Beginnings Catapult, a
glam rock band formed by and consisting of Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing and later joined by Elmer Veerhoff, had scored a number of hits in the 1970s; "Let Your Hair Hang Down" and "Teeny Bopper Band" were two of the band's hits. As their popularity began to fade, the band decided that it was time for something different. They wanted to make music in different styles, which was difficult because of their Leiden dialect and Dutch radio stations and television channels' refusal to accept the quintet's ability to do so. With advice from Dutch DJ
Willem van Kooten, they started writing and producing songs for other artists, including Lia Velasco,
Patricia Paay, Liberation of Man, The Internationals,
The Surfers, and
Snoopy. Van den Bosch's children, who were big fans of Woody and always wanted to hear him on the record, asked their father if he could produce a record based on the character. Upon learning this, Cat Music decided to write, produce and record a song about Woody, named "
Woodpeckers from Space", The main vocals were performed by Bergman, with Hessing singing as Woody. The female vocals and two of Woody's laughs were done by Anita and Sylvia Crooks of The Internationals. In order to avoid being sued by
Universal Studios, a new character named Tico Tac, a "spacepecker", was created as the group's mascot and used on the single's front cover. Tico was named after the song of the same name by Polysix, and designed by Boni Records cover designer Dirk Arend (going under the pseudonym "Fruut" at the time). Several other companies, including
Polydor Records, showed interest in the song, but did not like Arend's early design for Tico, so the character was redesigned by Bjørn Frank Jensen and coloured by Frits Godhelp at
Toonder Studio's. Jensen also drew a promotional comic strip named
Tico Tac: Spacepecker, in which Tico meets a man who invites him into his house. Upon entry, he starts poking holes everywhere. The man decides to tame Tico by taping his mouth shut and tying his drill to a plunger. peaking in 14th place in the
Dutch Top 40 in 6 October 1984 and 17th in
Ultratop 50 Flanders between 13 October 1984 and 17 November 1984. Cat Music decided to record and produce some more tracks in full, and compile them in their project's debut album,
The Invasion of the Spacepeckers. They hired and asked
Peter Slaghuis and Bianca Pikaar to be the faces of the
Euro disco act. and would later use "Woodpeckers from Space" in the seventh instalment in his "Disco Breaks" bootleg series, while Pikaar, under the stage name "Bianca Bonelli", would later have a solo single called "Je Veux L'amour (Follow Me)", also written and produced by Cat Music. A music video for "Woodpeckers from Space" was filmed, in which Tico plays pranks on the Slaghuis/Bonelli flight crew, messing with their spaceship. The video was shot in the Airplane Museum at
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Tico was animated by Bjørn Frank Jensen, Frits Godhelp and
Harrie Geelen. By 1985, "Woodpeckers from Space" was an international hit, peaking in 72nd place in the United Kingdom, 6th in Switzerland, 4th in Germany, and 1st in Norway and Spain. Boni Records promoted
The Invasion of the Spacepeckers by airing the song's music video on
music television channels, and Video Kids began their tour around Europe, doing live shows and concerts. The album was released at the
Midem music festival and sold 1.1 million copies, "Woodpeckers from Space" and their other songs, such as "Do the Rap" and "La Bamba", were played quite often on radio stations at the time, and covered and included on several best-of albums and compilations. A cover version was made by the South African band
Café Society, staying on the South African Top 20 for 22 weeks from June to November, of which 7 were held at the No. 1 position from August to October. During their popularity, the band released "Do the Rap" as a single, which only peaked in 9th place in the Dutch Top 40 on 18 May 1985. The single also included "Happy Birthday" (from "Cartooney Tunes") and "Skyrider", and featured
Tico Tac: Spacepecker on its back cover. A music video for "Do the Rap" was filmed, where Slaghuis, Bonelli and Tico are at a party, dancing and singing along to a record player playing the song. Boni Records would later release a 12" remix of "Woodpeckers from Space" by S. Mortali that year. In 1988, Cat Music recorded Video Kids' fourth and last single, "
Witch Doctor" (also known as "Witch Doctor/Tico Strikes Again"), a cover of the song of the same name by
Ross Bagdasarian, which also included "Tico's Day Off". The single was released by themselves as "Replay Records" due to Boni Records' closure the previous year, and failed to hit the charts. In 1989, a
house remix of "Woodpeckers from Space" was produced by Lex van Coeverden. This remix was not released as a single, only appearing on compilation albums instead. In 1994, ZXY Music released a
Eurodance remix of "Woodpeckers from Space" by Patrick de Schrevel, which also included the 1986 and 1989 mixes. In 1999, "Woodpeckers from Space" was included in the compilation album
Cat Nuggets, released by Red Bullet. In 2004, Cat Music licensed "Woodpeckers from Space", "Do the Rap", "Satellite" and "Witch Doctor" to Weton-Wesgram for inclusion in their compilation album ''Club Hits of the 80's
. In 2008, they released the 1986 remix of "Woodpeckers from Space" as part of their album Cartoon Hits
and On Satellite
on iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music, followed by The Invasion of the Spacepeckers
in 2012 and 2013. They would also release Club Hits of the 80's
themselves on Apple Music that year. On 22 April 2014, The Invasion of the Spacepeckers
was released by MiruMir Music Publishing in Russia. In October 2023, "Woodpeckers from Space" was released as part of the compilation album Adams & Fleisner: The Ultimate Collection'' by i Venti d'Azzurro Records.
Personal lives Slaghuis died in a car accident on 5 September 1991, and Bonelli (born 2 January 1964) died a few years later in 1994-1995. According to Video Kids' first concert director, Bonelli was a heavy smoker at the time, indicating that she died of lung cancer. ==Legacy==