One day in June 1973, four Dutch men, Geertjan Hessing, Erwin van Prehn, Aart Mol and Cees Bergman (born on 22 April 1952), decided to form a glam rock band. They were all veterans of the Leiden music scene, having previously worked together in several groups without achieving any noteworthy success. That year the quartet took a holiday in the Spanish seaside resort Lloret de Mar. During their stay there, concrete plans were drawn up, and from then on they began taking their work seriously. The guys dutifully promised each other, ‘No matter what happens, we’ll stay together.’ Various holiday girlfriends, having heard of their wild plans, gave them many words of encouragement, such as “I hope you’re gonna hit the big time.”[1]
Once they were back at home, they threw themselves into their work immediately, quitting jobs and dropping out of school to concentrate wholeheartedly on music. Assisted by their manager Aad van Delft, the band chose 1 September 1973 as the official starting date. Later that month, keyboard player Michael Eschauzier joined them. Golden Earrings vocalist Barry Hay conjured up a catchy band name: ‘Catapult’. The band logo was designed by Wim T. Schippers.[1]
On 23 November 1972, the band played their first live gig supporting Golden Earring in the Maassluis Sport Hall. After that, they recorded and released their first single, “Hit The Big Time” (a raunchy, catchy, and primarily energetic song about their stay in Spain), produced by ex-Golden Earring drummer Jaap Eggermont in December 1973, and it reached Number 16 on the Dutch Singles Chart.[1]
Eschauzier was replaced in April 1974 by Elmer Veerhoff. The band had several hit singles between 1974 and 1975, the most successful being “Let Your Hair Hang Down”, which reached Number 5 on the Dutch Singles Chart. As glam rock became less popular, Catapult’s fortunes took a downturn. The suitably entitled single “Here We Go” was the last one to even get a glimpse of the charts. Mol, Hessing, Van Prehn, Bergman and Veerhoff understood perfectly well that Catapult would not last forever, but their promise of ‘no matter what happens, we’ll stay together’ was not to be forgotten. The band also decided that it was time for something different. They wanted to make music in different styles, which was difficult because of their Leiden dialect, and the fact that Dutch radio stations and television channels did not want to accept the fact that they could do so. Willem van Kooten advised them to start writing music for other artists. They became quite adept at this, writing and producing songs for Lia Velasco (“5.0.5. P.M. (Another Fridaynight)”), Patricia Paay (“Who’s That Lady with my Man?”), vocal trio The Internationals (“Young And In Love”, consisting of Sylvia, Cindy and Anita Crooks from The Hague, Netherlands), pop band The Surfers (“Windsurfin'”, written and produced by themselves, Van Kooten and Eggermont, inspired by the Beach Boys’ sound, and consisting of Nico Fontijn, Paul Braaksma, Iwan Groeneveld, Patrick Elalouf, Esther Oosterbeek, Marijke Meyer and Cathy Leonupun, with vocals by Ed van Toorenburg, Bart van Schoonhoven, André Sommer, and the Crooks sisters), and disco duo Snoopy (“No Time for a Tango”, written and produced by themselves, Han Meijer and Eggermont’s wife Lucia Flint, and consisting of 1) Ethel Mezas and Florence Woerdings and 2) Ethel Mezas and Maureen Seedorf). Because they could respond and record music themselves, that saved them money. They worked for Eggermont, who produced the records, and he in turn worked for Van Kooten, who financed the records and came up with the concepts. He then played the music in his own daily program on Hilversum 3, and at the same time received part of the royalties. The quintet also formed Rubberen Robbie in 1978, their vehicle for parody and carnival songs, sung in their native Dutch language. Around that time, the quintet were all living together in the same apartment and recording music there. However, the neighbours constantly complained about the terrible noise, so in September 1979, they had to find another place to record their music. They went to Rijnsaterwoude, Netherlands and formed a recording studio and production company named Cat Music, using the basement of a car repair shop as their headquarters. On 15 December 1979, they had a hit in Germany and the Netherlands with “Mono” as The Monotones, an ode to the early days of radio in the 1920s and 1930s and a parody of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles and “Pop Muzik” by M.[1][2][3][4][5][6] As a victim of the dying trend of glam rock, Catapult gave their farewell gig in the “Feest Paleis” in Beervelde, Belgium on 23 December 1979.[1]
In 1981, the quintet had a hit in with “De Nederlandse Sterre Die Strale Overal” (“Dutch Stars Shine Everywhere”) as Rubberen Robbie. The song was a parody of songs by Eggermont’s novelty pop act Stars of 45. In the early 1980s, Cat Music wrote songs for Leidsche rock band Tower (“See You Tonight”) and André Hazes (“Deep In Mijn Hart” and “Een Beetje Verliefd”), and specialised in making breakdance, hip hop and Italo disco music, with 1983 and 1984 becoming their most productive years. Inspired by listening to illegal records of Italian dance projects and high-energy artists such as Bobby Orlando, Giorgio Moroder and Divine in a compact disc store owned by Gert van den Bosch (who imported many records himself and sold them through record stores in the Netherlands), they took the records to their studio and used electronic instruments such as ARP and Moog synthesizers, the Roland TR-808 and the AKAI S612 to make ‘legal’ sound-alikes of them. Since their new songs were cut down as non-format and did not hit the airwaves, they used pseudonyms such as ‘Adams and Fleisner’ and ‘Tony Acardi’, and formed various fictional bands and artists in which the members were models and dancers hired for cover photograph shoots and lip-synced to songs sung by Cees Bergman and session singers in live performances. These included disco group Fantastique (inspired by Ottawan and consisting of Astrid Leuwener and