Disco...The Cheesiest music ever?

[QUINNY]

7 I'll Be Good - Renne & Angela

Unless my marbles are cracked, I think you may have meant something else, Russ. I'll
Be Good by Rene & Angela is a rather spiffing slice of '80s disco funk. Listen fer yerself.

YouTube - Rene & Angela-I'LL be good (Extended Version) 1985

You're cheating in a way. How can you omit disco stars like ABBA or Boney M from your list to make room for less known acts like Chic?
Take a look at RetroRuss' list which is better in this regard.

I think you'll find the tracks I listed are played at parties and weddings every weekend by mobile DJs (in the UK & USA), more so than even Russ's list (even though his are the crustiest cheese ever (except for the aforementioned erroneous title). ABBA was NEVER Disco in the first place, nor was Boney M once people realised just how bad their lip syncing was.......really!

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by musiquelover

You're cheating in a way. How can you omit disco stars like ABBA or Boney M from your list to make room for less known acts like Chic?
Take a look at RetroRuss' list which is better in this regard.

This reminds me of reviews on Amazon where CDs with tracklists resembling both your lists minus the actually good stuff spawn reviews like "This would be the best disco collection if it included the essential disco hit [insert a tune by ABBA or other danceable pop hits of the time]."

I just FAINTED~!!
CHIC less know than BONEY M?
Someone please fan me..lol

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Dayna

I just FAINTED~!!
CHIC less know than BONEY M?
Someone please fan me..lol

Easy there, girl! I gotcha. Take a few deep breaths.
Remember they're talking about Europe. Boney M was HUGE over there a year, or two before CHIC hit big.

Now take a couple sips of this water... There ya go.

[musiquelover]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

ABBA was NEVER Disco in the first place, nor was Boney M once people realised just how bad their lip syncing was.......really!

Isn't that the gist of the matter? Disco fans may know that these artists never were really disco but unfortunately the perception of your average Joe seems to indicate otherwise.

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

Easy there, girl! I gotcha. Take a few deep breaths.
Remember they're talking about Europe. Boney M was HUGE over there a year, or two before CHIC hit big.

Now take a couple sips of this water... There ya go.

LOL Stephen ..You take such good care of me..
But I am still recouping

[RetroRuss]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Unless my marbles are cracked, I think you may have meant something else, Russ. I'll
Be Good by Rene & Angela is a rather spiffing slice of '80s disco funk. Listen fer yerself.

YouTube - Rene & Angela-I'LL be good (Extended Version) 1985



I think you'll find the tracks I listed are played at parties and weddings every weekend by mobile DJs (in the UK & USA), more so than even Russ's list (even though his are the crustiest cheese ever (except for the aforementioned erroneous title). ABBA was NEVER Disco in the first place, nor was Boney M once people realised just how bad their lip syncing was.......really!

Hi S, your right...who am I thinking of? There were a duo (husband & wife) who did some cheesy, sugary, slowy track in the late 70's - it made me want to puke everytime I heard it..

Also I 100% agree with you that neither Abba or Boney M were disco - however 30 years or so and at every cheesy disco you go to those bloody awful tracks will be played.

Dayna - It is an indictment on European tastes that whilst you were getting down to T-Connection, Fatback, Peoples Choice, Rare Pleasure, EWF etc., in 1976/1977 and probably hearing that stuff on the radio we had to endure Abba, Boney M and whole heap of other rubbish dance music - fortunately there were places to go that played decent (US disco) music.

[QUINNY]

Remember they're talking about Europe. Boney M was HUGE over there a year, or two before CHIC hit big.

They were HUGE in places like Germany well before they hit it really big in the UK, so from a UK perspective there isn't so much of a difference in the time frame.

In dear ol' Blighty, from a club DJ's perspective, Boney M were considered below our dignity and worth minus kazillions of cred points if you played them. Only their first single (SFAIK their first) Do Ya Wanna Bump received any true club play and even that was perceived as something of a rip off of one of our most beloved Ska tunes 'Al Capone' by Prince Buster that had been a dance floor sensation back in the mid-late '60s and again during the Skinhead revival of Ska and Bluebeat in the late '60s going into the early '70s.

So having said that, I guess Boney M are ultra cheesy Disco to a lotta people, but I'm not so sure their tracks are played by yer average DJ in preference to Chic etc. Maybe by the absolute cheesiest of wedding DJs, where there are lotsa kids and great grannies who have to be entertained.

