...AND THE BEAT GOES ON! The GRAND ILM DISCO POLL results are revealed!

yay @ on "Give Me The Night."

When I saw that this tune started getting votes, at first I was like, "Why?", until I found out it's a Chic production. You guys sure love Chic, don't you? :)

But it's okay, though I don't think the busy 80s drum machine fills really fit the groove...

(x-post)

I loved 'Why' before I knew it had anything to do with Chic! I heard it played on jazz fm one day (between two other songs that I'd heard a million times before) without catching the name of the artist and had one of the most intense 'must find out what this is' reactions I can remember, I was surprised when I found out it was Carly Simon.

three songwriters that will and do dominate this list in a row (the Gibbs, Temperton, Rodgers/Edwards)

as mentioned above, the original MTAW is made redundant by the Tavares. was How Deep Is Your Love nominated? hope at least that one missed the cut. on the other hand, I support Night Fever all the way.

49. Odyssey - Native New Yorker (1977)
277 points, 8 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/111049858_zps8b22864d.gif

http://youtu.be/_8Kp7WX7y8M

Yeah, Odyssey's big hit was "Native New Yorker". "You're no tramp but you're no lady, talking that street talk, you're the heart and soul of New York City." Great song.

― Arthur, 26. heinäkuuta 2001 3:00

'Native New Yorker' by Odyssey for the way it sounded so lush and lovely but also for the way in which it was simultaneously aspirational and inclusive. It does the whole gritty street tough mugger-hardened, cockroach infested hey buddy attitude thing that has always made New York(especially late 70s NY) seem so impossibly glamorous to outsiders, but makes makes it sound so available - all you have to do is come to the city, have something cinematically bad hppen to you, sashay into a discotheque (don't worry there's one on every street corner) and HEY! you're one of us. You're a native New Yorker.

And then there's the sax solo in the middle which is the distilled essence of every single NY detective series theme tune ever made.

― adam b (adam b), 7. lokakuuta 2002 13:12

- agreed re: "Native New Yorker," which sounds like every advertisment I ever saw in the archives of Life Magazine c. 1976

― Eric H. (Eric H.), 27. elokuuta 2003 9:17

Yeah yeah, pedants, I know Ace didn't write "New York Groove" (it was written by Russ Ballard....oddly, a Brit...for the band, Hello. Ballard also wrote "God Gave Rock'n'Roll to You" which Kiss also covered). I've never heard Hello's version, but it invariably lacks to thwomping disco stomp of Ace's rendition....the same disco thwomp that makes makes it the perfect TS opponent for Odyssey's lush disco classic.

I heard the Odyssey track yesterday probably for the first time in seven or eight years (it's a wonder that the producers of "Sex & the City" never cribbed it for usage in the series). Ace's track is pumpingly celebratory. Odyssey's depiction is vibrant yet simultaneously world-weary. Ace's NYC is one of endless opportunity for naughy hedonism, whereas Odyssey's NYC is a place where chilly one night stands are de rigeur, manners are non-existent and heartbreak is a given, but you'd still never want to live anywhere else.

Despite being a dyed-in-the-wool Kiss fan, I personally might have to go with the Odyssey track here. While I applaud Ace's track and still love it, it's lumpen and clumsy next to the stylishly swooning "Native New Yorker." Both of these tracks positively stink of a New York City that hasn't existed for years (though I've never understood why Ace cites the corner of 3rd Avenue and 43rd street --- "it's gonna be ecstacy". That's quite possibly the dullest street corner in all of Manhattan).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), 16. kesäkuuta 2005 23:49

"Native New Yorker" is fantastic! Why have I never noticed before? Probably because my perception was clouded over by my brother singing along with it when I was a kid? I probably liked it then even, but still I feel like I've heard it for the first time (and even that was just a fragment). I was in an American Apparel store of all places, feeling old around all the young sexy bodies in skimpy cotton.

― R_S (RSLaRue), 19. lokakuuta 2006 22:28

The intro reminds me a bit of Odyssey's "Native New Yorker", which in its long version is one of the most sublime pieces of urban(e) disco I've ever heard.

