Disco Rockers

Disco Rockers

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blondie 1978 disco rock
 L-R Nigel Harrison, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie, London, 8th March 1978 (Photo by Brian Cooke/Redferns/Getty Images)

This month marks the 40th Anniversary of Rod Stewart’s smash disco hit “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and to celebrate, we take a dive into it, and a dozen other examples of rock and pop artists who caught the disco bug in the 70s and early 80s.

Disco had a massive effect on popular music in the late 70s. Like various other forms of R&B before (soul, funk, etc) and after (hip-hop and contemporary R&B) disco was a primarily African-American invention that came to greater prominence when it was subsequently absorbed into the mainstream in both the US and Europe. It was a streamlining and emphasis of certain elements of early soul and funk styles – the dance floor elements -  and some of it was influenced by European electronic music influences; indeed the European disco style, as developed by producer Giorgio Moroder and others, fed back into the US scene and had a profound effect itself. 

Given the influence on earlier African-American music on so many musicians of the rock generation, it was surely no surprise that someone like Rod Stewart, who, like the Rolling Stones before him and the Beatles before them, had cut his teeth on things like Chuck Berry and Ray Charles, would turn to disco at some point. That and its massive popularity of course, especially after Saturday Night Fever’s success in 1977. Whilst the subsequent disco backlash was driven by a rock audience who saw something more profound in their music than the hedonistic thrills of the dance floor, many of the older musicians themselves, including Rod Stewart, the Stones, Paul McCartney, and even Led Zeppelin had no such qualms; the music, after all, was an extension of the sounds they grew up on.

Let’s start with Rod, and look at a bunch of other rock and pop artists who took a ride on the disco wave…

Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I’m Sexy

A lesser figure on the English blues scene in the 60s, Rod first came to prominence fronting the Jeff Beck Group and sung on their classic albums Truth and Beck-ola before starting a solo career. The Beck Group’s success as both a live and recording entity established Rod as one of the great voices of the era, and with his solo career slow to start he spun that success into new band the Faces, which formed out of the remnants of the classic 60s group the Small Faces. After helping establish the Faces as rock’s authentic good time boys, Rod achieved some solo success with the likes of “Maggie May” and “Every Picture Tells A Story.”  His 1975 hit “The Killing of Georgie” had a clear touch of Philly soul in its groove, and a couple of albums later came “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” which became Rod’s undoubted signature tune. 

Graham Parker & The Rumour  - Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions

One of  Rod’s favorite songwriters in the late 70s was British pub-rocker Graham Parker and his band the Rumour. Parker, like Elvis Costello (and Joe Strummer of The Clash) came out of the rootsy mid-70s London pub rock scene, which in some ways was a conscious attempt to return to the simpler days of the early 60s British R&B scene. “Hey Lord” was originally an album track on Parker’s gritty debut album Howlin’ Wind in 1976, but a couple of years later someone heard it with fresh ears and commissioned a remix, and presto, GP had a disco-influenced hit of his own. 

The Rolling Stones – Miss You

Perhaps the greatest and classiest disco track by an out and out rock band, “Miss You” was a massive hit for the Stones in 1978 and a highlight of their Some Girls album, which saw the band also dabbling in another divisive trend of the late 70s - punk rock, on the sardonic “Respectable”. “Miss You” highlighted the soul roots of disco beautifully, and shared album time with an equally dance-worthy cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination”.

Blondie – Heart of Glass

Feted by the same New York nightclub scene that Mick Jagger was a habitué of in the late 70s, Debbie Harry and Blondie were also the first of the punk/new wave bands to start exploring dance culture, and “Heart of Glass” was a perfect and authentic extension of themselves as well as their ticket to the big time. “Atomic” and “Call Me” were great follow-ups and a few years later Debbie was an early explorer of the underground rap scene with “Rapture.” 

Kiss – I Was Made For Loving You 

Not so appropriate, and not so well received by the band’s fans or critics, was Kiss’s foray into disco. For a band who had no direct roots in any African-American music is did seem opportunistic, but, fans and critics be damned, it worked. 

