With
the close of the 60' and the serious message oriented
music of the era, the "we" generation became
the "me" generation. Music was getting to
be fun again, and it was time to party. KC and the Sunshine
Band were primarily interested un making people happy
with their party music; they were actually at the forefront
of a revolution during the mid and late 70's that pushed
rock towards its current percussive and dance oriented
direction.
The sheer sonic assault of their great hits like "Get
Down Tonight" and "That's The Way (I Like
It)" was unprecented and all more remarkable because
the songs were largely the work of novices in the recording
studio - keyboard player and singer H.W. "KC"
Casey and bass guitarist Richard Finch.
Casey worked in a retail record store in Hialeah, Florida,
and hung out at a nearby recording studio, volunteering
to do odd jobs for free just to be close to the action.
He'd been working there for a year when Finch, an audio
technician, was hired (for $46 per week).
Casey and Finch spent their evenings and weekends at
the studio writing and rehearsing material. It was during
this period (mid '74) that they wrote and produced "Rock
Your Baby" for TK artist George McCrae. The song
took off immediately and hit Billboard's top spot in
August of '74. One of the essential singles of the '70s,
Mc Crae's wildly soaring vocal and Casey & Finch's
sparkling production were indicative of things to come.
Startled by the skill shown in "Rock Your Baby"
TK Records gave the go ahead for the formation of KC
& The Sunshine Band. Its original members included
Jerome Smith, guitar; Robert Johnson, drums; and Fermin
Goytisolo, congas.The group's first two singles, "Sound
Your Funky Horn" and "Queen of Clubs"
were hits in England but failed to chart in America.
Both feature an engagingly loose party atmosphere and
display a band searching for a unique sound - and quite
attaining it, but well on their way.
In the late summer of '75, they found it with "Get
Down Tonight". A scorching , remarkable track,
its cataclysmic production blew everything else off
the radio. Recalling the evening he laid down the vocal
track for "Get Down Tonight", Casey said,
"I couldn't believe it, it was such an incredible
sound. I remember they must've played it back a hundred
times and I just couldn't believe it". What gives
the track its distinctive sound (aside from its thunderous
rhythm section) is the electronically speeded-up guitar
throughout, making it sound like no record before or
since.
With its simple lyrics, its bright, crisp, and trebly
production, plus the unique vocal stylings of H.W. Casey
(which many say has been emulated by Fine Young Cannibals,
Roland Gift on the 1989 #1 hit "She Drives Me crazy"),
"Get Down Tonight" defined the band's sound.
There were many more great records to come. As a follow-up,
the band returned with "That's The Way (I Like
It)", the lyrics of which are nothing less than
the sexual communication of two partners engaged in
copulation. Casey's "un-huh" alternates with
the "un-huh" of the female background singers
for a positively pornographic effect. According to Casey,
the version of "That's The Way (I Like It)"
which went #1 in November '75 was much tamer than the
first rendition: "I had to cool it down. The "un-huhs"
were more like a groaning and moaning and I had to clean
that up considerably. It was 1975 and I just thought
it was a little too risque". As confirmation of
his instinct, 14 year later a far more overtly sexual
version of "That's The Way (I Like It)" -
called simply "I Like It" by Dino - entered
the top ten.
Casey & Finch returned the following summer with
the record most often associated with them, "Shake
Your Booty", Its actual title is "(Shake,
Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" and according to
Billboard it stands alone as the song with the most
repeated words in its title ever to make it to #1.
Trivia aside, "Shake Your Booty" is most noteworthy
for its wonderful slinky and seductive intro, its brilliant
horn charts, and perhaps most of all for the polarizing
effect it had on the rock audience in the mid '70s.
Speaking to Billboard at the time, Casey found himself
apologizing for "Shake Your Booty"; to some
it was a nonsense song, but it had a lot more meaning
and depth...there were several connotations to "Shake
Your Booty". It could mean to get off your can
and get out there and do it in every area, not necessarily
dancing , but in you whole life.
Kc & The Sunshine Band were now a phenomenon. They
followed "Shake Your Booty" with an album
track, "I Like to Do It", which broke their
steak, barely cracking the Top 40. Undeterred, they
returned to form following spring with "I'm Your
Boogie Man".
One of the cooler items in their catalogue, "Boogie
Man" features an ominous, hushed intro and barely
audible off-mike count of "one-two-three"
which kicks off this blistering ode to the sexual ability
of the song's protagonist.
They followed "Boogie Man" with one of their
very best - "Keep It Comin' Love". This shows
KC & Co., at the top of their game. The song's irresistible
guitar sound was later employed by producer Nile Rodgers
for Chic and David Bowie, among others. Prince paid
homage to it in 1988's "Alphabet City". During
this time, Saturday Night Fever was released and its
massively successful soundtrack album featured the B-side
of "Shake Your Booty", "Boogie Shoes".
Not until mid '79 did KC & The Sunshine Band release
the ballad "Please Don't Go", commercially
successful attempt to alter their trademark sound. It
became the group's fifth and final #1 record.
During their two year hiatus from the charts, the group
tried on a number of styles, the most interesting of
which - straightforward rock n' roll - is "Let's
Go Rock and Roll". Not a hit, it nonetheless holds
its own with the group's more legendary triumphs. TK
Records went bankrupt soon thereafter, and the band
was signed by Epic. Two albums were released, no hits
resulted from the 1 st Lp, then on the second Lp a track
called "Give It Up", became a Number 1 hit
in England. Despite this Epic refused to issue it in
the United States. A frustrated KC was forced to begin
his own label, Mecca, and he released it himself.
Give It Up was a terrific forum for KC and became a
big hit in America.
Looking back from today's perspective it's amusing that
KC & The Sunshine Band - often labeled as non-progressive,
was actually the most progressive rock band of the 70's.
They had no precedents, were completely original in
their approach and virtually by themselves, pointed
the direction that pop music would take in the 80's,
with 9 Grammy nominations and the receipt of 3 Grammy
awards. KC & The Sunshine Band enter the 90's with
a new release "The Game of Love", and a U.S.
tour to continue their legacy. |
