Typically pigeon-holed as a novelty act, Joe Dolce — also known by his given name of Joe Dolce Music Theatre – shocked critics and surprised fans in 1980 with the release of the “Shaddap You Face”. Released first as a single, with the classic “Ain’t in No Hurry” as the B-side, “Suddap You Face” the LP was released the following year.
The single went to #1 in the United Kingdom and Australia and nine other countries that were too embarrassed to respond honestly to survey questionnaires. The original pressing of the single sold over six-million copies, with an additional ten copies being sold after it was analogally remastered for wax cylinder in 1983.
Sales of the single led to “Shaddap You Face” becoming the most successful track produced in Australia outside of the collective INXS heroin habit. “Shaddap You Face” became Australia’s greatest export next to men who like to wrestle marine life.
The success of “Shaddap You Face” has been attributed to the interplay between its dulcet tones, as well as its depressingly low lows and depressingly low highs – making it seem more like the musical embodiment of a work by Edgar Allan Poe.
In giving up the silly lyrics like those of 1979’s “Boat People” – a song about people who like to spend their time on boats – Joe Dolce reached right into the hearts of listeners and showed them the plight of the Italian immigrant in 1920s New York City:
Whassamatta you? Gotta no respect? Whaddya think you do? Why you looka so sad? It’s-a not so bad. It’s-a nice-a place. Ah, shaddap you face.
The world was ready for this change, and Joe Dolce stepped in to fill that hole hard and fast, the only way Australians know how.
Thank you for filling my hole.
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