Dick Van Dam, with vocals by Marian Pijnaker and Cor van der Hoogt), synthesizer pop groups Gazuzu (inspired by Yazoo and consisting of Annelies Graave and René Portegies, with vocals by Pijnaker and Van der Hoogt) and Polysix (consisting of Pita van Arkel and Brigitte van Wort), electronic trio Digital Emotion (inspired by Boney M. and consisting of 1) Steven Koswal, Chickie de Beer and Myrna Balrak, 2) Jean François Colombo, De Beer and Balrak, 3) Steve de Goede, De Beer and Marlinda van der Hoff, and 4) De Goede, Nieke Ruhulessin and Van der Hoff, with vocals by Bergman, Hessing (“Don’t Stop”), the Crooks sisters and Pijnaker (“Don’t Stop” and “Moving to the Top”); the project is currently produced by Edward Den Heijer under the pseudonym ‘Eddy Mi Ami’, with singles and extended plays released by Cat Music from 2016 to 2019 and Energy Level in Italy since 2016), breakbeat group Master Genius, X-Ray Connection, Doctor Groove (inspired by New Order), Blanc De Blanc (consisting of Hennie and Joyce de Ruijter from Amsterdam, Netherlands), and Joanne Daniëls.[1][2][3][4][5][7] Many of their dance and Italo disco records were released by Dutch labels such as Dureco Benelux and Boni Records (through their sublabel Break Records), which was founded by and named after Van den Bosch and Jan van Nieuwkoop in 1982.[8][9] Van den Bosch exported Cat Music’s records to America, where they were sold as special imports.[5]
In 1983, Cat Music wrote and produced “Let’s Break” by Master Genius, a medley of songs done in a 1980’s megamix style, inspired by Eggermont’s technique of creating “Stars of ’45”, a medley of songs in a modern disco style with sound-alike singers. One of the many sound effects included in the song was the laugh of Woody Woodpecker, provided by Hessing.[11][12][13] The voice was recorded at a slow speed, and then played back at double speed using a studio tape recorder.[3] Van den Bosch’s children, who were big fans of Woody Woodpecker and always wanted to hear him on the record, asked their father if he could produce a record based on the character.[10] Upon learning this, Mol, Bergman, Veerhoff, Van Prehn and Hessing decided to write, produce and record a song about Woody, giving their new project the name ‘Video Kids’. The song tells the story of a man waking up at night and hearing a ‘funny cry’. The laugh comes from Woody, who makes a sudden appearance, wearing a space suit and holding a laser gun, and hypnotizes the perplexed man, telling him to take him to the hippest spot in town to do the “Woodpecker Boogie and Rap”. The man takes him there, and Woody tells everyone to do the “Woodpecker Boogie and Rap”, and they do so, snapping, clapping and rapping along with the woodpecker, and having fun. The cheerful and playful song, named “Woodpeckers from Space”, was a five-minute synthesizer pop cover of “The Woody Woodpecker Song” by George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss, with Bergman doing the main vocals and Hessing singing as Woody.[3][7][14] In a 2014 interview with Zvuki, Mol stated that the female vocals (‘Woodpeckers from space!’) in the song were done by Sylvia and Anita Crooks. However, a 2022 VK thread post about ‘Adams and Fleisner’ mentions that the female vocals were done by Marian Pijnaker. Considering that Mol said, ‘Most of the female vocals on the songs are performed by Anita and Sylvia Crooks,’ and Pijnaker was a studio singer who sang many demonstrations for Cat Music’s projects and artists who worked with them like André Hazes, it is possible that she (and Cindy Crooks) might have gone on to sing on some future tracks for the project as well or recorded vocals that went unused. One of the Crooks may have also done two of Woody’s laughs.[3][7][14] A “Rap and Sing Along” version of the song was also produced.[15]
After recording and producing some more tracks in full, Cat Music hired and asked two good-looking young people to be the faces of the Euro disco/Italo disco act: Peter Slaghuis and Bianca Pikaar.[3][10][16][17][7][18] Peter was born in Rijswijk, Netherlands on 21 August 1961. As a small child, he was already unlucky, as he was always ill and would often be in hospital. Fortunately, he got better when he turned 10, and he grew into a big, healthy boy. When he was 12 years old in 1973 or 1974, his father Charles Slaghuis gave him and his sister Dana Slaghuis their first cassette recorder. This led to his love for music, while Dana was not interested.[19] At the time, Peter had made a name for himself as a disc jockey and remixer since 1980, producing popular remixes of various hits, doing the Disco Breaks bootleg series, and working at Dutch clubs. With his fame, he managed to get a place as a disc jockey at the BlueTiek-in in Rotterdam, Netherlands.[19][18][20][21] He had also done remixes for Cat Music’s other projects, such as the Special European Edit of “After The Rainbow” by Joanne Daniëls (along with Emile Noorhoek) and “Steppin’ Out” by Digital Emotion.[22][23][24][25][17] Bianca was born in Voorschoten, Netherlands on 2 January 1964. She was a photograph model, and would later have a solo single called “Je Veux L’Amour (Follow Me)” under the stage name “Bianca Bonelli”, also written and produced by Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Elmer Veerhoff, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing.[26][6][27][28][29] German magazine BRAVO stated that she was a new wave chick who had also previously been on a successful tour around Europe with the bands Sam and Joan Company and Overkill, though this is likely made up since there is no proof, and the blonde woman on the cover of Sam and Joan Company’s single “Pressure Of Your Love” looks nothing like her.[26][6] After the band was formed, a three-minute music video for “Woodpeckers from Space” was filmed.[30][31] In the video, the woodpecker plays one prank after another on the Slaghuis/Bonelli flight crew, messing with their spaceship and leaving the duo hardly any time to sing, before helping them learn his new dance moves.[26] The video was filmed in the Airplane Museum at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.