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

got to be real is amazing, i especially love the multitracked voices singing "TO be REAL"

29. Earth, Wind & Fire - Fantasy (1977)
345 points, 7 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-3432956-1330195734_zps80f1ff7f.jpeg

http://youtu.be/6mV8ew_stNs

I distrust any man who doubts the buoyancy of "Fantasy" and "Serpentine Fire."

― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), 17. maaliskuuta 2011 23:48

Their late-'70s move towards MOR strangely did very little to diminish their power as a band.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), 23. heinäkuuta 2003 0:30

That said, *classic* for their magma '70s output. My favorites are "Fantasy" (best use of Philip's falsetto) and "Boogie Wonderland" (for sheer memorability). P.S. I have had a giant poster of them c. 1980 hanging in my studio apartment for three years.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), 9. tammikuuta 2006 7:48

I often these days think, to myself, when listening to Earth, Wind & Fire: "this was the best fucking band in the world"

― get your bucket of free wings (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), 7. kesäkuuta 2010 10:25

I think fantasy is just a miracle of songwriting... The arrangement is so tight and colourful, and it's quite rare to hear a song where not just the chorus but also the verses and the bridge all have such memorable and catchy melodies. Plus those falsettos!

aerosmith otm

I........I can't say anything about this song. It's staring at the face of god.

Saw "Thank God It's Friday" in the "Last Dance" picture and got excited...then swiftly crushed that it wasn't the title track placing. What are the chances that enough of you rated Love & Kisses enough for it to place?

Last fall I spent a lot of time with "Raise!" and, god, it's more consistent than some of tbe seventies stuff.

I hadn't thought of the EW&F as disco for some reason, but that's a fantastics song. Not much I'm not liking on this list, but the Euro disco stuff tends to be iffy for me.

I had known this song, but I rediscovered it when someone mentioned it on a Latin music forum and I checked it out and went: oh yeah, that one.

(Not that I'm into contemporary Cuban music, but EW&F are a huge influence on Cuban timba, especially when you go back to the 90s stuff. It's actually a bit of a joke amongst timba fans how much timba has sometimes been indebted to this band.)

Curious that we've had two in a row from Heatwave, and then from Chaka Khan, and then from Gloria Gaynor.

i challenge any "i will survive" haters not to break down and give in over this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDKc51RO2gc

pretty far out, imo.

thanks for all the work on this Tuomas!

so, does italo not qualify or did you guys just not vote for them?

Didnt vote any italo, savin up for the italo poll, Mostly went for capital D studio 54 disco

I voted plenty italo, but didn't expect them to show up. I think there will be a separate Italo poll in the future though.

Italo poll is going to be so much fun

I have a couple hundred nominations waiting to go....! Oh wait.

"Fantasy" is obviously one of the greatest pop-R&B songs ever written.

... but disco?

My EW&F vote went to "Can't Let Go." I defy you to resist it.

I voted for four EWF songs - including this one and "Can't Let Go" - which is kind of absurd, I know. They aren't even primarily a disco band. But I couldn't fucking not do that. I mean, there are way more than four Earth Wind and Fire songs that are among my favorite songs ever.

Voted 'fantasy' top 5 iirc but regretting not backing one or two other ew&fs at least, especially 'in the stone' which makes me instantaneously happier more than p much any other song ever.

damn, no Honey Bee then.

worried the boss won't be here

Dancing In The Dark was 1985

at this point my number one concern is Lowdown

I've been w/out internet access for over a week and dying to catch up with this poll's results; so far, I'm just really, really happy that "Haven't You Heard" placed... a great one I hadn't heard of until the 2006 Larry Levan comp.

28. Bee Gees - Night Fever (1978)
356 points, 8 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-1711642-1342120107-2493_zps40a7f414.jpeg

http://youtu.be/-ihs-vT9T3Q

"night fever" is FABULOUS, the string arranging is brilliant and it's so well composed (with three distinct parts).

― fred solinger, 6. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

Man, have you ever got up and shook yo ass to "Night Fever?" It's gold. Pure gold. Seriously, play that tune really loud in your room and boogie, and see if you don't feel the power.

― Gage-o, 23. joulukuuta 2001 3:00

I can't help but love every single track from the SNF soundtrack -- I mean the movie on its own kills me, but goddamn so many good Bee Gees songs on there (not to mention the others).

I get a good feeling from this song.

― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), 20. kesäkuuta 2012 18:56

Fun fact about "Night Fever": looped sections of its rhythm track are the basis for "More Than a Woman" and "Stayin' Alive" (and according to the engineer, "Woman In Love" on the Streisand record, but I'm not sure I believe that). Less fun fact: it's because the drummer's dad died and he had to leave the sessions for a few days.

― Naive Teen Idol, 20. kesäkuuta 2012 20:02

27. Grace Jones - Pull up to the Bumper (1981)
359 points, 11 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-17639-1304886940_zpsa63b396e.jpeg

http://youtu.be/Tc1IphRx1pk (music video)
http://youtu.be/oNyo-I6OF2Y (12" version)

How can you not bump to this? That bassline - Sly & Robbie

"Percussive frothy funk, knee-deep in sexual metaphor" “Pull up to my bumper baby/ And drive inbetween” The attraction in this case is less the instant/immediate thrills but more a long held admiration of the icon that is Grace, notwithstanding that this is one hellova jam, especially the longer Larry Levan mix. Basically, its the sex appeal, the amazonian stature of Grace (her vocals alone convey this); most times this song makes me horny and that in itself makes it a significant choice.

― Tannenbaum Schmidt, 14. marraskuuta 2009 21:06

i didnt know, but i never know these things. i learned every single one from ilm like how 'pull up to the bumper' is abt anal sex. i think its because i learned to love music thru classical music and it took me ages to learn how to listen to lyrics

― minna (minna), 4. syyskuuta 2005 11:59

"Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper"

My parents bought this single saying:"She's cool! You have to listento this!"

Of course I never did. Until a few years ago. *sigh*

― nathalie's baby (stevie nixed), 14. toukokuuta 2005 20:04

DJed "Use Me" and "Nightclubbing" and "Pull Up to the Bumper" on Friday night. what's great about those tracks is that they can really spring you into just about anywhere (weird rock, funk, dub, disco) afterwards.

― beta blog, 27. heinäkuuta 2008 18:54

Such an interesting point. Whereas some music leads you very firmly in one direction, Grace Jones' music is supple and genre-shifting enough for that simply not to be an issue.

― Daniel Giraffe, 30. heinäkuuta 2008 12:02

I don't think I voted for a Grace Jones track, but I'm glad she's in the mix.

26. Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Megamix) (1980)
362 points, 8 votes, two 1st place votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-62697-1319727150_zpsb750e947.jpeg

http://youtu.be/xSTf0B-9laQ

The 15-minute version is indescribably great. Better than the original. One of the best remixes ever.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), 19. joulukuuta 2003 3:38

It's pretty amazing. I like starting it in the middle where it's just the Cowley part so you can't even tell it's I Feel Love at first.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), 19. joulukuuta 2003 3:46

HA, this thread amuses me as someone who's been away from the board for a couple years but whenever listening to Patrick Cowley (which is quite often), wants to start a "TS: Patrick Cowley vs. Giorgio Moroder" thread, which I feel is a more appropriate matchup than Russell. The teacher vs. the student, burning out vs. fading away, etc.

So what does ILM have to say about THIS particular matchup? Moroder's peaks (From Here to Eternity, "The Chase", "I Feel Love", No. 1 in Heaven, fucking inventing this shit) definitely beat Cowley's, but I can't help but wonder if Patrick hadn't died so young (wasn't he the first celebrity AIDS casualty?), what would he have accomplished? I mean, did Moroder do anything worth a shit in the 25 years since Cowley died?

― mikeohhh, 23. elokuuta 2007 0:43

I love the 12" and album mixes of I Feel Love, but Cowley's mix is an entirely different beast, more like a mixture of the original and an entirely new Patrick Cowley epic.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), 3. kesäkuuta 2004 21:04

Rocking the 15 minute Patrick Cowley megamix of "I Feel Love" as I type. So great.

― Soccer mom, hopeless and lost, in utter despair (Dan Peterson), 17. toukokuuta 2012 19:30

The Larry Levan mix of "Pull Up To The Bumper" is so good : http://youtu.be/U3RCPNKHBRs

Pull Up To The Bumper was in my top 5. Perfect song from one of the best albums of all time.

Wtf. Here's that vote split I was worried about :(

As I think I mentioned in the nominations thread, have never, ever, ever gotten the love people have for that specific remix.

the grace jones disco lp i have is muse, from 1979, and im kinda underwhelmed by it... pull up to the bumber such a classic tho

astonishing how Night Fever beat Stayin Alive by so many votes but glad to see it there anyway.

amazes me how the original *extended DJ mix* of Stayin Alive eluded me for so many years. didn't even know it existed until last year.

