ROLLING STONE magazine was smarter than us when it came to our disco

[remicks]

*****


Would you like to get a lecture from rock hugging Rolling Stone magazine concerning our inability to recognize what we , as the purveyors of disco, should really have been liking in 1979 ? :

Not since the late Fifties, when the music business jumped on the rock & roll bandwagon,
has so much junk been shoved onto the marketplace so hastily. With the obvious exceptions of
Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," most of the recent rock-disco crossovers
have aimed low rather than high (the Beach Boys' "Here Comes the Night" and Wings' "Goodnight Tonight"
being the most egregious panderings).

How bright can disco's future be when the year's finest such crossover,
Desmond Child and Rouge's "Our Love Is Insane," failed to score
because it was rhythmically too subtle— and maybe just too good? .... (too good iow for "disco"ers to appreciate)

STEPHEN HOLDEN

(RS Jun 14, 1979)

What do you think?? Was Rolling Stone's public spanking of our tastes justified ??




Did we disco know-nothings miss the boat by not making this one of our anthem's of 1979???


*****

[SandraDee]

It's OK but a little dreary; more for listening at home, but I can't imagine it being very exciting on a club dancefloor in the way that 'Her Comes the Night' must've been.

[remicks]

*****

and what sniff would you know ..... what ....

you were one of those dreadful types BITD perhaps that actually got out there on the dance floor and to this music .... DANCED!!!!


*****

[SandraDee]

I know, it's shocking isn't it?

[needlefingers]

I've seen this song get praised before.

But I don't know why. I never saw it as "floor-worthy".

And if you know me, I don't usually put-down disco songs.

I played Wings and Rolling Stones and Kiss disco songs. And they worked.

I own this 12 inch. But I never saw its appeal....if any.

[remicks]

I've seen this song get praised before.

But I don't know why. I never saw it as "floor-worthy".

And if you know me, I don't usually put-down disco songs.

I played Wings and Rolling Stones and Kiss disco songs. And they worked.

I own this 12 inch. But I never saw its appeal....if any.

no no needlefingers .... you are not allowed to second guess ROLLING STONE !! :icon_twisted:

Don't forget they were the music industry's one and only true ears of appraisal !!!

funny you should mention KISS .........

look at who helped them write THEIR one low aimed disco rock crossover :



I wonder if Rolling Stone knew that about Desmond Child when they were drooling over his "just too good" talents !!! :icon_mrgreen::icon_razz::icon_razz::icon_razz:


*****

[markydefad]

The writer at Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden, is one of my fave music reviewers (along with another named Barry Walters!). I loved to read their reviews because I mostly agreed with their taste and wanted to get more of their insight into what else was good.

Stephen Holden is now a movie reviewer for the New York Times and also does the cabaret performance reviews for the Times. He used to do an annual roundup of cds recommended for "adults" that often ran in the NYT the day after Thanksgiving. I used to save that section and buy his picks. They seem to have abandoned that in the past few years.

But I really don't get what's so special about "Our Love Is Insane" by Desmond Child & Rouge! :icon_eek: I think I bought this because it had been praised somewhere--but played it once and put it back in the pile of "eh?" records. :icon_confused:

[remicks]

The writer at Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden, is one of my fave music reviewers (along with another named Barry Walters!). I loved to read their reviews because I mostly agreed with their taste and wanted to get more of their insight into what else was good.

Stephen Holden is now a movie reviewer for the New York Times and also does the cabaret performance reviews for the Times. He used to do an annual roundup of cds recommended for "adults" that often ran in the NYT the day after Thanksgiving. I used to save that section and buy his picks. They seem to have abandoned that in the past few years.

But I really don't get what's so special about "Our Love Is Insane" by Desmond Child & Rouge! :icon_eek: I think I bought this because it had been praised somewhere--but played it once and put it back in the pile of "eh?" records. :icon_confused:

How bright can disco's future be when the year's finest such crossover,
Desmond Child and Rouge's "Our Love Is Insane," failed to score
because it was rhythmically too subtle— and maybe just too good? ....


STEPHEN HOLDEN

I think the death wish for disco that's expressed here because after all .... the disco crowd is so inferiorly qualified to judge music , we can't even recognize the best within our own genre without them pointing it out for us ....pretty much sums up where they were coming from at the time.
And hey I don't blame them for exercising their hard earned musical snobbery ... but they were a rock-oriented special interest group with a readership that they needed to feed into .... the success of disco was never in their best interest.

So for them ... coming from where they did musically ... to condescendingly pose as authorities on what was really the "good" disco we ought to be playing as they did in this piece :
.....well : ....:icon_razz: :icon_razz: :icon_razz: :icon_razz:



--- So what albums did Stephen review at RS Marky ... surely not disco ones .... because that would have been a rarity anyway.. ...???



