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Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

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Bad Girls is the seventh studio album by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer, released in April 25, 1979 on Casablanca Records. Originally issued as a double album, it incorporates such musical styles as pop, disco, soul, rock, funk and country . Bad Girls became the best-selling album of Summer's career, achieving double platinum sales certification in the United States.

Background

Since the release of her breakthrough album which contained the sexually suggestive "Love to Love You Baby", Summer had been nicknamed "the First Lady of Love" in the press and her record label wanted her to keep this image, despite the fact that she was never truly comfortable with it. Several years later, Summer became addicted to prescription medication and reportedly suffered a mental breakdown at her California home in 1979; shortly afterwards, one of her sisters and backing vocalists in her band took her to a church in Los Angeles and Summer reconnected with her faith. Upon her recovery, Summer set to work on her new album with long-time partners Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, as well as various others she had not worked with before. By this time, although disco music was still popular, other styles such as punk and heavy metal were also doing well on the charts, so the team decided to incorporate a rockier sound into some of the songs. Other songs had a more soul/R&B feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to date. The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident, and synthesizers were used to augment the sound for a more electronic and dance oriented electro music in the first two songs on the album - "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", which also became the first two singles to be released from the album. Both were huge hits and made number one on the American singles chart. The former also won Summer a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and became popular again in the 1990s when it was featured in The Full Monty and again in the film The Martian. "Dim All the Lights" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert ChristgauA−[2]
PopMattersfavorable[3]
Q[4]
Rolling Stonefavourable 1979[5]
Rolling Stone 2003[6]
Virgin Encyclopedia[7]
Yahoo! Musicfavorable[8]

The album became her best-selling studio album, being certified double platinum for sales in excess of 2 million copies in the U.S. by 1993 (double albums are certified per disc by the RIAA rather than per complete unit). It also became her second consecutive number-one album in the U.S., also spending three weeks at number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national albums chart.[9] As well as the aforementioned Grammy Award for "Hot Stuff" (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance), the song "Bad Girls" was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. "Dim All the Lights" was nominated for Best Disco Recording and the album itself was nominated for Album of the Year.

Bad Girls would be Summer's final studio album for Casablanca Records, who ended 1979 with the release of a greatest hits double-album. For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other formats of music but since she and Casablanca could not come to an agreement on her musical direction, Summer opted to sign a new deal with Geffen Records, the then-new label formed by David Geffen. Her first album with Geffen Records was more rock/new wave oriented. In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the Bad Girls album into 1980: "Sunset People" and "Walk Away", the latter of which became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/PolyGram also released a special edition compilation entitled Walk Away - Greatest Hits 1977-1980, which featured a selection of her hits from the Bad Girls period and the preceding years. In 2003 Universal Music, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.

Track listing

Original LP

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hot Stuff"Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey5:14
2."Bad Girls"Donna Summer, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Edward "Eddie" Hokenson, Bruce Sudano4:55
3."Love Will Always Find You"Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder3:59
4."Walk Away"Bellotte, Faltermeyer4:27
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Dim All the Lights"Donna Summer4:40
6."Journey to the Center of Your Heart"Bellotte, Moroder4:36
7."One Night in a Lifetime"Bellotte, Faltermeyer4:12
8."Can't Get to Sleep At Night"Bob Conti, Sudano4:45
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."On My Honor"Summer, Faltermeyer, Bruce Sudano3:34
10."There Will Always Be a You"Summer5:07
11."All Through the Night"Summer, Bruce Roberts6:01
12."My Baby Understands"Summer4:03
Side four
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Our Love"Summer, Moroder4:51
14."Lucky"Summer, Moroder, Esposito, Hokenson, Sudano4:37
15."Sunset People"Bellotte, Faltermeyer, Forsey6:27

Deluxe edition

In 2003, Universal Music re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Producers: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte
  • Arranged by: Harold Faltermeyer
  • Recording Engineer: Jürgen Koppers, Steven D. Smith
  • Assistant Engineer: Carolyn Tapp
  • Mixing Engineer: Jürgen Koppers
  • Original Mastering Engineer: Brian Gardner at Allen Zentz Mastering, Hollywood [10]
    • recorded and mixed at Rusk Sound studios, Hollywood; January - March 1979 [11]
  • Production manager: Budd Tunick
  • Art direction: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
  • Design: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Jeri McManus

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Album
Chart (1979) Peak
position
US Billboard 200 1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1
Canadian RPM 100 Top Albums 1
Norwegian Albums Chart 3
Swedish Albums Chart 3
UK Albums Chart 23
Singles

Certifications

Country Provider Certifications
United States RIAA 2x Platinum[12]
United Kingdom BPI Silver[13]
Preceded by US Billboard 200 number-one album
June 16, 1979 – June 22, 1979
July 7, 1979 – August 10, 1979 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Canadian RPM 100 number-one album
July 21, 1979 - August 4, 1979 		Succeeded by

See also

References

  1. ^ Ruhlmann, William. Review: Bad Girls. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-03-27.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide: Bad Girls". The Village Voice: 1979.
  3. ^ Malone Jr., Melvin. Review: Bad Girls. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2010-03-27.
  4. ^ Columnist. "Review: Bad Girls". Q: 138. November 2003.
  5. ^ Holden, Stephen (July 12, 1979). "Donna Summer: Bad Girls : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2014-01-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Hunter, James (August 21, 2003). "Donna Summer: Bad Girls : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2014-01-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Larkin, Colin. "Review: Bad Girls". Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music: March 1, 2002.
  8. ^ Walls, Richard C. Review: Bad Girls. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2010-03-27.
  9. ^ RPM Magazine - Bad Girls
  10. ^ Discogs - Allen Zentz Mastering profile, contact info, and discography
  11. ^ Discogs - Bad Girls 2-vinyl LP 1979 Polygram (NBLP-2-7150) New Zealand
  12. ^ Gold & Platinum: Searchable Database. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
  13. ^ Gold & Platinum: Searchable Database. British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
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