Donna Summer dominated the 1970s disco era and remains an essential voice behind many of our favorite dance tracks today. From “Hot Stuff” and beyond, here are some iconic songs of Summer’s that still get us movin’ and groovin’ like it’s 1978.
“Hot Stuff”
“Hot Stuff” is one of the more rock-influenced tracks in Summer’s catalog. It’s also her second of four No. 1 hits, which only proves her range genre-wise. The premise of this song is pretty simple. It’s basically just about a woman who’s looking for some action while the night is young. According to her husband, Summer was not that kind of girl at all, but she put a “character” on for this fun disco-rock track.
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“I Feel Love”
This futuristic tune used the Moog synthesizer, which played a starring role in much of 70s pop music. Even though “I Feel Love” is one of Summer’s most popular songs, Robert Moog wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the way his synthesizer was used.
“Warm, lyrical vocals but essentially it sounded like [Donna Summer] was fighting the sequencer,” he told Don Snowden. “When the sequencer stopped, I felt that I could hear the audience sort of coming alive and breathing a sigh of relief…”
“Bad Girls”
Apparently, this song was actually inspired by one of Summer’s assistants. A police officer mistakenly thought she was a prostitute. This explains why the song is basically just about sex workers.
See them out on the street at night, walkin’
Picking up on all kinds of strangers
If the price is right you can score
If your pocket’s nice.
“Last Dance”
This song was written for the movie Thank God It’s Friday, which was released in 1978. Summer played the character of Nicole Sims, who gets “Last Dance” played by a disc jockey in the movie.
This song won several awards, including a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards, and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, just to name a few.
Photo by: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
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