Bad Girls (album)
Encyclopedia
Bad Girls is the seventh studio album
by American pop
singer Donna Summer
, released April 25, 1979 on Casablanca Records
. Originally issued as a double album
, it incorporates such musical styles as disco
, soul
, and rock
. Bad Girls became the best-selling album of Summer's recording career, achieving double platinum
sales certification in the United States, and selling approximately four million copies total worldwide.
", Summer had been nicknamed "the First Lady of Love" in the press and her record label wanted her to keep this image, despite the fact that she was never truly comfortable with it. Several years later, Summer became addicted to prescription medication. Upon her recovery, 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 doing well on the charts, so the team decided to incorporate a rockier sound into some of the songs. Other songs had a more soul
/R&B
feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to date. The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident, and synthesizers were used to augment the sound for a more electronic and dance oriented electro music in the first two songs 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
" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.
national albums chart. 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
.
The year 1979 ended with Casablanca
releasing a Donna Summer greatest hits double-album, which also included a couple of new songs, one being the hit single On the Radio
. For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other formats of music but she and the label could not come to an agreement on her musical direction. Summer instead opted to sign a new deal with Geffen Records
, the then-new label formed by David Geffen
. Her first album with Geffen Records was more rock
/new wave
oriented, a format Summer had always liked, not to mention there had been a "disco backlash". In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the Bad Girls album; "Sunset People
" and "Walk Away
". "Sunset People" became a hit reaching the top 20, while "Walk Away" became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/PolyGram
also released a special edition compilation entitled Walk Away - Greatest Hits 1977-1980, which featured a selection of her hits from the Bad Girls period and the preceding years. In 2003 Universal Music, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
Disc one
Remastered original album with bonus track.
Disc two
Contains a selection of 12" versions and extended mixes from the years 1977-1980.
Singles
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
, released April 25, 1979 on Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
. Originally issued as a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, it incorporates such musical styles as disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. Bad Girls became the best-selling album of Summer's recording career, achieving double platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
sales certification in the United States, and selling approximately four million copies total worldwide.
Background
Since the release of her breakthrough album which contained the sexually arousing "Love to Love You BabyLove to Love You Baby (song)
"Love to Love You Baby" is a song by American singer Donna Summer released in 1975 . It became one of the first ever disco hits to also be released in an extended form.-Song information and original release:...
", Summer had been nicknamed "the First Lady of Love" in the press and her record label wanted her to keep this image, despite the fact that she was never truly comfortable with it. Several years later, Summer became addicted to prescription medication. Upon her recovery, Summer set to work on her new album with long-time partners Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
and Pete Bellotte
Pete Bellotte
Peter J. Bellotte is a British songwriter and record producer, most famous for hismain body of work with Donna Summer alongside his partner Giorgio Moroder...
, 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
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
were also doing well on the charts, so the team decided to incorporate a rockier sound into some of the songs. Other songs had a more soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
/R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to date. The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident, and synthesizers were used to augment the sound for a more electronic and dance oriented electro music in the first two songs on the album - "Hot Stuff
Hot Stuff (Donna Summer song)
"Hot Stuff" is a hit single released by American singer Donna Summer in 1979 as the first single release from her Bad Girls album through Casablanca Records...
" and "Bad Girls
Bad Girls (song)
"Bad Girls" is a 1979 single released by American singer Donna Summer, co-written by Summer and the Brooklyn Dreams. The inspiration for her to write the song came after one of her assistants was offended by a police officer who thought she was a street prostitute.A rough version of the song had...
", 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
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and became popular again in the 1990s when used in the British film The Full Monty
The Full Monty
The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy...
. "Dim All the Lights
Dim All the Lights
"Dim All the Lights" is a song by Donna Summer released as a single in the latter half of 1979. Taken from her Bad Girls album and produced by longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder with Pete Bellotte, the track combines Summer's trademark disco beats with a more soulful/R&B-esque sound...
" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.
Release and reception
The album became her best-selling album ever, currently double platinum, at over 2 million copies sold in the U.S. and shifting about four million total worldwide. It also became her second consecutive number-one album in the U.S., spending in addition three weeks at number one in Canada on the RPM 100RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
national albums chart. As well as the aforementioned Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for "Hot Stuff
Hot Stuff (Donna Summer song)
"Hot Stuff" is a hit single released by American singer Donna Summer in 1979 as the first single release from her Bad Girls album through Casablanca Records...
