Play That Funky Music

Of the many one hit wonders produced in the silly '70's, this one stands out as one of the most enduring.

Straight outta the seedy bars of beautiful downtown Steubenville, Ohio, here's Wild Cherry making the most of their moment on The Midnight Special. Front man Rob Parisi has this really disturbing Robert Reed/Barry Williams thing going on and the bands' outfits are the kind of period-specific gems that vintage clothing stores live for. This clip has such an abundance of the awesome awfulness of the '70's that I'm nearly speechless. Take it away, Helen Reddy!

Dated as it is, this was from an era when the songs' lyric was a tad heretical. The idea of a die-hard rocker abandoning rock 'n roll music for a Disco lifestyle was the sort of thing that started fights or even riots. Having lived through that time, I can say with certainty that the argument had little to do with musicological points such as the quality of songwriting. The uncomfortable truth is that Disco was very popular with female, black and gay audiences and the anti-disco backlash from predominantly white, male, working class rock fans can now be interpreted as a smokescreen for racism, homophobia, sexism or all of the above, depending on your point of view. But it was, for all purposes, the Mods vs. Rockers scuffle of the '70's, as witnessed by the notorious 1979 Comiskey Park riot. Keith Olbermann has more on that story.

No less ridiculous are the occasional excesses of modern Country music or what passes for it anymore. This particular recording has ASCAP money written all over it as a motivation. Obviously, the original was more than ripe for parody. What better market to take a poke at the discofied '70's than Country? So, these clowns cut this record, hoping for a parody hit on the radio, like something Weird Al Yankovic would do. Which means that, hopefully soon, every country bar band and honky tonk DJ in the USA is playing it, and that makes the record sales take off, meaning they score co-songwriting royalty cash. At least, that's the theory, but that's all it is; just a theory. I'm just sayin'.

Here's... yes, it really is their band name, Chuck Wagon and The Wheels with "Play That Country Music". This record inexplicably crashed on take-off. By all measures, it should have been a smash, but it's possible that it was just too goofy, even for Country radio, and that's something that takes some real effort to pull off. Strap in. It's a bumpy ride.

The 1976 album "Wild Cherry" is not only still in print on CD, but there's new 180g vinyl available too! Turns out they released a second album, "I Love My Music", which must have been an instant flop, since I'm just discovering it now. Frighteningly, there's also an Mp3 cover version of "Play That Funky Music" out there by rehab regular Leif Garrett, which is best left ignored. Seriously, just... don't.

The 2000 album "Off The Top Rope" by Chuck Wagon and The Wheels is available at Amazon, used, for as low as 1 red cent. That should tell you something right there.