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.)
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 19:26 (three years ago) link
Fortunately Brownsville Station's "Martian Boogie" is right on the money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgT1cfly8E
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 19:27 (three years ago) link
(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.
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 19:28 (three years ago) link
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.
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 19:29 (three years ago) link
Hello Frank! :)
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 20 February 2021 20:45 (three years ago) link
Hi Tracer! Was just admiring the "I HOPE YOU LIKE PHISH AND TAYLOR SWIFT" doormat.
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 21:16 (three years ago) link
You should look at the late 40s hillbilly boogie scene where every song is something boogie.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 20 February 2021 21:52 (three years ago) link
Frank!! (Phil here.)
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 February 2021 22:05 (three years ago) link
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.
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 23:17 (three years ago) link
weird that status quo never had a song about boogie afaict, cos in the uk at least they are boogie rock incarnate
― would a nit be nice? (NickB), Saturday, 20 February 2021 23:19 (three years ago) link
Here's a '40s 'billy that foreshadows the wild ones of the '50s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzt1iA2D_Kg
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 20 February 2021 23:33 (three years ago) link
Tube Steak Boogie is another rock boogie that doesn't really boogie.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 February 2021 23:49 (three years ago) link
this thread fuckin whips ass. thank you all
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 21 February 2021 01:50 (three years ago) link
maybe my favourite of the boogie songs:
― The Ballad of Mel Cooley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 21 February 2021 02:28 (three years ago) link
your jab of boogie for the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBVNOrV0Pr4
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Friday, 26 February 2021 12:16 (three years ago) link
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>
― octobeard, Friday, 26 February 2021 18:08 (three years ago) link