" (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance), the song "Bad Girls
Bad Girls (song)
"Bad Girls" is a 1979 single released by American singer Donna Summer, co-written by Summer and the Brooklyn Dreams. The inspiration for her to write the song came after one of her assistants was offended by a police officer who thought she was a street prostitute.A rough version of the song had...
" was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Disco Recording
Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording was an award presented at the 22nd Grammy Awards in 1980. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United...
. "Dim All the Lights
Dim All the Lights
"Dim All the Lights" is a song by Donna Summer released as a single in the latter half of 1979. Taken from her Bad Girls album and produced by longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder with Pete Bellotte, the track combines Summer's trademark disco beats with a more soulful/R&B-esque sound...
" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the album itself was nominated for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
.
The year 1979 ended with Casablanca
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
releasing a Donna Summer greatest hits double-album, which also included a couple of new songs, one being the hit single On the Radio
On the Radio (Donna Summer song)
"On the Radio" is a single by Donna Summer released in 1979 on the Casablanca record label. It was written for the soundtrack to the film Foxes and included on Summer's first international compilation album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2. It was released as a single and became, in...
. For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other formats of music but she and the label could not come to an agreement on her musical direction. Summer instead opted to sign a new deal with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, the then-new label formed by David Geffen
David Geffen
David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
. Her first album with Geffen Records was more rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
/new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
oriented, a format Summer had always liked, not to mention there had been a "disco backlash". In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the Bad Girls album; "Sunset People
Sunset People
"Sunset People" is a song by Donna Summer taken from her very successful album Bad Girls. The album, released on Casablanca Records, had already produced several chart-topping singles for the disco star, but Summer had resigned from the label and taken a lawsuit against them...
" and "Walk Away
Walk Away (Donna Summer song)
"Walk Away" is a song by Donna Summer from her highly successful Bad Girls album. The album had been released on Casablanca Records, who had given Summer some of her biggest hits during the disco era. However after a dispute Summer left the label and filed a lawsuit against them in 1980 which was...
". "Sunset People" became a hit reaching the top 20, while "Walk Away" became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
also released a special edition compilation entitled Walk Away - Greatest Hits 1977-1980, which featured a selection of her hits from the Bad Girls period and the preceding years. In 2003 Universal Music, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
Original LP
Deluxe edition
In 2003, Universal Music re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.Disc one
Remastered original album with bonus track.
- 16. "Bad Girls" (Demo version) - 3:59
Disc two
Contains a selection of 12" versions and extended mixes from the years 1977-1980.
- "I Feel LoveI Feel Love"I Feel Love" is a song by Donna Summer, taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday.The song constituted the "future" segment of the album, which represented a stylistic progress through time...
" (12" Version) (Bellotte, Moroder, Summer) - 8:12- Original version appears on 1977 album I Remember YesterdayI Remember Yesterday-Charts:AlbumSingle-Certifications:...
- Original version appears on 1977 album I Remember Yesterday
- "Last DanceLast Dance (song)"Last Dance" is a hit 1978 song by singer Donna Summer. The song appeared on the Thank God It's Friday movie soundtrack. It was written by Paul Jabara and was co-produced by Summer's regular collaborator Giorgio Moroder, along with Bob Esty...
" (Paul JabaraPaul JabaraPaul Jabara was an American actor, singer, and songwriter of Lebanese ancestry. He wrote Donna Summer's "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday and Barbra Streisand's song "The Main Event/Fight" from The Main Event...
) - 8:12- From 1978 soundtrack Thank God It's Friday
- MacArthur Park Suite: "MacArthur ParkMacArthur Park (song)"MacArthur Park" is a song by Jimmy Webb, originally composed as part of an intended cantata. The song was initially rejected by The Association. Richard Harris was the first to record it, in 1968; the song was subsequently covered by numerous artists. Among the best-known covers are Donna Summer's...
"/"One of a Kind"/"Heaven Knows"/"MacArthur Park (Reprise)" (Bellotte, Mathieson, Moroder, Summer, Jimmy WebbJimmy WebbJimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...