― Tom May (Tom May), 4. maaliskuuta 2004 13:58

surprised at how much higher MTAW placed than the other two bee gees tracks

xpost YESSSS

Odyssey, I feel, are among the more underrated disco acts there are. Besides "Native New Yorker", "Weekend Lover", "Use It Up, Wear It Out", "Going Back to My Roots", and "Inside Out" are all brilliant singles with an unique sound and memorable lyrics ("Use It Up, Wear It Out" particularly is an incredible example of disco hedonism/nihilism). They should be in the upper echelons of the disco canon.

48. The Rolling Stones - Miss You (1978)
279 points, 9 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1327763-1332441805_zpsfb063400.jpeg

http://youtu.be/hic-dnps6MU (music video)
http://youtu.be/0IhSnfyfUgU (12" version)

Miss You! the "Puerto Rican girls that's just DYYYYYYAN to MEEEETCHA!" line rulez over all. Disco Stones 4-eva!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), 20. joulukuuta 2005 18:50

"Miss You" is just phenomenal, kind of your classic "can't believe there was a time when this song didn't exist" Stones tune

― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), 5. tammikuuta 2012 6:33

the 12" version of miss you is so completely badass - bass higher in the mix, more Sugar Blue. i know this must've been mentioned before

― epigram addict (outdoor_miner), 5. tammikuuta 2012 16:07

"Miss You" was one of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio...all the fucking time. WLS in Chicago must've played it no less than twice an hour when it came out. I love the song, but I actually prefer the single edit (I'm still caught off-guard when the saxophone solo comes in).

― Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), 5. tammikuuta 2012 16:32

But "Miss You" has such a hard groove & is a blast to sing along with; not surprised to hear it's a Jagger song since for me the performance comes down to his scats/coos/dyintameetcha.

― I think Mick Jagger has suffered plenty. (Euler), 25. kesäkuuta 2010 9:02

huh

Yeah, I was surprised too "Miss You" made it this high... I've nothing against the song, but it doesn't sound overtly disco to me, except for the four-to-the-floor beat.

Compare it to "I Was Made for Loving You Baby", the other big rock disco song on the list, and it sounds like KISS were at least trying to do a proper disco song, not just adding a disco beat to a rock tune.

If disco, as Nile Rodgers would have it, was escapism which new exactly what it was escaping then Native New Yorker is the perfect example. The world outside the club is desolate: "And love, love is just a passing word/It's the thought you had in a taxi cab/That got left on the curb/When he dropped you off at East 83rd."

And the mirroring of "You're the heart and soul of New York City" with "To set you free from New York City".

I really like songs that directly address a particular character because it's specific but it feels somehow universal because of the second person.

Basically, this is one of the songs I would play to somebody if I wanted to explain my ideal of disco.

Nice post, DL.

Hm. Yeah. I think it's got the beat and a bit of the decorations, but I'm not sure about this. I'd say it 'counts' as disco, but shouldn't be so high, but then you can't control for that stuff with polls, it's all about how many people like something.

xp re Stones

One of my favorite songs by anybody.

Miss You is completely marvellous, glad to see it here. Usually it's clogging up 'worst disco track ever' type lists instead.

in 2013?!?

btw no it's quite a disco song so much as "disco-influenced" but the Bob Clearmountain 12" is a guaranteed floor filler.

51. George Benson - Give Me the Night (1980)

yessss

I'm seeing a pattern emerging where parallel lists seem to be counting down, alternating between deep disco culture and crossover pop. I mean, that's what was going on at the time too. It's just interesting to see it play out here.

Not much from my list, though, which admittedly was mostly made up of disco songs about outer space.

One of my favorite songs by anybody.

"Native New Yorker" is the first of my picks to place. That particular feeling it expresses is so real and so beautifully captured. Some disco records hit their moments of bliss with an instrumental phrase or a great chorus. "Native New Yorker" gets there with stabs of pure emotion and recognition that you feel from lyrics like those quoted by DL upthread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_9f9LieNF4

Argh, I can't believe I missed Carly Simon's Why. I must have missed it in the nomination list

"miss you" is great but that's way too high

LISTEN, MAN. I'm gonna come 'round twelve with some Puerto Rican girls who're just DYIIIN to meet you!

love the extra verse of Miss You ("I feel ABANDONED.. ") baffled that it was never on the Radio Mix.

