The Stars on 45 keep on turning in your mind like 'We Can Work it Out'
Remember 'Twist and Shout' you still don't 'Tell Me Why' and 'No Reply'

'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' - which for sanity's sake will henceforth be referred to as 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley' - is a surprisingly influential song released in early 1981. It is the song with by far the longest song title to ever enter the charts, let alone get to Number One. Despite having virtually nothing unique about it, it started a trend for medleys in the early 1980s that affected even established artists like the Hollies and Beach Boys, as well as The Beatles themselves. The title comes from the standard single format, which was known as the 7" or 45¹.

Venus and Stars

'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley' was conceived by Willem van Kooten, managing director of Dutch publishing company Red Bullet. In mid-1979 he was in a record shop when he heard them playing a medley² of Beatles and other 1960s songs. This included 'Venus' by Shocking Blue³, a song which he owned the publishing rights to and hadn't granted permission to be used. After investigating further he learnt not only was the medley he had heard an illegal pirate record⁴, as he suspected, but that a legal loophole at the time prevented him from taking legal action. The record was titled 'Let's Do It in the 80's Great Hits' and was created by two Canadian DJs called Passion who had spliced recordings from different songs together.

Inspired to take advantage of what he had learnt and 'pirate the pirates', he decided to steal their idea and release a virtually-identical medley openly. He teamed up with experienced producer Jacobus 'Jaap' Eggermont, who in the 1960s had been the drummer of Dutch band Golden Earrings, later renamed Golden Earring. Rather than using the original recordings, which would result in the attention of the Beatles' lawyers and prevent it from being played on legitimate radio stations and sold in respectable record shops, they hired soundalike singers to sing the Beatles songs. This also meant that they only needed to pay publishing fees rather than license the original recordings. All the songs were recorded against a clap track, which experienced drummer Eggermont easily created.

During 1980 Eggermont was able to use his contacts to create the right sound. John Lennon's vocals were sung by Bas Muys of 70s Dutch group Smyle, Paul McCartney was performed by Hans Vermeulen of Sandy Coast and Rainbow Train and George Harrison was played by Okkie Huijsdens who had also been in Rainbow Train. The new part of the song, the Stars on 45 chorus, was written by Eggermont and sung by Jody Pijper, a session musician. Each song was recorded separately and then manually pieced together with the drumloop clap track to segue the separate song segments into a single medley.

In the end the finished song was 11½-minutes long and contained a mixture of Beatles and non-Beatles tracks, the core of which was effectively identical to the middle of its illegal inspiration. This was ready to be released in the Netherlands on Dutch label CNR Records on 9 December. Yet immediately before its release unforeseen disaster struck on the opposite side of the world; John Lennon was murdered in New York on 8 December, 1980.

(Just Like) Starting Over: Lennon's Murder

Following the death of John Lennon, the music-buying public were determined to pay their respects by rushing into shops and paying for records. '(Just Like) Starting Over', the Lennon song that had charted earlier that year at 6 in the US and 8 in the UK shot up to be Number One on both sides of the Atlantic. On 4 January there were three Lennon songs in the UK top 5: 'Imagine' finally reached Number One in the UK charts, having previously managed 6 in 1975, with 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' at number 2 and '(Just Like) Starting Over' down to number 5⁵. Biopic Birth of the Beatles was quickly scheduled to be shown on BBC1 on New Year's Eve and demand for Lennon and Beatles albums skyrocketed; while EMI normally sold 2,000 copies of 'Happy Xmas (War is Over)' a week over Christmas they were now getting orders for over 100,000 a day. Lennon's solo back catalogue was rushed for re-release. This started with song 'Woman', released in mid January, and was followed by multiple records by the end of March. These included 'Watching the Wheels' as well as live recordings of Lennon's duets with Elton John on 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night', all of which were from their Madison Square Garden November 1974 performance.

Meanwhile Yoko Ono released 'Walking On Thin Ice', the song that Lennon had been holding a master tape of when he was shot, and the album 'Season of Glass' with a cover photo showing John Lennon's blood-covered glasses that he had been wearing when he died.

Followed by the constant doom-and-gloom reminder that Lennon was dead, the public were very much in the mood for something more light-hearted to celebrate the fact that he had lived in the first place. 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley' was perfect for that.

Stars in their Eyes

Record company CBS records acquired the rights to the song. The song was edited down from the 12-inch⁶ 11:30 minute version to a 5-minute version, concentrating almost exclusively on the Beatles material. It was released in the UK under the group name 'Starsound' on 2 April, 1981⁷, and in a month had shot up the UK singles chart to peak at Number 2 on 3 May⁸. When released in the US, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 20 June and still holds the record for being the longest-titled song ever to both enter the Billboard charts and be Number One. The song's title length was because US copyright laws meant that every Beatles song in the medley had to be named separately.