[6] Peter, Bianca and the flight crew’s pilots and scientists (who notice the woodpecker and press buttons and pull and flip switches to the melody; they are played by Veerhoff, Van Prehn and Bergman, while Mol and Hessing are absent[16]) lip-sync to Bergman, Hessing and Anita and Sylvia Crooks’ vocals during the video. The former two’s costumes were personally sewn by Peter’s mother Helen Slaghuis.[17] In order to avoid being sued by Universal Studios, a new character had to be created as the Video Kids’ mascot and used in place of Woody. Dirk Arend, who was occasionally doing cover artwork designs for Boni Records and Break Records under the pseudonym ‘Fruut’ at the time, designed a character named Tico Tac, a pink-skinned, yellow-eyed alien in a light blue helmet, blue overalls with yellow braces, and grey shoes. The character was named after the song of the same name by Polysix. After Arend submitted the design to Toonder Studio’s, they produced Tico’s scenes in the video, redesigning him to have human-coloured skin and white eyes, and wear a yellow jumpsuit, white helmet and white gloves, with a wood drill on his bottom functioning like an insect stinger. The animation was done by Bjørn Frank Jensen, while Frits Godhelp did the colouring. The backgrounds were drawn, painted and photographed by Harrie Geelen, who composited the animations of Tico over them and the live-action footage.[6][32][33][34][35] Jensen also drew a promotional comic strip named Tico Tac: Spacepecker, in which Tico meets a man who invites him into his house. He enters the house, poking holes in the stairs with his drill. Inside, Tico hops around the house, poking holes in the floor, wall and ceiling, vocalising and laughing. The man decides to tame Tico and make him ‘more presentable’ by taping his mouth shut and tying his drill to a plunger, possibly giving the spacepecker some karma for messing with the Slaghuis/Bonelli flight crew’s spaceship in “Woodpeckers from Space”.[32][33][34]
After production on the song and music video ended, Cat Music licensed “Woodpeckers from Space” to Polydor Records, Carrere Records and Record Shack Records for release in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, respectively, while Boni Records would release it through Break Records in the Netherlands. The single was released in Germany on 4 September 1984, and in the Netherlands later that month, peaking in 14th place in the Dutch Top 40 in 6 October 1984 and 17th in Ultratop 50 Flanders in 13 October 1984-17 November 1984.[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] Depicted on the single’s front and back covers were Dirk Arend’s original, crude-looking Tico Tac design and a Philips VG-8020 with two joystick controllers. The Video Kids’ name gave rise to a fashionable craze for video films. At the time, the videocassette recorder was the most fashionable and advanced device. It was no longer necessary to wait for a certain film to be shown on television. It was enough to insert a cassette, and watch your favourite film or cartoon characters come to life at the same moment.[44] Peter would later use “Woodpeckers from Space” in Disco Breaks 7 (1:42, particularly its ‘Watch out!’),[45][46] and he and Bianca would release their debut album, The Invasion of the Spacepeckers. The album’s name was a play on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The songs on the album included “Do the Rap” (a parody of American rap, uncommon to Europeans at the time, and a sort of continuation of “Woodpeckers from Space”), “Cartooney Tunes (including Happy Birthday)” (a disco-style song similar to “Disco Inferno” by the Trampps with the title being a parody of Looney Tunes, in which Tico and the other spacepeckers (voiced by Bergman (faint screaming) and Hessing (laughing)) have a wild birthday party), “La Bamba” (a cover of the song of the same name by Ritchie Valens and a sort of second continuation of “Woodpeckers from Space”, in which Peter and Bianca take Tico to a disco to dance ‘La Bamba’, and Tico takes them to his ship to show them some home films of the place where he came from; Cat Music had done a cover of “La Bamba” as Stress Electric the previous year), “I’m a Rock and Roll Pecker” (a Beatles-esque rock and roll song involving Peter, Bianca and Tico riding motorcycles, enjoying the thrill and freedom of the open road; the term “pecker” is used metaphorically to represent someone who is fearless, daring, and unafraid to live life to the fullest), “Communication Outerspace” (a remix of “The Man From Santiago” from Cat Music’s project Question Mark’s album Famous Tunes, and a second rock and roll-style song about communication in space, complete with synth sound effects, sped-up voices and Tico’s laugh and vocalising), an extended version of “Woodpeckers from Space” (which used sound effects from the Speak and Spell toy for “W-O-O-D-P-E-C-K-E-R,” and a sample of the sounds from “Home Computer” by Kraftwerk), “Give Me That Banana” (a cover of “Baby Do You Wanna Bump” by Boney M.), “Do You Like Surfing?” (a Chubby Checker/Beach Boys-style rock and roll song in which Peter, Bianca and Tico go surfing), and “Skyrider” (in which Peter and Bianca sing about an extremely dangerous entity that will kill anyone and slowly ends astronauts’ lives by breaking their ships with a smile on his face; the song also includes and uses samples of Looney Tunes‘ Road Runner’s “Beep, beep!” for the Skyrider).[47][48] The album also contained a large “Happy Birthday” souvenir card/calendar, in which children could write birthday wishes to their friends and classmates.[49][44] By 1985, “Woodpeckers from Space” was an international hit, peaking in 72nd place in the United Kingdom (12 January 1985 and 5 October 1985),[50][51] 6th in Switzerland (13 January 1985),[52] 4th in Germany (11 February 1985),[37] 2nd in Portugal,[53][54][32] and 1st in Norway (21 February 1985) and Spain.