DISCO RECORDS BY ROCK ACTS

**Pete B** · January 23rd, 2005, 04:16 AM

Rod Steward "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"
Rolling Stones "Miss You"
Wings "Goodnight Tonight"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Kiss "I Was Made For Loving You"
Roxy Music "Angel Eyes"

What other examples are there of this style

Also, have any more recent rock acts made disco influenced songs?

**tony wong** · January 23rd, 2005, 06:42 AM

There is a special disco version of Miss You from The Rolling Stones which is a lot better. From Mick Jagger there's also Just Another Night, which was remixed by Francois Kevorkian. Finally Lucky in Love (dub) from Mick Jagger was often played by Larry Levan, if I'm correct.

Others:

Carly Simon - Why (a Chic production, that is if you can call Carly Simon rock..)
The Police - Voices in my Head (this is really good!)
The Clash - The Cool Out, The Magnificent Seven (remixed by Larry Levan as The Magnificent Dance) and This is Radio Clash
Steve Miller - Macho City
Roxy Music - My Little Girl (Manifesto, same album as Angel Eyes), Eight Miles High (Flesh + Blood) and The Main Thing (Avalon)
Prince Charles - Beat the Bush
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood, Lorelei and Genius of Love (ultimate cross-over track, been used by Mariah Carey, Grandmaster Flash and Ron Hardy, amongst others)
Supertramp - Cannonball (really good!)
Ian Dury - Spasticus Autisticus

Recently, there's a Morgan Geist remix of a Franz Ferdinand track (take me out), which can classify as discorock.

**Bernie** · January 23rd, 2005, 09:24 AM

Ram Jam : Black Betty
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3840_0_2_0_C/

Chicago : Street Player
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3753_0_2_0_C/

Queen : We Will Rock You
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3749_0_2_0_C/

Beach Boys : Here Comes the Night
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/2483_0_2_30_M29/

Blondie : Heart of Glass
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/2949_0_2_60_M29/

Blondie : Rapture
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3364_0_2_60_M29/

David Bowie : Wild Is the Wind / Golden Years
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/140_0_2_135_M29/

**FrontPage22** · January 23rd, 2005, 03:37 PM

That Ram Jam track is almost disco...the bass, the beat..but really is way more rock.

**Videoskooter** · January 23rd, 2005, 08:39 PM

What about The Sweet and "Love is like oxygen"? A definite departure from Glamrock. And so is "Shake it down" by Mud.

I just watched the movie "The Stud" where the two styles (disco and rock) are mixed and the score of the movie really gets you in the golden decade.

For the other records posted in this topic: Kiss has always been my favourite crossover-track. Amazing what you can do with strobelights when playing that one! Even the youngsters like it when I play it on the bumpertrack.

**K-Bee** · January 24th, 2005, 01:30 AM

Would Pink Floyds "Another Brick In The Wall" qualify for this??

I think it definetely has some disco ingredients in there. Does anybody know if it was ever remixed?

**QUINNY** · January 24th, 2005, 04:11 AM

Glitter Band - Makes You Blind and New York Groove were both radical departures for Gary Glitter's band at the time.
Does Ian Dury's Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick apply, as it had a pure (108 BPM) dance rhythm?
Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart
[No one's mentioned the dreaded B__ G___ yet, probably because they were only ever insipid pop prior to SNF, gulp!

**Pete B** · January 24th, 2005, 08:24 AM

Originally Written by tony wong

There is a special disco version of Miss You from The Rolling Stones which is a lot better. From Mick Jagger there's also Just Another Night, which was remixed by Francois Kevorkian. Finally Lucky in Love (dub) from Mick Jagger was often played by Larry Levan, if I'm correct.

Others:

Carly Simon - Why (a Chic production, that is if you can call Carly Simon rock..)
The Police - Voices in my Head (this is really good!)
The Clash - The Cool Out, The Magnificent Seven (remixed by Larry Levan as The Magnificent Dance) and This is Radio Clash
Steve Miller - Macho City
Roxy Music - My Little Girl (Manifesto, same album as Angel Eyes), Eight Miles High (Flesh + Blood) and The Main Thing (Avalon)
Prince Charles - Beat the Bush
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood, Lorelei and Genius of Love (ultimate cross-over track, been used by Mariah Carey, Grandmaster Flash and Ron Hardy, amongst others)
Supertramp - Cannonball (really good!)
Ian Dury - Spasticus Autisticus

Recently, there's a Morgan Geist remix of a Franz Ferdinand track (take me out), which can classify as discorock.

I know about his Rapture mix but not a FF one. Daft Punk did a mix of FF which was quite good

**Videoskooter** · January 24th, 2005, 08:58 AM

Originally Written by QUINNY

Does Ian Dury's Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick apply, as it had a pure (108 BPM) dance rhythm?

