The Video You Deserve... A TikTok Disco Smash About A Dead RussianMondays can be rough.

And so, every Monday, we give you a music video. A fun, funny music video. Something that’ll make you smile, make you laugh, make you reminisce, and make you realize that back in the day, music video creators were probably either insane or heavily intoxicated. But were also incredibly entertaining.

We call this feature, The Video You Deserve, and you can find it every Monday on your site for fun, free entertainment and features, QuadCities.com.

Our latest video is one of a song that’s currently going viral on TikTok, which of course makes complete and total sense in the strangeness of this new decade, that one of the first biggest hits of 2021 is an obscure disco song that’s over four decades old, that was a massive hit in Britain and Europe but was never a hit in the U.S., and is from a German and Caribbean act, sung in English, based upon the legend of a deceased Russian leader, and featuring people dressed in Persian clothing. Of course!

Anyway, the song and video I’m talking about is “Rasputin,” by Boney M.

Here’s what the band’s Wikipedia says about the hit:

Rasputin” is a 1978 Euro disco hit single by the Germany-based pop and Euro disco group Boney M., the second from their album Nightflight to Venus. It was written by the group’s creator Frank Farian, along with George Reyam and Fred Jay. It is a semi-biographical song about Grigori Rasputin, a friend and advisor of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family during the early 20th century. The song describes Rasputin as a playboy, mystical healer, and political manipulator.

Oh that saucy Russian!

Boney M were MASSIVELY successful in Britain, and this song was a HUGE hit there, as well as around the world.  Which is certainly logical given it was the late ’70s, when everyone was coked to their gills. The story, and ostensibly the video, tell a story of the singer conjuring up the late Russian who was a lover in a previous life, and bringing him back to the dance floor during the disco era.

Nope, not kidding.

And now it’s a huge hit among Gen Z and can be heard ubiquitously across TikTok.

Anyway, here it is, Boney M with “Rasputin”…

 

The Video You Deserve... A TikTok Disco Smash About A Dead Russian
Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.
The Video You Deserve... A TikTok Disco Smash About A Dead Russian

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