the term 'boogie' as referring to early 80s post-disco R&B, C or D

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i find this really weird, i don't think i ever heard this term until I started talking more w/ record nerds and reading about music on the internet; i've certainly never heard anyone refer to 'boogie' on V103 or any of the local radio stations that play music designated as 'boogie.' and now that this stuff is pretty firmly trendy, i hear the term more and more, even when out; i was @ lava lounge and one of the djs dropped "a little bit of jazz" and this dude in my 'demo' (ie 20s-ish white male) walking by goes "man i love boogie!!!" It kinda threw me off ... i associate that song w/ the tommy boy new york dance comps 'the perfect beat' (which don't use the term boogie that i recall on the notes anywhere).

my understanding is this is a british record collector thing a la northern soul. is this true? does anyone else feel self-conscious saying 'boogie'? most of the people i know who've grown up w/ this music just call it 'old school' or 'dance music'

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link

I have never heard that term for that particular subgenre before - certainly not when it was out at the time.

Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link

hey instead of bitching about herbs who listen to this stuff can we just talk about early 80s post disco r&b??

and what, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link

It kind of makes sense as a musicological thing i guess if you use it to refer to uptempo dance music from the 80s that doesn't have disco's 4 on the floor feel but also doesn't sound like its a post-george clinton thing either. Its coming out of disco but doesnt have the same rhythm. On soulstrut there was a discussion about this and they talked about how that Logg record was 'the first boogie album' because it was a disco record that broke away from 4 on the floor.

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link

who's bitching?

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link

+ there are already a bunch of threads about 'post disco R&B' on ilx that i've participated in while you were busy talking shit about me listening to microhouse or whatever instead of rap

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.discogs.com/release/547163

^^^^^^^^e this mix is great, highly recommended
just dont buy it directly from the dj or you might not ever receive it

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link

7 Gwen Guthrie Seventh Heaven (3:21)

<3

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:33 (sixteen years ago) link

i think it's a weird term, and even weirder that in the context i usually hear it, it works as a subset of "modern soul" which is a pretty silly designation as well, IMHO.

ian, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Rightly or wrongly, I link the term "boogie" with the tail-end of the London rare groove scene, circa 1988-89, when the music had moved on from early to mid-1970s JB-style funk to late 1970s/early 1980s post-disco/jazz-funk (as played by Norman Jay on his weekly KISS FM show, in pre-legalisation days).

The first time I was made aware of the term was when my sister and her friends - who were all very much part of that scene, Africa Centre/KISS nights at The Borderline etc - started raving about a various artists comp called Boogie Tunes, and its Vol.2 follow-up.

http://www.discogs.com/release/663695
http://www.discogs.com/release/1217259

So for all I know, that might even be where the term was coined....

mike t-diva, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link

There's also a case to be made for the terms "rave" and "drum and bass" originating from the same scene. My sister talked about going to KISS FM "raves" in 1987, meaning special one-off events (with a musical policy that had zero in common with what became known as rave music), and stripped down tunes like "Definition Of A Track" were being referred to as "drum and bass" circa 1989...

mike t-diva, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link

I don't know the source, but I've been using the term Boogie since the mid/late 90s, it certainly pre-dates the term "post-disco R&B". It's really the only term that describes a certain kind of music, generally late 70s early 80s but also slower then disco. There were disco and funk cuts in the 70s using the term. FWIW, there was a movie called Roller Boogie in 1979, maybe that's where it comes from. The tempo for music played at roller skating rinks is generally slower then regular disco, so a lot of that music was referred to as Roller Boogie Disco.

dan selzer, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:43 (sixteen years ago) link

cool, but just to be clear 'post-disco R&B' isn't meant as a 'term', like i said i've only heard people refer to it as 'old school' or 'dance music,' i just said 'post-disco r&b' to make it clear what i was referring to

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link

should really be 'post-disco uptempo danceable R&B' i guess

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link

Hmmm... "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and to a certain extent "Boogie Nights" sound like boogie, whereas "Blame It On The Boogie" and "Boogie Wonderland" sound like disco...

mike t-diva, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link

or just "boogie" should suffice!

xpost

dan selzer, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link

its kind of hard to talk about the use of the term 'boogie' only by using the term 'boogie'

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link

esp when its also used to describe other kinds of music, as in this thread:
Boogie

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:49 (sixteen years ago) link

I had never heard this word in connection with this type of music, but I can tell you that BOOGIE is one of the finest words in the language and your ability to say it unselfconsciously will increase your happiness (and though this might be true of all words, I am not the keeper of your selfconsciousness)

Is there another thread on the recent rise of this style of music that I could check out? I've always been a fan and i would like to see some of it made more available (...i seem to recall a youtube link thread?!?)

people explosion, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:52 (sixteen years ago) link

c'mon deej. How about Boogie Disco?