[53][55] Boni Records began promoting The Invasion of the Spacepeckers by airing the song’s music video on music television channels, and the Video Kids began their tour around Europe, doing live shows and concerts, complete with clips of Tico from the video, displayed either manually or through a video projection screen.[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][6] They released the album at the Midem music festival, which went on to sell 1.1 million copies,[64] and they won the Buma Export Award for their international success with the album.[32][65][63] “Woodpeckers from Space” and their other songs (such as “Do the Rap” and “La Bamba”) were played quite often on radio stations at the time, and covered and included on several best-of albums and compilations, including the Disco Club series,[66][67][68][69] Beach Club,[70] Festivalbar ’85,[71][72] International Hitparade,[73][74] Med Cyklophon Og Kranke Sprell,[75] 28 Super Επιτυχίες,[76] Max 27.,[77] and Soundance.[78] The song was also covered by the South African group Café Society. Their version stayed on the South African Top 20 for 22 weeks from June 21, 1985 to November 16, 1985, of which seven were held at the Number 1 position from August 24, 1985 to October 5, 1985. There is a rumour that the Video Kids never released the song in that country because of a political situation that was occurring at the time, but that might actually be false considering that Cat Music licensed the song to Jive Wire for release in South Africa in 1984 and earlier that year (1985).[79][80][81][82] They also had their own pocket calendar card in Impala’s Televisão: The Top Disco Stars series in July.[83][84][85]
During their popularity, the Video Kids released “Do the Rap” as a single, which only peaked in 9th place in the Dutch Top 40 on 18 May 1985.[86][87][88][89] The single also included “Happy Birthday” (from “Cartooney Tunes”) and “Skyrider”,[90] and featured Tico Tac: Spacepecker on its back cover.[91] A music video for “Do the Rap” was filmed, in which Peter, Bianca and Tico (who reuses some animations from “Woodpeckers from Space”) are at a party, dancing and singing along to a record player playing the song. At one point Tico plays around with a ball in a Star Trek (1979) pinball machine, and accidentally falls on top of the record player, temporarily stopping the song. He then suggests that they do it again. Eventually, Tico falls on the record player again and says, ‘That’s all, folks! Goodbye!’, ending the video.[92]
Following “Do the Rap” was the release of the Video Kids’ second album, On Satellite, in which the music sounded somewhat different, becoming generally more strict with the addition of some bass guitar, though still containing its usual twinkly synthesizers. The album’s cover design was done by Ruud Vinke, with Tico traced from the title card of Tico Tac: Spacepecker. The songs on the album included “Satellite”, “Let the Music Play”, “It’s Not Easy” (in which Tico tells his story of not being accepted by his peers, and that his band’s music makes him happy), “The Zoo Song” (in which Tico goes to a zoo full of sentient and civilised animals, including a duck with a radio, two bears making sandwiches and handing them out to everyone, some apes playing basketball, and a dog smoking a cigar; it also includes a children’s choir), “Shuba Huba” (a sort of continuation of The Invasion of the Spacepeckers‘ “Communication Outerspace” and prequel to “Woodpeckers from Space” and “It’s Not Easy”, in which Tico loudly scats, vocalises and laughs in space, disturbing the peace of a deep-voiced alien (voiced by Hessing), who tells him to shut up; the song ends with Tico singing such a high note that the pitch of his voice increases, followed by an explosion, either him exploding and temporarily dying since he is a cartoon character, or the deep-voiced alien beating him up or blowing him up with dynamite), “Hollywood” (a song similar to “Funkytown” by Lipps, Incorporated, in which Peter, Bianca and Tico plan on travelling to the film studios in the district in Los Angeles for fame and glory, go on a tour, and watch films at a theater, with Tico at one point saying that he can go home with Steven Spielberg), “Shang-A-Lang-Bang-Bang” (a parody of “Bang-Shang-A-Lang” by The Archies, in which a teenage boy attempts to win back the love of his girlfriend; he plans on taking her to the movies and going to the beach with her, except that when he is at the movies, he watches them with his dog instead, who asks if they can go to the park; interestingly, Cees Bergman had sung for a cover of “Sugar, Sugar” in “Stars of ’45”[4]), “Tico Tac” (a cover of the song of the same name by Polysix, in which Tico teaches his girlfriend how to shoot his laser gun, which amuses her; he uses it to shoot at a tree, bowl and empty bottle and confidently says that he was a champion target shooter back home, only to miss and break a window), “We’re Glad All Over”, “Quack Quack” (in which Tico and the children dance with some ducks, with the former having watched their dance on television one night and dreamt about them; the song represents the spirit of childhood, encouraging listeners to embrace joy and shake off any worries or stress), and “Satellite (Reprise)”.[93][94][44] “Satellite” would later be released individually as the band’s third single, with its music video reusing footage from “Do the Rap’s” music video.[95][96] Peter and Bianca split up after the production of the album and single, with the former leaving to continue remixing and working at the BlueTiek-in.[20] Cat Music would, along with Aad Klaris, write and produce “Talkin ‘Bout Rambo” by Linda Snoeij, under the stage name “L-Vira”. The song used samples from Rambo: First Blood Part II and “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and was released by Break Records in 22-28 September 1985. One day, Atlantic Records asked Slaghuis to produce the Vocal/Long “Dutch Mix” of “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz.