The game-changing satellite lead to a number-one song composed by an innovative producer.
by Rich Watson
When AT&T created Telstar, the communications satellite, in 1962, it brought the world closer together. After its launch, more people could see images and hear events from across the planet than ever before.
Its manufacturers probably never imagined it would inspire a hit song.
What was Telstar?
The precedent for Telstar, of course, was the Russian satellite Sputnik. It was the first satellite with a radio transmitter. Its launch in 1957 heralded the dawn of the space age.
The Telstar satellite was the result of a joint collaboration between the US, the UK, and France. Its transponder could transmit data, a TV network, or telephone circuits.
It launched from NASA’s Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962 and entered a non-geosynchronous orbit.
Thirteen days later, the first live transatlantic TV signal broadcast to the public at three PM EST. Viewers saw live transmissions of
- the Statue of Liberty,
- the Eiffel Tower,
- the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing from Mount Rushmore,
- part of a Phillies-Cubs game from Chicago,
- a press conference by President Kennedy from Washington, DC,
- Cape Canaveral,
- the Seattle World’s Fair,
- Quebec, and Stratford, Ontario
Writer-producer Joe Meek and the Tornados
Around the same time in this pre-Beatles era, a British surf rock group called the Tornados rose. Heinz Burt (bass) and Clem Cattini (drums) joined together in 1961. They were the backup band to rockabilly singer Billy Fury in 1962.
They also worked with producer Joe Meek. An engineer, he fiddled with the inner workings of radios from a young age. At the dawn of the rock era, he was a big fan of Buddy Holly. After Holly’s death, he would produce a tribute song. Allegedly, Meek even conducted seances attempting to contact Holly’s spirit.
Meek first did things in the studio such as removing the front skins of bass drums and moving the microphones closer to the instruments. Sometimes he engaged in his experimental techniques without the musicians’ consent.
Among his sonic creations include:
- bubbling noises, evocative of fish underwater,
- seagulls crying,
- a horse neighing,
- gunfire, and
- explosions.
Meek produced the song “Johnny Remember Me” by John Leyton, in 1961. It went to number one in the UK despite a ban by the BBC for being about a lover who dies. (Later, the BBC would also ban a Meek-produced song about Jack the Ripper.)
With the Tornados, Meek recorded a single called “Love and Fury” on Decca Records, in 1962. It sounds similar in spirit to “Telstar,” but it never charted.
The Tornados’ ode to Telstar
Meek, like many around the world at the time, was fascinated with Telstar. He composed a song in its honor.
He wrote the melody on a clavioline, an electronic analog synthesizer invented in 1947. Later, a French composer accused him of plagiarism, but Meek won the subsequent suit. The Tornados recorded the song. Burt and Cattini were joined by
- Alan Caddy on guitar,
- Roger LaVern on keyboard, and
- George Bellamy on rhythm guitar. (Fun fact: Bellamy is the father of Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy.)
Geoff Goddard, who wrote “Johnny Remember Me,” played the clavioline on “Telstar.” That’s him humming toward the end of the song.
They recorded it at Meek’s studio on Holloway Road in London. Meek created the rocketship-launching sound by playing a tape of a flushed toilet backwards!
Meek’s demise and “Telstar’s” success
Decca released “Telstar” in August 1962, a mere five weeks after the satellite’s launch. It went to number one on the UK charts and stayed there for six weeks. It also topped the charts in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, and won a songwriting award. It sold an estimated five million copies.
It also reached number one in the US. The next British song to do that would be “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” two years later.
In addition, Meek recorded a version of “Telstar” with lyrics, called “Magic Star.”
The Tornados recorded on their own and with Billy Fury until they disbanded in 1968, though not before making the first openly-gay pop song in UK history. Meek, a gay man himself, produced it as the B-side of “Is That a Ship I Hear?” the Tornados’ last single. Meek was convicted in 1963 for solicitation. The UK decriminalized homosexuality in 1967.
Meek went on to work with Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Shirley Bassey, Gene Vincent and others, but his personal life was marked by drugs and depression. In 1967, after an argument with his landlady, Meek killed her and then himself with a shotgun.
In 1993, a line of audio processing equipment was named for him, in recognition of his innovations in sound. His unreleased recordings were purchased, auctioned and catalogued.
A movie about Meek came out in 2008. Many recording artists have released either tributes to him or have been inspired by his life and work.
“Telstar” is remembered today as an early example of space-age pop.
@byrichwatson
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Do you remember the Telstar satellite and the song “Telstar”?
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