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Thread: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee Gees

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    Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee Gees

    As disco is one of my favorite types of music of all time, the Bee Gees are, and always will Bee my favorite band of all time because of their great songs, especially their definitive songs of disco, such as Stayin' Alive, Night Fever, You Should Be Dancing, More Than A Woman, How Deep is Your Love, You Stepped Into my Life, and many, many more. They, to me will always symbolize the meaning of disco, even though they themselves never thought of themselves specifically as a disco act even during the Fever period. Truth is, they were disco; everybody else wanted to be like them in terms of discoishness, success, popularity etc. Many of the disco compilations I have come across are not respecting the definitive band of disco, the Bee Gees. It's a shame to anyone who call themselves a disco fan, to not count the Bee Gees at the top. They made disco what is was with their Saturday Night Fever songs, during the Fever era, the true era of disco, the late 1970's-roughly 1976-through the end of 1979. Everything after was disco sadly waning, in America that it is.
    If this website or any other wants to be truly recognizing of the best of disco, they will list the Bee Gees as the top disco band of all time.
    Also, on side note, I could not find a Polish disco album/band titled "Aura", which has a cover of Stayin Alive in Polish, of all languages! That's how respected the Bee Gees were in the time of disco! And why did I not see Boney M listed? They were a great non-American disco band; or Dshingis Khan, the German late disco band?
    But I have to say, I was glad Giorgio Moroder was on the 700 list. To add, I really, in addition to Giorgio Moroder, I hope I find the Three Degrees, who Giorigio Moroder helped out on their late 70's albums, specifically in the area of synthesizersm his area of expertise, as he was the pioneer of synth in the 70's. I was glad someone brought up Isaac Hayes' song Disco Connection, which came out in the early 70's long before disco had become what it would in America. And of course Abba is another band that was disco; probably in the top 5 or 7 greatest of disco. Please do your homework disco.com and do the research which will show to you that the Bee Gees were the biggest in disco in the late 1970's.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Welcome to the Forum!

    I agree: they are one of my all-time any-genre favourites, but I feel Saturday Night Fever has become a kind of shame for some people (even for the connoisseurs). Overexposure? Anyway, you can find their songs better ranked in the Top 500 Disco Charts, made several years ago by members of this # 1 Forum. Check positions 46, 51, 60: Top 500 Disco Songs Chart (Second Revised Edition 2002) #1-99 DiscoMusic.com.

    I think the same undervalue occurs with Eurodisco, I mean from an American standpoint. I'm a Hot Disco Latin Lover and I think we latinos are more open-minded in terms of accepting our feelings, in spite of changing trends and fashions.

    The same can be said of non-disco artists with disco songs. (What a grossness :icon_confused:.) Like the delicious Tonight's The Night by Betty Wright and Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing.




    By the way, some months ago, after one hundred years of solitude, I rediscovered Spirits Having Flown (re-issued in 2006), and I literally cried in a mixture of joy, lost and refound memories and excitement. How could have I forgotten this album so many years? Hopefully, some will find themselves in the same position in the future.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    I stated this many times and I'm gonna repeat this here again: the Bee Gees are one of the most underrated groups here on the board! I always defended them but a lot of members won't even consider them as Disco and it's mostly the American and British members who are negative about 'em.

    Like Teddy says, they usually bash Eurodisco too.

    The Bee Gees have written so many great songs that it simply is a shame that they sometimes are so neglected here! Maybe we Europeans are much more open minded (and no, the Brits are not Europeans )

    We wanna have fun on the dancefloor and if a groove puts a smile on our face, we party. We don't look around and ask ourselves if the song in question is cool or worthy or don't analyse it for a few months before a congregation of Disco wisemen gives it the stamp of approval.

    We just go for it and don't care. Remember: we didn't have the Disco Sucks backlash BITD, we kept dancing and enjoying ourselves to the sounds we dig!

    And all that "No they are pop or poppy Disco but not real Disco or they gave Disco a bad name" is simply mosquitomilking!