) (12" Single Mix) - 17:37- Original version appears on 1978 album Live and MoreLive and MoreLive and More was the seventh vinyl long-playing album recorded by Donna Summer, and it was her second double album. The live concert featured on the first three sides of this double LP album was recorded in the Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, California in 1978...
- Original version appears on 1978 album Live and More
- "Hot Stuff" (12" Version) - 6:47
- "Bad Girls" (12" Version) - 4:57
- "Walk Away" (12" Version) - 7:16
- "Dim All the Lights" (12" Version) - 7:14
- "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)No More Tears (Enough is Enough)"No More Tears " is a duet from 1979 by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. While Summer was famous for her disco material and Streisand for her more easy listening and soundtrack work , this song fused both sounds with a slow beginning which then develops into a disco song...
" (Duet with Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
) (Roberts, Jabara) - 11:45- From 1979 album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2-Charts:AlbumSingle- Certifications :...
- From 1979 album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2
- "On the RadioOn the Radio (Donna Summer song)"On the Radio" is a single by Donna Summer released in 1979 on the Casablanca record label. It was written for the soundtrack to the film Foxes and included on Summer's first international compilation album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2. It was released as a single and became, in...
" (Long Version) (Moroder, Summer) - 7:34- From 1979 soundtrack FoxesFoxes (soundtrack)Foxes is the soundtrack to the 1980 film of the same name, starring Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid as well as The Runaways' lead singer Cherie Currie...
. Original version appears on On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II
- From 1979 soundtrack Foxes
- Tracks 1-4, 6-8 previously issued on The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch SinglesThe Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch SinglesThe Dance Collection is a compilation album by Donna Summer released in 1987 . Summer had become the biggest star of the disco era in the 1970s when signed to Casablanca Records. By 1987, Summer was signed to the Geffen label, and Casablanca had long since been bought out by Polygram. This album...
Musicians
- Donna Summer - lead and background vocals, composition, production
- Giorgio MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
- bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, guitar, composition, production - Pete BellottePete BellottePeter J. Bellotte is a British songwriter and record producer, most famous for hismain body of work with Donna Summer alongside his partner Giorgio Moroder...
- bass, composition, production - Harold FaltermeyerHarold FaltermeyerHarold Faltermeyer is a German musician, keyboardist, composer and record producer.He is recognized as one of the composers/producers who best captured the zeitgeist of 1980s synth-pop in film scores...
- composition, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, keyboards, synclavierSynclavierThe Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of... - Charles Sudano - synthesizer and composition
- Joe Esposito - background vocals and composition
- Keith ForseyKeith ForseyKeith Forsey is an English soundtrack composer, drummer, songwriter and record producer.-Biography:Forsey's first recordings were as the younger member of the group The Spectrum, better known for the end title theme for Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet, but hit makers across Europe in their own...
- background vocals, drums, percussion, and composition - Bob Conti - drums and composition
- Edward "Eddie" Hokenson - composition
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 Ayeroff, Jeri McManus
Chart positions
| Chart (1979) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 1 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 1 |
| Canadian RPM 100 Top Albums | 1 |
| Norway | 3 |
| UK Album chart | 23 |
Singles
- Billboard (North America)
Single Chart (1979/80) Peak
position"Hot Stuff" Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...1 Club Play Singles Hot Dance Club PlayThe Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...1 Hot Soul Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop SongsHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...3 "Bad Girls" Billboard Hot 100 1 Club Play Singles 1 Hot Soul Singles 1 "Dim All the Lights" Billboard Hot 100 2 Club Play Singles 1 Hot Soul Singles 13 Adult Contemporary Singles Hot Adult Contemporary TracksThe Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...44 "Walk Away" Billboard Hot 100 36 Hot Soul Singles 35
- Outside North America
Single Chart (1979/80) Peak
position"Hot Stuff" German Media Control Singles Chart 5 Norway NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
VG-listaVG-listaVG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...
Single Chart2 UK Singles Chart UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...11 "Bad Girls" German Media Control Singles Chart 9 Norway VG-lista Single Chart 8 UK Singles Chart 14 "Dim All the Lights" German Media Control Singles Chart 25 UK Singles Chart 29 "Sunset People" UK Singles Chart 46
Chart precession and succession
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certifications |
|---|---|---|
| United States | RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
2x Platinum |
| United Kingdom | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Silver |
External links
- Bad Girls at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Deluxe edition reviews