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

i missed the actual polling for this (as I seem to do w/ every ILM poll, since I tend to go away from the board for weeks/months at a time) but yeah that one would make my top 3 easily.

also did the poll allow slow jams/ballads from disco acts (which are more just R&B than "disco" I guess) because:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HeqAqmsBIo

machine probably made it and Darnell is already represented twice (and thank god he is). I'm more worried about shalamar. since no one agrees what is their greatest song top 20 seems unlikely.

Worried about Sylvester & MFSB as well as Shalamar re: vote-splitting. I guess Cerrone or Hot Chocolate are the last Euro-ish things to have a chance of placing.

Also,

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

is excellent advice.

no chance of You To Me Are Everything by The Real Thing as this stage i'm guessing.

yeah, no more room for the Brits I presume. Sylvester probably wasn't hurt by vote-splitting, his key song is pretty obvious isn't it?

I fear for Manilow at this point

Sylvester probably wasn't hurt by vote-splitting, his key song is pretty obvious isn't it?

Not really. I voted for "Over and Over," which came in second in djhistory.com's poll of the 25 greatest disco tracks ever.

Some huge hits showing up. I never found the time to vote so I can't complain, but I hope people love "More, More, More" as much as I do.

23. Chic - Everybody Dance (1977)
395 points, 9 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/chic-everybody-dance-atlantic-2_zpsa87aa7a9.jpg

http://youtu.be/czvtXjj4tqk

"Everybody Dance" might be my favorite song ever.

― djdee2005, 21. huhtikuuta 2004 6:28

i love the 'doo doo doo doo' hook on "Everybody Dance" so much

― some dude, 24. elokuuta 2012 4:03

Think I might have to go for Everybody Dance, that bassline is unbeatable.

― Kitchen Person, 20. elokuuta 2012 6:40

So faultless it's hard to think of anything to say about it.

xp Re: I'm Coming Out, I love this story I got from Nile Rodgers:

Did Diana know I’m Coming Out was a gay song?
No, of course not! She brought it up and we denied it. The last thing I want to do is lie to my artist but it was so brilliant. I always say I’m hired to give you the record you want, not the one that I want — even if you don’t know this is the record you want. I’m Coming Out happened as an accident. In the course of interviewing Diana we never once said, well Diana, how do you feel about being part of that gay, diva, idol-worship culture? But when I went out to this transvestite club one night, The Gilded Grape, I’m at the urinal and there are three of four Diana Rosses around me. I kept thinking, this is some message. The next day I told Bernard, man, you won’t believe what happened last night. I explained it in detail and we’d laugh and he’d say, great let’s write that. It’s a hysterical story and it makes sense.

Nile Rodgers has a wonderful story about the reaction that an acetate of Everybody Dance got in a New York club. Go to the last 4 paras on this page - http://www.waxpoetics.com/features/articles/the-hitmaker-part-1- then open the second page for the end of the story.

and the Chic onslaught begins

mike, thanks for the link. that is great. nile <3

should probably post this on the actual Chic thread, but I don't think I've ever been as happy since early childhood as I was this summer when I saw Chic live.

I saw Chic at The Forum in June. It was a birthday treat for my sister. Amazingly enough, she was... oh, hang on, I'll save this story until the track in question places (which it most surely will).

Did Diana know I’m Coming Out was a gay song?
No, of course not! She brought it up and we denied it.

This would contradict what Mike T-Diva mentioned about Rodgers' autobiography though, that he said Ross didn't even know "coming out" had a gay connotation... I thought that sounded kinda unlikely; maybe your average Joe wouldn't have known what "come out" means back then, but for someone who worked in the music business and was doing disco music at the time, it seems a bit weird she would've been totally ignorant of the term.

Also, I could easily imagine Ross knew it was a gay song, but for whatever reason she let Rodgers and Edwards think they'd pulled a prank on her.

I was there Matt...I think I know how your story ends! How did you find Nicky Siano's set beforehand?

xpost Well, I might have misremembered - I don't have the NR autobiog to hand - but happy to yield to DL's first hand account!