    If you can't admit that f.i. "You should be dancing" is a Disco classic, then you have a very fundamentalistic attitude. I still go beZerk when that 1 bursts out of the speakers and I'm never gonna apologize or be ashamed for liking it

    The Bee Gees were massive in our Discothèques and we DANCED on their tracks and we had a lot of FUN doing that.



    Barry, Robin, Maurice and Andy deserve our respect!


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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    The song How Deep Is Your Love was released before the movie came out.

    In fact, the reason people initially went to the movie, was because they wanted to hear this song, which was already at the top of the charts.

    But what they left with....., well that's the stuff dreams are made of.

    TV Land is running the movie this month, and here is a connection to the original movie trailer.

    Watch Movie Trailers and Videos Online : Movie show times on tvland.com

    Take the music out of this snippet and all you have is a man carrying a can of paint.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Of course The Bee Gees did make Disco music...no one can question that.

    But they existed as a successful POP group (and a very good one) before their SNF movie fueled success and Disco existed before the Bee Gees went down that Disco route.

    Therefore, the Bee Gees are a great POP group and the SNF songs are great POP records that have a Disco slant and were they not written especially for the benefit of what became a hugely popular movie ?

    I just dug the soundtrack album out, bought I might add for 50p ( a Dollar today or under a Euro) in the mid eighties when I was DJing at weddings and parties a lot and Night Fever & Staying Alive were two tracks guaranteed to get the kids, mums, dads, grannies and drunken uncles up dancing !

    The 17 track album came out on RSO, Robert Stigwood Organisation, who also produced the movie.
    Looking at it, The Bee Gees have the main picture on the cover, and the main picture on the back. The group sing 6 of the album tracks, plus Tavares sings a version of one of those, plus another of their songs sung by Yvonne Elliman.

    The rest of the album is other artists (and interestingly, 6 are INSTRUMENTAL- 7 if you include Kool & The Gang's 'Open Sesame' which is hardly a song) while the Bee Gees tracks rely very heavily on the groups vocals, melodies and lyrics. The remaining two tracks are The Trammps and KC & The Sunshine Band, both very much DISCO acts.

    No disputing the Disco credentials of "You Should Be Dancing" ...it's great with or without the movie.
    No doubting the IMMENSE popularity of the movie or the soundtrack. But lets make no mistake, The Bee Gees songs on the SNF soundtrack, as good as they are are POP songs by a POP group. The whole album is geared very much towards HUGE POP sales and that's what happened.

    I know nothing about the recordings the group made just before or just after the movie...does anyone know and were they in the same dance style?

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Quote Originally Written by Simon White View Post
    I know nothing about the recordings the group made just before or just after the movie...does anyone know and were they in the same dance style?

    For everyone who may not know, You Should Be Dancing is not originally from Saturday Night Fever, but from a Bee Gees album earlier titled Children Of The World. Also included on this lp is You Stepped Into My Life, Boogie Child and the ballad Love So Right. This is from 1976. So they were doing disco before SNF.

    Their Main Course lp released before that, in 1975, gave us Jive Talkin' and Nights On Broadway.

    Then came Saturday Night Fever ('77-'78), which by the way, the new songs(Staying Alive, Night Fever....etc.) were actually meant for their next album. It was Robert Stigwood who convinced them to add them to the film instead. They did not write these songs for the film. They were already recorded or in the process when they were asked.

    After the film came the next lp in 1979, Spirits Having Flown, spawning the hits Tragedy, Too Much Heaven, Spirits Having Flown and Love You Inside Out.

    The Bee Gees had me back in the 1960's with the song Words. And I have been with them ever since. I remember one Christmas telling my mother I wanted the 45 of Lonely Days, Lonely Nights.

    It is my opinion that they are both pop and disco. Nothing wrong with that. Many groups, actors and other entertainment acts cross genres. Look how The Beatles grew.

    There is an excellent VH1 Behind The Music: Saturday Night Fever. It tells the whole story about how the songs were just dropped into scenes during editing. They (production team) didn't really have a plan as where to place the recordings. As they got closer to finishing editing and nearer to its release date, they were afraid they had a big flop on their hands.
    Last edited by needlefingers; November 24th, 2007 at 02:26 PM.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Needlefingers for President! :icon_cool:

    Great analysis my friend!

