Disco

Bee Gees star Robin Gibb has died at 62 after a long battle with cancer. There will be some funky beats at the pearly gates today.


The Gibb brothers who co-founded the band (Maurice, Barry and Robin) sold more than 200 million records over four decades. The disco genre was dominated by the music of African-Americans. It’s incredible that a bunch of boys who lived in Brisbane (ex- of Manchester, UK) could make such a lasting impression on that scene. Indeed, they pretty much owned it.

Whether you consider yourself a Bee Gees fan or not, your love for them probably runs deeper than you think. Here are three examples of songs they wrote for others: Diana Ross’s “Chain Reaction”“, Dionne Warwick’s “Heartbreaker” and (Punch editor Tory Maguire’s personal fave) Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream”.

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  • Bernadette says:

    01:17pm | 22/05/12

    Bernadette says The Bee Gees were great guys and performers .RIP Robin with Maurice and Andy. Read more »

  • Ohcomeon says:

    09:11am | 22/05/12

    PW, I disagree. Musically, Sat Night Fever was arranged as a disco record and has all the trappings. The tempo, patterns on the hi hats and the strings are all there. Its pop disco, but its disco. Id liken them to something like Jamiroqui. Its pop music, but vaguely arranged… Read more »

 

Someone had to pay for disco. Nile Rodgers took the bullet in late 1979 when it finally became official: disco sucked.

Rodgers was co—founder, with Bernard Edwards, of the band Chic. Rodgers played guitar and Edwards, now deceased, the bass.

They were more of production team than a true band, putting changing voices in front of their music to produce late 70s hits such as “We Are Family”, “Le Freak” and “Good Times.”

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  • Bill says:

    12:04pm | 17/01/12

    Never heard of Nile Rodgers til now. He was definately a somebody though who had a huge influence in pop music/culture. Gem of a story! Read more »

  • Lloyd says:

    02:00pm | 16/01/12

    It never died…. Read more »

 

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