KC & The Sunshine Band alienation

[PeaceFroggy]

Does anyone else feel that KC & The Sunshine Band have become somewhat secularised or "detached" from the disco movement? I don't really know how to describe it, but I feel they don't really fit in. Often their songs are not on disco compilation CD's, and when people think of disco music and disco bands, KC just don't seem to come to mind.

Do you think it is because Harry Wayne Casey was a white man, playing black music? I hate to say it so bluntly, seen as it was the groove that quashed racial boundaries. But when you think about it, he hit the big time in 75, before disco reached mainstream. So at that time it was mainly black. KC's sound is also a lot like black music with the percussion rooted in the Carribbean beats and the horns always being used instead of strings.

I wasn't around in the 70s of course, so maybe I just see things differently, but maybe someone else, especially someone around at the time, has observed this too.

[QUINNY]

I do feel that to some extent, K C & the Sunshine Band has wrongly been given a pop label over the years. The band was multi racial, so I don't think the 'white' tag is really valid, except they might have been banned on certain black radio stations in the USA. However, so far as I'm aware, their appeal was over the entire racial spectrum.

For me, personally, they were one of the definitive Disco sounds. So, their records were commercial.....so what. They weren't anywhere near as hard as many of their contemporaries, but the grooves were consistent and funky. Each record had sunshine oozing out of every groove and the grooves were, for the most part, right on the money.

Listen to I'm Your Boogie Man for example. On the surface it's a catchy, lightweight pop song with pure pop lyrics. Dig a little deeper and what emerges for me, is a groove that's tighter than a duck's ass, but, and this is most important, loose enough to swing effortlessly, something which only a few Disco records acheived. Hard, heavy funk (which I absolutely love BTW) could quite often end up sounding mechanical by comparison.There's some great almost jazzy piano playing, immaculate horn stabs with real lift and verve. A perfect dance record. Had it been a little quicker, with an insistant, heavy 4/4 beat, it wouldn't have had a quarter of its appeal.
I'd much rather have what they produced than a thousand Euro soundalikes.

BTW: They're on a whole raft of CD compilations. If anything, one or two of their tracks are vastly oversubscribed.

[QUINNY]

I guess the lack of views and responses kinda backs up your theory. That's a shame, as KC were at the forefront of one of THE major disco influences BITD. I could imagine DJs not spinning their sounds back then, but very few if the truth be told.

[Mixmachine]

KC used to be played heavely in Miami clubs, People used to chant new words to "Get down tonite" while dancing...

"Do a little Blow, smoke a little joint, get down tonite, get down tonite" hahahahaha

[PeaceFroggy]

I think it's quite sad, because KC & The Sunshine Band are worthy of a lot more respect and attention. The reason I say this is because, like you said, they had a consistency in producing solid, funky grooves that were unmatched by most. Another aspect I like is that the band members, or at least two of them, wrote their own music. Some times people say that disco artists were just good karaoke singers who somehow found their way into recording contracts, so here is another example where that is not true.

[originalbigm]

I always regarded them as a disco funk group and they were hugely popular in the mid seventies.However after their 1976 Part 3 album which was their crowning achievement they basically vanished and really didn't produce anymore hit material in the peak disco years of 1978 & 1979. Subsequently they faded from memory in the massive onslaught of material produced in those years. I do think that most DJ's of the era recognize them as one of the pioneer goups of the disco era and their name will always be linked irrecovably with such.

[Mario]

Hello PeaceFroggy...You have an interesting post here. You're right about KC not given the proper recognition. For what it's worth, here's my theory: KC and The Sunshine Band were "MEGA" artists in their prime. If I remember correctly, they broke out in the summer of 1975 with "Get Down Tonight". That record was "all over the place" that summer! And prior to 1975, KC had his hand in creating and playing for George McCrae's #1 Record: "Rock Your Baby" in early summer 1974. Now here's the ironic thing about KC and his band: As "HUGE" as they were, they were really only big from the summer of '75 through the summer of '77...Now they continued to have a hit or two there after, but "NOTHING" close to that "two year" run on the charts. I also remember that KC and his band, unlike some of the other disco acts, crossed over to "pop audiences" and were widely received and acknowledged. Crossing over to mainstream audiences may have stripped away some of their "disco" image. Also, keep in mind that KC was a "band" act and was hard to solely catagorize them as a disco act. They were quite funky, too! Modern audiences of today (especially sports audiences) have made some of KC's songs anthems at various events where large groups of people are gathered. Again, KC and his band appealing to the "masses" and not necessarily to the "disco" fans. It seems to me that KC and his band "were" and "are" the perfect soundtrack to party atmospheres and just plain old-fashioned "FUN"! Take Care Froggy...Glad to see young people enjoying "our" music It's ironic how in the 1980s, saying that you were a fan of disco music in public was like committing suicide! And now, it's become quite "chic" (pardon the pun... :lol: ) Thanks for the interesting post...Mario

[K-Bee]

KC And The Sunshine has always been disco in my book. People thinking otherwise obviously forgot to listen to the tracks. Just beacuse they actually managed to cross over to the pop audience don't make them less disco at all.

[QUINNY]

I'm really glad to see some support for KC.

To have a 2-3 year run of hits (and 2 #1 pop chart hits) in the Disco period was remarkable and a prodigious feat, don't ya think? No other band came quite as close to achieving that, except maybe Kool & the Gang from '79 -'82. Even Chic ran out of steam more quickly.

[efunk_adelic]

I'm really glad to see some support for KC.

To have a 2-3 year run of hits (and 2 #1 pop chart hits) in the Disco period was remarkable and a prodigious feat, don't ya think? No other band came quite as close to achieving that, except maybe Kool & the Gang from '79 -'82. Even Chic ran out of steam more quickly.

yeah, even more disappointing that nobody mentioned their 4th consecutive hit record from Part 3 LP titled I LIKE TO DO IT :( so what if it stalled at #37 on the pop charts. Maybe the public had enough. :-? I for one... dig that record.

[dj phillip esparza]

KC used to be played heavely in Miami clubs, People used to chant new words to "Get down tonite" while dancing...

"Do a little Blow, smoke a little joint, get down tonite, get down tonite" hahahahaha

that's sounds hot.