Song of the Day: Bananarama, “Venus”

Song of the Day 1 Minute

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.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

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23 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Bananarama, “Venus””

  1. 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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    1. 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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  3. Believe it or not, I’d never heard the Bananarama version before. I think I prefer Shocking Blue.

    Love,
    Janie

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  6. I thought it was a battle of the songs at first. Yea it introduced it to a new generation.

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      1. 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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          1. 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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              1. 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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