Shocking Blue

Shocking Blue
Shocking Blue in 1970
Background information
Origin	The Hague, Netherlands, Europe.
Genres	Rock, Nederbeat, psychedelic rock, blues rock
Years active	1967 (1967-age)– 1974 (1974-age) (reunions: 1979, 1980, 1984)
Labels	Pink Elephant, Polydor, Phonogram, Polygram, Universal Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music, Penny Farthing, Colossus Records
Associated acts	The Motions, Galaxy-Lin, Antilope, Livin' Blues
Past members	Mariska Veres † Robbie van Leeuwen Fred de Wilde Klaasje van der Wal † Cor van der Beek † Leo van de Ketterij Martin van Wijk Henk Smitskamp

Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. The band spawned a number of psychedelic rock hits throughout the counterculture movements era during the 1960s and early 1970s, including "Never Marry a Railroad Man", "Mighty Joe", "Love Buzz", "Blossom Lady", "Inkpot" and "Venus". The latter became their biggest hit and went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and many other countries during 1969 and 1970.

The band had sold 13.5 million records by 1973, but the group disbanded in 1974, during the final years of the hippie, flower power and other counterculture movements around the world.^[1]

History

Shocking Blue was founded in 1967 by Robbie van Leeuwen. Other members of the group at this time were Fred de Wilde, Klaasje van der Wal, and Cor van der Beek. The group had a minor hit in 1968 with "Lucy Brown is Back in Town". De Wilde left in 1968 after joining the Dutch army, and van Leeuwen was introduced to Mariska Veres, singing at that time with a club band. He persuaded her to take over the vocals, and the group charted a world-wide hit with the song "Venus", which peaked at No. 3 in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1969. The song was released in America and Great Britain at the end of the year, and it reached No. 1 on the US 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 3.

Other hits include "Send Me a Postcard" in 1968/69 and "Long and Lonesome Road" (often mistakenly named as "Long Lonesome Road") in 1969.^[2]

"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. The latter also became a top ten hit in several countries around the world.^[1][3] 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 or U.K.

Klaasje van der Wal left towards the end of 1971, following their first trip to Japan (Which spawned a live album). In 1974 both Robbie Van Leeuwen also quit, and later that year Mariska Veres left, leading to its split. Veres enjoyed a solo career until 1982. Her singles "Take Me High" (1975) and "Lovin' You" (1976) were popular mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. She also released the singles "Tell It Like It Is" (1975), a cover version of Dusty Springfield's "Little By Little" (1976), and "Too Young" (1978).

Shocking Blue reformed with its most famous line up in 1979 and recorded "Louise" as their first single since their breakup in 1974. However, the song was never released for unknown reasons. They did, however, perform live with their earlier songs such as "Venus" and "Never Marry a Railroad Man" in 1980. They attempted another comeback in 1984, and recorded "The Jury and the Judge" with "I Am Hanging on to Love" as the B-side in 1986. That same year, they recorded another unreleased song, "Time Is a Jetplane".

Drummer Cor van der Beek died on April 2, 1998, at the age of 49 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mariska Veres died of gallbladder cancer on December 2, 2006, at the age of 59 in The Hague, Netherlands.^[4][5] Bassist Klaasje van der Wal died on 12 February 2018 at the age of 69.

Cover versions

• Bananarama covered "Venus" in 1986, hitting number one in the United States and reaching the UK Top 10 (#8).
• Nirvana covered the song "Love Buzz" as their debut single in 1988, and it also appeared on their 1989 album Bleach.
• The Prodigy covered the song "Love Buzz" on their 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, renaming the song "Phoenix".
• Amy Gore & Her Valentines covered "Send Me a Postcard" in 2012 on the album In Love.
• Mint Royale remixed Shocking Blue's version of "Acka Raga" (itself a cover from John Mayer and Joe Harriott's Indo-Jazz Fusions song of the same name) for their 1999 track "From Rusholme with Love", featured in several films of the time.

Members

The initial line-up consisted of

• Robbie van Leeuwen (guitar, sitar and backing vocals) (1967–1973)
• Fred de Wilde (vocals, 1967–1968)
• Klaasje van der Wal (bass guitar, 1967–1971; died 13 February 2018)
• Cor van der Beek (drums) (1967–1974; died 2 April 1998)

Later members were

• Mariska Veres (vocals, 1968–1974; died 2 December 2006)
• Leo van de Ketterij (guitar, 1970–1971)
• Martin van Wijk (guitar, 1973–1974)
• Henk Smitskamp (bass guitar, 1972–1974)

Also

• Wim Voermans
• Jan Pijnenburg
• Michael Eschauzier
• André van Geldorp
• Charles Pesch

Discography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shocking Blue.

• Shocking Blue discography at Discogs
• Shocking Blue biography
• Shocking Blue discography
• Shocking Blue (unofficial) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2009)