For the people who use this term, it's pretty much a given and it's understood. If I'm talking to a DJ and say what are you gonna play and they say "boogie", I don't get ready to go out on a friday night by staying at home and listening to 1940s piano music.

Like any term, Boogie Disco's got fluid borders and includes slower disco, electronic funk, uptempo danceable R&B etc, but like any other term, you know it when you hear it.

dan selzer, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link

ok, i understand that. im not arguing that its wrong or something. im just interested in the origins/uses of the term. i know that its djspeak, i just dont think that many other people use it that way

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link

if i tell my girl i listen to boogie she'll have no idea what i mean, but disco she understands

when people ask what music im listening to, i dont tell them "oh boogie of course!" and then have to explain what boogie means. i think my original association with 'boogie' is like some 50s rock and roll piano music or something, and thats probably still true for lots of people

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link

deej you're just misunderstanding everytime someone calls you bougie

Alex in Baltimore, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link

bougie music is my favorite

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SraRU5oD17c

Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:09 (sixteen years ago) link

When I was getting into disco, DJs were already just using the term Boogie in the "slow disco" context, and that was, as mentioned, mid/late 90s. I'm guessing it may have derived from Roller Boogie as a genre.

dan selzer, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Aha, here's an excellent article from the the ever-reliable Greg Wilson, who also pinpoints the term to the South East of the UK in the mid to late 1980s. Turns out that those 1988 Boogie Tunes comps that I linked above were actually put out by KISS themselves.

http://www.discopia.com/portal/issues/current/Gregwilsonboogie

mike t-diva, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Everybody wants to be bougie bougie.

dan selzer, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:13 (sixteen years ago) link

bougie-ougie-ougie

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:13 (sixteen years ago) link

by A Taste of Ashford & Simpson

deej, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link

I too had reservations about this term and it didn't catch on for me as a while. Now I use it though. Not a perfect genre name, but useful as shorthand. But I can't stand when people make giant distinctions between all of these "genres" that are by no means disparate. "Yeah ... I like some disco ... but what I'm really into now is BOOGIE." Meanwhile, in my head, I just call it all "disco" or "house."

This is a good comp that's (mostly) of stuff that I think of as classic "boogie," btw:

http://www.discogs.com/release/242177

although there isn't any D-Train on there.

Romeo Jones, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link

i totally want that soul on the grill mix

Dominique, Friday, 14 March 2008 17:26 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah, everything on that Kenny Dope mix, and everything that sounds like it, gets mentally filed as boogie to me.

Eric H., Friday, 14 March 2008 18:19 (sixteen years ago) link

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BR1YZN2NL._SS500_.jpg

matt2, Friday, 14 March 2008 18:27 (sixteen years ago) link

Definitely a British term, and I believe the people making the music at this time all called it "funk." Anytime the lyrics references the music or the feel of the music, it's "we got the funk", "I'm gonna give the funk to right now", etc. The word boogie at the time was probably more associated with a very mainstream disco sound, ie "Boogie ooogie ooogie", or "Let's boogie!".

Anytime I play boogie out, I usually get comments like "man, you sure are playing a lot of '80s funk!"

This is definitely my favorite music ever btw, and I think the growing popularity of it might now give me an excuse to make like 100 dj mixes of this shit.

