananarama made the song Shocking Blue her own, and what "Shizgarra" has to do with it

"When Marishka joined the band, we immediately came to life! Everything suddenly boiled over, and we had hits. "Venus" is one of our first singles that achieved worldwide recognition!"

How "Venus" first became Shocking Blue's calling card and then migrated into Bananarama's repertoire

Shocking Blue - A legendary rock band that has left its deep mark on history. The band from The Hague have managed to achieve worldwide recognition, as their repertoire includes many worthy songs that music lovers enjoy listening to today! Some compositions, in particular romanticised and measured ones, have found an ardent response even in the hearts of modern listeners! And this is a great success for the band 60s-70s years, even more so for a Dutch one!

Shocking Blue's powerful weapon, of course, was also their lead singer, the beautiful Mariska Vereshwhose powerful voice is now associated with an entire era!

"When Marishka joined the band, we immediately came to life! Everything started to boil and spiral and we had hits. "Venus" was one of our first singles to achieve worldwide recognition!" said Robbie van Leeuwen, guitarist and songwriter of Blue.

Marishka Veresh...
Mariska Veresh

And it was indeed true: Marishka brought with her to the group a certain magic - the magic of success and popularity! And the legendary "Venus." - is vivid, and very melodic, proof of that. But how did the cult hit come about? And why many modern listeners know it thanks to the band Bananarama? Was it really plagiarised? And what does this have to do with the exotic "Shizgara."that was talked about in USSR?

History of creation and dizzying success

Shocking Blue in a classic line-up of...
Shocking Blue in the classic line-up

The song was written by the aforementioned Robbie van Leeuwen. But for "Venus" to be born, we had to borrow the melodic basis from the "The Banjo Song" groups The Big 3! By the way: this composition was in turn based on Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna", a song that dates back to the 19th century! That, however, is another story. Leuven also wasn't afraid to borrow a guitar riff from The Who from their track "Pinball Wizard". But the sacrifices were more than worth it!

"Venus" was recorded in the Netherlands - Leuven was also the producer of the future hit. When the single was released in 1969, its success didn't last long! "Venus" went to number one on the USA, France, Italy and in many other countries, including South Africa! Meanwhile, back home, Shocking Blue, ironically, is stuck at number three on the chart...

"Bring on the Youth!" - a version of Bananarama that appealed to Western teenagers

Bananarama
Bananarama

Years passed, but "Venus" never lost its weight. What's more, it soon became business card from a completely different group, a girl pop band. Bananarama! Despite the fact that the British girls released their cover as a single only in 1986, "Venus" was in their repertoire almost from the very beginning of the band's existence. The girls performed this hit at their concerts, but they did not dare to record it - they still wanted to become famous and with my own songs. But even though the band's tracks were successful in the 80s, it was "Venus" that became their biggest hit, thanks to which Bananarama is remembered to this day.

Soon after its release, their version became a wild success: "Venus" performed by Bananarama began to be actively used in the media and on television. And the younger generation became familiar with this hit already in the early 2000s, when adverts for women's razors were often shown on TV Gillette. Because of this, many modern music lovers to this day believe the song belongs to the sweet-voiced Brits. And it's only the avid music lovers who know how history has unfolded of this hit actually.

Other covers

Not only Bananarama, but also many other bands and even solo artists have interpreted the iconic "Venus" in their own way. Here, for example, is a version Jennifer Lopez:

And this is what it sounds like metal version:

Neither were we left out domestic VIA - "Hello Song", "Dr Watson" and others decided to experiment too!

Everybody got their own - the special "Venus"which was different from the original. Still, the beautiful Mariška Veres also performed this composition in her own way - characteristically and uniquely. But despite the variety of covers, the most successful, favourite and undying ones are the following the original Shocking Blue и Bananarama version.

Interesting to know

Shocking Blue!
Shocking Blue!

And lastly, we have three curious facts about this song for you! For example: back in 1959, i.e. 10 years before the release of "Venus" discussed today, Frankie Avalon went to number one on the US chart with the song "Venus."! But this song has nothing in common with the hit Shocking Blue (except the title).

Both the original "Venus" and the Bananarama version have achieved of equal chart success! Both versions reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as number eight in the UK, where they each spent 13 weeks !

Why, then. "Shizgara." (or "Shizgares")? What is this word so exotic? It's the name of the hit in the USSRall because of the chorus line "She's got it, Yeah, baby, she's got it!". So there was no Shizgar in that song.

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