Why is "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward hated so much

**Funky Dude** · June 26th, 2002, 06:40 AM

I've noticed that everytime there is a negative thread regarding some disco tunes the song "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward always comes up, and also made it's place in "Disco songs you absolutely hate!" thread obviously.

I'm just curious to know what's in the song that makes nearly everyone hate it? Is it because radio DJs belt the living s#$t out of it which make people get so sick of it or is it Anita's voice or is it something else?

I'm just curious.

My personaly opinion of this song is, I don't mind listening to it, it has good rhythm, but I hardly listen to it mainly because I've heard it WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many times on radio just like "YMCA" by Village People.

Then again I don't hate any 70's disco song but I have favourites and least favourites and the least favourites are obviously the ones radio stations belt the living s%&t out of.

**nrgbeat** · June 26th, 2002, 06:45 AM

Although, I don't hate the song, Anita Ward is no Donna Summer.

**BrunoRepublic** · June 26th, 2002, 06:54 AM

I dislike the song because

1: It's crap
2: That cheesy bwwwwwooo sound is used too much in it
3: The production (especially the glockenspiel) is gayer than Liberace in drag
4: The melody is catchy yet irritating, sort of like "Barbie Girl"
5: The previously mentioned factors increase in strength exponentially after hearing the song 5,396 times
6: It's the kind of song that people who don't know anything about disco but like Saturday Night Fever think is so great.

**Funky Dude** · June 26th, 2002, 07:00 AM

Graham Start wrote:
6: It's the kind of song that people who don't know anything about disco but like Saturday Night Fever think is so great.

I can see your point, most people I know in Australia only know mainstream disco and rate that song along with "YMCA" and "Stayin' Alive" to be the best.

**Funky Dude** · June 26th, 2002, 07:08 AM

Graham Start wrote:
after hearing the song 5,396 times

WHOAAAAAAAA!!!!! Did you REALLY heard that song THAT many times?

**Voyage** · June 26th, 2002, 07:53 AM

It's so cheesy, tacky, and annoying. I'm so tired from listening to it lots of times on the radio.

Good point Graham Start about people liking this song. And trust me it's true! I once met someone who loved this song to death.

**HustleBaby** · June 26th, 2002, 08:09 AM

Graham has hit the nail on the head! I hate the song also because of its lyrics and Anita's voice is SOOOOOO IRRITATING!!!!Altogether its cheap and cheesy - it sounds like something you may hear in a porn movie.

*DISCO DELIGHT*

**NickNack** · June 26th, 2002, 09:01 AM

I never really hated this song. I just stopped playing it. It's something I never pull out because, as you say, everybody else has worked it to death. How many covers were done in the last 2 or 3 years alone?

Back in the day when I was dj'ing this song was fun. Campy, not too novelty and the rhythm kept everybody dancing while they were laughing at the lyrics. Now, I do find it irritating but my memories of the song are pleasant.

**nrgbeat** · June 26th, 2002, 09:07 AM

On 2002-06-26 07:54, Graham Start wrote:
I dislike the song because

1: It's crap
2: That cheesy bwwwwwooo sound is used too much in it
3: The production (especially the glockenspiel) is gayer than Liberace in drag
4: The melody is catchy yet irritating, sort of like "Barbie Girl"
5: The previously mentioned factors increase in strength exponentially after hearing the song 5,396 times
6: It's the kind of song that people who don't know anything about disco but like Saturday Night Fever think is so great.

Graham, do you dislike all pop music and only prefer the underground stuff? While I agree a lot of the songs are overplayed I can't say I truly dislike them.

**Outsider** · June 26th, 2002, 09:24 AM

I don't hate the song, but I don't care for it. Yeah, I think that Anita sounds like she sucked on helium, but that's not the main reason I don't like the song. And it's not because it's been overplayed. This song just doesn't do anything for me.

**The Lord of Flatbush** · June 26th, 2002, 10:04 AM

This is a song that I purchased back in the days as a 12" and liked it very much.

To that demise, I haven't played Ring my bell for over 20 years. :sad:

**Boodikka** · June 26th, 2002, 10:23 AM

Outside of the fact that it is inane and horribly sung (supposedly Anita Ward thought the song was stupid and didn't want to do it), one of my biggest peeves is that there was so much BETTER product available that summer. Those of us that were spinning can remember the great tracks that arrived from the pool en masse that summer.
My feeling is that since payola never really died, "Ring My Bell" achieved whatever status it had through graft and bribery.

**nrgbeat** · June 26th, 2002, 10:41 AM

Boodi, what clubs did you spin at?

**Blaxman** · June 26th, 2002, 10:44 AM

On 2002-06-26 11:04, The Lord of Flatbush wrote:

This is a song that I purchased back in the days as a 12" and liked it very much.

I like this song too, Lord. Shhhhh...dont tell anybody! :lol:

OK, I know. The Anita Ward's voice is awful, like a "Barbie Girl", somebody said. But, in some way i like the instrumental part of the song, the percussion break is fine. In my own opinion, of course.

Peace.

**BrunoRepublic** · June 26th, 2002, 10:44 AM

On 2002-06-26 10:07, nrgbeat wrote:
Graham, do you dislike all pop music and only prefer the underground stuff?

Nope, Fantomas is our resident "disser-of-all-things-that-ever-came-near-the-pop-charts".

While I agree a lot of the songs are overplayed I can't say I truly dislike them.

