#283 Donna Summer, 'Bad Girls' (1975)

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“Toot toot hey beep beep. Toot toot hey beep beep.” You know the song without even hearing a bar. It’s playing in your head right now. Of course it is, ‘Bad Girls’ is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head for days and you don’t even get mad about, because how can you? It’s so funky, so joyous. You probably never realised it’s about prostitutes (to be fair, the album cover gives it away). Perhaps the second most famous song on the subject matter? After 100 hours of Merle Haggard, this was a welcome palate cleanser. The Queen Of Disco once again teamed up with long-time collaborator, Giorgio Moroder aka The Father Of Disco to create arguably the greatest Disco record of all time. Not wanting to be outdone by contemporary bands of the time, this album fuses Disco and Rock, with elements of Electronic Dance Music, featuring Moroder’s signature synth sounds. The album features contributions from Harold Faltermeyer, famous for his song ‘Axel F,’ the theme to ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ and later the basis for that annoying Crazy Frog song, as well as Joe Esposito, famous for ‘You’re The Best’ from ‘Karate Kid 1.’ Not the most notable of collaborators, but I found it interesting to note as I always thought of them as one-hit-wonders.

The double album would go on to sell over 2 million records and took home the Grammy for ‘Best Female Rock Vocal Performance’ for ‘Hot Stuff.’ It was also nominated for ‘Album Of The Year,’ ‘Best Female Pop Vocal Performance,’ ‘Best Female R&B Vocal Performance’ and lastly ‘Best Disco Recording.’ I did mention that it was diverse. I’d to end this by making special mention of her 16 second sustained note on ‘Dim All The Lights.’ That in itself deserves an award.

#rs500albums