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Post by chrislc on Jan 19, 2013 21:21:26 GMT -5
What if Barry had not fallen in love with his own falsetto beginning with Nights On Broadway?
Would the songs have been even better or not as good? Bigger hits or not as big? Would disco have had less of a stigma or the same? Would there have been a butterfly effect and if so what?
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Post by albe on Jan 20, 2013 4:52:03 GMT -5
I think the BGs success always resided in their talents as songwriters and even without the falsetto their harmonic blends was still something to behold. Case in point 'How can you mend a broken heart' their first #1
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Post by matt on Jan 21, 2013 23:31:31 GMT -5
I think the BGs success always resided in their talents as songwriters and even without the falsetto their harmonic blends was still something to behold. Case in point 'How can you mend a broken heart' their first #1 No doubt--their abilities as overall musicians trumped the use of falsettos in the disco years. Keep in mind how many songs they wrote and produced both for themselves and for several other artists. |
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Post by mkarns on Jan 22, 2013 16:59:05 GMT -5
I think the real question is; what if the brothers had put out a new studio album in 79 or 80. Would that have kept the train rolling? They did put out an album in early 1979 (Spirits Having Flown). In late 1979 or 1980, another new album might have done well but not nearly as well as the preceding couple of years. It would likely have done better than "Living Eyes", which waited until fall 1981, though they continued to have success as writers, producers, and guest vocalists in between. |
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Post by tarobe on Jan 25, 2013 11:29:09 GMT -5
Here's a scenario for you:
Late 1978:
Country radio jumps on the Bee Gees' latest release: "Rest Your Love on Me." Due to the heavy country radio exposure, the song rushes to the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country charts where it stays for six weeks (over the Holiday season). It also hits the Top spot of the Hot 100 chart, despite being a departure from their disco-oriented sound. The pop flip side, "Too Much Heaven," is completely ignored. The massive success of "Rest Your Love on Me" paves the way for the Bee Gees big success as country superstars in the 1980s, where they had such smashes as "Islands in the Stream."
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Post by wickster82 on Feb 16, 2013 2:00:28 GMT -5
Late 78/Early 79, disco was still on top and country was still a minor player in the mainstream. I don't think even the big players in country like Eddie Rabbit and Kenny Rogers even made the top ten on the Hot 100 with their Country Toppers. It wasn't until mid 1980 when disco was waning and Urban Cowboy was huge that Country music creeped out of the woodwork and opened up the floodgates to several Country/Pop crossovers especially in the earlier part of 1981. So I don't think they would have gone country considering that disco was still massive and the Bee Gees were not too far gone from Saturday Night Fever.
A more likely scenario would have been if they would have recorded and released Desire instead of giving it their little bro, then released He's A Liar which would have made it higher than #30 and then Living Eyes which may have made the Top 40. This would have put them on the right track steering away from disco.
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Post by albe on Mar 8, 2013 11:29:51 GMT -5
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Post by cachiva on Mar 10, 2013 3:16:19 GMT -5
I think America fell in love with Barry's falsetto at least as much as he did. Maybe more. The stigma attached to disco was that it was popular with blacks and gays. It was meant to be danced to, not played wall-to-wall on every radio station. But it was what was selling, so everybody wanted a piece of the action. I remember diners and 10-table cafes having dance floors back then! And Boston had 3 all-disco radio stations (including the only one that carried Casey's AT40.)
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