Surf Wiki
Save to docs
arts

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Play That Funky Music

1976 single by Wild Cherry

Summary

1976 single by Wild Cherry

FieldValue
namePlay That Funky Music
coverPlay That Funky Music by Wild Cherry US vinyl 1976.png
captionSide A of the 1976 US single
typesingle
artistWild Cherry
albumWild Cherry
B-sideThe Lady Wants Your Money
releasedApril 1976
* Funk rock<ref>{{cite bookfirstElizabethlast= Gouldyear= 2017title=
Musical Encounters with Deleuze and GuattarichapterQueer Transversal: The Spectacle Adam Lamberteditor-first1= Pirkkoeditor-last1= Moisalaeditor-first2= Tarueditor-last2= Leppäneneditor-first3= Millaeditor-last3= Tiaineneditor-first4= Hannaeditor-last4= Väätäinenpublisher= Bloomsburypage= 120isbn= 978-1-5013-1675-3chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Dg5sDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA120}}
* R&B<ref name"Breihan 2019"
labelEpic
writerRob Parissi
producerRob Parissi
prev_titleGet Down
prev_year1973
next_titleBaby Don't You Know
next_year1977
misc

| B-side = The Lady Wants Your Money

  • Funk rock{{cite book|first= Elizabeth |last= Gould |year= 2017 |title= Musical Encounters with Deleuze and Guattari |chapter= Queer Transversal: The Spectacle Adam Lambert |editor-first1= Pirkko |editor-last1= Moisala |editor-first2= Taru |editor-last2= Leppänen |editor-first3= Milla |editor-last3= Tiainen |editor-first4= Hanna |editor-last4= Väätäinen |publisher= Bloomsbury |page= 120 |isbn= 978-1-5013-1675-3 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Dg5sDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA120}}
  • R&B
  • 5:00 (album version)
  • 3:12 (single/video version)

"Play That Funky Music" is a song written by Rob Parissi and recorded by American funk rock band Wild Cherry. The single was the first released by the Cleveland-based Sweet City record label in April 1976 and distributed by Epic Records. The performers on the recording included lead singer Parissi, electric guitarist Bryan Bassett, bassist Allen Wentz, and drummer Ron Beitle, with session players Chuck Berginc, Jack Brndiar (trumpets), and Joe Eckert and Rick Singer (saxes) on the horn riff that runs throughout the song's verses. The single hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976; it was also No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of over 2 million records and eventually sold 2.5 million in the United States alone.

The song was listed at No. 93 on Billboard magazine's "All-Time Top 100 Songs" in 2018. It was also the group's only US Top 40 song.

Composition

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 shows. 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 describe the predicament of a hard rock band adjusting to the disco era.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1976)Peak
positionAustralia (Kent Music Report)US Billboard Hot 100US Hot Soul Singles (Billboard)US National Disco Action Top 30 (Billboard)US Cash Box Top 100US Record World Singles
5
1
1
12
1
1

Year-end charts

Chart (1976)PositionBelgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)Canada Top Singles (RPM)Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)Netherlands (Single Top 100)US Billboard Hot 100US Cash Box Top 100
88
34
16
29
5
2
Chart (1977)PositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)
55

All-time charts

Chart (1958–2018)PositionUS Billboard Hot 100
93

Certifications

Vanilla Ice version

| B-side =

  • "Ice Ice Baby" (US)
  • "Go Ill" (UK)

American rapper Vanilla Ice later released a song featuring an interpretation of "Play That Funky Music". Based on this single, the independent record label Ichiban Records signed Vanilla Ice to a record deal, releasing the album Hooked in January 1989, containing "Play That Funky Music" and its B-side, "Ice Ice Baby". Songwriter Robert Parissi was not credited. Parissi was later awarded $500,000 in a copyright infringement lawsuit. "Ice Ice Baby" was also found to contain copyright infringement.

Although it did not initially catch on, its B-side, "Ice Ice Baby", gained more success when a disc jockey played that track instead of the single's A-side.

Following the success of "Ice Ice Baby", "Play That Funky Music" was reissued as its own single (with new lyrics and remixed drums), and peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 in the UK. The song's accompanying music video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe in March 1991.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1990–1991)Peak
positionCanada Top Singles (RPM)Canada Dance/Urban (RPM)Denmark (IFPI)Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)UK Airplay (Music Week)UK Dance (Music Week)US Billboard Hot 100US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales (Billboard)US Hot R&B Singles (Billboard)US Hot Rap Singles (Billboard)US Cash Box Top 100
13
4
10
3
9
28
32
4
42
22
7
4

Year-end charts

Chart (1991)PositionCanada Dance/Urban (RPM)US Billboard Hot 100
44
57

Other cover versions

In 1988, the band Roxanne reached No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a cover version.

English rock band Thunder reached No. 39 in the UK singles chart in 1998 with a cover, taken from their album Giving the Game Away.

