Play That Funky Music

May 6, 2024

This month I’m focusing on One Hit Wonders of the 70s.

Today our song is:  Play That Funky Music

Wikipedia tells us this about the song:

Wild Cherry was a hard rock cover band, but with the advent and popularity of the disco era, the group found it increasingly difficult to book gigs. Most promoters had little interest in rock bands when dance acts were far more lucrative. Parissi attempted to persuade his bandmates to incorporate dance tunes into their sets, but they resisted as they did not want to be tagged with the stigma of being "disco". While playing at the 2001 Club on the North Side of Pittsburgh to a predominantly black audience, a patron said to band member Beitle during a break, "Are you going to play some funky music, white boys?" Parissi grabbed a pen and order pad and wrote the song in about five minutes. The lyrics literally describe the predicament of a hard rock band adjusting to the disco era.

Enjoy!