after disco, what was left for the clubs?
in 1982, the musical landscape was split pretty much between the last hangers on of disco, ska heads, fizzling out punk and the mainstream. hiphop was emerging but it would be ten years before the soul boys and girls hooked up with the rappers.
reluctant to let go of disco, but needing a new direction, boogie was born to fill the glitterball shaped void. it was so seamless most people didn’t even realise anything had changed. out went the strings, in came the bass. we also had bouncy blue eyed soul, and baby boy bands.
check out the start of the decade, 1980, and 1981, the last days of disco.
download 1982 here
amuzement park – make up your mind
this band exemplified the boogie soul movement.
barbara lynn – you make me so hot
saucepot barb was already a bit of a veteran by the time this was released. of course these days, a 25 year can be called a veteran…
carly simon – why
carly is quite annoying. but everyone loves this and it has been sampled and covered – by a tribe called quest for ‘bonita applebum’, a garage/dancehall cover by glamma kid and shola ama. written by chic, a rare demo by the group apparently does the rounds in ibiza. interesting.
damaris carbaugh – what about my love
sampled more than 20 years later for shapeshifters’ massive ‘lola’s theme’.
jocelyn brown – i wish you would
anyone with even a passing interest in 80s soul should already have ‘somebody else’s guy’. jocelyn and her big voice has gone on to work with incognito and todd terry, amongst others.
klymaxx – all turned out
these sassy 80s girls ruled the early 80s dancefloors , way before the seminal ‘meeting in the ladies room’.
maze – before i let go
the 70s funk instrumentalists plus frankie beverly had two of the biggest boogie hits – this, and ‘joy and pain’ later covered by donna allen. quite badly.
musical youth – never gonna give you up
the uk’s answer to new edition. well not really, their music was completely different. but the uk wasn’t exactly able to tell the difference in 1982.
patrice rushen – where there is love
patrice dominated boogie (forget me nots, haven’t you heard, remind me) but she also did downtempo. this track was later sampled by smooth aka juanita stokes, who is by now probably 45 but is probably promoting herself as ’21’ if her track record is anything to go by.
prince -1999
to omit this song from a 1982 list of any kind would be to totally underestimate its impact then, since, and now. no longer a gimmick now that the millenium has passed, it can be enjoyed for what it is. god it make you feel bloody old though.
real to reel – can you treat me like she does
not to be confused with reel 2 reel as in – i like to move it move it – as parodied by big breakfast puppets zig and zag.
skyy – call me
enduring 70s/80s band who peaked during the boogie period. later this track was interpolated by nicole ray on ‘seventeen’.or is it nicole wray? or just plain nicole?
