THEN & NOW: ‘Venus’ – Bananarama

37 years on from its original release, a new remix of Bananarama’s biggest US hit, “Venus“, has been delivered by German DJ and producer Alexander Ridha, who goes by the name of Boys Noize. It’s the latest in a long line for the 40 year old who has previously remixed tracks for Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Donna Summer, The Chemical Brothers and many others.

He has worked with Jack Shears, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and celebrated French composer Jean-Michel Jarre and now he tackles one of the campest Pop tunes of them all! The new remix comes as Bananarama have recently celebrated 40 years of their first US hit “Cruel Summer“, and Sara and Keren are taking to the festival stages for a Summer tour.

“Venus” was a cover of Dutch band Shocking Blue’s song from 1969 that Bananarama took to number one Stateside in May/June of 1986. The track went to No.8 in the UK, equalling the chart peak of the original on both sides of the Atlantic. It was the second single to come from their album “True Confessions”, which got to No.15 in America and sold over 500,000 copies.

“Venus” 1986