Dwight: Nicky Siano's set would have been fine (if a tad predictable), if his sound system hadn't been so screwed. It looked as if he wasn't too happy with it either. Especially annoying, as the previous DJs had used separate kit, which sounded perfectly OK. Perhaps that why Siano's reverted to obvious choices, in a bid to rescue the floor.

It did sound terrible agreed...think me and my friends walked in just as he was playing Love Sensation which was pretty phenomenal. Dropping 'Funkytown' and 'Young Hearts Run Free' might have been a tad obvious but they WORKED!

22. McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now (1979)
429 points, 11 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-200419-1334736200_zps3c9f95cc.jpeg

http://youtu.be/RhaBFGOzgVA

The genius of the extended mix of "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" cannot be overstated -- I've forgotten which ILXer brought this great record to my attention, but thank you greatly.

― briania, 12. toukokuuta 2004 20:37

Smokey's singles run with the Miracles from Shop Around to Baby, Baby Don't Cry is the greatest thing ever

― gospodin simmel, 20. tammikuuta 2011 22:50

actually, second greatest thing ever. after Ain't No Stoppin Us Now

― gospodin simmel, 20. tammikuuta 2011 22:50

It is impossible to have lived for nearly 30 years in a developed nation without having heard Ain't No Stopping Us Now.

― Matt DC, 20. tammikuuta 2011 12:26

"i hear tears of a clown, i hate this song - i always feel like they're talking to me when it comes on"
"a house is not a home, i hate this song - is a house really a home when your loved ones are gone?"
"ain't no stopping us now, i LOVE that song - whenever it comes on it makes me feel strong"

Every one of those songs >>>>>>> this one

― Angrrau Birds (seandalai), 23. tammikuuta 2012 20:44

I love that record cover! So joyful! And the song itself is unstoppable, of course.

Sadly both McFadden and Whitehead died in the mid-00s. Whitehead I think was shot to death while changing a tire, which is not the way anyone should go. RIP.

voted for the risco connection version

One of those ones that only really made sense to me when I'd heard the full 12" version.

Wish I'd voted in this poll now.

22. Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn the Beat Around (1976)
437 points, 12 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/vickisuerobinson_zps01689c65.jpg

http://youtu.be/devNnEA0AdU

i'm coming up from the subway on the brooklyn side. it's friday, about 5pm, hot summer evening, and i've just gotten home from work and i'm back in my neighborhood. as i ascend to the street, i hear "turn the beat around" blasting from someone's car speakers.

don't touch the hair.

― Maneating Leopards of India (Jody Beth Rosen), 31. heinäkuuta 2004 0:54

paens to anal sex

"Turn the Beat Around" Vicki Sue Robinson

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), 8. marraskuuta 2004 0:38

Marcus on Vicki Sue Robinson's "Turn the Beat Around" (I don't know if it was part of a singles roundup, or just a column of some sort) would be a must-have.

Well, that's one!

― sw00ds, 13. syyskuuta 2009 22:38

It's not Robinson's fault that Gloria Estefan ruined this song for me but

It was really hard to find quotes on that tune, it seems there is loads more discussion on ILM on Peter Shapiro's book of the same name than the actual tune. (The same applies to "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life".)

Anyway, I think it has what is possibly the most wonderfully giddy vocal performance on any disco hit. I just love how Robinson sounds when she sings words like "nitty-gritty". Of course the fact that the backing band is incredibly funky helps a lot too.

How did Gloria Estefan ruin "Turn the Beat Around"?

voted for the risco connection version

― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Monday, December 16, 2013 11:53 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM

Tuomas, you've never heard this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrg2ej-VNSQ

No, I haven't. I don't think Gloria Estefan was ever that big in Finland, beyond "Conga". It's not very good, I agree.

Love the nutsoid percussion on Turn The Beat Around - I had it mentally filed away as slight pop-disco but when I went back and actually listened to it, oh yeah it's a monster after all.

Yeah! I think percussionists are the unsung heroes of many a disco tune.

Never liked 'ain't no stopping us now' and now thoroughly over-exposed to it. Don't know if I've ever heard the 12" version.

