JOE DOLCE MUSIC THEATRE

#1

"Shaddap You Face" is a song written and performed by Joe Dolce (known at the time as the Joe Dolce Music Theatre) in 1980 about a fictitious rebellious Italian boy. It has set a number of sales and longevity records.

It went to number 1 for eight weeks on the Australian pop charts in 1980. It reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 21 February 1981 and stayed there for three weeks until 14 March 1981; keeping Ultravox's single Vienna off the top spot for all the three weeks it was there. The song became the 15th biggest British hit of 1981.

"Shaddap You Face" was also Number 1 in 11 other countries. There have been over 50 different foreign language cover versions, and hundreds more published informally on YouTube with new versions being recorded and uploaded every year. The original release sold over 6 million copies and has remained the most successful Australian-produced single in Australian music history for 33 years straight, with sales of over 450,000+ copies. It was Australia's first triple platinum recording by the old count of 100,000 units equaling platinum status, which has since changed to 75,000 units, then 50,000, and finally 70,000 units. In 2002, "Shaddap You Face" also overtook Slim Dusty's 22-year longevity record for "A Pub with No Beer", which went to Number 1 in 1957, and was Australia's first gold record and only gold 78rpm record.

In the US, the song peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 43 on the Cash Box Top 100, and No. 24 on Record World. However, it was regularly played on the Dr. Demento show to the point of being No. 6 on the year end Funny 25 that year. In Canada, "Shaddap You Face" reached number two for two weeks.