Bad Girls (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bad Girls | ||
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| Double album by Donna Summer | ||
| Released | May 1979 | |
| Recorded | 1978-1979 | |
| Genre | Disco, Pop, Rock, Soul, R&B | |
| Length | 71:27 | |
| Label | Casablanca | |
| Producer(s) | Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Donna Summer chronology | ||
| Live and More (1978) |
Bad Girls (1979) |
On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2 (1979) |
Bad Girls is the eighth album by Donna Summer and her third consecutive double album. It was released in 1979 by Casablanca Records, who had had been distributing her work in the U.S. since 1975, and had had full control over distributing her work worldwide since 1977.
By the time Bad Girls was released, Summer felt that Casablanca were exploiting her. Since the release of her breakthrough, the sexually explicit "Love To Love You Baby", Summer had been named "the first lady of love" and her record label were keen for her to keep this image up, despite the fact that she was never truly comfortable with it. She was told to act a certain way, dress a certain way, and had pretty much lost any control she had had over her career. Summer became very depressed and suffered with insomnia for a time. She visited healers and begun taking tablets to aid her sleep. In early 1979, she collapsed from exhaustion.
Upon Summer's recovery, her sister took her to see a Priest and she became a born-again Christian. The depression came to an end as a result and Summer set to work on her new album with long-time partners Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, as well as various others she had not worked with before. By this time, although disco music was still popular, other styles such as punk and heavy metal were also achieving well, so the team decided to incorporate a rockier sound into some of the tracks. Other songs had a more soul/R&B feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to date. It became her biggest selling album ever, achieving triple platinum status in the US and shifting about seven million copies worldwide. It also became her second consecutive Number One album in the U.S.
The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident in the first two tracks on the album - "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", which also became the first two singles to be released from the album. Both were huge hits and made Number One on the American singles chart. The former also won Summer a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and became popular again in the 1990s when used in the British film The Full Monty. "Dim All The Lights" also became a huge hit, peaking at Number Two in the U.S.
1979 ended with Casablanca releasing a compilation of Summer's work plus a couple of newly recorded tracks. At this point, due to the aforementioned feelings that the label was exploiting her, Donna quit the label and signed a new deal with Geffen Records. Her new material with them was more rock/New Wave orientated, due to the disco backlash that had occurred. Due to its popularity, many rock DJs had gone out of business and people begun opposing disco music - around that time many banners were seen with "disco sucks" written on them. As a result Summer left the disco tag behind, but in an effort to compete with her new label, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the Bad Girls album - namely "Sunset People" and "Walk Away". Both were flops while her new rock-oriented dance material climbed the charts. Casablanca also released a special edition compilation entitled Walk Away, which featured a selection of her hits from the Bad Girls period and the preceding years.
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[edit] Grammy Awards and Nominations
As well as the aforementioned Grammy Award for "Hot Stuff" (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance), the song "Bad Girls" was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Disco Recording. "Dim All The Lights" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the album itself was nominated for Album of the Year.
[edit] Track listing
- "Hot Stuff" (Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey) – 5:14
- "Bad Girls" (Donna Summer, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Edward "Eddie" Hokenson, Bruce Sudano) – 4:55
- "Love Will Always Find You" (Pete Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder) – 3:59
- "Walk Away" (Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer) – 4:29
- "Dim All The Lights" (Donna Summer) – 4:40
- "Journey To The Center Of Your Heart" (Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder) – 4:36
- "One Night In A Lifetime" (Pete Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder) – 4:12
- "Can't Get To Sleep Tonight" (Bob Conti) – 4:42
- "On My Honor" (Donna Summer) – 3:32
- "There Always Be A You" (Donna Summer) – 5:07
- "All Through The Night" (Donna Summer, Bruce Roberts) – 6:06
- "My Baby Understands" (Donna Summer) – 3:58
- "Our Love" (Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder) – 4:52
- "Lucky" (Donna Summer, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Edward "Eddie" Hokenson, Bruce Sudano) – 4:37
- "Sunset People" (Donna Summer, Harold Faltermeyer) – 6:27
[edit] Credits
- Donna Summer - lead and background vocals, composition, production
- Giorgio Moroder - bass, synthesizer, guitar, composition, production
- Pete Bellotte - bass, composition, production
- Harold Faltermeyer - composition, drums, keyboards, synclavier
- Charles Sudano - synthesizer and composition
- Joe Esposito - background vocals and composition
- Keith Forsey - background vocals, drums, percussion, and composition
- Bob Conti - drums and composition
- Edward "Eddie" Hokenson - composition
[edit] Production
- Producers: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer
- Engineer: Jason Corsaro
- Production manager: Budd Tunick
- Drum programming: Jimmy Bralower
- Art direction: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
- Design: Jeffrey Kent Ayer, Jeri McManus
[edit] Charts
[edit] Album
From Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | The Billboard 200 | 1 |
| 1979 | Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 2 |
[edit] Singles
From Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | "Hot Stuff" | Hot Dance Music | 1 |
| 1979 | "Hot Stuff" | Hot R&B Tracks | 1 |
| 1979 | "Hot Stuff" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1979 | "Bad Girls" | Hot R&B Tracks | 1 |
| 1979 | "Bad Girls" | Hot Dance Music | 1 |
| 1979 | "Dim All The Lights" | Hot Dance Music | 1 |
| 1979 | "Dim All The Lights" | Hot R&B Tracks | 1 |
| 1979 | "Bad Girls" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1979 | "Sunset People" | Hot R&B Tracks | 12 |
| 1979 | "Dim All The Lights" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 2 |
| 1979 | "Sunset People" | Hot Dance Music | 1 |
| 1979 | "Sunset People" | The Billboard hot 100 | 19 |
| 1979 | "Walk Away" | Hot R&B/Hip Tracks | 20 |
| 1979 | "Walk Away" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 36 |