Seems to get used a lot in UK adverts?

Gloria Estefan's version just goes to show how good the original is. Love those fast moving violins.

Sorry, looks like I accidentally posted "Turn the Beat Around" as #22, it should've been #21 obviously, since "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" was the real #22. So now we get to #20...

And Mike T-Diva gets to tell his story, I think.

20. Chic - Good Times (1979)
442 points, 10 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/88567071chic-good-times-jpg_zps19b1c660.jpg

http://youtu.be/HqhT13aQrCc

Gotta be GOOD TIMES cuz the groove is golden

― gilbius farkius, 13. heinäkuuta 2002 3:00

got a point about the blankness/unbelievability of the singers. i kinda never thought the singers themselves were having that much of a good time in Good Times. ive never thought about it enough for it to detract from the song though, i probably couldnt imagine it any other way

― 696, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 21:26

Kinda thought that was the point; the lyric sound much more like the recitation of a dutiful credo than a libidinous celebration - try and imagine Donald Fagen singing it maybe?

― sonofstan, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 21:43

for good times, i think the singing is right for the song. i see what you mean about fagen, but i just kind of think of the singing as kind of cokey and distanced. and thats just fine with me, because as chuck says, disco is good when its cokey and distanced, which is a lot of the time

― 696, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 21:50

about "Good Times" and communal feeling= Rodgers has talked about Good Times a lot, and when it comes down to it, the song is more about feeling good amidst all the shit of the world (including the clubs where Chic got tons of play), amidst a fatalistic feeling of dread. this isn't necessarily a happy communal feeling, but one that is oft-felt and not as subtly pointed-at as in Good Times...

― the table is the table, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 22:48

The escapist criticism re: "Good Times" seems kind of ridiculous, because that's the entire point of the song, escapism as commentary on escapism.

― The Reverend, 1. heinäkuuta 2007 23:14

I think "Good Times" is the greatest single of the '70s, caps it off pretty nicely. To my ears, it goes well beyond Roxy Music or Bowie or any of those other supposedly alienated artistes, into the realm of the ominous and the uncanny--the piano part alone in that record can give you serious pause, with its hint of gospel.

― whisperineddhurt, 2. heinäkuuta 2007 0:15

Boring choice, but nothing quite like "Good Times".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), 9. elokuuta 2006 9:34

Wow, that was sooner than I thought it was going to be. OK, story.

I took my sister to see Chic at The Forum in June as a birthday treat; the show was the day after her birthday. She went there a lot in the 1980s, when it was still the Town & Country Club, and it's where she saw her favourite show of all time: The JB's, with Bobby Byrd and Maceo Parker. But she stopped going to big stand-up gigs a long time ago, so I was worried as to how she'd deal with the crush.

The crush, as it turned out, was pretty bad, and I'd forgotten how pushy London crowds could be; we're not like that in the East Midlands. So, as the show progressed, we wiggled further away from dead centre, finally ending up against the wall on the right hand side, by the exit tunnel to the smoking area. Here, finally, was some space to get our grooves on. Also, it was always "her" spot in the venue, back in the day.

Towards the end of the set, someone came out of the tunnel and tapped my sister on the shoulder, while she was dancing. I saw her lean in, nod her head, and then start to walk away with him.

"What's going on?", I asked, with brotherly concern.

"Oh, it's just they've asked me to dance on stage with the band", she replied, as casual as you like. She always was the cool one.

"Great, I'll join you."

The stranger intervened. "No, not you. Just her." Bollocks. Well, OK then.

The smoking tunnel also connected to the wings, where my sister joined about 20 others. Admitting to each other that they were starting to feel nervous, they agreed to walk onto the stage holding hands.

And then this happened. She's just to the right of the singer in the middle, in red trousers, and just to the left of the limelight-hogger in the short blue dress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JuBUT9FG4U

And this is how it finished.

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

That was some birthday treat.

awww, that's the best!

Yeah, great story!

