DESDINOVA'S 40 FAVORITE DISCO SONGS

Before I hear any snide remarks about me posting a disco Ipod playlist, let me explain something. I realize it is considered "uncool" for a guy my age to like disco. Some idiots will tell you that a man who likes disco is "gay." Truth is, I used to think the same way when I was younger.

What changed my opinion of disco? A few years back, a radio station here in Springfield was bought out by another company. As a stunt, for the first week or two, they ran nothing but disco hits. I would listen and found there were many of these songs brought back pleasant memories of my childhood. The radio station eventually unveiled there format would be "classic rock without the loud heavy metal" (This slogan was part of a bad trend at the time, which someone in the radio industry once said was like "making love without all that unsanitary kissing"). They "vowed never to play disco again." They have have lived up to that, although they tweaked the format a few years back and added Aerosmith, Ozzy, Deep Purple and AC/DC to there playlist.

After that, I became nostalgic for the disco music that filled the airwaves during my elementary school years. Besides I can enjoy disco where as I CANNOT STAND COUNTRY MUSIC!!!

I have broken this into two list, one for standard disco and the other for those artist that we thought would "never stoop so low as to make a disco record" and wound up making some of the best disco songs ever.

A message to guys of my age: Don't worry, I'm planing a "heavy metal/hair band" playlist filled with testosterone, adrenaline and alcohol.

"Staying Alive" Bee Gees
"Hot Stuff" Donna Summer
“Fifth of Beethoven” Walter Murphy
“I Will Survive” Gloria Gaynor
“Dancing Queen” ABBA
“Last Dance” Donna Summer
“I’m On Fire” 5000 Volts
“Making It” David Naughton
“Ladies Night” Kool & the Gang
“Pop Muizk” M
“Voulez Vous” ABBA
“You Sexy Thing” Hot Chocolate
“(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty” K.C. & the Sunshine Band
"Funkytown" Lipps, Inc.
"TSOP (Sound of Philadelphia)" M.F.S.B
"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" McFadden & Whitehead
"Upside Down" Diana Ross
“That's The Way (I Like)” K.C. & the Sunshine Band
“Y.M.C.A” Village People
“Kiss In The Dark” Pink Lady
“Cupid/I’ve Loved You For a Long Time” The Spinners
“Disco Inferno” The Trammps
“Love Is In The Air” John Paul Jones
“Heaven Knows" Donna Summer
“Fly Robin Fly” Silver Connection
“La Freak” Chic
"Don't Let Go" Issac Hayes
"Bad Girls" Donna Summer
"Take Your Time (Do It Right)" S.O.S. Band
"You Should Be Dancing" Bee Gees
"All Night Thing" The Invisible Man's Band
“Rock The Boat” Hues Corporation
"I Love The Nightlife" Alicia Bridges
“The Hustle” Van McCoy
"Livin It Up (Friday Night)" Bell & James
"If I Can't Have You" Yvonne Ulliman
"Dancing Machine" The Jackson 5
"Soul Dracula" Hot Blood
"Night Fever" Bee Gees
"Boogie Nights" Heatwave  

I AM NOT ASHAMED PART 3

More songs that "I AM NOT ASHAMED" to like (What most people call musical guilty pleasures).

"Lake Shore Drive" Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah (Country psychedelia with a ragtime piano? You knew a radio station was cool if they played this. KSHE & KFBD are two of those radio stations.)
"I Eat Cannibals" Total Coelo (British girl group with a sexually suggestive song and tacky 80s video)

"Living On A Prayer" Bon Jovi

"Don't You Want Me" Human League

"Mary's Prayer" Meet Danny Wilson

"I Fell In Love" Carlene Carter (Besides being a great song, Carlene Carter looks like Jennifer Sims, the first girl I ever kissed. She is on Mad Men some times.)
"Boy On the Roof" The Outnumbered (A Paisley Underground group singing about life as a gay teen - great fuzztone guitar fiff. I first heard this on KSMU in Springfield.)

"That Same Old Feeling" Pickettywitch

"I Know a Heartache When I See One" Jennifer Warnes (I heard this on KGBX-AM coming from an emergency doctor's visit to Springfield. The sun was setting in the fall. So I always think a sunset when I hear this sexy song from that nerdy, little, blond girl from the Smothers Brothers show.)
"Tight Fittin Jeans" Conway Twitty (Memories of the 80s and those designer jeans.)
"Raise A Little Hell" Trooper (A great lost heavy metal anthem)
"Like To Get To Know You" Spanky & Our Gang (Sunshine pop/psychedelia/lounge music)
"Chemistry" Semisonic (A power pop/Beach Boys-influenced minor hit that is 10 times better than there big hit "Closing Time")
"Glamorous Life" Shelia E (I had a crush on Shelia E when this was a hit. She was Prince's main squeeze at the time.)