*****

[markydefad]

--- So what albums did Stephen review at RS Marky ... surely not disco ones .... because that would have been a rarity anyway.. ...???
*****

Uh, he reviewed stuff like "Once Upon A Time" and "Bad Girls"!!!!

See the other thread I brought forward.

[remicks]

Uh, he reviewed stuff like "Once Upon A Time" and "Bad Girls"!!!!

See the other thread I brought forward.

Thanks

..... I haven't read it thru yet .... but already can't get past this comment on the second line of the BAD GIRLS lp review :

Even with side three's ultraschlock ballads and side two's erratic rockdisco cuts,
it still ranks as the only great disco album other than Saturday Night Fever.

It still ranks as the only great disco album other than
Saturday Night Fever!!!!!!!! ?? :icon_eek:.... :icon_twisted::icon_twisted::icon_twisted:........ ............ok then .....


......................................... and that level of disco insight is exactly what I'd expect of good ol' Rolling Stone magazine :icon_redface::icon_mad:



*****

[remicks]

*****

I am getting a chuckle out of this part though :

Bad Girls' only serious lapse is side three, which consists of four sappy ballads, all of them cowritten by Summer.
Working with lyrics that are embarrassingly mawkish, the singer overemotes in a painfully flat, syrupy sob,
while the Eurodisco-pop synthesis that works so beautifully elsewhere collapses completely in these lengthy, unstructured weepers.


Such gross miscalculation shouldn't really come as a surprise, however, since Summer is truly a left-field phenomenon.
Like Marilyn Monroe, whom she consciously emulates, Donna Summer is a gigantic but primitive talent whose reckless abandon
and astonishing innocence (dumbness?) are two sides of the same coin

:icon_lol:

he didn't really call Donna dumb did he ?!!!



*****

[markydefad]

*****

I am getting a chuckle out of this part though :
:icon_lol:

he didn't really call Donna dumb did he ?!!!



*****

ooooohhh...I think he did!!! :icon_exclaim::icon_razz:

These reviews don't really reflect the Stephen Holden I fondly recall...maybe he was still trying too hard to get noticed?....to earn the gravitas and bona fides to secure a future gig at the NYT? :icon_eek: ....in my memory, he always seemed to "like" my kinds of artists ...and had what I felt was a "gay sensibility"...although not totally into the disco thing, at this point in time, I guess.

[remicks]

ooooohhh...I think he did!!! :icon_exclaim::icon_razz:

These reviews don't really reflect the Stephen Holden I fondly recall...
maybe he was still trying too hard to get noticed?....to earn the gravitas and bona fides
to secure a future gig at the NYT? :icon_eek:
.

Funny you said this

because I was going to comment that I cannot even read thru his ONCE UPON A TIME review
....it just reads like someone more focused on clever "writing" than actually saying something useful
about the music,
but you already knew that didn't you :

[ afterthought: ok, he's a tad pretentious here I admit---
ya gots to read it real slowly to attempt to understand some of it!!!] :icon_eek::icon_exclaim: :icon_lol:

*****

[Disco Funk]

For me to like a dance song, it has to pull me in, either with it's percussion intro, or just the song itself. This track doesn't really get me going. Tracks like Da Ya Think I'm Sexy and Goodnight Tonight may be a tad superficial - just a tad, since we are talking about dance music! ;) - they are well written, nicely arranged tracks. I don't recall ever being drawn into the Beach Boys track. I think by '79 most of the disco music was pretty much cookie cutter formulaic, but not in a good way, since I am a fan of certain formulas, like the Philly sound. Does Rolling Stone have good taste in disco music? Based on this track, I don't think so.

Anyway, if this track was supposed to be a big hit, I think part of the blame would have to go to the record company for not promoting it better. Or was it promoted well back in the day, and nobody wanted to bite?

Disco Funk

[tmob]

While I agree that Holden's praise for the Desmond Child song may be a bit overblown, I think his critique of "Here Comes the Night" is spot on. Even back when it was released, it sounded schlocky and opportunistic--"Hey, we haven't had a hit in years...let's do a disco song!" It was hard to conceive of any group less suited to disco than the Beach Boys. Granted, lots of artists tried to reinvent themselves with disco (Cher to the white courtesy phone, please!), but lots of artists also did it better.

In response to Disco Funk's posting, Capitol did have John Luongo do a remix of "Our Love is Insane" but it still didn't really catch fire.

[markydefad]

While I agree that Holden's praise for the Desmond Child song may be a bit overblown, I think his critique of "Here Comes the Night" is spot on. Even back when it was released, it sounded schlocky and opportunistic--"Hey, we haven't had a hit in years...let's do a disco song!" It was hard to conceive of any group less suited to disco than the Beach Boys. Granted, lots of artists tried to reinvent themselves with disco (Cher to the white courtesy phone, please!), but lots of artists also did it better.

