Tag Archives: Dance Music

Jul25

Tom Tom Club Perform “Genius of Love”

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Tom Tom Club Perform “Genius of Love”

Here’s a clip of Tom Tom Club’s infectious 1981 dance floor filler “Genius of Love”, taken from their self-titled debut album. This is the sound of early 80s dance music at its best, folks: funky, sexy, yet somehow more innocent than the dance music of today. To me, it’s the sound of adolescence.

Tom Tom Club, 1981

Tom Tom Club, 1981

The group is actually an off-shoot project as led by bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, both of Talking Heads, expanding on the more funk-oriented interests of that parent band, along with an exploration of early hip hop textures. The ‘band’ Tom Tom Club was initially more of a collective than a traditional group, with Weymouth and Frantz acting as musical fulcrums for the contributions of guests.

It is important to note that on the New York club circuit in the late 70s-early 80s, dance music was the leader of the pack, and punk coming out of CBGBs, a scene in which the ‘Heads flourished, was just a stray pup trailing behind in comparison. Needless to say, this is a very New York track, as much as any music coming out of the punk clubs of the time. The world which this track typifies is where a young and hungry Madonna would make her name, and build her initial sound.

And of course, then there was the nascent hip hop scene, in which this track would play an important role too. It would be sampled heavily by disparate artists in that genre, starting with Grandmaster Flash and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. It would later hit the mainstream in the 90s, when it was sampled for the Mariah Carey track “Fantasy”. That’s what I call a groove with mileage, despite what you may think of Mariah Carey.

Through the life of the Tom Tom Club ‘vehicle’, Weymouth and Frantz would release a number of albums spread out across the decades from ’81 to the 21st century, with the project becoming their main focus when Talking Heads broke up officially in 1991. They kept their eyes on the urban scene, using it as a sort of stylistic horizon while adding in influences from other genres. The project remains to be a going concern for the pair, recently playing shows with Devo, their early 80s classmates. Yet, this song marks their biggest mainstream success.

For more about Tom Tom Club, boogie on down to the official Tom Tom Club site.

Enjoy!

Mar29

Disco Sucks? Try Earth Wind & Fire

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Disco Sucks? Try Earth Wind & Fire

The Best of Earth Wind and Fire Vol. 1Disco has always been an extension of r&b, derived from the smooth, production-oriented approach found in Philly soul – not much new, but presented as though it was, which is what made all the difference. But in the summer of 1979 , there was a backlash against the music that was summed up in two words: disco sucks.

The incident unfolded in Comisky Park in Chicago during half-time at a White Sox game. At the ‘disco sucks’ event, former fans burned records in what started as a cheap publicity stunt for a local radio station, and ended up being pretty ugly. The incident has been linked to cultural realization that because disco was in fact originally the music of gay culture, and black and Hispanic culture too, it was ultimately a threat. A threat to what and to whom is less clear, but shades of Third Reich book burning was hard to deny, no matter what you happen to think about the records. Starting off as a tongue-in-cheek joke, the encouragement of a large mass of people to be destructive in a public place was ill-conceived at best.

But, the passing years have allowed the music of that mid-70s to 1980 heyday to become appreciated even by rockists such as myself. The fact is, disco is about fantasy, that being a part of a nighttime culture of heroes made on a dance floor is, in the moment, more important than mundane real life to many people. And that’s why it thrived, and in some ways and in different forms, continued to thrive in Chicago house music in the late 80s, to rave culture into the 1990s, and beyond.

But for me, disco is the music of my childhood, or at least a big part of that tapestry of radio in the 1970s and early 80s. One of my favourites is the 1978 disco anthem ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire, a hit single included on the group’s album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol.1.

Listen and watch this clip and try to deny that this tune is all about the joy of living, the warm feelings of remembering good times with friends, and the power found in dancing together.

Get down!