Donna Summer passes away! So does Doug Dillard!

Does anybody remember the whole D.R.E.A.D. nonsense started by WRIF in the 80's? D.R.E.A.D.stood for Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco. I love how the word "abolition" with it's connotations of the historical struggle against slavery got co-opted into being used in an "anti-black, homophobic" campaign against a genre of music. I guess it was a misguided attempt by white males to fight a rearguard action against the ceaseless march of pop culture. Like the mighty Mississippi, popular culture cuts its own channel and really, can't be stopped. As Alan Freed once said "You can't stop Rock'n'Roll." Parents and the "White Citizen's Councils" in the south couldn't stop rock'n'roll and insecure white males couldn't stop disco, punk, hip-hop, new wave...you name the late 20th Century musical movement. After a few years of this stupidity, WRIF gave up the campaign, hopefully out of embarrassment and shame and the D.R.E.A.D.card transmogrified into the "WRIF" gold card.

I started off with this history as an attempt to place Donna Summer in some sort of context for someone like me who grew up a white, suburban "rock'n'roll" kid. I was never "anti-disco" and in fact loved, and purchased a lot of the great genre classics. My entry point was probably the Bee Gees because I had loved their 'Beatlish" ballad sound and I loved their new sound, tunes like "Jive Talking" and "Nights On Broadway!" I loved a great disco single like "Rock The Boat" by the Hues Corporation. And I loved Donna Summer. Oh, I found her first hit "Love To Love You Baby" to be somewhat annoying with it's phony orgasmic moaning and lackluster backing track. Had her career ended there Donna would have been a novelty one-hit wonder, mostly forgotten.

But Donna Summer had a lot more to offer, and she would be a dominant chart force for years to come, surviving the demise of disco (though it never really went away, it was just renamed "Dance" music). I want to focus on 3 prime examples of Donna's art. All were contained on one, two disc "vinyl" album "On The Radio" Parts 1 and 2, which I still own.


First the smash single "Hot Stuff" which is her biggest hit, and likely,  most popular song. It was a huge, across the board #1 and sits at number 104 on the Rolling Stone list of greatest songs of all-time. I have posted it here but I hardly have to as you can probably conjure it up in your mind.  Donna won two Grammys with this song, including becoming the first black woman to win best Female Rock vocal. The cool, vaguely "Arabic" guitar solo is by ex-Doobie Brother/ex-Steely Dan guitarmeister Jeff "Skunk" Baxter!

Donna's next album was  Bad Girls which contained the hit title track and the number 2 charting "Dim All The Lights." The record win  the Grammy in 1980 for Best Disco Recording (a category which did not long survive the end of Disco). "Dim All The Lights" had a softer, more-ballad oriented feel while still being danceable.  It really did capture the feel of dancing at evening's end with your "special one" at the local Disco. Possibly my favorite Donna Summer tune.

The final tune in this Donna Summer 3-pack tribute is "I Feel Love" which is throbbing and intense featuring Donna's vocal soaring above an "electronica" backing by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellote. This tune was from Donna's 1977 I Remember Yesterday release. It hit number 6 on the Billboard charts but went to number 1 in the UK. More importantly, the record's use of an all-computer generated backing track pointed the way to the Electronic Music Movement that remains in full swing and appears to be growing more popular by the day. Rolling Stone marks it as the 418th greatest song of all time but it may deserve a higher ranking, just based on influence alone. It is also one of Donna's most covered tunes.

Donna passed away last week at the age of 63, remaining an active recording and touring artist until she became ill from lung cancer. Like the "anti-hero" in TV's "Breaking Bad" Donna is one of those rare cases of lung cancer being developed by a non-smoker. Her death was given maybe half the publicity of Whitney Houston's which is sad because Donna was apparently blameless in her demise.



I wanna take a moment to remember Doug Dillard the great Bluegrass musician and member of the family Bluegrass band "The Dillards." You might recall the Dillards appearing on the Andy Griffith Show as the backwoods, bluegrass playing "Darling" family. In that role they probably introduced more American's to bluegrass then any other single musician or group. Hugely influential, if not as prolific as their peers, they became the first bluegrass band to "electrify." They were huge influences on the Eagles, especially Bernie Leadon and the Byrds. They even played with Elton John on his first American Tour.

Doug Dillard formed "Dillard and Clark" with ex-Byrd Gene Clark in 1968 and did two hugely influential albums. "The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard and Clark" and "Through The Morning, Through The Night." You might remember this Dillard and Clark tune being redone by the Eagles.

Bernie Leadon was in Dillard & Clark, mainly on the first album and took this tune with him to the Eagles. Both Dillard & Clark albums are worthwhile and can be found packaged together on one disc, with bonus tracks and great liner notes.

Doug Dillard died last Tuesday at the age of 75. His death, the day before Donna Summer's, received little notice.

RIP Doug and Donna.