Old Grease doesn't rust
Translation from German
The soundtrack of 1978:
No party was complete without “Grease,” “Saturday Night Fever,” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The first two soundtracks sold a total of 60 million copies, Poly-Gram’s market share grew from five to 20 percent, and its annual revenue reached a record over one billion dollars. When the hits dried up, Poly-Gram’s specially expanded warehouses alone were losing seven million dollars a month.
To mark its 20th anniversary, Grease is returning to cinemas. A brief history lesson – and the question: What does this film tell us on the threshold of the third millennium?
The film builds to a scene: Olivia Newton-John stands before John Travolta in skin-tight black jeans, a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth, her parted lips meant to suggest lasciviousness. Although we know she guards her virginity at least as carefully as a school lunch in a Tupperware container, this moment feels liberating: finally, she displays a touch of girl power, even if it’s just to offer herself up to the notorious Travolta as a suitable female.
And what about the preceding, candy-colored 110 minutes? After a steamy vacation fling, Sandy (Newton-John) and Danny (Travolta) have to part ways and unexpectedly meet again on the first day of school.
Here, however, Danny is the leader of the cool crowd, which rules out T-Birds-style hand-holding with the squeaky-clean Sandy. She, in turn, joins the crazy Pink Ladies, suddenly becomes quite unhinged, and finally shows Danny what a lungful is. Happy ending!
This is the story of the most successful movie musical of all time ($341 million worldwide). Travolta was already a hit in 1978. He had already been shaken by “Saturday Night Fever” (German title: Nur Samstag Nacht) in 1978 and by today’s standards it was huge, as if Leo DiCaprio had had two Titanic-sized successes in twelve months.
Riding the wave of “Grease,” anything seemed possible: The soundtrack to the sixth musical, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” was named the worst album of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine and sold three million copies. The disco film—thank goodness, it’s three days—has audiences queuing up, and the “Grease” musical is still playing today…
For its tenth anniversary, “Grease” already had a re-release—and was a terrible flop. Only in 1998 had the puberty of the fans of that time progressed far enough that a need for a sentimental “Olivia & John: 20 years ago it was pretty wicked to be—Do you remember?” movie night could exist.
Olivia & John: 20 years ago it was pretty easy to be wicked
And indeed: “Grease” grossed $30 million in the US this year. And what does the young person on the threshold of the third millennium get out of that? Well, voluntary comedian Sandy, whom Danny indignantly returns his ring to when he gets too close to her shoulder in the drive-in theater, is about as exciting as a hair curler. And Travolta, as a rebellious teenager, is about as dashing as an insurance adjuster.
In short: This film fills the cultural vacuum of our time at least as perfectly as the Schlager revival. But “Grease” couldn’t care less about such philosophies; the film knows only one, and that is fun.
By Renée Bertelini
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta's careers
After “Grease,” Olivia’s film career ended in crisis after two further appearances in Xanadu (1980) and Two Of A Kind (1983). Years later, the singer and actress was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she successfully fought, and subsequently released some records with an esoteric bent. Her latest album, “Back With a Heart” (Universal Music), has just been released.
Travolta’s star also declined noticeably after “Grease.” In 1980, he re-established himself as a box-office star with “Look Who’s Talking,” and in 1994, with “Pulp Fiction,” as a serious actor.
GREASE GROTESK
“You, the bathtub is full,” Dieter Hallervorden and Helga Feddersen’s version of “You’re the One That I Want” was a monster hit.
Editor’s note - from <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du,_die_Wanne_ist_voll>Wikipedia</a> - “Du, die Wanne ist voll” is a parody of the song “You’re the One That I Want”, by German comedians Helga Feddersen and Dieter Hallervorden. It was released as a single in 1978. It is sung in a bizarre mixture of German and English, with the middle-aged Hallervorden and Feddersen pretending to be youthful lovers. The music video was produced by NDR.
“Du, die Wanne ist voll” literally translates to ‘[Hey,] You, the bathtub is full’, fitting in syllable length, and the joke consists of partially using German words that sound similar to the English ones (like soramimi or a deliberate mondegreen).The single reached number four on the German Singles Chart.