I'm seeing a pattern emerging where parallel lists seem to be counting down, alternating between deep disco culture and crossover pop. I mean, that's what was going on at the time too. It's just interesting to see it play out here.

― Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Wednesday, December 11, 2013 11:00 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

word that's why i can't be mad at all the beej tracks placing, it's like in love saves the day: uptown and downtown; studio 54 and the loft

47. Lipps, Inc. - Funkytown (1979)
284 points, 7 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1121957-1385313887-7783_zpsd0aeb403.jpeg

http://youtu.be/w6pg18bJt-A

Although I must profess I claimed to hate disco in 1978. (This was before "Funkytown," of course.)

― X. Y. Zedd, 14. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

I can lose myself in say, "Funkytown" or "Lost In Music" in a way that feels like a total out-of-body experience. (Like Ned would have while enjoying Slowdive ;). Some of the production is marvellous, never bettered - I think in the main because they didn't clutter the grooves too much - just concentrated on getting the essentials right.

― Dr. C, 5. marraskuuta 2001 3:00

"Hey, what's that song where the hook goes like this?"
"That's 'Funkytown.'"
"I thought 'Funkytown' was the one where the hook went like this."
"That's 'Funkytown' too."
"How does it get from that first one to this second one?"
"With this bit."
"I thought that bit was the Commodores."
"No, it's 'Funkytown.'"
"Damn, 'Funkytown' kicks ass."

― Nitsuh, 20. maaliskuuta 2002 3:00

I moved from Jersey to Minneapolis after hearing "Funkytown" on the radio.

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), 2. toukokuuta 2003 22:19

did you see the MTV MADE where the little Jewish kid wanted to be a rapper and was ashamed of his dad because he wrote Funkytown and would always play it and shit? Im like.. kid your dad wrote Funkytown go get the man a beer.

― howell huser (chaki), 26. tammikuuta 2006 23:06

The rhythm guitar sound! The processed violin! The plinky synthesizer melody! The vocoder!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), 26. tammikuuta 2006 23:07

i never liked the chorus - way too cheesy depressing supermarket shopping. Everything up until the chorus comes in - absolutely amazing. The two-note arpeggio, the vocodered bit going into the proper singing. Smashing.

― the next grozart, 8. heinäkuuta 2008 16:31

But anyhow, "Disco" is a lazy (but convenient) catchall term amongst those of us old enuff to recall when disco music was a going concern, and too old/bored to bother to investigate the minutiae of techno or ambient or house or garage or toolshed or whatever the hell it's called now. It all leads back to disco anyways. And everything labeled "disco" back then sounded different anyways. "Funkytown", "Night Fever", "I Feel Love", "MFSB" - none of 'em sounded at all alike and had nothing in common, aside from being great DANCE music.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), 31. elokuuta 2005 16:40

ugh this song

The chorus is marginally less annoying than in Pseudo Echo's iteration.

Gotta agree with Nabisco's anf Tim Ellison's comments there: this is song is an amazing showcase of various disco hooks and sounds. Though they feel oddly compartmentalized, as if the band was going "Hey, check this out! Wasn't that cool? Now check this out!" etc... That makes the whole feel a bit disjointed and collage-like, though I guess that's part of its charm. But it certainly isn't the funkiest or the smoothest of disco hits.

as a compendium of today but not the future it works, I suppose.

"native new yorker" was the song i most regretted forgetting from my list, really glad that made it. and of course, "give me the night" is fantastic.

nervous how many acts haven't even showed up yet -- where's the earth wind & fire, kool & the gang, diana ross? i can only assume they'll appear higher up on the list!

46. Michael Jackson - Rock with You (1979)
295 points, 6 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-2087278-1301175944_zps05dedf29.jpeg

http://youtu.be/5X-Mrc2l1d0

my loathing of MJ is well-documented but you kinda can't fuck with Rock With You.

― job kreaytor (Shakey Mo Collier), 13. tammikuuta 2012 1:35

Not completely sour on it, but at this point I much prefer "Rock With You," which I will still turn up very loud in the car (and also play at a lot of weddings, just not as one of the "big-deal" type of songs expected to cause tremors)

― sw00ds, 19. lokakuuta 2009 21:47

Also bonus points to anyone who skated in a dinky roller disco rink to "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" or "Rock With You". You folks are my bros.

