Rock the Boat, Don't Rock the Boat, Baby!

Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary since the Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat" hit #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts. This is significant in that many music critics cite "Rock the Boat" as the nation's first disco song. Many people who lived through the six year period that marked the height of the disco era will tell you that they didn't like disco. All I can say is that there must be quite a few liars out there. Everyone seemed to embrace disco at the time and performers from Cher to Mick Jagger to Ethel Merman (Ethel Merman!) cut a disco record. Big Bird and Bert and Ernie even cut an album entitled Sesame Street Fever, based of course on the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever which is still the best-selling soundtrack album ever. No other musical movement in American history has moved from the most obscure corners of our culture into the mainstream so quickly. That is to say, any music that moves from gay bars to church basements in a matter of months must have some appeal to it.

I am quite proud to say that I love disco and wish it would come back, although songs such as the Pussycat Dolls "Don't Cha" and much of Beyonce's catalog suggest that it has never really left. The best thing about disco was that it totally fulfilled what it represented itself to be which was fun. Isn't that the point of entertainment--of dancing--of living? If I wanted a sermon, I'd go to church, but since I want a good beat that's easy to dance to, then girl, put your records on and make sure the beat is booming, the harmonies are smooth, and the brass and strings are balanced and strong.

The 1970s was a great time in which to grow up. Thanks, Hues Corporation for getting it started. For some of us, it will never end.