Nope… I’m targeting a different American band this week.
The first month of the new year is already over halfway over, and…. that just seems crazy, doesn’t it? Well, time waits for no man, and The Nest waits only for Wednesday to post the next time killing song we’d love to introduce to the reaper in our Top 30 Iconic Songs I Can’t Stand Countdown. Coincidentally, the countdown is more than halfway over as well… but hopefully unlike this year, the songs will just keep getting worse and worse. DJ Scratchy’s about to literally drop the ball on one of the most popular songs to come out of one of music’s most despised genres…
#14. “Funkytown” – Lipps, Inc.
I love disco. That is unfortunately not an opinion much of the world shares with me, but that’s OK… I love being the contrarian. Give me the late 70’s Bee Gees, The Village People (yes, even the leatherman), The Trammps, and Amii Stewart all day long! I want songs with a quick, fun beat that make you want to get up and move around. I love songs that can keep me moving and grooving with some energy!
Oooh! My irony alarm is going off!
Lipps, Inc. (Pronounced: Mill-ee Vah-nill-ee) was a disco group from Minneapolis that managed to become maybe the biggest one hit wonder of all time. Their 1980 song “Funkytown” topped the singles charts in just about every first world nation… 28 countries to be exact. That was a record that stood for 25 years, and it was accomplished by a disco song. And in my opinion, one of the absolute worst songs to ever be played underneath a sparkly ball…
There is absolutely nothing inspiring or epic about this four minute waste of a perfectly good dancefloor. And it most certainly does NOT keep one moving and grooving while it’s slow paced beep-booping music is assaulting your ears. It is pathetic, and an insult to the awesomeness that is disco.
Won’t you take me to Skunkytown?
While I do hate this song, and it gets bonus points for being a disco song I hate… in a vacuum, I might not have disliked it enough to include in this countdown. However, seven years after Lipps Inc. was last heard from, an Aussie band by the name of Pseudo Echo threw this platter on the barbie and completely kicked its ass. If you missed my previous countdown, their version of “Funky Town” (space intentionally added to make it look more awesome) was at the very top of my list of greatest cover songs of all time. And if you don’t agree, well…… don’t worry, we can still be friends.
Now THAT is the song that would be playing in Funkytown if it actually existed… not some schlock that somehow passed for disco in the post-demolition days. That version makes me want to get up and dance, and not give a care who may be watching me…
What happens in Funkytown stays in Funkytown…
I’ll be back with next Wednesday with another song that just isn’t right for me…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
ody N biskit…..disco ?????? uhhhhhhhhh…….
Neither Ody nor Biskit will stand up for my taste in what they have to listen to…
It’s funny that I never minded disco. I wasn’t a dancer, so I could just listen to it. Some of it was pretty good. Some kind of tacky. But at least it has melody and rhythm — MY two requirement to officially make it music. A lot of stuff these days has neither, I’m not even sure is IS music. Someone thinks it is, so they must know something I don’t know.
I’ve heard plenty of garbage today that isn’t music…. and not in a “get off my lawn” kind of way, but, as you said, it just isn’t music. It’s just sounds thrown together in some fashion that isn’t even pleasing to listen to. I wish Mecca still played the good indie pop it used to a few years ago, because there is good music still being made, you just never hear it in the mainstream because the garbage rules…
This version certainly does hit it out of the park compared to that totally useless original. Love that last photo – I bet this guy had a tough time getting out of bed the next day….or maybe even remembering who he is. LOL
Pam
It’s amazing what comes up when you Google crazy dancing. I think an entire swarm of hornets wound up invading his pants, and the party guests are none the wiser and they cheer him on….
Love the original (yes, ever the contrarian) – but you are right, the cover is not bad, not bad at all …
Regardless of what one would think of the original, the cover is a showstopper. It’s everything that was great about 80’s music all thrown together into one amazing song…
Oh my, I’d forgotten all about this song. Was living happily without it. And then this…
Wow, I want to listen to your radio station that doesn’t play the original version of Funkytown all the time. At least, I think I do….
I like both as usual! They’re just sooooo FUnky!! lol..
but now I have an ear worm, and can’t get it out of my head! THANKS,thanks a lot!! ,
And that’s the danger of reading my blog! You would be surprised how often I afflict myself with earworms that won’t go away…
Had you dissed Disco Inferno I would have had to hurt you. But this? Eh….. Of course we all know that the REAL Funkytown is Electric Avenue!
And then we’ll take it higher…..
Disco Inferno is pure saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatisfaction! How could someone ever dis that song…
So now we’ve talked about Freddie and Eddy. I guess I’ll have to post a Rush video before the end of the week…
Snorts with piggy laugher. That is one that we have never heard of here at the Hotel Thompson. Hilarious. Disco huh? All I think about with disco is the John Travolta era. So sad I know. LOL XOXO – Bacon
I did not think there was anyone who had never heard Funkytown before! Wow!
I tell you – I live under a rock. I gotta get out more here in this dead town. XOXO – Bacon
Lately I’m starting to like covers of so many songs a lot more than I ever liked the originals.
Some songs just sound surprisingly good in a style way different than how the original was done. Most of my favorite covers fit this description…
I guess we could steal the line right out of Hey Jude, “take a bad song and make it better.”
I think the reason I have always been ambivalent about this song is because as a kid, I never knew what on earth they were singing.
Listening to classical music does rather save the ears from this sort of dross. But then, I can’t feel too superior, because Classic FM does play things like the Radetsky March occasionally (a piece I really can’t stand).
I’m now going to try and cleanse my musical palate by listening to more of the epic that is Mr F. Mercury and friends!
Rock music, and especially heavy metal was very much influenced by classical music. I’m sure even Freddie and the boys took a few cues from Beethoven and Bach…
Freddie loved the opera, that definitely influenced him. Have you heard his duet Barcelona with Montserrat Cabille?
I have not. I’m really only familiar with their hits (At least, their US hits) and a few outlying songs that got played on classic rock stations…
I’m sure it will be found on the tube of you. I’m on my phone not computer so I can’t just give you the link!
You know my feelings regarding disco and the reasons for those feelings. I suspect the number of disco tunes you hate are in direct proportion to the number I like.However, I am in complete solidarity with you here. I both detest the original and very much like The Pseudo Echo cover. Well done, sir.
I knew there was NO WAY you were going to disagree with me on this one!
I thought I’d never heard of it though I vaguely recognised the band name. Then on hearing it I knew it – I have it in my head sometimes and was trying to identify it!
As you might expect, I quite liked it. It’s just a shame they’re not Cold War Russians…
They may as well have been from the USSR. I can totally see the dude in the Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses doing the keyboard riff for Funkytown, though,…