― Disruptor of Morals (Bimble), 26. huhtikuuta 2009 23:47

BTW even though I heard Rock With You plenty of times in my childhood, it was only a few years ago when I was in a porn store of all places and I heard it over their sound system or the radio or whatever it was and I had this "ah hah" moment about it and that was what made me seek out the entirety of Off The Wall.

― Crispy Ambulance Douchebag (Bimble), 7. kesäkuuta 2009 11:36

24. Michael Jackson's spangly bootsox in the "Rock With You" video

― The Reverend, 6. maaliskuuta 2008 1:21

I really don't care for Tavares' "More Than A Woman" - never have. Brothers Gibb, please - one of my favourite dreamy disco songs.

Now, how the hell is Carly Simon's "Why" disco but "Miss You" is not??!! (Despite the Chic connection, "Why" isn't very disco-y.) I nominated "Miss You" because mainstream disco/rock crossovers were asked to be nominated!

I've nothing against that Kiss tune. In fact I was kinda hoping that you folks would nominate some rock-disco hybrids that I might've forgotten about, as my knowledge of rock music is weak.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, October 16, 2013 9:32 AM (1 month ago)

I don't like arguing about what does or doesn't fall into a particular genre (it reminds me too much of punk & metal pissing contests), but a lot of the 80s stuff which is placing really doesn't fall in line with my idea of disco. Electro isn't always disco.

wait 'til One Of These Nights places

Sorry - Ismael nommed "Miss You." I nommed "Emotional Rescue." Still disco.

now I regret not putting up Too Much Blood

An Officer And A Gentleman ... SOMETHING YOU CAN TAKE THE WIFE TO

Knowing "Funkytown" was written by a Minneapolitan who just wanted to move to New York and thought this city was wasting his time ruined the song forever for me. It just makes me mad now.

"Rock With You" is brilliant.

But anyhow, "Disco" is a lazy (but convenient) catchall term amongst those of us old enuff to recall when disco music was a going concern, and too old/bored to bother to investigate the minutiae of techno or ambient or house or garage or toolshed or whatever the hell it's called now. It all leads back to disco anyways. And everything labeled "disco" back then sounded different anyways. "Funkytown", "Night Fever", "I Feel Love", "MFSB" - none of 'em sounded at all alike and had nothing in common, aside from being great DANCE music.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), 31. elokuuta 2005 16:40

Great definition. My definition really only has one major rule: pounding dance beat. It's the heart of the genre. Literally, the heartbeat. Only a few of the songs above, chiefly Ain't Nobody and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' lack that grinding house/disco beat. They are funky rhythms with more complex fills. You can certainly dance to those tunes, but you can't DANCE to them like hard, pounding, sweaty disco kick drums make you dance. The beat, the heartbeat. That is what I'm looking for here. Soaring strings and funky deep bass guitar certainly help too, but I'm just as comfortable with cold, synthesizer bliss or even more traditional rock/funk textures (see Miss You). But that beat. Dat beat.

'Miss You' is ok but meh at it being higher than *insert pretty much anything that's placed lower*

'Native New Yorker' has the magic that makes me feel incredibly jealous of native New Yorkers.

now I regret not putting up Too Much Blood

― Ismael Klata,

oh man

45. Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (1981)
288 points, 6 votes, two 1st place votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1864383-1314235086_zps1ba89b21.jpeg

http://youtu.be/fF8jL1zyjNE

Can we all at least agree that the Inner Life version is untouchable?

― Eric H., 23. marraskuuta 2008 0:45

Inner Life's version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" slaughters the original.

― Andy K (Andy K), 9. syyskuuta 2002 16:20

Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough: disco juggernaut like no other, starts at a gallop and ends up flying through space

― snoop dogey doge (seandalai), 7. marraskuuta 2013 4:30

We can agree that the inner life version is untouchable.

― ♪☺♫☻ (gr8080), 24. marraskuuta 2008 0:52

Sorry, that should be:

Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Larry Levan Mix)

This was my #1. It has everything great about disco: a rollicking groove, a pounding beat, some soaring strings, a far-out synth solo, and of course the energetic, awe-inspiring diva vocal performance by Jocelyn Brown. Perfection.