Usage in other media

The song appears on the opening show Ces gars-là, a French-language Canadian show on V Télé featuring the stand-up comic Sugar Sammy and Simon-Olivier Fecteau.

In the season 8 episode of The Big Bang Theory, "The Skywalker Intrusion", Sheldon Cooper says to Leonard Hofstadter "Play that funky music, white boy" when Leonard turns on the car radio, though Sheldon is unfamiliar with the cultural reference. When Leonard plays the song for him, Sheldon analyzes the song, concluding that the lyrics present a musical example of Russell's paradox.

The song is also featured in a scene from the film Evolution (2001) featuring the characters portrayed by David Duchovny, Seann William Scott and Orlando Jones singing and dancing to the song after successfully defeating a creature.

References

References

  1. Eames, Tom. (June 6, 2023). "The 100 greatest songs of the 1970s, ranked".
  2. Breihan, Tom. (September 13, 2019). "The Number Ones: Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music"".
  3. Scott, Jane. (April 30, 1976). "Discotakes". [[The Plain Dealer]].
  4. (August 26, 1978). "Platinum Singles Top '76–'77 Years".
  5. "Greatest of All Time – Hot 100 Songs".
  6. (April 26, 2013). "Wild Cherry's Rob Parissi evolves from 'funky music' to smooth jazz". [[Tampa Bay Times]].
  7. Mervis, Scott. (December 13, 2017). "Obituary: Ron Beitle / Played that funky music for Wild Cherry". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
  8. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Chart Positions Pre 1989 Part 4". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien.
  9. (September 18, 1976). "The Hot 100".
  10. (September 4, 1976). "National Disco Action Top 30 / Billboard Hot Soul Singles".
  11. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending SEPTEMBER 11, 1976".
  12. (September 11, 1976). "The Singles Chart".
  13. "Jaaroverzichten 1976". [[Ultratop]]. Hung Medien.
  14. (January 8, 1977). "Top 200 Singles of '76". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
  15. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1976". [[Dutch Top 40]].
  16. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 19". [[Single Top 100]]. Hung Medien.
  17. "Top 100 Hits for 1976".
  18. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1976".
  19. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1970s". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien.
  20. "Hot 100 60th Anniversary".
  21. "Vanilla Ice – Play That Funky Music". [[Recording Industry Association of America]].
  22. Breihan, Tom. (November 15, 2022). "The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music". [[Hachette Book Group]].
  23. (March 28, 1999). "Behind the Music: Vanilla Ice". [[VH1]].
  24. Westfahl, Gary. (2000). "Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture". Greenwood Publishing Group.
  25. (March 9, 1991). "Station Reports > TV > MTV/London".
  26. (March 2, 1991). "RPM 100 Hit Tracks & where to find them". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
  27. (March 2, 1991). "RPM 10 Dance". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
  28. (March 2, 1991). "Top 10 Sales in Europe".
  29. Pennanen, Timo. (2006). "Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972". Tammi.
  30. [http://www.umdmusic.com/default.asp?Lang=English&Chart=F&ChDate=19910203&ChMode=N Radio Luxembourg Singles. February 10, 1991.]
  31. (February 16, 1991). "Playlist Chart".
  32. (February 2, 1991). "Top 60 Dance Singles".
  33. "To the Extreme – Awards". [[AllMusic]].
  34. "CASH BOX Top 100 Pop Singles – Week ending FEBRUARY 9, 1991".
  35. (December 21, 1991). "RPM Dance Tracks of 1991". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
  36. "Top 100 Hits for 1991".
  37. (April 9, 1988). "The Hot 100".
  38. "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 21 June 1998 – 27 June 1998". [[Official Charts Company]].
  39. Roy, Marie-Josée. (April 18, 2014). ""Ces gars-là" : Simon-Olivier Fecteau et Sugar Sammy, nouveau duo terrible de V (VIDÉO)". [[The Huffington Post.
  40. (September 27, 2016). "Play That Funky Music Was No. 1 40 Years Ago". [[MPR News]].
  41. Schedeen, Jesse. (April 3, 2015). "The Big Bang Theory: "The Skywalker Incursion" Review". [[IGN]].
  42. Ray, Lincee. (April 3, 2015). "'The Big Bang Theory' recap: 'The Skywalker Incursion'".
  43. Henry, Brian. (April 12, 2016). "'The Big Bang Theory' recap: A road trip, George Lucas, and 'Doctor Who'". [[Fox News]].
  44. (June 25, 2010). "Evolution - Play That Funky Music [HQ]". [[YouTube]].
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1976-singles 1976-songs 1990-debut-singles billboard-hot-100-number-one-singles cashbox-number-one-singles epic-records-singles sbk-records-singles songs-about-music wild-cherry-(band)-songs vanilla-ice-songs
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Play That Funky Music — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report