[97][98][44] Slaghuis disliked the song and and initially did not want to remix it at all, but Atlantic kept calling with the question if he wanted to produce the mix. Helen Slaghuis went insane from the record company’s phone calls, and told Slaghuis to either knock them off or make the remix. Slaghuis decided to produce the remix, making it in an hour. He did not change much, but he did add a curious-sounding synthesizer melody over the top. He had no confidence that the song would ever become a hit, but Atlantic loved it, much to his surprise. They offered Slaghuis royalties or money, and as he did not rate the track, he took 500 guilders, which he felt was his first mistake. After this, his name as a remixer was established, and the song would become a hit in February 1986. Atlantic would later make up for their calls to Slaghuis about the remix and take him to America, where he was allowed to remix other Nu Shooz tracks for their album, Poolside, only one of which was used.[99][100] He sent mixes to Ferry Maat’s Soulshow, and worked for the Disco Mix Club remix service for some time, producing mixes of songs such as “La Isla Bonita” and “True Blue” by Madonna, “Respectable” by Mel and Kim, “Rock the Night” by Europe, and even “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz, for which he was paid decently. His first mix for the Disco Mix Club, “Slag It Off”, was put onto vinyl.[99][101][102][103][104] Around that time, Boni Records was promoting On Satellite for release at the Midem music festival,[64] and “Satellite” would be included in Disco Club Volume 9.[105] This album was not as successful as The Invasion of the Spacepeckers, and it, along with “Do the Rap”, “La Bamba” and “Satellite”, failed to hit the charts. While there is no official reason for this, Dmitry Semenido of Disco Encyclopedia speculated that the album failed due to most of the tracks sounding like songs from a children’s party.[21][44] Boni Records would later release a 12-inch remix of “Woodpeckers from Space”,[106] and Doctor Pecker would do a breakbeat/Italo disco cover of the song, which was released by Carrere in France and used Grace Stafford’s Woody Woodpecker laugh throughout.[107][108] Later that year, Cat Music wrote and produced two albums for hard rock band Picture: Every Story Needs Another Picture and Marathon;[1] Slaghuis began doing remixes for Euro disco/Italo disco project Sisley Ferré (produced by Michiel van der Kuy, with vocals by Jody Pijper),[109][110] and “Woodpeckers from Space” was featured in the pilot episode of Pingu, Pingu: A Story for Preschool Children, which was was first shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 1987.[111][112] As a disc jockey at the BlueTiek-in, Slaghuis was one of the first to market the genre of house music in the Netherlands. The first house music that was played was the Chicago house sound, but it did not go down well with the people at the club, who did not understand that kind of music. Because of this, it was played at the end of the night so that everyone would leave early, so that when the club was empty, the crew could go home on time as well. People later began to appreciate the sound, and the club was packed until closing time.[21][18] In December 1986, he produced and released his first house track for the Disco Mix Club, “Samplification”,[113] and Cat Music released “Jingle Bell Rap/It’s X-Mas” by hip hop group Comfort and Joy.
In 1987, Peter Slaghuis began doing the Hotsound Megamix series,[114][115][44] and met Disc Jockey Paul Elstak at the BlueTiek-in, who worked with him and became his student as a younger disc jockey.[18] One day, then-unknown rapper Extince came up to him and told him that he had rapped a single called “Rap Around The Clock” in 1986. To Slaghuis, it was a terrible track, but he thought that he could do something with the rapper’s voice. Going under the pseudonym ‘Mister Donald’, he produced the beat behind Extince’s hip hop single “The Milkshake Rap” (released by Hip Hop Records).[116][117][118][119][99] The single’s sound was heavily influenced by Mantronix and used McDonald’s’ advertising music. This, however, led to legal trouble with the fast food chain, who did not appreciate their music being used without permission and the single’s cover featuring Extince standing outside one of their restaurants. Because of this, a remix of the song with a different cover, “The Milkshake Rapremix”, was produced and released.[99][120] At a certain point, Gert van den Bosch had begun making very expensive record productions using the money that Cat Music owed him. In the end, Boni Records went bankrupt as a result, and Cat Music lost tons of income. It almost cost Aart Mol, Geertjan Hessing, Erwin van Prehn, Cees Bergman and Elmer Veerhoff the studio, but they would recover with other records and projects, such as hip hop group Party Freaks and Eurobeat quartet Twiggy Bop (with vocals by Marian Pijanker (possible demonstration recorded in 1985); Lika Bruining was one of the faces of the project).[4][7][9] Slaghuis was later asked by Ferry Maat to create a year mix for Soulshow, more as a contrast rather than competition to Ben Liebrand’s similar year mix for Radio Veronica.[99] The mix also included a sample from “Woodpeckers from Space” (0:19) at the beginning.[121][122] Due to Boni Records’ closure, Cat Music rereleased the 12-inch remix of “Woodpeckers from Space under the name ‘Replay Records’. In 1988, they recorded and released the Video Kids’ fourth and last single, “Witch Doctor” (also known as “Witch Doctor/Tico Strikes Again”), a cover of the song of the same name by Ross Bagdasarian, which began with a sample from “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris, and also included “Tico’s Day Off”.[123][124][125] Like “Do the Rap”, “La Bamba”, On Satellite and “Satellite”, it failed to hit the charts, making the Video Kids a one-hit wonder with “Woodpeckers from Space”.[21][44] “Woodpeckers from Space” would later be remixed by Firefox/S.I. as “Pecker Remix” and included in the Amiga 500 music compilation Earsmashers 3.[126][127] Meanwhile, Slaghuis composed, arranged and produced the single “House Control” (released by Hip Hop Records), going under the pseudonym ‘El Farid’ and working with Eric van Vliet from Laser Dance.