Disco Band's Worst Attempt at Rock

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You knew there had to be a counterthread.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"Black Cat" by Janet Jackson

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I really do believe there are people who would nominate the last track on the new New Order album "Working Overtime". It pains me to realize this, but I have to accept other people's opinions.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure I'd call New Order solely a 'disco band', personally.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes...but you see this guy (although he retracted it later, and I have no problem with him personally) said in reference to said song that New Order were "not a rock band and fail miserably when they try to be one". Jesus Wept. I pointed out such things as Joy Division's Interzone etc. and he said Joy Division weren't rock music, you see? These things could make me tear my hair out, but I just said "now wait a minute we'll just have to agree to disagree"...But eventually he did retract it, and quite soon after a recent interview when the band themselves actually categorized one of their new songs as a "rock reggae hybrid" if I recall correctly. But again I have no problem with this guy personally who said this stuff.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

and he said Joy Division weren't rock music, you see?

...begging the question, if Joy Division were not a rock band, what were they?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I asked him that. I said "What does Interzone sound like to you?" He just said he was more into Closer than UP. Well okay, but...

Anyway it's not a big deal anymore, I just had to get that off my chest.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't really call Janet Jackson a disco band for that matter.

I can imagine Cerrone being the a "disco band" attempting rock, and if he ever did, I'd imagine those tracks would work out best!

Same with Boney M, with "Painterman", except that RULES!

Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" rules.. although not as much as the totally Moroder'ed out synth stuff like "I Feel Love" or "Sunset People."

But I'm sure there are plenty of anonymous disco 12" singles out there that attempt rock and fail really badly, but I couldn't name names. They would probably be too ineffectual or boring to mention.

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 26 March 2005 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't really call Janet Jackson a disco band for that matter.

Fair enough, but I wouldn't call what she normally does "rock". To take that a step further, I'd suggest that Janet Jackson is to music what pus is to a healthy body, but that's another thread.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 06:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, you overrate her. Pus at least has characteristics.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 26 March 2005 06:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, could be worse. Imagine if Paula Abdul had done "Black Cat" instead.

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 26 March 2005 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

We're kinda ignoring the all important fluffer between disco and rock : glam. It pretty much bridged the danceable aspects of both.. Gary Glitter, Sweet, Johnny Kongos, etc. Maybe this is why I'm finding it personally hard to find a bad attempt to rock by a disco band.. I like too many bands that contain aspects of both!

And that definitely includes Killing Joke. ("Follow The Leader" is definitely a rock disco, or a disco-ey rock. Those big drum sounds on "Tension" and other early tracks remind me of Gary Glitter)

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 26 March 2005 06:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Killing Joke were huge disco fans.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Part of the reason Youth split the first time (after the Revelations album) was because the band were moving away from dance-oriented material.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:01 (twenty-one years ago)

It occurs to me the next time a layperson non-music geek asks me what kind of music I like I should say "disco rock". Man, you can just see their head spin at that one.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Micheal Jackson's whole "Off The Wall" album was disco (and much of J5 too)

and then he did Beat It, w/ Eddie Van Halen on guitar, and Dirty Diana w. Stevie Stevens. Which are both great attempts at rock, so they don't belong in this thread at all.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:22 (twenty-one years ago)

re: Cerrone, "Rocket in the Pocket" is sort of rock disco

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:28 (twenty-one years ago)

and Dirty Diana w. Stevie Stevens. Which are both great attempts at rock, so they don't belong in this thread at all.

The thing "Dirty Diana" is great at is SUCKING!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I would love to nominate "Dirty Diana" as well. However, Michael Jackson stopped being "disco", per se with Thriller. But that's as close as we've gotten so far.

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:31 (twenty-one years ago)

But the question is, does it suck a big bag of dicks? That's one of the more bizarre and surreal phrases to get caught in my brain - I picture this ziploc freezer bag...it's all a little disturbing really.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

bag of *salty* dicks.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:55 (twenty-one years ago)

human after all!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 26 March 2005 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I heard very little of this, and I think what I have heard ("Black Cat", "Beat It", "Dirty Diana", "Hot Stuff") is usually really great. So hard for me to come up with an answer.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 26 March 2005 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess Giorgio Moroder could be counted as "disco", while "Take My Breath Away" is "rock".

So, "Take My Breath Away" then.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 26 March 2005 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously, people, how can anyone defend "Dirty Diana"? It's complete crap!!!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 26 March 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I love Dirty Diana. Actually, I love the whole of Bad.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Saturday, 26 March 2005 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

help me i am in a ilm vortex.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Saturday, 26 March 2005 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The first song that came to mind was KC & The Sunshine Band's "Let's Go Rock And Roll," but it's actually a decent bubblegum tune.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Saturday, 26 March 2005 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Talking Heads "Wild Wild Life"

― dave q (listerine), Saturday, 26 March 2005 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

s1ocki got the thread-lock answer up there folx

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Saturday, 26 March 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"Dirty Diana" is not at all bad. Also, when "Dangerous" was kind of a disappointment in 1991, it was not because of "Black Or White", which was yet another brilliant dance/R&B-meets-rock crossover.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 26 March 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

But I love Blondie (and Call Me and Black Cat)

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The nearest I can get is En Vogue's godawful "Free Your Mind", which I know has its supporters.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Who said Blondie?

Having one or two disco songs does not immediately render one a "disco band." You'd be hard pressed to find even any tenuous connections to disco on the band's first two albums.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I suppose some might nominate Donna Summer's rock stuff on "The Wanderer." Personally it's rather tasty, albeit not as stirring as "Hot Stuff."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

donut - check out 'Cerrone V' and 'Cerrone VI' (the next album 'Where Are You Now' has a rap track featuring 'JJ Fairlight')

― dave q (listerine), Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

If we are stretching "disco" a bit, I would say Apollo 440 have done some rather dreadful stuff.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone else heard Boney Ms version of "Heart of Gold"? I was hoping for full-on disco-ification before I heard it, but its actually the worst sort of session hack plod rock. Even the vocals sound totally bored. The one good moment is when they sing the "Ive been to Hollywood, Ive been to Redwood", and the singers suddenly perk up and get all excited about the glitz and the glamour and it comes out all "YAY! GUESS WHAT GUYS - IVE BEEN TO HOLLYWOOD!!!! And, uh, yeah, Ive been to Redwood too...". Other than that, eh, wretched.

PS. I want my apostrophe key back.

― NickB (NickB), Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh my god. We really were talking about Blondie. I was in denial, or I would have said something. Really I figured I must be just imagining it. Because I was thinking of them just a moment before I read the word. But they so obviously don't belong on this thread.

http://images.art.com/images/products/regular/10103000/10103335.jpg

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

not to interrupt the Blondie flow here, but Denise McCann's "Tattoo Man" is a textbook example of a disco artist attempting to rock with mixed results. If you care. The anonymous disco porn soundtrack artists who do the faux Rolling Stones number on the soundtrack to the film "Leo and Lance", however, fucking NAIL the whole Royal Trux/Pussy Galore aesthetic decades in advance . . .

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

More genius disco/rock can be found in Giorgio Moroder's pre-disco single "Looky Looky" - though that's perhaps more bubblegum than rock. (Would it be too obvious flattery to also mention the Soft Pink Truth at this point?)

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 27 March 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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