Stayin' Alive

"Stayin' Alive" was written by the Gibb brothers for the 1978 movie Saturday Night Fever, for which it was kinda perfect even for those of us (including me) who never liked disco (looking at you, Alex). It wasn't nominated for an Oscar that year -- maybe the Academy also disdained disco -- but it won four Grammys in 1979. In 2004 was listed by Rolling Stone as number 189 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In a 2021 update, it was ranked 99, which is pretty strange for a song that was released 43 years earlier. I have no idea what happened to the 90 songs it jumped, not to mention all the new music recorded in the 17 year interim. Unsurprisingly, most of the covers are by female vocalists, and they are not all disco.

Anyhow, I figured it wouldn't hurt include one disco number after all these years. The iconic Travolta clip is at the bottom of the post.

 

Vocal begins at 2:40

Comments

[cory]

The Rolling Stone 500 is ridiculous in general.
Better assessment is the American Film Institute Greatest Movie songs -Stayin' Alive is #9.
That's about right.
John Travolta has not done his career any favors in the past several years, but he is massively underrated as a film dancer/actor.

[Steve L.]

The AFI list is interesting, but it does depend on what counts as a "movie film," given how many were originally in Broadway productions. And of course, "As Time Goes By," at number 2, was written 11 years before it was in "Casablanca."

If the definition includes any song in any movie, then it ought to include Little Richard performing "Long Tall Sally" in "Don't Knock the Rock," or "Good Golly Miss Molly," lip-synced by John Goodman in King Ralph.

[matthew spitzer]

I don't think you can evaluate the song without acknowledging the context of the film, the album, and the introduction of John Travolta to movies. I went to see the movie with my wife when it came out at one of the very large theaters on Hollywood Blvd. Within fifteen seconds of John Travolta appearing on screen, backed by this song, walking down the street with that mysterious can of paint, my wife and I looked at each other and said, in essence, "Wow! This guy is going to be a star." The song was crucial. And, quickly, the album started selling rapidly, ultimately reaching 40 million in sales worldwide. It did not turn out to be as culturally transformative as Elvis, Beatles and Stones, or rap, but all of the elements seemed very important at the time.

[anon]

disco did reign for a time: the who had to comment on it. It persists, but less obviously because most people think it is just Barry Gibb singing in falsetto and a bass line walking up.

[cory]

John Travolta's performance in Saturday Night Fever is iconic, as is the movie (even though it is not actually a good movie).It is probably the best dancing performance by a star since Gene Kelly in the early 1950s. That is saying something.
Travolta is great in movies such as Blow Out, Get Shorty, as Bill Clinton in Primary Colors, Urban Cowboy and Grease.
Even as a supporting performer in movies like Carrie and Look Who's Talking, he is very good.
Then consider Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction and the fact he was a television star before all that in Kotter and you have a career few can match.
The problem is in between and now he did a lot of dreck that tends to make people forget how good he could be.

[Margaret Raymond]

On an unrelated note, this song is regularly used to train people in CPR because the beat helps providers keep up with the correct frequency for chest compressions.

[Phil Randazzo]

Unfortunately the Brothers Gibb could not follow their advice. Only barry survives.

In memory of the departed (including Andy), here are some pre-disco BeeGees tunes:

Spicks and Specks
https://youtu.be/B2c-AtL_59M?feature=shared

To Love Somebody
https://youtu.be/DWJWWHCFPbE?feature=shared