IMO absolutely! Ian Dury & The Blockheads made several excellent dancetrax. "Reasons to be cheerfull part 3", "Wake up and make love with me" and "Inbetweenies" fit well in a discoset.

No wonder, considering that Chaz Jankel was a member of that band.

**ComputerDisco** · January 24th, 2005, 10:08 AM

Some that haven't been mentioned yet:

ELO - "Turn to Stone" - a classic disco track with heavy orchestration and a propulsive beat.

Yoko Ono & John Lennon - "Walking on thin ice" - definitely a disco track, it's a Yoko solo but John played on it and produced it. It was the last track he ever made.

**Bernie** · January 24th, 2005, 10:14 AM

I despise Yoko "Oh-no", but love "Walking On Thin Ice."
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/649_0_2_0_C/

**tony wong** · January 24th, 2005, 12:35 PM

If you get the chance to listen to the Morgan Geist remix of Take Me Out, do so as it is excellent. It is a limited release though, I thought there were only 2500 copies worldwide.

Hit me with your rhythm stick is a very good song, although I prefer Spasticus. This latter song, and the Yoko Ono song mentioned before, are all on the excellent compilation Disco not Disco I. Compiled by Joey Negro. If anyone's interested in disco and rock, try to buy this album. It's on the now defunct strut label, so prepare to take your wallet while shopping on ebay... (I paid 26 pounds..)

**darrens** · January 25th, 2005, 05:52 AM

Originally Written by ComputerDisco

Some that haven't been mentioned yet:

ELO - "Turn to Stone" - a classic disco track with heavy orchestration and a propulsive beat.

Or from ELO's Discovery LP:

"Last train to London" (recently sampled and used in Atomic Kitten's Top 10 hit "Be with you")

"Shine a little love". A remix of this was released as a single yesterday, titled "Shine" by the Lovefreekz. It is expected to hit the Top 5 of the UK pop charts this Sunday. The group appeared on "Top of the Pops" 2 weeks ago, basically a group of dancers and some young bloke lip-synching the words. I assume Jeff Lynne gave permission. :o

You can hear part of the remix on entering the record label's web site:
http://www.positivarecords.com/

Regards
Darren

**Eurodancemix** · January 25th, 2005, 07:04 AM

Not quite disco, but definitely 80's dance remixes of rock tracks:

LEGS -- ZZ TOP (I've only ever seen this as a promo)

STILL IN LOVE -- TAXXI (remixed and massively edited by The Latin Rascals, so you just *know* stutters and crashing drum machines abound!)

TURBO LOVER -- JUDAS PRIEST (whoever thought of this remix was out of their mind, but it's definitely worth a smile or two)

**KayJayEm54** · January 25th, 2005, 12:48 PM

Just reading CHIC: Everybody Dance - The Politics of Disco and was amazed to see Roxy Music's "Love is the Drug" being courted as pre-cursor to mainstream disco. Looking at the above list, I'm beginning to think they're right!

And yes, I agree Kiss did sound very disco and that's probably what made me buy it way back then.......

**Eurodancemix** · January 25th, 2005, 01:41 PM

Almost forgot...

(WISH I COULD FLY LIKE) SUPERMAN -- THE KINKS
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/3501_0_2_0_C/

**dfc99bb** · January 25th, 2005, 01:48 PM

David Bowie's 1975 album "Young Americans" is an early example of a rock artist delving into disco. The rock press at the time was critical of this move, basically condemning it as being "commercial", rather than "artistic". I'm sure Bowie cried about that all the way to the bank.

The reviews are at this link-- http://www.algonet.se/~bassman/articles/rev/ya.html

The now out-of-print 1991 Ryko CD (RCD10140) re-issue includes 3 bonus tracks, including a 6:57 version of "John, I'm Only Dancing Again", recorded in 1974.

**Bernie** · January 25th, 2005, 02:23 PM

dfc99bb,
Excellent point about Bowie as I was just listening to "Sound+Vision" from the "Low" album last night and that is clearly danceable. If I recall correctly Luther Vandross was involved in "Young Americans."

**tony wong** · January 25th, 2005, 04:17 PM

indeed good point about bowie. oh, and did someone mentioned another bites the dust by queen already?? some other rock songs I occasionally play in a somewhat disco oriented set are (besides love is the drug):

lou reed - vicious (121 bpm)
joan armatrading - is it tomorrow yet (127)
giorgio moroder - night drive (127)

**Videoskooter** · January 25th, 2005, 11:07 PM

And the Australian band "Flash And The Pan", they were always a disco-rock crossover-band. You can mix their "Early morning wake up call" with "S-Beat" from Gino Soccio and certainly with The Bank's "Lay all your love on me". Great band but almost forgotton!

And speaking of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry's "Let's stick together" is also very catchy.