    Maybe we can call it Dapper Disco (you know the kinda Disco that's cool, neat, stylish) :icon_smile: (Yep I just invented that one, with all due respect to Don Gotti!)

    Maybe that will do the trick.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    I have just recorded this week show for JSR and the track I start with is MFSB's K-Jee from SNF!! Spooky. Anyway I agree with Simon. The Bee Gees are a pop act who, throughout the years have kind of gone with the flow and recorded tunes that were right for the time. They recorded and wrote Disco sounding tracks. The only disco orientated track that I like of theres is You Should Be Dancing - the rest are pop.

    I'm not keen on Eurodisco (we're definitely not European us Brits Johann, even if our Government wants us to be!). As for Abba, don't get me started...not disco, never disco - just pop & bland pop at that!!
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Bee Gees did some nice dance songs, but they were a pop group that did some R&B tinged dance music, and a few disco tunes. They can't be considered the best disco act because they didn't do entire disco or dance albums. They're as much of a disco act as Paul McCartney was (he did Goodnight Tonight, Silly Love Songs and a few other R&Bish dance tunes). Had they not been featured on the SNF soundtrack, I don't think they'd be considered a disco act at all.

    As for them not being on compilations, that's probably because it's their own doing, not the compilation-makers ignoring them. Just like you don't see any Beatles tunes on 60s music CDs, you don't see Bee Gees disco stuff on comps because they make more money having people buy their own Greatest Hits CDs.

    Disco Funk

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    *****


    BILLBOARD'S NATIONAL DISCO ACTION TOP 40


    February 11, 1978

    1) SUPERNATURE/ GIVE ME LOVE/ LOVE IS HERE - Cerrone (Cotillion LP)
    2) LET'S ALL CHANT/ LOVE EXPRESS - Michael Zager Band (Private Stock 12")
    3) BIONIC BOOGIE (entire LP) - Bionic Boogie (Polydor LP/12")
    4) TWO HOT FOR LOVE - THP Orchestra (Butterfly LP)
    5) ONCE UPON A TIME (LP) - Donna Summer (Casablanca LP)

    6) STAYIN' ALIVE/ NIGHT FEVER - The Bee Gees (RSO LP)

    7) CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO/ RAINY NIGHT IN RIO - Tuxedo Junction (Butterfly LP)
    8. GIMME SOME LOVIN'/ AFRICANISM - Kongas (Crocos LP-Import)
    9) LOVE MACHINE/ JOHNNY, JOHNNY, PLEASE COME HOME/ DANCIN' FEVER - Claudja Barry (Salsoul LP)
    10) DANCE WITH ME - Peter Brown (Drive LP/12")



    de facts are de facts folks :icon_cool:



    ******
    Last edited by remicks; November 25th, 2007 at 01:14 PM.
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    They certainly are remicks.
    And here's another.
    The Bee Gees are a million selling Pop act who also made some very successful Disco records-

    Here are some more facts.
    Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey, Andy Williams, The Beach Boys, Roxy Music, Abba, Wings, James Last, Cher, Ann Margret, Elton John and Dolly Parton are million selling Pop/Rock/Country/MOR acts who also made some very successful Disco records.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    And some more Billboard facts.....


    1975

    Jive Talkin' - #9 Disco Singles

    1976

    You Should Be Dancing - #1 Club Play #1 Disco Singles

    1979

    Tragedy - #22 Club Play

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    And furthermore...


    ....when they went to parody disco in the movies Airplane and Foul Play, they didn't turn to Rod Stewart or Andy Williams or Dolly Parton.

    They didn't even turn to Donna Summer or KC.

    They turned to the Bee Gees Staying Alive.

    While purists will not admit that the Bee Gees were a disco act, at one point in a long and varied career, the rest of the world does.

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    This is another one of those hilarious situations when things get twisted around...... yes, we know the Bee Gees were a Disco act ...at one significant point in their career !

