O.G.
The Hit
While it’s not unheard of in this project (see, Syndicate of Sound post), Shocking Blue’s “Venus” provides the rare case where it’s fair to ask people whether they heard their version first or Banarama’s. I know my answer - Banarama’s (also, The Divinyls on the one above) - and I refuse to feel shame about it…especially now that former, and now deceased drummer Cor van der Beek confessed that they “borrowed” (he straight-up says “stole”) the guitar riffs from The Beatles.
That said, I agree with van der Beek that Shocking Blue’s version beats all the others.
The song dropped in 1970 and shot to No. 1 on the Billboard in the States and blew up just about everywhere else besides. Anchored by an electric piano(/organ?) riff, a light funk shuffle rhythm plays under while curly-cue guitars hooks play over it: it’s music made for go-go dancing. And the vocals - imperious, almost demanding worship - roll it all together into a celebration of feminine power and/or mystique. “Goddess on the mountain-top/burning like a silver flame…”
The Rest of the Story
Because this was a case where I wanted so much more, I’m a little disappointed that there isn’t much available on Shocking Blue. Three of the four original members are dead - a couple of them for some time - and the only living member is, by now, quite old and “very media-shy.” That just leaves talking about what’s available.
A guitarist/sitarist named Robbie van Leeuwen started Shocking Blue in The Hague, The Netherlands (note: I often feel like I’m doing it wrong when I type “The” before “Netherlands”), with van der Beek (again, drums) in 1967 with Klassje van der Waal on bass, and a guy named Fred de Wilde on lead vocals. The band’s original line-up recorded a couple singles that no one remembers (but that one can look up at this point), and that was enough to move de Wilde to chuck the band for the Dutch Army. van Leeuwen found Mariska Veres singing in a club and the rest is history.
The more I read about musicians, the more I see that, for a lot of them, the story doesn’t get more complicated than, “we (or he or she) wrote a bunch of songs, and we toured a lot, probably more than we wanted to, but that's the job.” A vast under-belly teems and writhes under that bare narrative - e.g., as revealed in a 1988 (subtitled) interview with Veres and van der Beek, it’s a blur of hiring body-guards to keep half-crazed fans from grabbing you and or cutting your hair (or wig; fun fact, Veres wore wigs) in Japan - and a band doesn't draw half-crazed fans without a hit, and Shocking Blue did manage that. Some parts of the band lasted until 1971 - when van der Beek and van der Wal checked out - while van Leeuwen made it 1974; Veres was the last hold-out, and small wonder. If “Venus” is all you know, those vocals really catch your ear...