And when Bernie mentions Ram Jam in this topic you can continue with Golden Earring's "Radar Love" and "Bombay".

**ComputerDisco** · January 26th, 2005, 10:38 AM

A couple more:

"I Zimbra" - Talking Heads (David Byrne's attempt at creating an El-Coco "Afrodesia" style track only with tribal drumming and some other effects)

"The Stranger" - Billy Joel (the whistling isn't disco, but the rest of it is)

"Funkytown" - Pseudo Echo (a rock-ized cover of Lipps Inc.'s original, but even more danceable, with a faster beat)

"Broken English" - Marianne Faithfull (too slow for disco, but has all the bass and synth to be a disco song. Dark and brooding and slow - one of the best songs ever recorded)

"I love to Boogie" - T-rex (Marc Bolan's last hit, a nod to the emerging northern soul, too rock-ish to be considered disco but a song about dancing that's distinctly different from other T-rex material)

"Loco-Motion" - Kylie Minogue (Remember when Kylie was a one-hit wonder? 80's dance pop)

"Transmission" and "Love will tear us apart" - Joy Division (Goth-synth Disco, the band that became New Order's first experiments with danceable music. Too bad Ian Curtis killed himself within weeks' of "Love will tear us apart" being released)

"She never took no for an answer" - John Cale (from the Sid & Nancy soundtrack - a great work of sythesizers and a drum machine, but not beat-heavy enough to be true dance music, and an unfortuante drum break right in the middle of the song spoils the rhythm)

"Jerkin' back and forth" - Devo (good beat synth-pop in the Sparks mold, but lacks the refined danceable nature of Sparks' production)

"Say no go" - De La Soul (samples the Emotions, Hall & Oates, and others, to produce a nice dance track from De La's first album - anti-drug rap and beat presages modern disco from Deee-lite)

"When you were mine" - Cyndi Lauper (Prince song covered in heavy synth by super Cyndi, from "She's so unusual")

"Wot" - Captain Sensible (Bassist for the punk band the Damned, Sensible cooked up this chic-influenced song in his spare time. Not bad, actually, shares alot with "Good Times")

"Sex (I'm a...)" - Berlin (totally disco, banned from FM in the early eighties for supposedly explicit lyrics) "The Metro" is also a disco track in the Lime/synth mode. There's also a disco remix of their 1986 smash "Take my breath away" but, curiously, it's not produced by Giorgio Moroder, who produced the original ballad.

"I could be happy" - Altered Images (an early eighties synth one-hit wonder)

"Poison Arrow" - ABC (the closest thing they did to straight-up Disco, but "When Smokey Sings" and "the Look of love" are also disco-esque 80's pop)

"Too much time on my hands" - Styx (the epitome of rock bands, but this is a danceable disco-influenced song)

**sammyperez** · January 26th, 2005, 12:41 PM

Here are ten others that should make the list:

Steely Dan - Peg (Also, 'Black Cow' and 'Deacon Blues' may not be disco, but they are defintely soulful and jazzy)
Joe Jackson - Steppin' out
David Bowie - Fame (I don't think I saw this one mentioned in any of the Bowie entries)
Steve Miller Band - Fly like an eagle
Leo Sayer - You make me feel like dancing (I realize he was probably not a rock act, but what was he?)
Kiss - I want to rock 'n roll all night (Maybe not meant to be disco, but definitely in that tempo)
The Cars - Shake it up
Loverboy - Working for the weekend
Genesis - Abacab
The J. Geils Band - Centerfold, Freeze-Frame

and ya'll thought I was just about the funk!

Easy,

Sam "ALL JAM"

**dvdjamm** · January 28th, 2005, 02:53 PM

adding....

pat benatar - invincible,love is a battlefield,sex as a weapon

U2 - two hearts beat as one,new year's day,lemon

van halen - jump,pretty woman,running from the devil

**Bernie** · January 28th, 2005, 03:37 PM

Speaking of U2, the Francois Kevorkian mix on this Island 12 inch is killer...
http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/793_0_2_0_C/

**OneCharmingBastard** · January 28th, 2005, 09:42 PM

"Beat The Clock", "Tryouts For The Human Race", and "The Number One Song In Heaven" - Sparks, produced by Giorgio. I don't think you can get more disco than Giorgio.

"Savannah Nights" - Tom Johnston. A stretch, but a catchy boogie-rocker, in the tradition of fellow Doobie Patrick Simmons "So Wrong"

the recently discussed, much maligned (which shocked the **** out of me as I think the record is a classic hybrid) "Life In Tokyo" by Japan

"Bring Me Closer" - Altered Images. Gooey string-laden disco disguised by the purveyors of "Happy Birthday". Also check out "Don't Talk To Me About Love", the best imitation-Blondie record ever made.

and for the obscurity quota....

John Fogerty's "You Got The Magic", a record that killed his career with Asylum in 1976.