I remember Shocking Blue’s original recording of “Venus,” which was a staple of 8th grade dances way back when. Bananarama had wanted to cover this as a dance song, but their producers were against it, thinking it wouldn’t be a good fit. Guess the ladies had a better idea than their producers, as this reached the Top 10 in most of the world, including #1 on the Hot 100 and on Billboard‘s Dance chart in 1986. It also marked a shift from their early image of being more tomboy than femme fatal.
I love Bananarama and their producing team, Stock Aiken and Waterman. But don’t like the standard radio version of Venus. I think I like the 12″ better. But, my favorite Bananarama song is always “I Hear a Rumor”.
Here is Yoko Nagayama singing a Japanese cover of the tune in the 80s. She was like Tiffany: a teenager singer (there is A LOT of them, especially in the 80s. Japan likes pure and young girls.) She is now an enka singer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enka).
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Interesting… There are a lot of teenaged singers these days, with the advent of the Internet and platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Imagine what it would have been like 40 years ago if they had the Internet…
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Believe it or not, I’d never heard the Bananarama version before. I think I prefer Shocking Blue.
Love,
Janie
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I loved the original but I also like this version.
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They sound a lot alike. The video on this fit the lyrics well.
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For me, it is hard to do better than the intriguing voice of Mariska Veres in the original.
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She was intriguing, period. She definitely had the look.
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I thought it was a battle of the songs at first. Yea it introduced it to a new generation.
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If there was one song that was worth a remake, it was this one.
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It was a great song to work with by Shocking Blue. I liked Shocking Blue’s other songs. They had a heck of a singer.
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Mariska Veres? She was really something.
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Yes she was… I did a post about her many moons ago. She had a Grace Slick like voice on some songs. I heard her cover Somebody to Love and it was hard to tell the difference.
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I found a jazz cover on YouTube, and you’re right…
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John I don’t know if you have checked out more of their songs but…”Mighty Joe” and “Never Marry A Railroad Man” are excellent.
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I’ll check ’em out. Thanks!
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I prefer the original but this was a fun version.
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The original was fantastic. Bananarama did a good job with it, though.
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This is a great song that I danced to way back in the day. Love the acid wash jeans and big hair
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Those were the days, weren’t they?
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I loved this song so much and played it over and over
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Just now, you mean, or back in the day? I can see where it might be both…
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Both, yes )
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