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Breeze · 07-12-2019, 06:12 AM

12. Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music (1976)

Total Points – 334
Charts – 5
Top 40 – 1
Top 20 – 0
Top 10 – 1
Total Ranking – 2, 22, 51, 52, 95, NR

Originally Wild Cherry was just a hard rock band from Steubenville, Ohio. They released a couple of albums on their own before Terry Knight signed them to his Brown Bag Label, but they still weren’t getting any success so the band broke up and the lead singer quit music completely for a while. He reformed the band in 1975. While playing on the club scene in Pittsburgh, disco was becoming increasingly popular and they were constantly asked to play more dance music, which got the band brainstorming for new song ideas. One night the band had a fan shout, “Are you white boys going to play some funky music?”, and that immediately sparked the creative process. The lead singer Rob Parissi starting writing lyrics for the song on a borrowed drink pad order book with a pen he took from the bartender. The song was cut, and was supposed to be the B-Side single for a remake of the Commodores’ “I Feel Sanctified”, but the label suggested it be the A-Side. And the label was right, as this song got to #1 on the Hot 100 and R&B Charts. The band was named the Best Pop Group of the Year by Billboard, and received an American Music Award for Top R&B Single of the year. It also received a pair of Grammy nominations. This song was ranked #93 on Billboard’s All-Time 100 Songs list.

07-12-2019, 06:12 AM	#196
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	12. Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music (1976) Total Points – 334 Charts – 5 Top 40 – 1 Top 20 – 0 Top 10 – 1 Total Ranking – 2, 22, 51, 52, 95, NR Originally Wild Cherry was just a hard rock band from Steubenville, Ohio. They released a couple of albums on their own before Terry Knight signed them to his Brown Bag Label, but they still weren’t getting any success so the band broke up and the lead singer quit music completely for a while. He reformed the band in 1975. While playing on the club scene in Pittsburgh, disco was becoming increasingly popular and they were constantly asked to play more dance music, which got the band brainstorming for new song ideas. One night the band had a fan shout, “Are you white boys going to play some funky music?”, and that immediately sparked the creative process. The lead singer Rob Parissi starting writing lyrics for the song on a borrowed drink pad order book with a pen he took from the bartender. The song was cut, and was supposed to be the B-Side single for a remake of the Commodores’ “I Feel Sanctified”, but the label suggested it be the A-Side. And the label was right, as this song got to #1 on the Hot 100 and R&B Charts. The band was named the Best Pop Group of the Year by Billboard, and received an American Music Award for Top R&B Single of the year. It also received a pair of Grammy nominations. This song was ranked #93 on Billboard’s All-Time 100 Songs list.