    They are probably not included on many Disco compilations because their material is difficult, expensive or impossible to licence.
    The original posting is berating this website for not giving the Bee Gees their Disco dues, which is kind of missing the point about the site surely. This is not a Bee Gees site, it's a DISCO site and THANK GOD it covers waaaaaaaaay beyond that subject.



    You can pull as many Billboard Disco charts out as you like. You can also show Pop charts that will show the same popularity !

    Yes, they were used as a subject for parody lots and lots of times. That's because they were a hugely successful Pop act with a strong Pop image and style (and one that wasn't far from parody anyway) that was easy to parody Disco during an era where Disco acts were somewhat faceless.

    Let's make no mistake, The Bee Gees were a Pop act.

    Here's the label scan for 'You Should Be Dancing' with some very pertinent comments -

    http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/118_0_2_0_C/

    It may be that the group had their biggest US success with Dance music so that's how the US mainstream record buying public best knows them.
    Maybe their image just touched a particular chord with some people at the time and allowed America's restricted mainstream males to grow from cygnets to swans or to become peacocks and strut proudly and colourfully around the floor, throw on a chiffon scarf, place their hands on hips, shirts open to the waist while getting in touch with their feminine side.
    Go for it boys !
    Last edited by Simon White; November 25th, 2007 at 03:31 PM. Reason: spelling ..again

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee




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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Lord why is it always the Bee Gees or ABBA that divides the disco troops??? :icon_rolleyes: It's the "illegal immigration" divisive issue of disco, isn't it? :icon_redface::icon_eek::icon_exclaim:

    It should be noted that the Bee Gees moved in the disco direction with their 1975 release "Jive Talkin' "..not in 1978/1979 when all other pop acts jumped on the bandwagon. By 1976, they had a 9 week run @ #1, with their 2nd disco release, "You Should Be Dancing," so I think they deserve major credit for popularizing the "disco movement" & getting disco played on radio and disco acts booked on TV shows.

    After Frankie Valli's "Swearin' To God" in 1975, they were the next mainstream household "name" pop performers to record "disco." Granted the move was a way to reinvent their career, which was in a slump--but they should get credit, along with their "Jive Talkin' " producer Arif Mardin for the foresight to appeal to the dance crowd. They got there almost at the beginning...at least as it was crossing over from the underground to pop/soul radio.
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Quote Originally Written by Simon White View Post
    Yes, they were used as a subject for parody lots and lots of times. That's because they were a hugely successful Pop act with a strong Pop image and style (and one that wasn't far from parody anyway) that was easy to parody Disco during an era where Disco acts were somewhat faceless.

    Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

    I’m sure if you totaled the album sales of the Bee Gees Main Course, Children Of The World, Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown, it will, by and far, outnumber the total lp sales of any other disco act.

    I don’t tend to weigh in on these topics for a variety of reasons; I disagree, I find replies silly, disco was way too much fun to be overly analyzed, I march/dance to my own beat…

    And I seldom see the Bee Gees as a topic around here. Still, that doesn't bother me at all.

    But Simon, you were the one who didn’t know about the Bee Gees output before and after Saturday Night Fever. And even asked if anyone knew. To put it on the original poster, when you joined the discussion and asked an open question is unfair.

    Furthermore, a lot of disco acts crossed over on the pop charts, as vice-versa.

    As for Bernie’s comment that the Bee Gees jumped on the disco bandwagon, I don’t agree with that at all. I believe they were influenced by what they were listening to and gravitated towards it. Their sound evolved and not only was it successful, but it became unique and recognizable.

    But they also had a unique and recognizable sound in the ‘60’s and early 70’s. And mostly on ballads.

    And post-disco, after Spirits Having Flown, they went on to produce early ‘80’s hits; Barbara Streisand’s Woman In Love and Guilty, Dionne Warwick’s Heartbreaker, Dolly Parton/Kenny Rodgers’ Islands In the Stream, …..

    Did the rest of us jump on the bandwagon? I didn’t. My like for disco evolved from 70’s pop, hard rock, Motown, Beatles, The Who, Curtis Mayfield…etc. I heard it and liked it. I don’t think you can fault the Bee Gees for liking it too.

