I have to say I felt really bad when I sent that original message and then even worse when you responded. It's not like me to flame people on the Internet, and usually when I get flamed I just ignore it. I made a faulty assumption that you were younger based on the "1982" in your name, which I thought was your birth year. ;-) I always go to boards where they have the "age poll," and I never answer those because most people seem to be 17 or 18! I go to boards for people like Audrey Hepburn, and 14-year-olds are talking about her career.
I absolutely love '70s disco, but I was a bit too young to get into clubs then. Even with a fake ID, there weren't any discos in the small town I grew up in, but when I went to college in the early '80s I started going out a lot. I remember being 14 when "Saturday Night Fever" came out and dragging my mother to it because I couldn't get into an R-rated movie. She's a very strict Catholic and two generations removed from me, but she went anyway. Needless to say, we were both pretty embarrassed by the language and sexual content! And yes, I cleverly avoided giving my age earlier, but you can probably figure it out by doing the math here!
I love Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, the Bee Gees and the whole late '70s scene, but I think there are a lot of other artists and songs that don't get the credit they deserve: Vicki Sue Robinson, Instant Funk, Chic, GQ, Jackie Moore, Alicia Bridges, Andrea True. Do these ring a bell? I'm sure they do! Remember "Pillow Talk" by Sylvia (she founded Sugar Hill Records)? That a terrific, forgotten song often referred to as the "first" disco song (along with the Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat"). Anyway, I guess I'm saying that there are so many great acts and songs from the era that get passed over in favor of the old standbys.
I have seen Prince only once, on the "lovesexy" tour of the late '80s, and it was a tremendous show with Sheila E. in the band. I would love to see him again, but it seems like the scalpers always get the tickets first and shows in corporate arenas where you stare at a big screen have lost their magic. I'm all over the map musically and also love pop, hard rock, metal (I saw Alice Cooper a few months ago, and he's still amazing), blues, folk, country, jazz and even classical. I've seen the Stones a half-dozen times and Dolly Parton almost as many. I think Christina Aguilera is a tremendous singer ("Beautiful" is a haunting and inspirational tune), but I wish she'd focus more on the music and less on the image and wardrobe.
Anyway, sorry for this long and rambling response. Believe it or not, I'm at work now, and I'd better get back to it. Great talking to you, and I hope I've made amends for my earlier jerkiness.
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kohntarkosz
14 years ago
Another thing that hurt Donna Summer was in the mid 80's there was a rumor going around that she was making remarks about God creating AIDS to punish homosexuals. I'm not actually sure if she actually said this or not.
One story I heard was that she was backstage after the show, and a fan who had AIDS came into the dressing room and asked if she would pray for him. Apparently, Donna was surrounding herself at the time with religious people, as she was reconnecting with her Christian roots at the time. One story has it that Donna made the remark, another version has it that one of the "God Squad" hanger ons made the comment.
At any rate, it was reported in the press that Donna had made a disparaging remark about gay people. And like it or not, that's a big part of her fan base, so they sort of dropped her like a hot potato when this got leaked to the press.
But to that point, she was actually doing a lot better during the Reagan era than most disco artists did. A lot of performers associated with disco lost their record deals or otherwise found their records floundering. But Donna kept having hits, like She Works Hard For The Money.
One thing I always thought was interesting about the 80's was that a lot of disco performers turned to working behind the scenes. After Chic broke up, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards both became successful producers. And while the Bee Gees own albums tended to sink without a trace, songs that they wrote and produced for other people were massive hits. It was like it was ok to buy a Chic or a Bee Gees record, so long as you could plausibly deny knowing that you had bought a Chic or Bee Gees record.
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WarpedRecord
14 years ago
Excellent points!
I intentionally didn't bring up the AIDS "controversy" because it's a bit of a red herring, was never really explained and never really resolved. It seems it may have originated when a reporter for a Chicago gay newspaper, the Windy City Times, overheard something and reported it. When Donna didn't respond to it, the rumour took off like wildfire. Donna was an excellent performer, but she was not particularly press-savvy early in her career. Similar rumours and innuendos have followed Gloria Gaynor and Jody Watley.
So yes, whatever she said or didn't say may have hurt her standing in the gay community, but it certainly didn't destroy her career, and I suspect a lot of gay men continued to be "closet" Donna Summer supporters.
Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards did quite well producing acts like Power Station in the '80s, and the Bee Gees did well with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
It seems like for a while, "disco" was taboo but dance music was still very popular. You had acts like Nu Shooz, SOS Band, New Order and the Pet Shop Boys churning out dance music and selling 12-inch singles, but under the guise of "club hits" rather than disco. Artists who were only associated with disco may have suffered some from their association, but a lot of them weren't that vital to begin with and relied too much on their producers for their sound.
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