Led Zeppelin – Trampled Underfoot

The greatest hard rock group of all had obvious roots in African-American music. While the likes of Muddy Waters and  Howlin’ Wolf are more commonly associated with what influenced Zeppelin’s sound, they were a very groove-conscious band. 1975’s “Physical Graffiti’ arrived on the cusp of disco really, but “Trampled Underfoot” tapped into the hard-edged funky things that pre-dated disco like the Ohio Players and, most obviously, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” Its groove is pure dancefloor. 

Bee Gees – Jive Talkin’

They became disco icons thanks to Saturday Night Fever, which meant they were earlier than most to jump aboard the Soul Train. But the Bee Gees had always had been influenced by soul. Barry Gibb claimed to have written the great ballad “To Love Somebody” for Otis Redding, and their great “How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?” suited Memphis soul man Al Green to a tee. So their move into more rhythmic sounds in the mid-70s in hindsight looks like a fairly natural progression. While earlier efforts like “Lonely Days” and “Run To Me” hinted at the silkiness that would become their trademark, their early disco chops were confirmed in 1975 – two years before Saturday Night Fever – with “Jive Talkin’.”

Paul McCartney & Wings – Goodnight Tonight

The last great Wings hit found Macca coming late to disco, and perhaps trying to obscure the nature of the song with a video that had the band appearing as a 1920’s dance band. Or maybe he was making a point about the constancy of dance culture. Either way, clocking in at 7 minutes (but shortened for the single release), “Goodnight Tonight” was an unassuming tune given life by Paul’s funky bassline and smooth vocal. 

John Paul Young – Love Is In The Air 

The fact that this one song has so overshadowed his other hits makes it easy to ignore the fact that John Paul Young was a bit of a rocker to begin with, and his songwriters and producers Harry Vanda & George Young had even stronger roots in hard rock. But Vanda & Young were early fans of certain threads of disco – the more European ones – and their roots, like those of Paul McCartney and the Bee Gees, were in American R&B. Vanda & Young began exploring more contemporary dance music as early as late period Easybeats tunes like “St Louis” - and it was a semi-constant in their work as Marcus Hook Roll Band and with Stevie Wright (“Evie (Part 3)” ) before they hit pay dirt with JPY. And then, of course, there was Flash & The Pan, whose classic tune “Walking In The Rain” was later an early 80s Eurodisco smash for Grace Jones. 

Sparks – The Number One Song In Heaven

Quirky and fab American art rockers who came on like Alvin & the Chipmunks on a Roxy Music kick early on, Sparks were too weird for their homeland but loved in England and Europe throughout the 70s. When they connected with Italian disco auteur Giorgio Moroder – who had produced Donna Summer’s classic hits like “Hot Stuff” and “I Feel Love” - for “The Number One Song In Heaven,” they finally found themselves in sync with American tastes. 

Sports - Stop The Baby Talking

Melbourne R&B loving combo moved at light speed as the late 70s became the early 80s as their love of Michael Jackson overtook their love of Don Covay. “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” became a live feature around 1980, and this wonderful single soon followed. The chorus is really the only disco thing about it, but singer Stephen Cummings would spend the next few years digging deeper into dance music in the early phases of his solo career. 

Jo Jo Zep feat. Jane Clifton - Taxi Mary

Joe Camilleri’s band followed a similar trajectory to their little brother band Sports – perhaps they helped lead the way. They were the product of a Melbourne inner city scene that embraced all forms of African-American music – from R&B and reggae in the mid-to-late 70s, to newer dance floor styles a few years later. The Falcons had departed by the time Joe hit full dancefloor mode in 1982 but old mate Jane Clifton stepped up. 

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band  - Cover Me

Stripped of his all-American status, Springsteen may have found a comfortable home in Melbourne in the 70s and 80s, alongside the Falcons and the Sports and perhaps later Hunters & Collectors. He too traversed the ground from 60s R&B and soul to moved to more contemporary dancefloor moves when he wrote “Cover Me,” initially with Donna Summer in mind. It’s not really disco, but it’s not far from it, and Bruce would subsequently start exploring the sort of synthetic and rhythmic based sounds that had become synonymous with disco on his subsequent albums. 



 

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