    Rod Stewart jumped on the bandwagon. As did Andy Williams and Dolly Parton and the others mentioned.

    The Bee Gees, as are all artists, are people too. And I think that gets lost sometimes when people see just the personality and celebrity. They look for work just like the rest of us.

    Artists are like sharks: you keep swimming or you sink. They would rather starve than give up their craft. But they have to evolve too. Many people don't grow in their occupation; they stay in the same spot all their life. Who can blame the Bee Gees from going to novelty boy act to accomplished singers/songwriters with sappy ballads that hit #1, and then onto a funkier and more soulful sound that brought them even bigger success, leading to producing and writing for other top artists who, by the way, were evloving and growing themselves?


    An artist like Cher doesn’t write her songs. She is a singer who needs producers and songwriters and structure to survive. She lives on being thin and photographed in Bob Mackie gowns and that is her artistry. She does it well. That's how she survives. And she has evolved too.

    If the Bee Gees didn’t like the sound they were putting out, I’m sure they would have gone in another direction besides disco. And if we didn’t like it, we wouldn’t have bought it.

    But there are many on this board who see disco as just "black and white". And to them I ask, "what do you do when you come to a traffic light"?


    Having said that, I agree that they do not license their material on compilation CD’s for various monetary reasons.

    And this is the last post on this subject for me.

    Unlesssssss........?
    Last edited by needlefingers; November 26th, 2007 at 10:12 PM. Reason: grammer

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Quote Originally Written by markydefad View Post
    Lord why is it always the Bee Gees or ABBA that divides the disco troops??? :icon_rolleyes: It's the "illegal immigration" divisive issue of disco, isn't it? :icon_redface::icon_eek::icon_exclaim:

    It should be noted that the Bee Gees moved in the disco direction with their 1975 release "Jive Talkin' "..not in 1978/1979 when all other pop acts jumped on the bandwagon. By 1976, they had a 9 week run @ #1, with their 2nd disco release, "You Should Be Dancing," so I think they deserve major credit for popularizing the "disco movement" & getting disco played on radio and disco acts booked on TV shows.

    After Frankie Valli's "Swearin' To God" in 1975, they were the next mainstream household "name" pop performers to record "disco." Granted the move was a way to reinvent their career, which was in a slump--but they should get credit, along with their "Jive Talkin' " producer Arif Mardin for the foresight to appeal to the dance crowd. They got there almost at the beginning...at least as it was crossing over from the underground to pop/soul radio.
    I'd have to say the honor should go to John Lennon for doing the disco thing before those guys (I think in 75 we had quite a few pop/rock artists doing disco tunes, like Babe Ruth's Elusive, Eagles One Of These Nights, Barry Manilow It's A Miracle). Whatever Gets You Thru The Night, to me, is the first pop-rock disco song. I'd say it sounds even more disco than Jive Talkin or Nights On Broadway (I've considered those two more like funky dance numbers, but not quite disco). You Should Be Dancing, however, is undeniably DISCO. :)

    I think the point though is that the Bee Gees do get mentioned, but they aren't put on some disco altar and worshipped as disco gods. They did some great dance music, but they aren't disco like The Trammps, John Davis, Carol Douglas, Gloria Gaynor, and so on. Those artists devoted their heart and soul into performing purely disco tunes, and so they deserve more props when it comes to discussions of top disco acts. The Bee Gees don't really need any more promotion, especially on this website, because everyone and their grandmother knows who they are.

    And for myself, I don't even like talking about Boney M, even though they were strictly a disco act. They were playing schmaltzy disco which even old people liked to listen to. But if you were to rank them as disco acts versus The Bee Gees, they'd come out ahead.

