Shocking Blue
One time in a restaurant, I encountered by chance a super rad-sounding ’60s song blasting out of the speakers that seemed vaguely familiar. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn’t quite dredge up its title or the artist’s name to save my life. “Straight out of 1968!” I thought to myself. I consulted with the DJ and found out the song is called “Send Me a Postcard” by a Dutch band called Shocking Blue. The next day, I conducted a web search, and sure enough, the song was recorded in 1968. I nailed it! Seems the band Shocking Blue existed from 1967 to 1974, and, unbeknownst to me, wrote that famous song “Venus” that became a number one hit in the United States in 1970. (Unfortunately, “Venus” also went on to be ruined in the ’80s by some lame dance pop group that I really don’t care to name.) And then there are the YouTube videos.
Quite a few versions of “Venus” exist, and there’s even a completely out-of-sync one for “Send Me a Postcard” that a fan assembled from “Venus” excerpts and photos. I wish they would have filmed a real one for “Postcard” back in the day! With its crystal clear, strong female vocals shot through with raw fuzz guitar, that song absolutely kills! Although, as mentioned above, Shocking Blue produced a #1 hit with “Venus” in the United States, in subsequent decades, their legacy has slipped back into obscurity here, even despite a reunion or two. Considering the high quality of their music, the fact that Shocking Blue never became well-known in the U.S. is simply, well, shocking. But, through word of mouth, their rock will always roll on.
Text ©2008 Arcane Candy
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