Others agree with you tmob--but I LOVE "Here Comes The Night"!!! I think it's a wonderful record. I truly do.

[remicks]

While I agree that Holden's praise for the Desmond Child song may be a bit overblown, I think his critique of "Here Comes the Night" is spot on. Even back when it was released, it sounded schlocky and opportunistic--"Hey, we haven't had a hit in years...let's do a disco song!" It was hard to conceive of any group less suited to disco than the Beach Boys. Granted, lots of artists tried to reinvent themselves with disco (Cher to the white courtesy phone, please!), but lots of artists also did it better.

The cynic in me might say it was calculatingly "hip" for Holden and Rolling Stone to praise up-and-coming Blondie and at-the-top of-his-game Rod Stewart .... especially since both of their disco efforts succeeded, and both had a fan base that might read RS,
but you offend far less of your readership base if to make a point you can blast an old has-been group like The Beach Boys ... especially when their disco effort failed anyway ....

I might argue the Beach Boys disco attempt was a somewhat sincere one ....Bruce Johnston engineered it after newly returning to the group and he seemed to have an vested interest in disco .

*****

[Disco Funk]

In response to Disco Funk's posting, Capitol did have John Luongo do a remix of "Our Love is Insane" but it still didn't really catch fire.

Oh well, no big loss. ;)

Disco Funk

[remicks]

****

In response to Disco Funk's posting, Capitol did have John Luongo do a remix of "Our Love is Insane" but it still didn't really catch fire.

AND the 12" came in its own special packaging designers sleeve !! :icon_biggrin:





which must have taken Capitol records .... oh five minutes ... to design ...



*****

[Disco Funk]

Maybe they were afraid if they showed the group on the cover, it might turn everyone off? But I agree that the sleeve was pretty lame. They might as well have used one of those generic 12inch sleeves most labels used, the ones with the cut out centers so you can see the label.

Disco Funk

[discokicks]

I really like this song but didn't know the artist. It's included in a great online mix that I downloaded a couple years ago: Tony Manero's Saturday Night Mix posted by one of Discomusic.com's members (can't remember who though.... ). I assumed it was a big underground club hit...it certainly has a unique simmering flavour to it (love her vocal)...but I was thinking it was from '76 or '77.

[markydefad]

The cynic in me might say it was calculatingly "hip" for Holden and Rolling Stone to praise up-and-coming Blondie and at-the-top of-his-game Rod Stewart .... especially since both of their disco efforts succeeded, and both had a fan base that might read RS,
but you offend far less of your readership base if to make a point you can blast an old has-been group like The Beach Boys ... especially when their disco effort failed anyway ....

I might argue the Beach Boys disco attempt was a somewhat sincere one ....Bruce Johnston engineered it after newly returning to the group and he seemed to have an invested interest in disco .

*****

And don't forget another name in the credit mix---someone who usually gets reverent treatment round here:

Synthesizers, strings and percussion arranged by BOB ESTY!!!!

[remicks]

And don't forget another name in the credit mix---someone who usually gets reverent treatment round here:

Synthesizers, strings and percussion arranged by BOB ESTY!!!!

well we shouldn't expect the music-know-it-alls-including-disco at Rolling Stone magazine to give one whit about THAT now should we :icon_twisted::icon_mrgreen:

glad you joined in discokicks....I noticed you "lurking" down there at the bottom of the page ! :icon_mrgreen::icon_mrgreen: and speaking of that vocal .....is it me or is there some of that IIIIIIIIIII've got my finger on the trigger sound to it????



AND


speaking of Bob Esty ....does OUR LOVE IS INSANE remind one of :



or this? :



both of these songs "simmer" don't you think? ...which is the word you used that I like, discokicks, when referring to OUR LOVE IS INSANE

*****

[JussiK]

Rockist as Rolling Stone was/is, and too boring to pay attention to, they actually did put out the first book focused on disco, "Dancing Madness" in June 1976. This is an extension of a RS mag article published 8/28/75, and very good it is too.

"Disco madness analyzed...the disco sound revealed...trendy platters
recommended".

[sfbeary]

The Us vs Them approach to this topic is pretty funny in this particular instance because the complaint is against critic Stephen Holden — who is indeed gay — for having the audacity to applaud the early work of Desmond Child, who went on to become arguably the most successful gay songwriter since Elton John, in a magazine owned by Jann Wenner, a similarly successful gay publisher. I don't think "Our Love Is Insane" is a particularly great disco record, but I do think it's a pretty good pop song, and Holden obviously spotted something in that tune that others missed because Child went on to write dozens of massive hits. I can't say I'm a Child fan in general, but I gotta give him credit for Aerosmith's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" and a few others.