The record buying public desperately bought this medley, which was something Beatles-related that was happy, cheesy and well and truly 'Sugar, Sugar' coated.

When Paul was interviewed in 1982 for SFX Cassette Magazine⁹ and the medley was mentioned in a derogative sense, he replied:

The way I look at it, who cares? The Beatles was it. There it was, there it is. There's the music, you don't like it you don't like it, if you like it that's all there is, it stands there it is, you know? Starsounds, when you hear them doing it, sounds fun. I like it, sounds great, you know? Tunes sounds so good when they medley them like that. I mean it doesn't sound to me as good as John really singing it, but um, yeah, I think.

Medleying With Forces Beyond Their Control

The songs' success led to a brief craze in the early 1980s for medleys. In July 1981 'The Beach Boys Medley' was released, comprising snippets of 'Good Vibrations', 'Help Me, Rhonda', 'I Get Around', 'Shut Down', 'Surfin' Safari', 'Barbara Ann', 'Surfin' USA', and 'Fun, Fun, Fun'. Unreleased in the UK, it reached 12 in the US and was their biggest hit for over five years. The Hollies reformed to release their 'Holliedaze' medley, which reached 28. Chas 'n' Dave released 'Stars Over 45' in December 1981, there were spoofs such as 'Star Turn on 45 (Pints)', and Squeeze released a medley as a B-side titled 'Squabs on 45'. 'The Elvis Medley' was released in early 1982. Even the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra got in on the act with a medley of discothèque-esque reinterpretations of classical songs titled 'Hooked On Classics'.

Perhaps the most heavily influenced artists are 'Weird Al' Yankovic, who has regularly released polka medleys since 'Polkas on 45' in 1984, and master medley act Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, who enjoyed three UK Number Ones with medleys in 1989.

All Those Years Ago

Curiously enough, at the same time the 'Stars On 45 Beatles Medley' was on sale, George Harrison released 'All Those Years Ago'. This was the first song that all three surviving Beatles performed on since the Beatles had broken up in 1970, and they would not do so again until 'Free As A Bird' in 1995. Released in May 1981, this genuine article of a Beatles song only reached number 13 in the UK and number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Beatles Movie Medley

The success of 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley' led to an official Beatles Medley release from Capitol Records, the notoriously money-grabbing US subsidiary of record company EMI. It was Capitol Records' butchering treatment of the Beatles' American Beatles Albums that had led to the Beatles selecting the notorious 'Butcher Cover' in protest. In the late 1970s Capitol Records had begun releasing tacky themed cheap and cheerful compilations of Beatles records against the Beatles' will, including Rock 'n' Roll Music (1976) and Love Songs (1977), much to the disgust of the Beatles themselves, especially John Lennon. Capitol seemingly viewed the Beatles as a golden goose grown too old to lay golden eggs, so they may as well try to sell off all its droppings. With the interest generated by Lennon's death, Capitol Records decided to cash in with another of the type of albums that Lennon hated. This was to be called Reel Music and would consist of songs from the Beatles films A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Let It Be.

In order to promote this cash-in Capitol decided to release a medley single, having been inspired by the success of 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley'. They hired John Palladino to create this. He had been behind editing 'I Am the Walrus' for Capitol's Beatles album Rarities in 1980 and he had previously worked on editing Paul McCartney and Wings' songs 'Band on the Run' and 'Silly Love Songs' for US radio, which themselves are multi-part songs sharing similarities with medleys. More importantly to Capitol, he had produced 'The Beach Boys' Medley'. 'The Beatles Movie Medley' consisted of: 'Magical Mystery Tour · All You Need Is Love · You've Got to Hide Your Love Away · I Should Have Known Better · A Hard Day's Night · Ticket to Ride · Get Back'.

'The Beatles' Movie Medley' single was released in the US on 22 March, 1982, two days before the album Reel Music. In the UK EMI initially decided that this single was too tacky to release and refused to. However, this led to numerous imports of the single coming in from America. So reluctantly two months later on 24 May EMI released 'The Beatles' Movie Medley' in the UK, having first dramatically improved the sound quality of the record. In the UK the single peaked at number 10 on 5 June and a promotional film was shown on Top of the Pops, with the single charting in at least 20 countries. Yet 'The Beatles Movie Medley' remains officially disapproved of, and has never been released again. It is the only Beatles release not to be available on anything since the original 45.

