Donna Summer’s Eternal Disco: A Review of “Bad Girls”
Donna Summer made a sensational punctuation-mark on the 1970s with her highest-charting album, Bad Girls. Released in 1979, Summer creates a fluid experience of freedom while simultaneously interrogating love on and off of the dancefloor through exceptional writing. For a little over an hour, the dance floor extends into the living room, the library, the gym — any setting decorated by the music. For Summer, disco is about being attuned with one’s emotions along with the music and only looking up to find the next party. Each track considers its affect to the collective groove; consistent across each party is the rising Moog synthesizer, larger-than-life vocals, and compressed Telecaster-cowbell combos. She extends an invitation for the listener to join the party, though she doesn’t beg. In her most commercially-successful album of her career, Donna Summer remains open to all possibilities of the night, dignified and bright.
Considering the musical landscape, Bad Girls is timeless in its idealistic definition of the disco/dance genre. It’s extremely confident and fun before Summer’s lyrics adorn the aesthetic. The first track, “Hot Stuff” is a testament to Summer’s clear mastery of these components in its imagery of a night at the disco with plenty of opportunities for a good night. The bass line pairs with the backup vocals perfectly to create an extravagant experience akin to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”. Albeit promiscuous, the writing features Summer’s deeper motivations for the fun: “Lookin’ for a lover who needs another/Don’t want another night on my own/Wanna share my love with a warm blooded lover” The album’s title track, “Bad Girls” continues the fun with a discussion between the variety of women found on the town: sad girls, bad girls, and naughty girls — sex workers. Following the previous track, “Bad Girls” makes excellent use of the brass section and police whistle to climb to number two on Billboard’s Hot 100 of 1979. This deliberate comment on society’s treatment of sex workers provides an ever-necessary perspective that male-dominant societies lacked. To consider sex workers as girls who are sometimes sad and bad (in both appearance and behavior) strips the perceived face from sex work that places women in danger beyond run-ins with the law. Disco is fun in its carefree attitudes but Summer chose to consider the dangers of looking for fun, in any capacity.
Considering the true goals of fun and what it entails, Summer agrees that fun is simply loose, liberating, and aware of her own emotional needs. “Love Will Always Find You” presents a belief in love that sounds like a comforting rub-on-the-back for anyone who doubts they’ll find love on the dance floor. This song takes a gentle, brighter approach to the subject compared to her expansive hit “I Feel Love”, found in the second disc of the album’s 12” deluxe edition. The consistent kick sounds like a rhythmic strut across a runway, preceding a quick guitar lick in between the bars. To the modern ear, disco represents a discard of inhibition and closing all doors to the heart, but Summer rejects this notion and seriously welcomes companionship: “No, no man is a island/We weren’t born to be alone/Life is made for sharing/And love is gonna find you home”. “Dim All The Lights” succeeds in delivering this sentiment. Summer focuses on a fulfilling, loving partnership that graces her just as the music does. Her vocals fade a bit in this track, suggesting a submission to the music as she continues to employ her powerful voice in the chorus. Given her power, Summer understands love as an ever-powerful force worthy of a tenderness that follows her off of the dance floor.
Bad Girls achieves a display of a vulnerable dancing queen in its latter tracks, primarily due to Summer’s songwriting. Up to the album’s midpoint, “Can’t Get To Sleep At Night”, the album had been mostly written by its producers, Giorgio Moroder (considered the “Father of Disco”) and Pete Bellotte (frequent collaborator of Janet Jackson and Tina Turner). But Summer takes control in expressing her emotional depth and complexity in tracks like “There Will Always Be a You” and “My Baby Understands”. With the exception of “On My Honor”, each track on the album’s third side was written by Summer, for Summer. Across the four exists a love that is intuitive and honest in its devotion: “A ship sailing without end/A lost tired, worn down friend/And old broken run down shore/I keep running back for more” she writes in the “There Will Always Be a You”. These additions to the album confirm its legacy as a disco album that’s attention to love is as true as its devotion to the kick-drum.
Creating a memorable dance album is no simple feat, especially when every listener moves to unique grooves. However, Donna Summer’s Bad Girls is a well-crafted album conscious of its own value. It takes risks in its vulnerability and implementation of new-age production. There is no space between the tracks; each song builds the experience to resemble a night out on the town that leaves you unaware of the elapsed time. Despite Moroder and Bellotte’s heavy influence on the album’s rich production and mastering, Summer’s performance never loses touch with the music’s color and power to move others. When the color-strobe stops and the house lights reappear, Bad Girls is a beautiful blend of leisure, sincerity, and poise.
Listen to the album here.