Michael F Gill, Friday, 14 March 2008 23:18 (sixteen years ago) link

when people ask what music im listening to, i dont tell them "oh boogie of course!"

oh im def gonna start saying this and then refuse to elaborate - itll really simplify things and i just like the enthusiasm.

jhøshea, Friday, 14 March 2008 23:59 (sixteen years ago) link

OH [/I]BOOGIE[/I] OF COURSE!

jhøshea, Saturday, 15 March 2008 00:00 (sixteen years ago) link

oh boogie :(

jhøshea, Saturday, 15 March 2008 00:00 (sixteen years ago) link

i play tons of the shit, i call it "boogie", "disco boogie", "80's r&b", and maybe even other terms pretty interchangably. there is also a subset of it that i call "electro boogie" which is pretty self explanatory. this shit is my favorite dance music ever, no matter what you call it.

pipecock, Saturday, 15 March 2008 00:23 (sixteen years ago) link

i love love love this shit

winston, Saturday, 15 March 2008 01:47 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.discogs.com/release/564594

good one

winston, Saturday, 15 March 2008 01:48 (sixteen years ago) link

that destination boogie thing is very awesome too

winston, Saturday, 15 March 2008 01:48 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah ive been noticing boogie getting big props here in sf the last year or so.there's a dude in la on stones throw records who has been digging specifically for this boogie sound for years. he has a very popular night in la and his mixes are ridic. Here's a link to the one he made for Stone Throw and its big on the raers. It's called Dam Funk's Boogie Funk.

http://www.stonesthrow.com/jukebox/

oscar, Saturday, 15 March 2008 02:13 (sixteen years ago) link

I've never heard it called "boogie" before (hey, to me boogie is Foghat, and I never heard "electro" called "electro" in the early '80s either), but this thread has nonetheless inspired me to take this album with me when I DJ in Brooklyn tomorrow night:

http://www.discogs.com/release/229611

xhuxk, Saturday, 15 March 2008 02:54 (sixteen years ago) link

For whatever its worth, in a c. 1980/1981 Boston Phoenix piece on Vaughan Mason, the Strikers, Unlimited Touch, etc., (one of the greatest pieces ever about the stuff) Michael Freedberg called the music "strut." I'm not sure whether he invented the term then, or it was otherwise common at the time.

Nick Straker I associate more with Linx, the Quick, Junior (who has songs on a couple mixes upthread), but I just thought that stuff was called "Brit-funk."

Freedberg also used to refer to a certain kind of slow, pre-house, spun-late-at-night '80s r&b stuff as "sleaze"; can't think of examples now, though.

xhuxk, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:01 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh, there's a sleaze disco thread on ILM, I think Freedberg even posted on it.

Brit-Funk: there was a Soul Jazz comp of all that stuff - Hi Tension, Heatwave, Freeez, Imagination, etc. I think it fits in pretty well with Boogie.

Michael F Gill, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:15 (sixteen years ago) link

Sleaze Disco

Tracer Hand, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:15 (sixteen years ago) link

shanghai version: Shanghai club scene - "Sleaze" music

Tracer Hand, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:16 (sixteen years ago) link

UK Jazz Funk is often a lot faster and more minimal than boogie. I can see why some of that stuff, some of the classic stuff like Hi Tension could crossover w/ boogie, but when you think of UK Jazz Funk like Freeze's Southern Freeze, Atmosfear, Powerline-Double Journey, Francine Mghee Delierioum, it's all a bit more wigged out. Hard to explain, but in the "know it when I hear it" I find most of that stuff pretty different from Boogie. Actually I guess Imagination totally fits. I think I came into UK Jazz Funk from the side that interested me most, which wasn't necessarily the Shakatak R&B/disco side but the almost post-punk side, ACR of course, but that aforementioned stuff.

dan selzer, Saturday, 15 March 2008 06:51 (sixteen years ago) link

no, I'm pretty sure that it only happens in lazy retrospect

the sound of mu (sic), Monday, 11 May 2009 03:51 (fourteen years ago) link

i think we'd all be better off if we could agree, right here and now, to call this stuff "disco donk."

pshrbrn, Monday, 11 May 2009 05:33 (fourteen years ago) link

funnily enough, i just came across that record (slightly rain-wet) in a box at the treptower flea market yesterday. i didn't buy it, but i DID score a $.50 copy of Georgia Gibbs' "The Hula Hoop Song" ("Die erste Original-Aufnahme des Schlagers!") b/w "Keep in Touch," plus a couple of children's flexi-discs from the DaDeWe department store.