    Disco Funk

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    When the Bee Gees first charted on the Billboard disco chart...May 31, 1975....I added this to the DCC artist profile section

    THE BEE GEES (#22)

    "...In the middle Seventies, just as their vogue seemed played out, the Bee Gees began to incorporate R&B into their lavish pop repertoire, and the result made them a major, if not dominant, factor in the marketplace. Main Course, containing the hits "Jive Talkin'," "Nights on Broadway," and Fanny," established a pop disco sound much indebted to Arif Mardin's towering productions, and the others followed suit. But the group's biggest hits came with the release of the soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever in 1978; the Bee Gees are now a household word, epitomizing the elaborate craftsmanship of late-Seventies pop, the cultural transference between black and white music that has occurred in the past few years, and the emotional vapidity dominating popular taste. Spirits (1979) was more pop than disco, ducking the issue, but containing what may be the best nondisco hit they have made, "Tragedy." ("Tragedy" is , uh.... NON DISCO???!!) (SH/OM = Stephen Holden, now film critic for the NY Times and one of my fave music reviewers: OM is a mystery--no one in the contributor's index has those initials!!!)

    Source: The Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1979 edition.
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Quote Originally Written by Disco Funk View Post
    I'd have to say the honor should go to John Lennon for doing the disco thing before those guys (I think in 75 we had quite a few pop/rock artists doing disco tunes, like Babe Ruth's Elusive, Eagles One Of These Nights, Barry Manilow It's A Miracle). Whatever Gets You Thru The Night, to me, is the first pop-rock disco song.
    Disco Funk
    OK df, I pulled John Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" and I don't get your comparison. Sounds nothing like "disco" pop or rock to me. Although Elton John's participation as a back-up vocalist reminded me of his production of "I've Got The Music In Me" for Kiki Dee in the fall of 1974 and later in March of 1975, his own "Philadelphia Freedom,"----BOTH of which were interesting hybrids of pop/rock with "disco." I'm sure these records were heavily played in dance clubs outside the major cities, BITD. Not NEW YORK CITY disco, but I bet they loved it in Denver. Ditto David Bowie's records from this timespan.


    Quote Originally Written by Disco Funk View Post
    I'd say it sounds even more disco than Jive Talkin or Nights On Broadway (I've considered those two more like funky dance numbers, but not quite disco). You Should Be Dancing, however, is undeniably DISCO.
    Disco Funk
    OK, let's have a DJ play "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" at a gig and see if folks dance or run from the dancefloor. I'm thinking it would be a mass exodus to the bar or the bathroom. I'm betting they would dance to "Jive Talkin' "......the "kidz' love the "Stayin' Alive" sound---they always dance!!!

    I say the same about "One Of These Nights" by The Eagles---yeah, there's a hi-hat cymbol--but "DISCO"??? Where's the BEAT??? [Maybe in a c/w bar they'd dance.] I never thought so--until several folks mentioned it here in the past. I went back to listen and....huh???

    OK, play the Eagles at a disco and see who dances.

    Barry Manilow did have a #12 pop hit with "It's A Miracle"on the cusp of 1974-1975--but he was a one-[two]-hit wonder at the time...NOT a name performer like the Bee Gees. [The Bee Gees had charted 13 records in the U.S. Top 40, prior to the release of "Jive Talkin'"] And this is way more bubblegum "pop" than "disco," likeable as it is. The Archies could have recorded "It's A Miracle" after "Sugar, Sugar."

    Babe Ruth's "Elusive" came in late 1975-early 1976--and is "forgettable" at best and was never a hit in the U.S....although it did chart a few times on the disco charts.

    It's the same as when I heard "Shaft"(another cause of divisiveness amongst the disco crowd!!) for the first time and thought this sounded like something new and wonderful ....I felt the same way in the spring of 1975 when "Jive Talkin' " came out. I was living in San Francisco by then and the hot disco at the time--Buzzby's on Polk Street sure played it.

    I don't recall hearing John Lennon. Or the Eagles.
    Last edited by markydefad; November 25th, 2007 at 11:40 PM.
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  21. #21
    remicks's Avatar
    remicks is online now Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Quote Originally Written by Simon White View Post

    You can pull as many Billboard Disco charts out as you like. You can also show Pop charts that will show the same popularity !

    Yes, but doing so won't confirm anything about the degree of "disco-ness" of the Bee Gees or any other act in question. . For example Donna Summer was just as popular on the POP chart (Hot 100) as she was on the disco chart . KC & The SUNSHINE BAND .... even more popular on the pop chart than the disco one ! .....

