The Tornados - Telstar

Telstar is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in July 1962. The song was released five weeks later on 17 August 1962. It was written and produced by Joe Meek, and featured a clavioline, a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound.
This novelty record was intended to evoke the dawn of the space age, complete with sound effects that were meant to sound "space-like". A popular story at the time of the record's release was that the weird distortions and background noise came from sending the signal up to the Telstar satellite and re-recording it back on Earth. It is more likely that the effects were created in Meek's recording studio, which was a small flat above a shop in London. It has been claimed that the sounds intended to symbolize radio signals were produced by Meek running a pen around the rim of an ashtray, and that the "rocket blastoff" at the start of the record was actually a flushing toilet, with the recordings made to sound exotic by playing the tape in reverse at various speeds.
The record was an immediate hit after its release on August 17, 1962, remaining in the UK pop charts for 25 weeks, five of them at number one, and in the American charts for 16 weeks.

A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from La Marche d'Austerlitz, a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek's favour until a year after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time.

"Telstar" won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sixties
• pop
• instrumental

[1XLINEMAN]

This song was playing on some ship tied up next to us when we assembled on the mess deck of the USS Canisteo in October 1962 when the Captain adressed the crew and told us to prepare for war.

We did not go to war but it was touch and go for about 14 days.

I always think of that day nearly 50 years ago when I hear this song.

Oddly enough I worked for AT&T for 30 years..

[mike65nennen]

I was the only witness to a horrific car crash in ' 62, two young guy drag racing in a city. Telstar was playing on one of the car radios.when I walked up to it. I felt like those who died were being carried to heaven on the sound waves of this song, I was 12 yrs old at the time. I actually felt the touch of death itself but also the afterlife as well.....something there. I still get  that same feeling of assention, chills and shivers every time I here this song.

[gorgolyt]

NO ONE'S GONNA TAKE ME ALIIIVE... oh wait

[TheQualityListener]

wow your experience when you were 12 is amazing and i believe and can relate to it. this song is so eery, it's like you're traveling in time through another dimension. i was only a year old (born in 61) and I remember hearing it on the radio. my dad was in the army and we lived in munich and i swear to this day it was like being on another planet. i can't explain the feeling by that is what it still feels like when i hear this. like you, i am convinced too that there is an afterlife.

[Darkeartz]

@mike65nennen No chilling tale to tell, but this song certainly does have a kind of "It was great, but I am off now" feel to it.... pleased I am not the only one to feel it...

[WOODBINEXX]

this should be reissued this year to mark its 50th anniversary

[VLSMITH1000]

It really brings back memories for me! Thank you!

[4thstooge]

@mike65nennen Your description of the accident w/ this song playing sounds like a scene from the TV show "Twilight Zone"

[MrRebeccaSlumber]

I want this to be the last song I hear