Here's the AWESOME cover:
https://www.vinyl.de/bilder/20091169845_33789512_MVC-348S.JPG

pshrbrn, Monday, 11 May 2009 05:49 (fourteen years ago) link

attention, artists: more covers like that, please.

juniper jazz (haitch), Monday, 11 May 2009 05:54 (fourteen years ago) link

one month passes...

this mix full of obscure stuff has some clunkers but also gold, like Bohannon's "wake up"

listening to a lot of this kind of stuff lately. i played some unidisc "prelude's greatest hits" cds in the car but they were mastered like shit, so i'll probably be sellin em.

THIS LABEL looks like the shit; anybody heard any of these comps?

winston, Saturday, 4 July 2009 23:34 (fourteen years ago) link

Boogie Times is as hit or miss as any other boogie themed compilation series, I've found.

Michael F Gill, Sunday, 5 July 2009 01:35 (fourteen years ago) link

sorry Surmounter, I'm just trying to fill up the um...stuff here

which was a bit synth-cheese-tastic for my tastes (Bimble), Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:31 (fourteen years ago) link

one month passes...

can't stop listening to these ron trent prescription radio mixes...

http://www.prescriptionworld.org/mixes/prradio_rontrent.mp3
http://www.prescriptionworld.org/mixes/pr2.mp3

psychgawsple, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 07:22 (fourteen years ago) link

i am in a hipster-esque cafe that is playing all forgotten pop/r&b from the '80s: rufus, junior, eddy grant. weird!

amateurist, Monday, 17 August 2009 01:10 (fourteen years ago) link

not that i mind! i don't think i've ever heard a whole eddy grant LP!

amateurist, Monday, 17 August 2009 01:11 (fourteen years ago) link

eddy grant's got a pretty amazing career filled with awesome jams!

dan selzer, Monday, 17 August 2009 03:31 (fourteen years ago) link

retrospective genre naming - c/d.

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 11:52 (fourteen years ago) link

perfectly useful.

dan selzer, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 13:13 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DRD1A28twk

NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Saturday, 28 August 2010 22:31 (thirteen years ago) link

underrated thread :-)

diurnal eternal falafel (get bent), Saturday, 28 August 2010 22:41 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDu24f_4dM

I see what this is (Local Garda), Sunday, 29 August 2010 11:39 (thirteen years ago) link

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

vessels in distress (r1o natsume), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:11 (thirteen years ago) link

"I believe in the boogie/but the boogie don't believe in me..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhakA07UsY

parasitic mistletoe (m coleman), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:26 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9HqjI_-l4

vessels in distress (r1o natsume), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:28 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYhg38ehEw

vessels in distress (r1o natsume), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:28 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoleB9i7Sy8

vessels in distress (r1o natsume), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:30 (thirteen years ago) link

anyone got any good mixes of this stuff?

I see what this is (Local Garda), Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:36 (thirteen years ago) link

i mentioned a real good one upthread, 'soul on the grill ii'

NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, 29 August 2010 20:56 (thirteen years ago) link

Sounds like a really nice selection. AM-FM "You Are The One".... wonderful track!

mike t-diva, Sunday, 29 August 2010 21:02 (thirteen years ago) link

Still hate the name, but this was a good mix that came out late last year:

DJ Spinna – The Boogie Back: Post Disco Club Jams (BBE)

http://www.discogs.com/DJ-Spinna-The-Boogie-Back-Post-Disco-Club-Jams/release/2016909

xhuxk, Sunday, 29 August 2010 21:13 (thirteen years ago) link

Really though, I'd say this vinyl one from 1982 is pretty definitive, if you can find it

http://www.discogs.com/Various-987-Kiss-FM-Presents-Shep-Pettibones-Mastermixes/release/229611

xhuxk, Sunday, 29 August 2010 21:16 (thirteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/may/03/simon-reynolds-boogie-genre-term

i should really just start pitching my thread ideas instead of making threads lol

geeks, dweebs, nerds & lames (D-40), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 00:12 (twelve years ago) link

haha totally

i used 'boogie' in a review today

some dude, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 00:35 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

I've found out that Unidisc's Star-Funk compilation series is possibly the best way to get good boogie tunes on CD for a decent price. They look ugly and have barely any liner notes, but the tune selection on them tends to be top-notch, often mixing rare and obscure tunes (some of which have never appeared on CD anywhere else) with better known classics. They often include electro, hi-NRG and 70s disco too, but the main focus seems to be on early 80s synth-driven post-disco. The quality of the series seems to get more erratic in the later entries (there are 42 different comps in the series!), but the first 25 or so are quality stuff.