    Doesn't matter, because how any artist faired on the pop chart really is irrelevant as to what makes any of their music "disco" ... a more direct means for determining such is whether the song in question played in the discos enough to get charted on the disco chart.
    What's so valuable about the Billboard charts is that they aren't anyone's opinion of what is or isn't disco . They are indisputable, from-the-era, representations of the music being played in the clubs . To argue the facts of what appears there is not logical.

    The BEE GEES being major disco players becomes apparent when based on information found by researching the charts.

    For example :
    For all of 1976 , one of disco's biggest years (of very few to start with) , ... it is the Bee Gees who will take honors as having the biggest disco single for that entire year (well, I think Marky will soon confirm that :icon_rolleyes:) . If not at the very top , YOU SHOULD BE DANCING will still be right up there with the other mega disco heavy-weights like THAT'S WHERE THE HAPPY PEOPLE GO, TURN THE BEAT AROUND ,I LOVE MUSIC and LOVE HANGOVER .

    A year later comes the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER SOUNDTRACK . It gives the Bee Gees another long ride in the disco TOP 10 , where they are easily welcomed amongst the other disco champs of the moment.

    The Bee Gees sum total of disco output, whether it be in the very beginning with songs like JIVE TALKING and YOU STEPPED INTO MY LIFE, or toward the end with songs like TRAGEDY and HE'S A LIAR, or all those created in between ..... every one of them is one more reason to be a proud fan of disco.

    :icon_cool: :icon_cool:


    ******
    Last edited by remicks; November 26th, 2007 at 01:05 AM.
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    markydefad is offline Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    And another reason the Bee Gees deserve respect from the disco crowd is the number of records that they either wrote or produced for other artists...that you would not throw out of the disco club.

    For giving us Teri DeSario's "Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" alone---Barry Gibb should be revered.
    "Lost inside adorable illusion...."

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    i'm inclined to agree with marky......as an aside, was maurice fully into coke?

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee

    Thanks all for showing support for The Bee Gees! It is true that the charts are important to research and that's a really good point to bring up. I think people who disdain the Bee Gees have a hard time comprehending that a white Anglo-Australian group living in Miami, who had formerly done pop and soft rock, made disco popular and made it into the greatness it became after they released their epic disco songs, such as You Should be Dancing and of course, unarguably the most discoish disco song ever, Stayn' Alive! And disco doesn't have to be fast to be disco, which can be seen in You Stepped Into My Life, from the Bee Gees' 1976 album Children of the World. Before the Bee Gees' disco songs, disco hadn't been defined as uniquely as they would make it!
    The name disco, as applied to music existed before the Bee Gees' disco songs, but was not quite what it would become. I'm just saying they are the best of disco, because they made it into a a very unique genre of music.
    The Bee Gees were unique in that they put their own, indelible, sound into all of theirs songs, making themselves recognizable from everybody else. Their voices are simply amazing.
    Also, as I mentioned earlier, there was Polish disco/eurodisco album called, or by a band called Aura, which had a cover of Stayin' Alive in POLISH! That, is respect. I ask anyone to name another disco song, covered by another band in another LANGUAGE!
    I have this Polish music album and am very glad to own it.
    And I also want to of course recognize the other great disco acts, and singers, after the Bee Gees, numerous as they were. Great ones such as Abba (think Summer Night City, Voulez-Vous, etc.), Kool and the Gang, KC&The Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, Boney M, The Three Degrees, Giorgio Moroder, who worked with the Three Degrees, Van McCoy's The Hustle, The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, Chic, and all the other ones I could go on naming for a long while, though they lasted only a short, though glorious time, that, as of today, has yet to be equaled and matched in sheer greatness, pure, groovy, funky, danceable tunes, etc.


    "And some more Billboard facts.....


    1975

    Jive Talkin' - #9 Disco Singles

    1976

    You Should Be Dancing - #1 Club Play #1 Disco Singles

    1979

    Tragedy - #22 Club Play"

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    Re: Grossest Error in all Disco websites, compilations etc:The forgetting of the Bee


     

     

    yes, yes...but was maurice a cokehead or what?

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