1967: Shocking Blue

 Jan, 25 - 2014   no comments   1960s Music


 

Shocking Blue

Shocking Blue was founded in 1967 by Robbie van Leeuwen. The group had a minor hit in 1968 with “Lucy Brown is Back in Town”. After Mariska Veres took over the vocals, the group charted a world-wide hit with the song “Venus”, which peaked at No. 3 in the Netherlands in 1969. The song reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. It subsequently sold 350,000 copies in Germany, and topped the U.S. chart for three weeks, the first song from the Netherlands to do so. It sold over one million copies there by January 1970, and received a gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America. Global sales exceeded five million copies.[1] The song was based on “The Banjo Song” (1963) by The Big Three.
Other hits include “Send Me a Postcard” in 1968/69 and “Long and Lonesome Road” (often mistakenly named as “Long Lonesome Road”) in 1969. Shocking Blue’s songs also received quite a large amount of radio airplay on Dutch channels.

“Venus” was followed by “Mighty Joe” (flip-side “Wild Wind”) in 1969 and “Never Marry a Railroad Man” (flip-side “Roll Engine Roll”) in 1970, which both sold over a million records.[1] Later songs – including “Hello Darkness” (1970), “Shocking You”, “Blossom Lady” and “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” (1971), “Inkpot”, “Rock in the Sea” and “Eve and the Apple” (1972) and “Oh Lord” (1973) were successful in Europe, Latin America and Asia, but failed to chart in the U.S..

Mariska Veres

In 1974 Mariska Veres left the group to start a solo career until 1982. Her singles “Take Me High” (1975) and “Lovin’ You” (1976) were mainly popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Other known singles were “Tell It Like It Is” (1975), Dusty Springfield’s “Little By Little” (1976), and “Too Young” (1978). Most of these songs today are rare.

Shocking Blue made a comeback in 1979, and recorded “Louise” as their first single since their breakup back in 1974. However, the song was never released for unknown reasons. They did however, perform live with their earliest songs such as “Venus” and “Never Marry a Railroad Man” in 1980. They made another comeback in 1984, and later recorded “Jury and the Judge” with “I Am Hanging on to Love” on B-side, and yet another unreleased song “Time Is a Jetplane” in 1986.

Nirvana covered the Shocking Blue song “Love Buzz” as their debut single in 1988, and it also appeared on their 1989 album Bleach.

Mariska Veres died of cancer on 2 December 2006.

  • Rock
  • nederbeat
  • psychedelic rock
  • blues rock
  • folk rock
  • AM Pop
  • Contemporary Pop/Rock
  • The Hague, Netherlands
  • 1970
  • 1967–1974
  • Robbie van Leeuwen (guitar, sitar and backing vocals) (1967-1973)
  • Fred de Wilde (vocals, 1967–1968)
  • Klaasje van der Wal (bass guitar, 1967–1972)
  • Cor van Beek (drums) (1967-1974)

Later members were

  • Mariska Veres (vocals, 1968–1974)
  • Leo van de Ketterij (guitar, 1970–1971)
  • Martin van Wijk (guitar, 1973–1974)
  • Henk Smitskamp (bass guitar, 1972–1974)
Shocking Blue (left to right): Klaasje, Cor, M...

Shocking Blue (left to right): Klaasje, Cor, Mariska and Robbie from the cover of their album At Home (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  • 1968 Shocking Blue (Polydor) also known as “Beat With Us” (German title)
  • 1969 At Home (Pink Elephant)
  • 1970 Scorpio’s Dance (Pink Elephant) also known as “Sally Was A Good Old Girl” (Japanese title)
  • 1971 Third Album (AKA Shocking You, Pink Elephant)
  • 1972 Inkpot (Pink Elephant) – The official music of Mark Six
  • 1972 Live in Japan (Pink Elephant)
  • 1972 Attila (Pink Elephant) also known as “Rock In The Sea” (Japanese title)
  • 1972 Eve and the Apple (Same as “Attila” with one different track, Polydor)
  • 1973 Dream on Dreamer (Polydor)
  • 1973 Ham (Same as “Dream On Dreamer”, but with 3 different songs and 6 alternate versions, Pink Elephant)
  • 1974 Good Times (Pink Elephant)
Third Album (Shocking Blue album)

Third Album (Shocking Blue album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  • 1967 “Love is in The Air” / “What You Gonna Do” (Polydor)
  • 1968 “Lucy Brown is Back in Town” / “Fix Your Hair Darling” (Pink Elephant)
  • 1968 “Send Me a Postcard” / “Harley Davidson” (Metronome)
  • 1969 “Long and Lonesome Road” / “Fireball of Love” (Metronome)
  • 1969 “Venus” / “Hot Sand” (Pink Elephant)
  • 1969 “Mighty Joe” / “Wild Wind” (Metronome)
  • 1969 “Scorpio’s Dance” / “Sally Was a Good Old Girl” (promo)
  • 1970 “Never Marry a Railroad Man” / “Roll Engine Roll” (Metronome)
  • 1970 “Hello Darkness” / “Pickin’ Tomatoes” (Metronome)
  • 1971 “Shocking You” / “Waterloo” (Metronome)
  • 1971 “Serenade” / “Sleepless at Midnight” (Buddah)
  • 1971 “Blossom Lady” / “Is This a Dream” (Polydor)
  • 1971 “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” / “I Like You” (Polydor)
  • 1972 “Inkpot” / “Give My Love to The Sunrise” (Polydor)
  • 1972 “Rock in the Sea” / “Broken Heart” (Polydor)
  • 1972 “Eve and the Apple” / “When I was a Girl” (Polydor)
  • 1973 “Let Me Carry Your Bag” / “I Saw You in June” (Polydor)
  • 1973 “Oh Lord” / “In My Time of Dying” (Polydor)
  • 1974 “This America” / “I Won’t be Lonely Long” (Polydor)
  • 1974 “Dream on Dreamer” / “Where The Pick-Nick Was” (Polydor)
  • 1974 “Good Times” / “Come My Way” (Pink Elephant)
  • 1975 “Gonna Sing My Song” / “Get It On” (Decca)
  • 1980 “Louise” / “Venus” (promo)
  • 1986 “The Jury and The Judge” / “I am Hanging on to Love (Polydor)
  • 1994 “Body and Soul” / “Angel” (Red Bullet)

Shocking Blue ~ Never Marry A Railroad Man

Shocking Blue Daemon Lover

Shocking Blue – Venus

Venus 1985 live Shocking blue Mariska Veres and a lot of friends

2006: Venus Mariska Veres Shocking Blue last tv appearance

First record Mariska Veres Shocking Blue 1964 Summertime

  • Pink Elephant
  • Polydor
  • Penny Farthing
  • Colossus
  1. http://www.discogs.com/artist/72234-Shocking-Blue
  2. http://www.alexgitlin.com/shocking.htm
  3. http://www.last.fm/music/Shocking+Blue
  4. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/shocking-blue-mn0000029604/biography


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