19. Marvin Gaye - Got to Give It Up (1977)
452 points, 10 votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/4815-gaye-got_zps971ace5b.jpeg

http://youtu.be/ghbFqCZuqG8

classic, of course, but such a strange track for Gaye since the voice is buried under all those layers, it's hard to even make out the lyrics. did Marvin himself do any other tracks in this tight but strung out disco vein? if not, why is it so isolated within his oeuvre?

― jed_ (jed), 13. heinäkuuta 2006 22:15

I haven't heard the Aaliyah cover in a while, but as I remember the production didn't really capture the quality that makes the song so unique/great. It does help to highlight what a wonderful song it is, though.

― people explosion (Sonny A.), 14. heinäkuuta 2006 0:07

I've always admired how texture-based "Got To Give it Up" is, and in my mind it's nearly a precursor to the track-based house/techno that would follow in the decades on. What completely shocks me is that something so un-songy got to #1, and was one of the biggest selling singles in the U.S. that year.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), 14. heinäkuuta 2006 4:16

He was just lying back, casually drumming on a coconut shell IIRC...you can't manufacture that stuff.

― musically (musically), 14. heinäkuuta 2006 6:25

One of the best bass lines ever, plus that vocal. Far and away my favorite Marvin song. Although it reminds me of various other things (Kool & the Gang, Boz Scaggs), they don't sound anything like this. That murk is unique to Marvin, as far as I know.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), 14. heinäkuuta 2006 6:53

I can't believe I didn't know this before this poll. Got to confess my first thought was #blurredlines. Adore them both obv.

did Marvin himself do any other tracks in this tight but strung out disco vein? if not, why is it so isolated within his oeuvre?

I love this track:

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

18. George McCrae - Rock Your Baby (1974)
456 points, 12 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/R-417354-1181211957_zps4814d21b.jpeg

http://youtu.be/rYDY3rJBkuU

something very very beautiful--even haunting--about this song, especially the way the other instruments come in after a few bars of pure drum machine (what drum machine is that, by the way?) i could listen to that drum machine play against the tympani (??) and guitar for a very long time.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), 28. marraskuuta 2005 23:58

something about this record.... it seems to be playing and singing to itself. it has that unusual calm, quietude. i imagine him looking in the mirror when he whispers that first "sexy...."

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), 29. marraskuuta 2005 0:17

this song is so freaking good.

― ZR (teenagequiet), 29. marraskuuta 2005 0:04

This is possibly my favorite single of all time.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), 29. marraskuuta 2005 0:59

The album version is superior because the middle part just goes on-and-on repeating the chord changes on the keyboard ... no solo or anything, just that great keyboard sound repeating over and over as it cycles through the changes ... then George comes back in with that soft "Come on..."

― Stormy Davis (diamond), 29. marraskuuta 2005 5:07

GREAT record! - fabulous irresistible simplicity, funky in the most ethereal way. Nice sustained organ drone. (Farfisa? Or synth, maybe? Wonder if Mr. Selzer can ID it? :)

One of a handful of songs (good or bad) capable of INSTANTLY transporting me back to 1974, a few of which most ILXors almost certainly LOATHE. (Or pretend to!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), 29. marraskuuta 2005 6:47

the best vocal performance ever is by the guy that sings "rock your baby"

― Evan (Evan), 14. helmikuuta 2003 7:59

rock your baby is otm, that is one stiff ass two handed hi hat proto disco beat

― anonanon, 4. kesäkuuta 2013 8:36

did Marvin himself do any other tracks in this tight but strung out disco vein? if not, why is it so isolated within his oeuvre?

Someone probably already responded to this post in its original thread, but it's worth mentioning here that MG wasn't into disco & wrote "Got To Give It Up" after months of pressure from his record label, which is why it's super funky & jazzy & avoids the more vapid aspects of disco-pop. What a jam.

For the longest time, my only exposure to "Rock Me Baby" was the Finnish cover version, which didn't do a straight Finnish translation of the chorus but changed it to the phonetically similar "Rokkibeibi" ("rock'n'roll baby"). It was only 10 years or so ago when I found out it wasn't an original composition by the Finnish band.

Tbf it's better than Kung Fu Taistelee.