Tuomas, Thursday, 31 January 2013 13:04 (eleven years ago) link

fwiw I was like 10 years old when this term was being used in disco ("Boogie Oogie Oogie") and I hated it. Except for Heatwave's "Boogie Nights," Heatwave owns they can do what they want

available for sporting events (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 31 January 2013 13:08 (eleven years ago) link

I know it's not the best term, but it seems to have become the most common name for this specific genre (early 80s, keyboard/synth heavy, post-disco, pre-house American club music), so it's convenient to use it. Or are there any other common names for the genre?

Tuomas, Thursday, 31 January 2013 13:15 (eleven years ago) link

"Boogie Oogie Oogie" > "Boogie Woogie"

that futterwacken you like is back in style (how's life), Thursday, 31 January 2013 13:32 (eleven years ago) link

one year passes...

https://soundcloud.com/kukka-dj/boogiemix

Tuomas, Thursday, 25 December 2014 12:56 (nine years ago) link

oh i was wondering if anyone ever made a thread about this

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 25 December 2014 15:35 (nine years ago) link

Tangentially speaking, it's interesting how Wild Cherry in "Play That Funky Music" use the term "boogie" to mean white music that is comparatively not funky.

― Josefa, Sunday, May 10, 2009 1:37 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://autoimg.clipfish.de/autoimg/DEL211302129/512x288/milky-chance-stolen-dance.jpg

jaymc, Friday, 26 December 2014 06:24 (nine years ago) link

one year passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYJnMgwJDE

this is so fucking good. the best boogie-era funk song by a white band that I've ever heard.

example (crüt), Monday, 1 February 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link

:D

HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Monday, 1 February 2016 19:55 (eight years ago) link

three months pass...

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

larry appleton, Thursday, 26 May 2016 22:30 (seven years ago) link

found this on a youtube crawl. It's cool tracing these bands' development from straight funk to disco to boogie around this time, and how almost invariably, they disappear once hip hop and electro comes around. Some of musicians end up in production or songwriting, or as session guys -- like these dudes, who played behind Teena Marie, Luther Vandross, Billy Preston. Cool rhythm guitar part, nice hook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjzlQHU4KKw

Dominique, Friday, 27 May 2016 04:48 (seven years ago) link

two years pass...

I love the shit outta this era.

Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 01:52 (five years ago) link

This thread was great until you nerds started going on and on about KC and the sunshine band! Really appreciate mike t-diva’s posts itt

Dan I., Wednesday, 27 February 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link

v good thread, including the kc-related digressions!

dyl, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 03:12 (five years ago) link

indeed!

Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 03:20 (five years ago) link

awesome thread :)

budo jeru, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 03:56 (five years ago) link

Kc and his sunshine band is good

brimstead, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 05:09 (five years ago) link

This was a really good re-read. Those "London's Old Fave Raves" mixtapes which I mentioned upthread, although as much jazz-funk as boogie, are on a Spotify playlist.

The KC digression reminded me that this music has its own rockist tendencies. I've been playing this stuff out every Friday for the past twelve months, and I've also struggled with my inner rockism (although my regulars haven't) - but these days, I'm happier about finishing the night with pop crossovers.

110-118 feels like the right boogie BPM ballpark, from Fonda Rae "Over Like A Fat Rat" (110) to Status IV "You Ain't Really Down" (118), but it can go slower (Fat Larry's Band "Act Like You Know") or faster (The Strikers "Body Music").

mike t-diva, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 10:00 (five years ago) link

boogie's current incarnation is known as modern funk. a couple good labels in the genre are run by the homie hotthobo:

http://voltairerecords.bigcartel.com/
https://hobocamp.bandcamp.com/

davey, Wednesday, 27 February 2019 11:50 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

I have had it incorrectly in my head for years that A Taste Of Honey lifted the Kerouac line "if you can't boogie I know I'll show you how" for Boogie Oogie Oogie but the line isn't in the song. Huh.

knowing for certain the first touch of the light will finish you (fionnland), Saturday, 30 January 2021 09:33 (three years ago) link


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