Popcorn (instrumental)

Infobox Single
Name = Popcorn


Artist = Hot Butter
from Album = Hot Butter
Released = 1972
Format = 7" single
B-side = "At the Movies"
Recorded = 1972
Genre = Synthpop
Length = 2:30
Label = Interfusion AUS
Writer = Gershon Kingsley
Charles Gordanne
Michaële
Producer = Bill Jerome
Steve Jerome
Reviews =
Last single =
This single = "Popcorn" (1972)
Next single = "Skokiaan" (1973)"Popcorn" is a famous early synthpop instrumental, originally recorded by Gershon Kingsley. In 1972, it was a huge hit in many countries when it was rerecorded by Hot Butter. "Popcorn" has since been covered by a great number of artists.

Original version

Background

Composer Gershon Kingsley (of Perrey and Kingsley) first recorded it for his 1969 album "Music to Moog By". In 1971 the song was re-recorded by Kingsley's band First Moog Quartet. Stan Free, member of the First Moog Quartet, rerecorded the instrumental with his band Hot Butter in 1972. The record was one of a rash of Moog synthesizer-based releases that characterized "synth-pop" of the 1960s and 1970s.

The title refers to the short staccato or sharp "popping" sound used.

There were two 7" covers, both released in 1972 under Musicor Records and Stateside labels.

Chart performances

Hot Butter's version became the first primarily electronic-based piece of music to reach the American popular music charts, peaking at #9 on the "Billboard" Pop Singles and #4 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. The single had a great success in Australia where it reached number one for ten weeks. It was also #1 in Switzerland, where it topped the chart for ten weeks and stayed for 17 weeks in the top ten. In Norway, it was #1 for nine weeks and featured for 21 weeks in the top ten. It was also number one in Germany and reached #5 on July 22, 1972 in UK and #15 in Canada - October 1972. In France, this version of "Popcorn" is the 131st best-selling single of all time, with about 900,000 sales. [Best-selling singles of all time in France [http://www.infodisc.fr/S_ToutTemps.php?debut=100 Infodisc.fr] (Retrieved September 19, 2008)]

Track listings

; 7" single
# "Popcorn" — 2:30
# "At the Movies" — 2:31

Charts

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable"
-! End of year chart (2005)! Position
-
Australian Singles Chart [ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2005 [http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-2005.htm Aria.com.au] (Retrieved February 13, 2008)]
align="center"|79
-
Australian Dance Singles Chart [ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Dance Singles 2005 [http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-dance-singles-2005.htm Aria.com.au] (Retrieved February 13, 2008)]
align="center"|8
-
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart [2005 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart [http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2005 Ultratop.be] (Retrieved February 13, 2008)]
align="center"|23
-
French Singles Chart [2005 French Singles Chart [http://www.ifop.com/europe/sondages/DISCANNU/single05.STM Ifop.com] (Retrieved December 16, 2007)]
align="center"|6
-
French Digital Singles Chart2005 French Digital Downloads Single Chart [http://fanofmusic.free.fr/Site-Charts-Top20singleDL2005France.htm Fanofmusic.free.fr] (Retrieved December 16, 2007)]
align="center"|16
-
French Club Chart [2005 French Airplay, TV and Club Charts [http://www.yacast.fr/fr/index.html Yacast.fr] (Retrieved January 19, 2007)]
align="center"|49
-
New Zealand Singles Chart [2005 New Zealander Singles Chart [http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart_annual.asp Rianz.org.nz] (Retrieved February 13, 2008)]
align="center"|4
-

Other cover versions

It has since been covered by various artists, including DJ Voyager, Anarchic System with vocal version, a pre-fame Jean Michel Jarre (under the pseudonyms of The Popcorn Orchestra and Jamie Jefferson), Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Richard D. James AKA Aphex Twin, M&H Band, DJ Fantomas, Gigi D'Agostino, Iranian artist Shadmehr Aghili, Afrosound, the The Time Frequency (TTF), Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, The Treble Spankers, the Boomtang Boys, Space Penguins, Bass Bumpers (fronted by the Crazy Frog cartoon), Liars, Finnish band Seidat, Swedish DJ Richi M, the Irish DJ Showey, South African Psytrance act Parana and Japanese electronic artists Denki Groove,Russian Virtuoso Guitar Player Victor Zinchuk. It has also been remixed by Hexstatic on the "" album. In fact, more than 500 cover versions of the song exist [ [http://www.kingsleysound.com/Inter93.html Interview with Gershon Kingsley (1993)] ] , some of which add lyrics (lyrics have been added in at least six different languages). In 2003 Greek Synthpop Duo Marsheaux released a darker mix of Popcorn as their debut Single, which became a radio play hit in Europe. The song was also featured as the background music in the first version of the 1982 arcade game "Pengo" and the 1984 Mikro-Gen microcomputer game "Pyjamarama". On the 17th of September, 2007, Electropop group Plemo released a free track on micromusic.net based on the original Popcorn melody. It includes samples from "Fight For Your Right" of the Beastie Boys.

The song has never been covered by Kraftwerk [ [http://kraftwerkfaq.hu/recordings.html#popcorn Is the song "Popcorn" made by Kraftwerk?] ] although there are mistagged copies of the song allegedly by them in circulation.

Uses in popular culture

This song was used for the background of Michigan Lottery's drawings for the first three years. Afterwards, another piece sounding of a combination of one of the show's standard pieces and "Popcorn" would play in the background. In the early 1970s, Boston television UHF channel WLVI also used the song for a series of short educational pieces called "Snippets". WPIX (Channel 11) in New York City used it as the theme for their Sunday morning and afternoon movie block from late 1972 to around 1975.

This song was used as background music in the 1983 arcade IBM PC game Digger and in the Armorgames' Retron for the background music. [ [http://armorgames.com/play/512/retron Retron | Armor Games ] ] It is commonly played on the Rick Emerson Show to fill dead air while Rick gets more coffee or during an especially boring call-in, and on the Ron and Fez show when referring to the wide spectrum of "popcorn movies" coming out in summer of 2008. In 2000, the song can be heard in the black comedy film Drowning Mona during a chase scene, and in 2008 in television and radio advertisements for the automotive chain Pep Boys.

Comedian Norm Macdonald has said, during an interview on The Adam Carolla Radio Show that as a young man growing up in Canada that this was his favorite song.

The song can also be heard in Alex Olson's intro in the skate video Fully Flared.

External links

* [http://www.popcorn-song.com Popcorn Song - An informative page on the several versions of Popcorn with dates and artists]
* [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/03/79_versions_of_.html 79 Versions of Popcorn] - As advertised, this page contains links to 79 versions of the song.

References