[RetroRuss]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

So having said that, I guess Boney M are ultra cheesy Disco to a lotta people, but I'm not so sure their tracks are played by yer average DJ in preference to Chic etc. Maybe by the absolute cheesiest of wedding DJs, where there are lotsa kids and great grannies who have to be entertained.

Are but then if that were the case it would be considered 'sophisticated' alongside 'Agadoo', 'The Birdy Song', anything by Chas & Dave, any Eurovision UK winner etc....
The sad thing is I have been to such discos/events...they're usually in Hertfordshire (but not Hertford!)!

[QUINNY]

Hi S, your right...who am I thinking of? There were a duo (husband & wife) who did some cheesy, sugary, slowy track in the late 70's - it made me want to puke everytime I heard it..

I know exactly what you're thinking of...dare I post it? Daahh!! Why not give everyone a laugh (hoping it doesn't lead to suicide instead).

Save Your Love by Rene and Renata (who were, I believe both British and NOT Italian, as everyone thought at the time). 1982

YouTube - Renee and Renato - Save Your Love (Christmas 1982)

[discokicks]

That word "cheesy" just makes my blood boil! I think I started hearing this description in the early 1990s which seemed to refer to anything that has some sense of sweetness or a happy vibe...as if that in itself is warrant of a putdown. Since that time, the masses allowed grunge, self-indulgent hiphop and rap to become the norm for mainstream pop music as society's collective anger increased. The sad result of this is that it's lead to a self-conscious effort to make music that won't be labelled as cheesy which, of course, leaves a void of all things pretty and light. To me, the word has lost all credibility because it just seems to be a childish, little insult of anything that's in the past (not just music) as if we, who are in the present, are superior to those that came before us.

But disco need not feel alone in this putdown as some "credible" dj on the Perfectbeat site recently used the word "cheesy" to describe the original '98 version of Sash's Mysterious Times in his review of recent remixes....guess it's all in one's perception and how well life has been treating you.

[QUINNY]

The word 'cheesy' certainly has derogatory overtones when applied to music....as witnessed here on this website at various times.

That's why I try to differentiate between overplayed/over listened to and cheesy. They ain't necessarily the same bunch o' carrots. Even so, to many a person there isn't any difference. To them popular or commercially successful automatically means cheesy and to be slagged off and avoided at all costs.

Right now, as I type, ironically I'm listening to that ultra cheesy track Shame by Evelyn 'Champagne' King...sigh!

[darrens]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

I know exactly what you're thinking of...dare I post it? Daahh!! Why not give everyone a laugh (hoping it doesn't lead to suicide instead).

Save Your Love by Rene and Renata (who were, I believe both British and NOT Italian, as everyone thought at the time).

But Renée and Renato are hardly disco, either, are they? I wondered if Russ meant "Reunited" by Peaches and Herb.

By the way, Renato (the male half of the duo) was Italian by birth and blood, but actually emigrated to Birmingham before the record was released (and still lives there, apparently).
Renée and Renato - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[discophil]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

I know exactly what you're thinking of...dare I post it? Daahh!! Why not give everyone a laugh (hoping it doesn't lead to suicide instead).

Save Your Love by Rene and Renata (who were, I believe both British and NOT Italian, as everyone thought at the time). 1982

YouTube - Renee and Renato - Save Your Love (Christmas 1982)

Are you sure? That hardly seems like it would qualify on a list of "cheesy" disco tunes. Maybe he's thinking of The Raes:

YouTube - The Raes - A Little Lovin (Keeps The Doctor Away)

I happen to really like this song, however!

ETA: Just saw Darrens post. Yes, that would be a good contender! He did mention it was "slow":

YouTube - Peaches and Herb, Reunited

And overplayed to the max! (Still, I like it)

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Right now, as I type, ironically I'm listening to that ultra cheesy track Shame by Evelyn 'Champagne' King...sigh!

One of my all time FAV'S.......
even if They call it Velveeta..
The bassline and soulful vocals never bore me..
Even though she has one of the WORST attitudes of any artist in the business

[musiquelover]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Right now, as I type, ironically I'm listening to that ultra cheesy track Shame by Evelyn 'Champagne' King...sigh!

So what's your definition of the term 'cheesy' then?
I'm just wondering because I always associate cheesy music with
a) schmaltz and
b) a production solely made for a quick buck by exploiting the popularity of a current hit or popular music style without really putting any effort into it.
So even songs I hear for the first time and that never were a commercial success can sound cheesy to me.