Well, that's subjective, isn't it? If you've never heard a song, it's automatically obscure. Still, I'll bet there's a lot of people who have either never heard this song, or don't remember it. There's likely even more who don't realize it actually made it to the top of the pop charts.
What is it?
Star on 45 - The Music Video
This is the very first "Stars on 45" medley. I'll let you peruse the Stars on 45 Wikipedia entry to learn more about that peculiar act. That page, and the song's page, will also reveal to you that the official U.S. title of this medley earns it the honor of the #1 song with the longest title. I suspect this is a record which will never be broken.
I keep mentioning that this was a Number One song. It reached that lofty plateau on the chart for June 20, 1981. What's even more interesting is that it dethroned a certified 1980s classic - Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" - to attain its peak position. Carnes had been on top for five weeks when this medley took over the top spot.
However, the Stars on 45 Medley only managed to hang around at Number One for a single week before being toppled by..."Bette Davis Eyes". Yes, Kim Carnes returned to the top slot for another four weeks, cementing her song's place in the 80s Music Mythology. Meanwhile, Stars on 45 sank into obscurity. Quite frankly, I had never heard of it until I became aware of the "Bras on 45" parody!
And by the way, who would've guessed there was actually a music video for this song? That's one I bet doesn't get a lot of airplay on whatever channel actually deigns to still show music videos.
I remember being in orchestra at the end of the that school year, and because it was a "classical" song, some of the violinists thought it was OK to listen to that sort of popular music.
ReplyDeletethe teacher/conductor said it was the destruction of classical music... that's my memory of it. lol
I do also remember the video, it must have played sometime, somewhere.
Somehow, I would've thought Apollo 100, Deodato, and Walter Murphy would have destroyed classical music by then if it was going to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that still strikes me about this medley is that, despite all the credited parts, they still did an UNCREDITED lift from the Sparks song "Beat The Clock"!
Xenorama, your comment reminds me of "Hooked on Classics (Part One)," a number 10 song in 1982. It, too, was a medley, but rather than classic 60's songs it was full of snippets of classical songs underneath a pop/disco beat.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=159sMOkEq5o
I actually remember roller skating (okay, attempting to roller skate) to "Stars on 45" back in the early 80's.
I think you are correct Cas, that's what it was. d'oh!
ReplyDeleteAhhh, that makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteHello Cas, welcome to my blog.