Donna Summer: Search and Destroy?

a brief piece i just wrote for wired:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/05/donna-summer-obit

Fucking hell. What a great talent. This one hurts. RIP

I am not having a good time today, RIP.

RIP POX

Could It Be Magic
I Remember Yesterday
I Feel Love
State of Independence
This Time I Know It's For Real
Heaven Knows
Mystery of Love
The Hostage
Walk Away
I Love You

RIP

one more tribute

My obit.

^^
Lovely. Best one I've read yet.

Yeah, I really liked that, A.

Makes mine feel like a pretender.

Great, great stuff, Alfred.

thanks!

Eric, I liked yours too! You could probably write a long defense of the eponymous 1982 album.

Man, I love that album, but Donna was apparently not in a very happy place when she made it from a career standpoint. (She was also pregnant, iirc, and claimed it sabotaged her singing tho I don't hear it at all.)

"Love is Just a Breath Away" has been on my mind all morning.

The rattling synth bass sound on "(If It) Hurts Just a Little" is a wonderful irritant/earworm.

Jammin' to I Remember Yesterstay (on vinyl!) right now.

Alfred that was wonderful, thank you!!

Eric did you post a link to yours, I would love to read it

spotify has a decent amount of Donna, yay

It's here: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/05/donna-summer-1948-2012/

Mostly, it's me admitting to loving the unbelievably campy "I Remember Yesterday."

Alfred, beautiful piece! That last line is just... love. <3

Matos has a great piece up as well:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/donna-summers-heavy-breathing-blueprint-for-pop/257391/

There was a nice piece by Dan Savage's husband re-posted to The Stranger's blog yesterday (sorta) on the subject of that 1982 s/t record.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/17/donna-summer-saved-my-husbands-life

Eric's: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/05/donna-summer-1948-2012/

Eric that was perfect <3

Jody Rosen now:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/17/donna_summer_dead_at_63_jody_rosen_remembers_the_queen_of_disco_.html

between this and Chuck Brown am gutted, loved Donna growing up and love her. one of those now ords. thanks to those above who wrote so beautifully on her

really liked alfred's piece - looking fwd to matos's and eric's

Mine sucks so bad, people. It was seriously stitched together in a rush from two separate old blog posts from a half-decade ago plus three or four P's of new stuff.

lies!!

Great, great stuff, Alfred.

Err, yup.

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

is this rockist bs? she's quoted in the article saying what amounts to "i like janis joplin, and motown" & they allude to her being reluctant to accept the title Queen of Disco but, idk, seems like pretty flimsy evidence

BUT she was a rocker at heart!

wasn't rock lucky?!

I Feel Love just missed re-entering the UK Top 40 by a whisker http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jzDTEvunXCiwUKr54fiUWPpZ4NsQ?docId=N0221301337532481253A

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

is this rockist bs?

She was partially rooted in rock, though even more in gospel. At very least, she deserved not to be pigeonholed as disco. Not that there's anything wrong with disco!

is this rockist bs? she's quoted in the article saying what amounts to "i like janis joplin, and motown" & they allude to her being reluctant to accept the title Queen of Disco but, idk, seems like pretty flimsy evidence

― flopson, Sunday, May 20, 2012 5:55 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

'disco' is still a punchline for the general public though, sadly

i.e. "She was more than just the Queen of Disco"

Why isn't this woman in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet? O yea fun fact: unless Michael Jackson/J5 counts, only disco groups inducted to date are white/hetero (also, just occurred to me, not American): Bee Gees, ABBA. Meaning what?

Meaning Geir is on the board of directors.

If I were, Donna Summer would have been in there. I don't really count ABBA as disco btw. They were better at doing prime MOR than doing disco. And their best album was pure 80s synthpop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fVx-uytBw

A belated R.I.P here now that the sun has gone down on here a few days ago. :(

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

Mirrored in current cnn.com headline:

Gibb's musical legacy not just disco

I'm a big fan of Spring Affair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcREzFgLJRs

As used by Moodyman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry0dHsva4f4

When Rod Stewart and members of the Rolling Stones and Kiss go, I'm positive the obituaries will point out that although they were primarily thought of as rock stars, they also recorded popular disco songs.

i thought everyone loved disco

I thought the people who hated disco had moved on to hating rap.

On NPR this morning, they miscomprehended this admittedly badly-written press release, and said that Donna Summer had a huge hit in 1977 with "Rapper's Delight."

An interesting (nerdy) article on the making of "Love to love you baby" and "I feel love", incl. mic choices, using tape-as-sync, and an orgy

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct09/articles/classictracks_1009.htm

I've read in the last week comments about Summer's lack of "technical" competence. How is this even a serious question for a multi-octave singer?