Why Were There So Many Songs About Boogying in the '70s?

i guess kind of touched on in the boogie woogie (dance) post but

it does seem to me there was a fascination in the disco era w the aesthetics of the roaring 20s kinda right

50 year gap makes the 2020s to the 1970s [weebey gif]

several links have in fact been posted, deej

I always thought the ba-ba-ba-ba-baaa vocals in Chic's "Dance Dance Dance" were actually a callback to stuff like Andrews Sister, come to think of it.

yea i see the links... i feel like speakeasy / flapper vibes that were big in the 70s might have some loose spiritual connection to that time

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/bb/07/dfbb0765ac09fefab7def76c281f9872.jpg

Moreso the disco industry was fascinated by the swing era, since that was the last big time for couples dancing

Boogie with Canned Heat in '68 was boogie chooglie. Boogie with Stu in '75 was boogie woogie.

Choogling (post-CCR) seems like how the hirsute denim-clad dudes might get down at a butt rock show in the '70s. Like, you would boogie to Chic, but you would choogle at a Brownsville Station show.

Bolan boogied AND choogled in the 70s fwiw.

He's a boogie bridger.

Also was a groover iirc

was bowie's "let all the children boogie" a reference to john lee hooker's "boogie chillen"?

No one's mentioned Little Feat yet: "Triple Face Boogie" and "Old Folks Boogie."

one of my least favorite disco songs is "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes" by Claudja Barry

(xp) I assume that's a different "Old Folks Boogie" from the 50s song covered by Beefheart?

Not sure--I have the first (the medley version on Feets Don't Fail Me Now), not the second.

Hypotheses:

(1) When '70s rock bands use the term "boogie," the song form and rhythm will likely resemble historical (mostly black) forms of music known as "boogie,"* but in instrumentation and delivery will sound heavy metal (as the term "heavy metal" was being used then, e.g., as much Grand Funk as Sabbath). So a kind of dance metal for the greasers and grits - though T. Rex belong here as much as the Brownsville Stations and Foghats, but T. Rex's audience sociology is a bit different, as was the band's musical attack. (And T. Rex pose a problem for Phil and Scott's hard-rockin' shit chapter in that T. Rex clearly boogie but obv. aren't the anti-glam that Phil and Scott say the HRS bands are. Brownsville Station aren't particularly anti-glam either; they ref. T. Rex, cover "Sweet Jane.")

*I'd loosely call it a shuffle rhythm, in 4/4 but built on triple meter. John Lee Hooker would be a touchstone for these acts.

So of course the first track I listen to in order to test Hypothesis 1 is Thin Lizzy's "Boogie Woogie Dance" which it turns out does NOT use a boogie rhythm; in fact, other than being rock seems like an undercover musical experiment that doesn't remind me of much else. (Thin Lizzy clearly a subject for further research.)

Fortunately Brownsville Station's "Martian Boogie" is right on the money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgT1cfly8E

(2) When disco or funk bands use the term "boogie" they're not referencing or sounding like a musical form. I'm gathering from the discussion here it's a more diffuse term, not just dancing but a way of being and living. I'm obviously not the person to try to explicate this.

Not '70s, but there's the use of "boogie" as a moniker in hip-hop, e.g., Boogie Down Productions, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.

Hello Frank! :)

Hi Tracer! Was just admiring the "I HOPE YOU LIKE PHISH AND TAYLOR SWIFT" doormat.

You should look at the late 40s hillbilly boogie scene where every song is something boogie.

Frank!! (Phil here.)

Yes, I recognized your sobriquet, and the book you were referencing.

Stevolende is quite correct; there are gobs of '40s hillbilly boogies. Used to own an album by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith but I never really followed up. Sort of a wind-it-up dance before the rage and optimism of rockabilly.

I'd say as many as not didn't use the triple beat so it swung less but stomped more.

Here's a nice one from the 13th century:

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

But this isn't what the '70s boogie rockers were pulling from. They were going for a sloppy prole blues.

weird that status quo never had a song about boogie afaict, cos in the uk at least they are boogie rock incarnate

Here's a '40s 'billy that foreshadows the wild ones of the '50s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzt1iA2D_Kg

Tube Steak Boogie is another rock boogie that doesn't really boogie.

this thread fuckin whips ass. thank you all

maybe my favourite of the boogie songs:

your jab of boogie for the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBVNOrV0Pr4

The greatest TV series of all time opens up with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYgKmOJT_gM;>death of Boogie</a>