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Music Monday
05May
Disco men
May 5, 2008 at 11:02PM Disco was everywhere in the late '70s. And like glam rock in the early 70s, a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon, resulting in some extremely strange disco/rock hybrids and accompanying cheesy videos. Here's a few Carter-era artifacts I found while trolling Youtube:
Bob Welch, "Ebony Eyes"
I always thought this 1977 song was by Steve Miller, but it turns out it's by ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch. Looks like Napoleon Dynamite stole some of his moves from this guy. That woman in the video looks a lot like Valerie Bertinelli, but I don't think it's her:
Exile, "Kiss You All Over"
David Carradine fronting a band of zombies? No, it's Kentucky's own Exile, from 1978, before they fell off the disco bandwagon and jumped on the urban cowboy one instead:
John Stewart, "Gold"
Formerly one third of the Kingston Trio, and the writer of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," John Stewart hit the dance floor with this 1979 classic. Like Welch, he also had a Fleetwood Mac connection: that's Stevie Nicks on background vocals:
Of course, every movement develops a backlash, and disco was no exception. Here's the Damned with 1981's self-descriptive "Disco Man":
Quite a harsh attitude directed at guys who only wanted to dance (and get on the charts), if you ask me. Disco rock sought to conquer the great divide between music that you danced to and music that you rocked to, a disconnect that plagues rock and roll to this very day. "Death before Disco": Why can't I have both?
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Reader Comments (3)
"Death before Disco": Why can't I have both?
Thank you.If we could have both maybe radio wouldn't suck. Maybe it would rip a hole in space/time and interesting things would happen. Perhaps it would halt our culture's inexorable slide toward armageddon, and bring about a future too groovy to imagine.
Love the drinking mime and the fat guy in the fez in the Bob Welch video. Looks like Bob's headed for a threesome.
I love how it takes Bob almost the full length of the video to win her over. That guy in the fez must be one good conversationalist, I bet.
Check out this other Ebony Eyes by Rick James and Smokey Robinson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd1CALKdQTM
Smokey's like, what am I doing on this island with this big ugly girl? Like the song though.