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Shocking Blue
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Shocking Blue was a beat group from The Hague, founded in 1967 by the guitarist and songwriter Robbie van Leeuwen. He had previously played in The Motions. In 1968 the singer Mariska Veres joined, and with her low, powerful voice she became the face of the band. Shocking Blue belongs to Nederbeat: Dutch guitar bands that sang in English. The group is important because it was the first Dutch band to top the American chart.
Music and breakthrough
Van Leeuwen wrote Venus, a short song built on a simple guitar riff, with a chorus you can sing along to after hearing it once. Veres sings it without embellishment, and the record even contains a typing error: 'godness' instead of 'goddess'. In the Netherlands the single reached number 3 in the Veronica Top 40 in July 1969. It was released in America and Britain at the end of 1969, and in February 1970 Venus spent one week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Other hits were Mighty Joe (1969) and Never Marry a Railroad Man (1970). The band broke up in 1974.
Influence
Van Leeuwen's songs outlived the group. The British girl group Bananarama made Venus an American number 1 again in 1986, this time in the hi-NRG sound of the production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. Nirvana recorded Love Buzz, from the Shocking Blue album At Home (1969), in 1988 as their first single and later put it on Bleach (1989). In this way a line runs from a beat band from The Hague to the grunge of Seattle. Mariska Veres died in The Hague in 2006.
Listening
Venus · Shocking Blue, 1969Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1967Shocking Blue
- 1969At Home
- 1970Scorpio’s Dance
- 19713rd Album
- 1972Attila
- 1972Inkpot
- 1973Dream On Dreamer
- 1973Ham
- 1974Good Times
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 7: The 1980sNL Reader
- Mixtape 11: NederpopNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Nederbeat Genre
Around the Beatles' visit in June 1964, beat bands sprang up all over the Netherlands, with The Hague as the centre: the Golden Earrings, Q65, the Motions and Shocking Blue.
- Venus Song
On 7 February 1970 Venus by the Hague band Shocking Blue was at number one in America, the first Dutch number one there.
- Venus Song
It was a new version of a 1969 hit by the Dutch band Shocking Blue.