There are plenty of mainstream tunes that I like... this just isn't one of them

**Boodikka** · June 26th, 2002, 10:51 AM

NRG, I was a bottom feeder in the IDRC....basically a mobile. Worked mixed and women's clubs upstate like Orpheus in Syracuse, but essentially did the "private event" schtick downstate. Not that I'm complaining....mobiles actually made decent money back in the day.

**sirius** · June 26th, 2002, 12:06 PM

Certainly "Ring My Balls" is a cheesy Disco-
Track but her voice is not that bad(except
you will pitch her up on the technics)...
Also she cannot be compared with Donna or
Diana, but is it necessary.
I still love "Ring My Bell" and her other
tracks...especially the 12".
It´s to mention, that so many people have
forgot the good old disco-classics, like
all the other good music from the past...
therefore there are these trax, to build up
to the more underground disco-sound.
Cosmic Love & Kisses From SIRIUS & DARKTUNES

**markydefad** · June 26th, 2002, 12:26 PM

Gawd, all this activity due to "Ring My Bell"!!!!???????

I have fond memories of hearing this song at the ultra-sleazy Balcony Bar on Market Street in SF on a nice Sunday afternoon around this time of year in 1979.

I can specifically recall one guy doing little hand motions(as if popping soap bubbles in the air) everytime one of those ping sounds (Graham described them differently)played. He was loaded, but very entertaining, at least to me.

I liked those "Pings" and the song is cheesy but enjoyable.

**paul** · June 26th, 2002, 01:10 PM

I seem to remember discussing this song before. Anyway, I am one of those people that hated that annoying ping combined with her the cheesy nature of the song. Having said that, I danced to it a few times.

**nonkel808** · June 26th, 2002, 03:30 PM

Funny,
its a cheasy song, but i don't hate it!
It's not ya typical "multilayered heavily orchestrated musical masterpiece"
But in its simpleness its a very catchy tune and i think the singing is not that bad. Its just an a-typical voice wich I think would sound better on jazzy music. It makes me think of the female singer Louise Rhodes of "LAMB" (best songs: Gorecki, Gabriel,..)
ah, well..... it's all about personal opinions, right?!

808
----------------------------------
Be Peaceful to your brother
for life wasn't meant to hate,
guide the hand of one who needs you.
Good karma breeds good fate.....

**jazz_pilgrim** · June 26th, 2002, 04:25 PM

I remember buying it the day it came out! I seem to remember, deep in the recesses of my memory, that Ring My Bell crept into the lower part of the UK pop charts as a result of US IMPORT SALES alone!! Quite an achievement that!

I just think it has dated badly - the bass line is too obvious, the chorus is too cheesy, and all this is topped off by those gimmicky pings! But I still play it occasionally ...

It was one of those records that, when you heard it the first three times, you loved it and rushed out and bought it. After that, you realized how trite and twee it sounded, and hated it forever. The same with Galaxy and "Dancing Tight"

_________________
It's got to be about the music !!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jazz_pilgrim on 2002-06-26 17:26 ]</font>

**Mixmachine** · June 26th, 2002, 07:08 PM

I never hated this song , I used to play it before national radio picked it up (TK out of Miami), believe or not at the time the ‘ping ‘ sound was new and made for a wonderful ‘hook’, people got off their seats the moment they heard you mixing it, I used to ‘double up’ the ping using a second copy, (nightmares to some here :lol:), I even used this sound as a ‘loop’ in some mixes I did at the time, of course, later the song got tired and was relegated to wedding circle duties, but I’ve heard worse.

**sirius** · June 27th, 2002, 12:30 AM

Boo, Boo, Boo...I still love it. There´s
nothing better than these Disco-Boo´s or
so-called DiscoCascades to make people
crazy...it´s like early acid-house.
Cosmic Love & Kisses From SIRIUS & DARKTUNS

**Fantomas** · June 27th, 2002, 06:18 AM

I found this song to be "ok"---just overplayed, no more than the BGs or Village People.

**zeca azevedo** · June 27th, 2002, 12:55 PM

Well, well, well,

let me UNDESTAND this whole thing. Lots of people here are saying that RING MY BELL is a cheesy song, hmmmmmmmm. But hey, as much as I know, DISCO MUSIC IS CHEESY and it's OK! Who will say that CERRONE is NOT CHEESY? Or CONSTANDINOS? COME ON! Throw the first stone who don't like ANY CHEESY song here!Come on, we're talking about popular music, not STRAVISNKY or LIGETI... ALL POPULAR MUSIC IS CHEESY IN A WAY OR ANOTHER. If you don't know this by now, hey, where's your head at?

And lots of you talked about Mrs. Ward voice. Well, I see that you know almost nothing about early R&B vocalizing style. ANITA WARD's hit was the ONLY disco song I saw mentioned in a respectable book about the history of the Blues, simply because it sounds too much like 50's R&B. You probably never heard Dinah Washington (and Esther Phillips you probably know only for the 70's output, I think). In my opinion, the song is great, funny, as any DISCO song should be. It's BLACK DISCO for sure. I recommend you to listen to some 40's and 50's R&B to relate to Mrs. Ward song. The song was written and produced by Frederick Knight, one of the foundations of Miami's SOUL and DISCO legacy.

BTW, I love the PING! PING! I heard that the PING! sound was made by the same PING! machine used in a MONTY PYTHON movie (LOL).

That's enough for now.

zeca azevedo, the avenger