"I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" is a popular disco song recorded by Alicia Bridges in 1978. It went to number two for two weeks on the disco chart.[1] The song crossed over to the pop and soul charts peaking at number five on the Billboard pop charts, and number thirty-one on the soul chart.[2]
"I Love the Nightlife" (also "Night Life") was successful in Europe as well.
Background
The song was co-written by Alicia Bridges and Susan Hutcheson in 1977 for Bill Lowery, founder of Southern Music. "I Love the Nightlife" was the first single produced by Steve Buckingham who was invited to produce the single's parent album entitled Alicia Bridges after he had played guitar on a session by the singer. Bridges suggested to Hutcheson that they write a song with either "disco" or "boogie" in the title after Bridges saw a current Top Ten hit list featuring several songs with dance-oriented titles. The original title of the resultant song: "Disco 'Round", became the subtitle under the main title "I Love the Nightlife" as Buckingham considered it an R&B number and didn't want it labeled disco:[3] Bridges herself would later admit she'd had hopes that the song would be received as a Memphis soul number, calling it "something Al Green might sing".[4] However it is as a disco classic that the song is most remembered: in a 26 August 1998 MTV countdown of the Top 54 Dance Songs of the Disco Era, "I Love the Nightlife" was ranked at #37.[5]
1994 re-release
In 1994, the song gained renewed interest after being featured in the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The song was also re-released on the Australian charts, where it was a modest success. Because of its association with the film (and also because Bridges herself is an open lesbian), the song is closely linked with gay culture. It was remixed for this release.
In The Simpsons episode "Homer's Phobia", Homer dances to the song. In another episode, "I'm with Cupid", Apu taught a parrot to sing "I Love The Nightlife" with clever new lyrics to Manjula. Marge was impressed although she hates the song; Homer admits that he hates it as well. It was also featured in the episode "A Milhouse Divided", with Luann Van Houten humming it while burning Kirk's storage boxes. It also can be heard in the 2008 episode "Mypods and Boomsticks" in Studio 54 when Itchy travels back to Studio 54 in the "Itchy & Scratchy" short.
In the 1979 horror-comedy film Love At First Bite, the vampire Dracula and his would-be bride dance to the song in a disco. However, the 2007 DVD release of the movie features a different song in the relevant scene.
In the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer, Mike Myers's character quotes the lyrics from the chorus during a conversation with his love interest in the movie.
In the Jeopardy! round of the May 29, 2006 episode of Jeopardy!, the last two categories were "I Love the Nightlife" (about cities at night) and "I Got to Boogie" (about famous escapees).[citation needed]
The song was featured in the seventh season of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode “Frank’s Brother” during the scene where Frank returns from Colombia.
The song was in the May 15, 2019 episode "Five, Six, Seven, Ate!" (episode 3 of Season 5) of iZombie during the montage scene in which Liv and Clive teach Ravi to dance.
Cover versions
Laura Branigan sang the song live on German television and it was included on the very rare compilation album Gut Gestimmt in 1980.
In 1995 the song was released by the band Bronski Beat labeled "I Luv The Nightlife", which featured two remix versions of the original song and two remix versions of the alternate song Hit That Perfect Beat Boy.
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