I voted another Grace Jones track into my top 10, but there's no way in hell it's gonna place here. Her first album Portolio is her most disco-ish.

Portfolio that is

if carrie lucas doesn't make it I just won't know what to say

YES. I voted for both the original and the Cowley mix, and I'm stoked Cowley's version made it. At this point I'm assuming the original will be a top fiver here.

Night Fever lost out due to my 'three per artist' limit. It is so slick, but other than the title phrase section I can't really love it.

The Pull Up To The Bumper rhythm track is extraordinary. I could listen to just that on an endless loop, but the track is so sparse that I kind of am. I had been uneasy about nominating it in case it wasn't really disco as such, but listening to the 12" it clearly is. It pulls the genre into some weird shapes.

25. Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out (1980)
373 points, 8 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-652069-1348057436-7241_zps8df6402c.jpeg

http://youtu.be/4rKJcA3I5Fg

Now "I'm Coming Out" might give IFL a run. One of the best singles of the 80s.

― Mark (MarkR), 23. kesäkuuta 2006 12:51

Who cares about the verses. The beginning has that guitar and just the 3 words of the title and it's plenty. Actually, my favorite part might just be 2 words--Diana's 'I'm coming' (with no 'Out').

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), 23. kesäkuuta 2006 13:18

I think part of what makes Diana Ross such an awesome figure for me is her place in gay history: in the mode of Judy Garland & Liza Minelli & Babs, Ross spends a fair bit of her career acknolwledging her core audience (sometimes gigantic-stage-winkingly as on "I'm Coming Out," sometimes with slightly more code in place a la "It's My Turn"). Donna Summer also knew which side her bread was buttered on, but doesn't seem to have had as much fun with it. I think Ross engaging her public like this (if you accept that that's what she was doing, which naturally you needn't) makes her one of those transcendent pop figures in the mode of Garland or Streisand: somebody whose material is both awesome on its own & rich as social text.

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), 23. kesäkuuta 2006 21:10

i actually don't know the difference between mixes, &c, but the first minute of this is such a teasing triumph, and the moment it kicks in as satisfying as most anything

― (oboe interlude) (schlump), 3. elokuuta 2011 14:31

I do think that "I'm coming out" by la Diana is one of the best dance tunes ever written. Best tunes ever written, period, but, hey, its purpose really is dancing. And I'm not even gay. But I just feel so good everytime I hear...

― Simon, 11. syyskuuta 2001 3:00

According to the Nile Rodgers autobiography, Diana Ross had no idea at the time that "coming out" had a gay meaning. But Nile did, of course.

all right. made some calculations and it's official: several major classics will be left out completely. which ones I have no idea

"I'm Coming Out" obviously fantastic, was a casualty of my one-track-per-artist rule but glad it could join us.

That whole Diana album is perfect. I ended up going with My Old Piano but would be surprised if that placed over this and Upside Down which I'm assuming is still to come. There's still around 10 Chic songs/Productions I can still see making it.

24. Blondie - Heart of Glass (1979)
384 points, 10 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-358367-1322679506_zpsda902670.jpeg

http://youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU (music video)
http://youtu.be/Jy8U1ExvunM (12" version)

i have nothing but love for "heart of glass".

― stirmonster, 11. maaliskuuta 2009 4:28

Heart of Glass is pretty much a perfect song, guys. That neat beat-missing trick is some good icing, too.

― a passing spacecadet, 11. maaliskuuta 2009 11:59

Clem Burke's drumming in "Heart of Glass" outro = best ever.

― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), 12. maaliskuuta 2009 17:59

When I was quite young I really really liked Blondie's "Heart of Glass" but didn't hear it that often. It got played on the radio and I was too slow to tape it off the radio and I cried and cried because I was convinced I'd never get to hear it again..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), 14. toukokuuta 2003 5:1

Is this a perfect song? It sounds that way to me. From the minute Debbie Oo oo oo ohs us into it it is apparent that you're in for something pretty special. Then the tune kicks in and we're off, flying on the wings of Harry.. The lyrics may be equivocal - he's a pain in the arse, but, sometimes, what I find is pleasing...love is so confusing - but the tune? Sunshine, or ice cream, or both together.

― Amiii Stewart (Amiii Stewart), 28. toukokuuta 2005 19:39

Great drumming, yes. Same on Atomic.

huh

I've never really been into to Blondie, and I never considered this to be disco, but now that I listen to it... I guess it is? Nice tune, but didn't vote for it, I guess I still feel it's out place in this poll, as irrational as that is.