Stars on 45

See Peter Shapiro's excellent article on the history of bootlegs in this month's Wire for further info.

hearing that song last night was like having a fucking nightmare that I'd been repressing since childhood. that's NOT the early '80s I wanted revived, goddamn it!

http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/star-sound-stars-on-45.html

Single version of this song is so weird. I know it's an edit, but it starts out with the intro from "Venus," gives a snipper of "Sugar Sugar," and then ... straight into a three minute Beatles medley. Why not just be all Beatles? Why even a second of Shocking Blue and Archies?

there is another edit? yes, have always thought it was bizarre.

Snippet of Sparks' "Beat The Clock" in the intro too.

xpost I only know that because I looked it up. The whole wiki is kind of fascinating:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_on_45

But it does include this:

The first such release was an 11:30 12" single, issued in the aftermath of the so-called anti-disco backlash, and was released on the (at the time) minor label CNR Records in the Netherlands in December 1980. The single was simply entitled "Stars on 45" by Stars on 45, with no credits on the label or the cover as to who actually sang on the recording. When Dutch radio stations began playing the four-minute, eight-track Beatles segment of the medley, placed in the middle of the original, 12" mix, an edited 7" single with the Beatles part preceded by "Venus" and The Archies's "Sugar Sugar" was released and hit the #1 spot of the Dutch singles charts in February 1981. A few months later it also reached #2 in the UK, where it was released by the British subsidiary of CBS Records and credited to 'Starsound.' Shortly thereafter Eggermont created the first Stars on 45 album, Long Play Album, issued with an equally anonymous album cover and featuring a 16-minute side-long medley of Beatles titles.

In June 1981 the "Stars on 45 Medley" single also went to #1 in the US where it was released by Radio Records, a sublabel of Atlantic Records. The track list for the 7" edit of the "Stars on 45 Medley" in the US was the names of all the songs that make up the medley as it appears on the actual record label (see image at left):

Medley: Intro "Venus" Sugar, Sugar No Reply I'll Be Back Drive My Car Do You Want to Know a Secret We Can Work It Out I Should Have Known Better Nowhere Man You're Going to Lose That Girl Stars on 45

This single with its 41-word title continues to hold the record for a #1 single with the longest name on the Billboard charts, due to the legalities requiring each song title be listed.

The commercial success of the first "Stars on 45" single started a medley craze from 1981 to 1983 adopting the same approach of anonymous studio productions stringing together classic hits. The approach was used with the commercially successful Hooked on Classics series of albums.

In 1981, The Beach Boys had their own minor hit with "The Beach Boys Medley", peaking at #12 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart. Capitol Records' incentive to produce and release this medley came from the attention a South Florida man was receiving with his own self-produced and self-performed medley. Chuck Kirkpatrick, a former Capitol artist himself (under the name "Chuck Crane"). Also in 1981, Fantasy Records released "Medley U.S.A." which edited together segments of seven Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.

In the spring of 1982, the Beatles hit the charts with their own medley. They peaked at #10 in the UK sales charts and #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Beatles Movie Medley", highlighting their hits from the various motion pictures they appeared in throughout their popularity. "The Beatles Movie Medley" remains the only Beatles single not released on CD. Also in 1982, an edited version of Elvis Presley's hits peaked at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a larger hit on the country charts, peaking at #31.

Always enjoyed this rather eclectic Stars on 45 pastiche medley of songs from 1969.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8AiHPyCEaw