Saturday Night Fever was the brainchild of Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees’ manager and label boss. Travolta doesn’t even dance to the song in the movie. Weirdly, the first of those #1 singles isn’t one of the really iconic songs. The soundtrack spawned four #1 singles, more than any album ever had before. It led the Bee Gees, already in their imperial era, to absolutely dominate the charts in 1978 to an unheard-of degree. That album sold tens of millions of copies, and it remains one of the 10 biggest-selling albums of all time. Travolta was nominated for an Oscar, and he went on to star in 1978’s biggest movie.īut in terms of cultural impact, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack arguably had an even bigger impact than the movie. It made a star out of John Travolta, previously known mostly for playing a Tony Manero-esque kid on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
Album bee gees saturday night fever movie#
In the booming film year of 1977, it earned more than any movie that wasn’t Star Wars or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. It earned more than $100 million against a budget of less than $5 million. Instead, you think about the spectacle of Travolta peacocking around a lit-up dancefloor, making the entire club stop to watch. If you see the image of Travolta, resplendent in a white suit, his finger pointed heavenward, you don’t think about the bleak realities of Tony Manero’s life. It’s rough.īut that’s not how we remember Saturday Night Fever. His big moment of triumph, winning a dance competition, is a total sham, and he knows it. He gets into a gang fight with a Puerto Rican crew, the culmination of a feud built on racism and mistaken identity. He sits by silently while his friends commit rape. The film is one of those shaggy, downbeat ’70s character studies about people with deep, unresolved problems. Pretty soon, he doesn’t even feel that escape anymore. The only place where he really comes alive is on the dancefloor. He starts out the movie with a go-nowhere job by the time it ends, he doesn’t even have that. He doesn’t like his friends much, and they don’t like him much either. His parents don’t understand him, and he doesn’t understand them. Brooklyn teenager Tony Manero - John Travolta, who will appear in this column pretty soon - is an electric dancer, a joy to watch, but his life is a mess. And even if you are a true believer and you know the lyrics to Turn of the Century, you can savor dozens of unearthed new tracks from a group so talented that their discards were worth albums of their own.In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.Īs a movie, Saturday Night Fever is one hell of a downer.
In short, if you're not hip to the Bee Gees' pre- Fever output, you missed a huge chunk of their career.
Album bee gees saturday night fever full#
Musically, the Bee Gees were full of life, performing passionately, not pitiably. It's as far from disco frivolity as you can get, but neither are these albums overly glum. Rhino's next batch of releases, including Cucumber Castle and Odessa, will take that moving moroseness further with songs such as Bury Me Down By the River and I Lay Down and Die. The Gibbs hit Top 40 gold with melancholy music such as New York Mining Disaster 1941 and I've Gotta Get a Message to You, a song about a condemned man. In the youth-driven '60s, the Bee Gees were as death-obsessed as the Doors. From its rousing title track to power ballads such as Let There Be Love, it confirmed the Gibbs as master songsmiths with knacks for incredible melodies and moody lyrics. Austin Crawfish Festival 'fails spectacularly', attendees leave angry, hungryĭespite splendid tunes such as World, Massachusetts, Birdie Told Me and The Change Is Made, Horizontal failed to reach that inspired high.Deshaun Watson's next team? Here's the oddsmakers' prediction.Meet the Texas librarian fighting book bans in schools.Hiker captures 'once-in-a-lifetime' photo of wildlife at Brazos Bend State Park.POST Houston already loses two key restaurants, replaces them with burger pop-up.Baseball is back: Players, owners reach deal to end MLB lockout.Texas man wins $75K after tracking down and suing telemarketers over illegal robocalls.
0 kommentar(er)