"Rico Suave" Gerardo

"No Rain" Blind Melon (I wonder what the bee girl is doing today?)
"Hair" The Cowsills (How did the Cowsills get to record the coolest Broadway show tune ever?)

"The Warrior" Scandal

"Working On a Groovy Thing" The 5th Dimension

"Euro-Trash Girl" Cracker (Kerouacian song that beats, no pun intended, their big hit "Low")
"Jingle Jangle" The Archies (Is that Betty or Veronica singing with Archie on this? Saturday morning cartoon memories.)
"Solfeggio (Song of the Nairobi Trio)" - Robert Maxwell Orchestra (Ernie Kovacs & Sammy B. Goode fans know this song.)
"Stumblin In" Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman (Not only is this a great song, but it proves I still have a crush on Leather Tuscadaro.)

"Tragedy" The Bee Gees

"Lightening Strikes" Lou Christie

"Walking On Sunshine" Katrina & the Waves (Memories of drivers ed with Eunice Moneymaker-the summer of 1985)
"Tomorrow Never Knows" The Beatles (The beginning of the psychedelic music revolution)

"Close To You" Maxi Priest

"I'd To Teach The World To Sing" The New Seekers (The best soda pop jingle ever - Anybody that hates this song is stupid!)
"Artificial Flowers" Bobby Darin (Bobby Darin had a knack for making morbid subjects into great toe-tapping hits. Dickie Goodman used this in one of his parodies of The Untouchables.)
"La-La-La-La-La" The Blendells (A Hispanic garage band singing a Stevie Wonder song-that is just cool all over.)
"It's a Heartache" Bonnie Tyler (She looked like Eunice Moneymaker but sounded like Rod Stewart's sister-one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Thieman, used to play this for girls in our class experiencing relationship drama.)
"Tighter" Paul Revere & the Raiders (A psychedelic/sunshine pop love song that isn't heard enough)
"Makin It" David Naughton (The only big hit for the star of Dr. Pepper commercials and American Werewolf in London. This song was a major part of my childhood.)
"Out of the Question" Gilbert O'Sullivan (You never hear this song today-It is the one of the few songs of his that isn't politically correct in some way.)

"The Tra La La Song (The Banana Splits Theme)" The Banana Splits

"Super Freak" Rick James

"Loser" Beck

"Ebony Eyes" Bob Welch (Great guitar riff - RIP Bob)

"Beg Borrow and Steal" The Rare Breed

"Feed The Tree" Belly

"Precious To Me" Phil Seymour

"Pretty Flamingo" Manfred Mann

"Magic" Olivia Newton-John

"Paradise Garden" Peter Jay (An early 60s Joe Meek masterpiece)

"Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight)" ABBA

"Jungle Rock" Hank Mizell (A rockabilly tune that hit about 20 years after its release)

"Edge of a Broken Heart" Vixen

"Diggin For Gold" David John & the Mood (More Joe Meek stuff)
"Lonely Days" Bee Gees (Pre-disco hit of the 70s)
"In a Gadda Da Vida" Iron Butterfly (All 19 minutes of this psychedelic heavy metal masterpiece!)

"Mickey" Toni Basil

"You Are the Woman" Firefall

"C'est La Vie" B*Witched

"Barnabas Theme" The First Theremin Era (A disco version of the Dark Shadows theme song from 1969)
"Coronet Blue" Lenny Welch (Cool theme to a 60s TV show about a guy with amnesia- Cee-Lo Green needs to do a cover for a new movie version) 
"Don't Touch Me There" The Tubes (Best of the Phil Spector homages of the 70s. Sorry Carpenters.)
"Love Potion Number Nine" The Clovers ( I prefer the version that mentions Love Potion Number Ten)

"Marrakesh Express" Crosby, Stills & Nash

"Wigwam" Bob Dylan (Dylan as the Trololo Guy)
"Superstar" The Carpenters (Made famous by Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommy Boy)
"The End" Earl Grant      

Robin Gibb Passes On

Robin Gibb Passes On | AllAccess.com

I thought people would want to see a photo of Robin at the height of the Bee Gees popularity, rather than another photo where he looks like Charles Hawtrey of the Carry On films.