Counting the Beat explained
| Counting the Beat |
| Cover: | Counting The Beat.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Swingers |
| Album: | Counting the Beat |
| B-Side: | One Good Reason |
| Released: | 2 March 1981 (Australia) |
| Recorded: | August 1980 |
| Genre: | New wave |
| Label: | Mushroom Records |
| Producer: | David Tickle |
| Prev Title: | One Good Reason |
| Prev Year: | 1979 |
| Next Title: | It Ain't What You Dance, It's the Way That You Dance It |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
"Counting the Beat" is a single by New Zealand rock band The Swingers released in 1981 from their album Practical Jokers (released in the US as Counting the Beat).
History
The single was performed by The Swingers; the group's frontman Phil Judd was previously a member of Split Enz. Although the band had several hit songs in New Zealand, "Counting the Beat" was their only major chart success in Australia, and they are considered a one-hit wonder in that country. The song is well known for its catchy beat and memorable music video.
There were long delays in the release of the song: while recorded in August 1980, the final mix was not ready until November, and the decision then made by Mushroom to not release the song until after Christmas.[1] Between its recording and release, Buster Stiggs had left the band and joined Australian rock group Models.
On its eventual release in February, the song was an immediate hit, reaching
- 1 in Australia on 2 March 1981
and in New Zealand that May (where it spent 9 weeks in the top two).
[2] The song was the number one charting song of 1981 in Australia according to the
Kent Music Report end of year chart. As of July 1997 it had sold over 100,000 copies in Australia.
[1]
Track listing
- Counting the Beat
- One Good Reason
Music video
The song is known for its memorable music video as well as the song. The crowd at the end of the song were not actors but instead people on a 'surprise' drinking bus. One of the stops was the video shoot, where they had 15 minutes to dance.[3]
Silver Scroll award
In September 2015, 'Counting the Beat' was awarded a retrospective New Zealand Silver Scroll award, dubbed the 'lost Silver Scroll', because the awards were not held in 1981, for reasons that remain unclear.[4]
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Popular culture
- In the early to mid-1990s, the title of the song was also the name of a New Zealand music show, broadcast on (mostly independent) radio stations across New Zealand.
- From the early to mid-1990s until the early 2000s, the song was used as the theme for the New Zealand soft drink Lemon and Paeroa.[8]
- Gordon Spittle authored the book Counting The Beat, GP Publications, 1997.
- From 1997 to 2002, the song was used in advertisements for Kmart Australia.
- In 2001, it was voted fourth-best New Zealand song of all time by members of APRA, and included on the related Nature's Best CD and DVD.
- It was included on an episode of the Australian TV series 20 to 1, covering "one-hit wonders". "Counting the Beat" was ranked number 13 and was identified as Australian in origin. As The Swingers were signed with Australian label Mushroom Records and were resident in Australia at the time, the song is sometimes seen as an Australian song.
- In 2011, MediaWorks New Zealand-owned television channel TV3 used the song in some programme advertisements, Since 6 February 2011 the song is now used as their official theme song.
- Countdown, a New Zealand supermarket, used the song in its advertising from 2014 until 2018.
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Green. Peter. Phil Judd: Bio. Biography. Frenz. 26 September 2012. July 1997.
- Web site: Counting the Beat: NZ Chart Listing. Archive. charts.nz. 26 September 2012.
- Web site: Counting the Beat. Music Video. NZ On Screen. 26 September 2012.
- Web site: Silver Scrolls honour The Swingers, Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Article. Stuff. 18 September 2015.
- Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian)
. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 303.
- Web site: National Top 100 Singles for 1981 . . 393 . 7 . . 4 January 1982 . 11 January 2022 .
- Web site: Top Selling Singles of 1981. RIANZ. 11 January 2022.
- Web site: Lemon and Paera Soft Drink: Famous in NZ . Moving Image (Commercial) . NZ Film Archive . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160117043332/http://www.ngataonga.org.nz/catalogues/moving-image-catalogue/media/lemon-paeroa-soft-drink-world-famous-in-new-zealand-c2478 . 17 January 2016.