[128][44] He remixed “Downtown” by Petula Clark as “Downtown ’88”, which was released on 6 June 1988 and would reach its Number 10 peak on the United Kingdom Singles Chart on 24 December 1988, and also did a remix for Laser Dance, named “Megamix Volume 1”.[129][130][131][132][133][134][99] With the arrival of house music in Europe, Slaghuis took up the pseudonym ‘Hithouse’ (a literal translation of his surname) and began using his sampling techniques in this field.[135][99][136][137] He produced and released a remix of “The Second Time Around” by Shalamar and a new version of “Samplification” named “Samplification (Part 2)” under the pseudonym ‘Wise Guys’, both of which sold in their millions.[138][139][140][141][99] In November 1988, he scored a hit with his best known work, “Jack to the Sound of the Underground”, which used a lot of samples for which he had to pay royalties over, such as “Doctorin’ the House” by Coldcut and Yazz, “Music” by Montreal Sound, “Jack to the Sound” by Fast Eddie and “You’re No Good for Me” by Kelly Charles. The idea for the single came from remixing ”Pink Cadillac” by Natalie Cole for the Disco Mix Club. Slaghuis loved the bassline but disliked the drums, so he just changed the percussion using a Roland TR-909 drum machine, and put some samples over it and added another four basslines using AKAI samplers. It reached Number 14 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart on 3 December 1988 (between 5 November 1988 and 21 January 1989) and Number 57 in Australia, and became a hit in almost every European country, except in Slaghuis’ own country, the Netherlands, where it only reached the Number 22 position of the charts. The song’s music video was directed and edited by Slaghuis himself at Creators International in 1987, with art direction by Cello Hoekstra, and also featured Disc Jockey Paul Estak, Marianne from The Hague, Netherlands (the person lip-syncing to the Kelly Charles sample), Helen Willemse, and other BlueTiek-in employees. It was entirely shot in a disused gas factory in the Netherlands, which, with the help of some graffiti artists, looked like it was from the Bronx. The synthesizer that Slaghuis plays in the video was a Casio SK-1.[135][99][136][137][142][143][144][145][146][44][147][148][149] The song itself would be sampled in “Judicta” by Mod.4.[150][151][99] In 1989, “Jack to the Sound of the Underground” would be used as the theme song for the radio and television versions of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, thus remaining in public consciousness in the United Kingdom.[149] Slaghuis released “Move Your Feet to the Rhythm of the Beat”, which was very successful as well in April. The song shared the same musical formula as its predecessor: catchy high-energy loops mixed with a collection of samples, though it lacked the catchy hook lines present in the first release, such as the Kelly Charles sample. Because of this, it could only reach Number 69 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart on 19 August 1989.[99][152][153][154][149] Using the money that he earned from both singles, Slaghuis bought a farmhouse in Appeltern, Netherlands, which also housed his new studio.[135][99][136] Italian electronic dance act Cappella sampled “Woodpeckers from Space’s” ‘Watch out!’ in “House Energy Revenge (Remix)” (1:31).[155][156] In November 1989, Slaghuis was looking for a singer for his new single, and an advertisement was printed. Rob Koning, who was very busy breaking through as a singer, read the advertisement in the newspaper, and responded with a cassette recording and photograph. He received a call almost immediately from Slaghuis, who wanted to meet him first. They agreed to meet on a Saturday, and Koning went by train to Wijchen, Netherlands, where Slaghuis picked him up from the station. They drove to Slaghuis’ home in Appeltern, where he showed Koning a demonstration of “Take On Me”, a disco song that he had composed and produced. Koning thought that it was a good song, and so they did some voice tests in his studio. Slaghuis had ensured that a voice teacher was present, and would help assess and help Koning during the recordings. They then tested the song and checked whether it was not too high or low for Koning’s vocal range. It was a little too high, and he would change that first. In any case, Koning was immediately accepted there, and would continue to hear when the final recordings would take place. He was happy, and had already received the lyrics and an instrumental demonstration, so that he could start practising. Two weeks later the recordings took place, which took about three hours, and they were all satisfied. All kinds of choirs still had to be sung by singers, but that would happen later. Koning was given a rough version of the demonstration, which he still has on cassette. He had to come back again a week later, because Slaghuis’ record company, ARS Records, was not completely satisfied with one verse, so it had to be done again. In the end it was all good, and now they had to negotiate with the record company. They also decided to call the demonstration Hithouse featuring Jeremo, since Koning was working under the name “Jeremo” at the time. Slaghuis asked Koning if he also wanted to be part of “Hithouse” during a promotional tour through Europe for this upcoming single, but Koning had to decline due to being in a steady relationship and having a full-time job at the time. When he told Slaghuis this a few days later, he thought that it was a shame, but it would not be a problem, as they would just have someone lip-sync the song. However, he had problems with ARS Records, who wanted someone who would be a permanent member of the group and also had to sing on the single, which would still be a problem during live performances. As a result, the song was cancelled, much to Slaghuis and Koning’s disappointment, as it would have been the producer’s third hit after “Jack to the Sound of the Underground” and “Move Your Feet to the Rhytmn of the Beat”. The single would eventually be released in 1990 as “The Right Time”, with vocals by Ignace Baert. Despite this, Koning would have some contacts with Slaghuis’ management company Scorpio Angency afterwards, where he was under contract as a soloist, and the original demonstration of “Take On Me” was included in his 1999 compilation compact disc The Early Demo Recordings.