Starstruck

Following the success of 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley', an album was released, known variously as Long Play Album, Stars on Long Play and Stars On 45: The Album depending on the different countries it was released in, which reportedly even included the USSR and other Soviet-controlled countries. For the album, the Beatles medley was completely separated from the songs by other artists (except for the 'Stars on 45' intro), so that Side A consisted of a 16-minute Beatles medley while Side B consisted of three other medleys containing numerous other songs, titled 'Boogie Nights and Other Hits', 'Do You Remember' and 'Golden Years of Rock & Roll'. The Beatles medley now consisted of: Stars on 45 · 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 · Ticket to Ride · The Word · Eleanor Rigby · Every Little Thing · And Your Bird Can Sing · Get Back · Eight Days a Week · It Won't Be Long · Day Tripper · Wait · Stars on 45 · Good Day Sunshine · My Sweet Lord¹⁰ · Here Comes the Sun · While My Guitar Gently Weeps · Taxman · A Hard Day's Night · Things We Said Today · If I Fell · You Can't Do That · Please Please Me · From Me to You · I Want to Hold Your Hand · Stars on 45'.

This album track was used as the basis for a second single, released in North America alone. This consisted of the last four minutes of the album track: 'Good Day Sunshine · My Sweet Lord · Here Comes the Sun · While My Guitar Gently Weeps · Taxman · A Hard Day's Night · Things We Said Today · If I Fell · You Can't Do That · Please Please Me · I Want to Hold Your Hand · Stars on 45'. This fortunately was released as 'Stars on 45 Medley 2' but, as it only peaked at 67 on the Billboard chart, was not released elsewhere.

Differences Between the Pirate and 'Stars On 45'

The songs on the inspiration pirate medley and the resulting 'Stars On 45' song are listed below. Songs that made it from the 'Let's Do It In The 80's Great Hits' medley onto the 7" 'Stars on 45' record are shown in Bold :

Rock The House: Stars on '89 Remix

After 1981 the song often appeared on compilation cassettes and CDs with names such as Ultimate Party Animal and in 1989 it was re-released across Europe in a modified form, now titled 'Stars on '89 Remix'. Remixed by Danny van Passel and Rutti Kroese, who co-wrote a new recurring segue titled 'Rock the House', they replaced the clap track with a drum machine and various 80s techno noises. This was available in both a 4-minute 7" (45rpm) single and a 6-minute 12" version. These contained the following tracks:

Taking Their Medleycation

It should be noted that the Beatles were a band that, throughout their career, often experimented with the medley format. Paul and John would often write half a song each, which would be combined to form medleys such as 'Baby You're A Rich Man' and 'I've Got a Feeling'. The Anthology albums contain medleys of other people's songs that they sang when rehearsing, and most notably the Beatles' final recorded album, Abbey Road, consists of a long medley on Side B. The album Love also contains many medleys created from various Beatles songs and was released with the Beatles' blessing.

Long Song

'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' overtook 1975's '(Hey, Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song' by BJ Thomas as the longest-titled song to be a US Number One, and Ray Steven's 1961 Number 35 hit 'Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills' as the longest named song to chart. In the UK the longest song title to have previously charted was 1976's 'You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)' by Rod Stewart, while the longest unbracketed single song title to have entered the UK Chart is 1993's 'Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are' by Meat Loaf.

Startling: The Legacy

It would be fair to say that 'The Stars on 45 Beatles Medley' is not well regarded among Beatles fans. In many ways it is perceived as a cash-grab. While accusations that it was written to cash-in on Lennon's death are unfair, as the song had been in development long before his murder, it nevertheless remains a cash-in. There is no denying that there was nothing original about it, as the medley merely copied an illegal idea that had occurred to two Canadian DJs and, through the use of soundalikes, 'Stars on 45' now made legal. That said, it cannot be denied that the song has had a surprisingly high impact on the music world.

The song somehow combines 1960s nostalgia with 1970s disco kitsch at a time when both were considered outdated, and yet proved successful. It is possible that part of its success lies with the much-derided clap track, which made it perfect for the start of the aerobics craze, coinciding with the release of Jane Fonda's Workout Book which completely changed the fitness industry¹¹.

While undeniably the song is extremely cheesy, on the whole it is mostly harmless and fun. For many, particularly those behind the Iron Curtain, it has been a gateway song into the Beatles work, introducing their songs to new generations and those for whom listening to the Beatles was previously illegal. While not the song that many would have chosen to represent Western culture and music in the late 20th Century to those living in oppressive Communist societies, inexplicably that was a role it found itself playing.