[157][158][159] In 1990, when the Dutch music industry collapsed, it became difficult for Cat Music to sell records. Since the money had to keep coming, they began producing audiobooks and made thousands of ringtones. They also produced the audio comedy series Ome Henk (the character was created and performed by Frank van der Plas) and started writing and producing a lot of records and albums for third parties, such as The Smurfs and Telekids, as well as children’s Digital Video Discs, music for commercials, and football songs.[4] Slaghuis founded his own label, Hithouse Records. Producers such as Ferry Corsten, Paul Elstak, Michel de Hey and Jochem Paap/Speedy J released some of their first records on the label. He was part of electronic dance music group Holy Noise, consisting of Elidio Gomes, Elstak, Richard van Naamen and Rob Fabrie, with vocals by MC Alee.[135][99][136][137][160][161] On 5 September 1991, Slaghuis was returning home to Appeltern in his BMW after a disc jockey gig in Amsterdam. Travelling the A2 motorway at a speed of 140 miles per hour (220 kilometres per hour), his car crashed into an oncoming truck, resulting in his tragic death. He was only 30 years old. A funeral service was held for him by his closest family members and friends shortly afterwards, and his ashes were spread around a local river.[4][44][162][163] After his funeral, Elstak and the other Holy Noise members went back into Peter’s studio to finish and release songs such as “Get Down Everybody” and “James Brown Is Still Alive”.[164][165][166][167][161] In the seventh episode of Het Zesde Zintuig on 1 April 2007, Helen Slaghuis believed that it is possible that her son pressed the accelerator all the way because someone had drugged him. However, no evidence of this has been found.[168] As for Bianca Bonelli, there is not much information about her other than her single “Je Veux L’Amour (Follow Me)” and her time with Slaghuis as the Video Kids, and no one seems to remember her since 1985 after they parted ways and she completely disappeared into obscurity. In a 2013 blog post, Dirk Arend, the creator of Tico Tac, stated that Slaghuis and Bonelli are no longer alive.[32] In the Zvuki interview, Aart Mol stated that Bonelli died a few years later after Slaghuis’ death, meaning that she passed in either 1994 or 1995. There are rumours and speculations that Bonelli died of lung cancer, which might actually seem plausible considering that the Video Kids’ first concert director said that she smoked a lot, and smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer.[4][17][44]
Despite the Video Kids’ break-up and the unfortunate fates of its members, their hit song “Woodpeckers from Space” would be featured in the Pingu episode Pingu Helps with Incubating[169] (although it has been replaced by David Hasselhoff’s “Pingu-Dance” in its newer version[170]) and Pingu: The Most Cheerful Penguin in the World.[171] Interstingly, the font used for Pingu‘s old logo, Sprague, had been used for “Woodpeckers from Space” and “Rap and Sing Along” in the track list on the back cover of the original single.[172][173] The song would continue to be covered, remixed and sampled several times by other artists and included on several albums and compilations over the years, including Dee-Jay Volume 4 and Summer House Hits in 1989,[174][175][176][177] Doctor Demento’s Show #90-13 in 1990 (along with Mel Blanc and The Sportsmen’s cover of “The Woody Woodpecker Song”),[178] the Smurfs in 1995,[179] V-Kid in 1999,[180][181] Evelyn in 2001,[182][183] Spritneybears in 2003 (their cover laid in second place on the Norwegian chart, spending eight weeks on that chart in total),[184][185] Eric Prydz/Cirez D as “Hoodpecker” on 20 December 2004,[186] IndaMix 80 in 2007,[187] Mas 80 Volume 1 and 80s in 2008,[188][189] Monstruo Volume 5 in 2011,[190] and Karaoke Hits from 1985, Volume 20 in 2013.[191] From 1986/1991 to 2008/2011, Marian Pijnaker was part of various orchestras and toured with, among others, Harry Slinger from Drukwerk. During her musical career, in addition to singing, she also discovered the pleasure of teaching, working for The Rockschool in Leiden, Oegstgeest and Voorshoten, HIP School in The Hague, and Sport en Welzijn in Leidschendam-Voorburg.[192][193] In 1994, ZYX Music released a posthumous Eurodance remix of “Woodpeckers from Space”.[194][195] In 1995, the remix was included in Donkey Kong Hits: 21 Dance Tracks From Donkey Kong Country![196][197] In 1999, the song was included in the compilation album Cat Nuggets, released by Red Bullet.[198] In 2004, Cat Music licensed the song, as well as “Do the Rap”, “Satellite” and “Witch Doctor”, to Weton-Wesgram for inclusion in their compliation album Club Hits of the 80’s.[199] In 2007, another posthumous remake of the song was released as part of the album Kidz Hitz Party 2: Back To School.[200][201] In 2008 and 2012, Cat Music released the 12-inch remix of the song as part of their album Cartoon Hits/Cartoon All-Stars and On Satellite on iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music, followed by The Invasion of the Spacepeckers in 2012.[202][203][204][205][206][207] They would also release Club Hits of the 80’s themselves on Apple Music that year.[208][209][210] On 1 January 2013, they closed their studio in Rijnsaterwoude, Netherlands, and Cees Bergman moved some of the equipment to a small studio in his house, where he continued to make music. Despite this, Cat Music still exists as an entertainment production company named Cat Music and More, baesd in Voorburg, Netherlands, owned by Aart Mool (currently) and Bergman (until 2017) and managing the rights to all their music.[4][211][212] They would release The Invasion of the Spacepeckers on Spotify shortly after.[213][214] In January 2014, Pijnaker founded her own studio in Leiden, Zangstudio The Voice, where she gives singing lessons with great passion, runs workshops, and organises presentation shows and activities twice a year for extra stage experience, having helped many talents with her unique method.[192][193] Cat Music licensed The Invasion of the Spacepeckers to MiruMir Music Publishing for release in Russia. The reissued album included the original ‘Happy Birthday’ calendar and Tico Tac: Spacepecker, and expanded artwork recreated from the original art by Daniel Maslovsky. Maslovsky was also the producer of the album. He did the lengthy Zvuki interview with Aart Mol, which was later published as part of a promotional campaign for the album’s release. It also included a crudely-drawn comic strip named Tico Tac: The Woodpecker from Space, a prequel to Tico Tac: Spacepecker. In it, Tico’s ship crash lands into a dogface’s garden. He dizzily staggers out of his damaged vehicle, before falling unconscious in the dogface’s arms. The dogface puts the spacepecker in his dog Yslo’s/Jeff’s doghouse. Later that night, the dogface is awoken by Yslo’s/Jeff’s barking and growling and Tico shooting his laser gun, destroying the doghouse. He rushes outside to see Yslo/Jeff chasing Tico, before he pounces on him. before he pounces on him. The dogface tells Yslo/Jeff to leave Tico alone and calm down, saying that he will build a home for the spacepecker and Yslo’s/Jeff’s life will be lovely again. He then goes back to bed, only to find Tico sleeping in his bed, dreaming about sawed wood.[215][216] The album was reissued again in 2024 on Maslovsky’s new label Maschina Records, on 2CD (2-in-1 compact disc) with rare tracks (“Pink Panther’s Motion” and “The Man From Santiago”) and unreleased mixes in February, and on different coloured long play records in March.[217][218][219] On June 24, 2016, Bergman took on the role of glam rocker once again. With his band Van Beukenstein, he played a ‘tribute to Catapult’ at Haringrock in Katwijk aan Zee, and performed with them at the Bevrijdingsfestival on the Rijnplein on 5 May 2017.[4] Since 2016, Pijnaker has been the vocal coach of Mart Hoogkamer, who took 2nd place in Holland’s Got Talent on Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4.[192][193] In July 2017, Bergman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and died in his hometown of Leimuiden two months later on 21 September 2017. He was 65 years old.[4] Erwin van Prehn would pass away the following year in 2018 at the age of 68.[220] In January 2023, Pijnaker began working for Tapla Televisie as a talent scout.[192][193] On July 14, 2023, Doplah uploaded a preview to his album Translunar Boogie to YouTube, which included a remix of “Woodpeckers from Space” named “Woodpeckers from Space 2023”. He released the album and the song and uploaded a music video for the song on July 29, 2023, animated by Writing Lane.[221][222][223] On 30 October 2023, “Woodpeckers from Space” was released as part of Adams and Fleisner: The Ultimate Collection by i Venti d’Azzurro Records.[224][225][226][227] As for Peter Slaghuis, he left a significant legacy to the world of electronic dance music and sampling. His work as a mixer, producer and disc jockey continues to be an inspiration to many disc jockeys in Holland and around the world.[99][137] On 16 May 1994, the Prodigy released “No Good (Start the Dance)”, which was built around the vocal sample from Kelly Charles’ “You’re No Good for Me”.[228][229] De Kettingzaag Muziekblog described it as ‘having been majorly inspired by the “Acid Mix” of “Jack to the Sound of the Underground”‘, while Dmitry Semenido called it ‘a modern remix of “Jack to the Sound of the Underground”‘.[230][231][232][233] The single was quite successful on the singles chart across Europe (4th place in the United Kingdom and Germany, and 2nd and 3rd in the Netherlands) and also the band’s most successful single release up to that point.[234] Group member Liam Howlett initially had doubts whether to use the sample because he thought it was too pop for his taste. Interestingly, “No Good’s” music video, directed by Walter Stern, was very reminiscent of the music videos for “Jack to the Sound of the Underground” and “Move Your Feet to the Rhythm of the Beat”, with the action taking place in a disused location. However, while Slaghuis’ videos exuded positivity and reckless fun, the Prodigy’s video had a dark, depressing tone.[233] It was filmed in a disused underground cellar below Spitalfields Market in the East End of London. Later that year, another of the Prodigy’s songs, “Voodoo People”, included samples that had been used in the “Acid Mix”, and Serge Ramaekers and Dominic Sas produced a techno remix of “Jack to the Sound of the Underground”, which was released by Dance Street.[235][236][237][238][239] In 1999, D.O.D.S. and Klubbheads did remixes of the song, released by Mo’Bizz Recordings.[240][241] These remixes were not successful, only reaching 56th place in Germany.[233] In 2004, Helen Slaghuis made a memorial website for her late son, last archived on 11 September 2019, for which she received several awards.[242][243] She also made a website for her family in 2007.[244] In 2012, Jerry Beke, Koen Groeneveld and Addy van der Zwan, all of whom were fans of Slaghuis’ work, did a remix pack of “Jack to the Sound of the Underground” as a tribute to him. For his remix, Groeneveld gave it a techy touch while Van der Zwan and Beke stayed true to the housey origin of the track. Beke was able to make the remix partly because he got access to the samples that Peter had saved on floppy disks and his recording equipment from Helen, Charles and Dana Slaghuis in February 2001. This version was released on Spinnin’ Records on 20 February 2012.[245][246][247][248][145] On 5 September 2016, Michael Halve of Fantasy Radio made a music video for Disco Breaks 10 to honour Slaghuis.[249][250] On 27 February 2019, XXL Radio uploaded a music video for Slaghuis’ 1987 Yearmix for Soulshow.[122] On 23 March 2020, Radio Stad Den Haag ran a Special Tribute Show on air to recognize the producer’s genius.[251]
mysuperendeavour 