Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/16/watch-the-teenage-bee-gees-per.html
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A remarkable performance delivered with great confidence and maturity. The harmonies are beautiful and haunting.
I liked the pre-Staying Alive (“psych-pop”) Bee Gees. Never understand why they had to switch to singing everthing to falsetto. (I was a metal head/Pink rocker firmly in the “disco sucks” camp at the time, though I came to appreciate disco’s charms later.)
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I fell for the “disco sucks, the Bee Gees play disco therefore the Bee Gees suck” mentality early in my music digging days. Thankfully a friend made me a tape of the best of the pre-disco Bee Gees and it blew my mind I hadn’t heard any of it (or didn’t realize it was the Bee Gees if I had). I have also thankfully now seen through the “disco sucks” mentality and realize disco is actually fine and often amazingly great.
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Barry Gibb dropping in on the “Barry Gibb Talk Show” was amazing stuff.
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The falsetto was an accidental find – Barry was experimenting with his voice and they all liked it. For them it recalled early R&B and doo-wop and they mixed it with the music coming out of dance clubs in New York other US cities in the mid-70s.
I think much of the derision for the Bee Gees comes from not only the over-exposure of disco but frankly the clothes of the period. People assume the music is silly because they look silly performing it. But much of the music (not just the Bee Gees) holds up well. Interesting that disco hatred was strictly a US phenomenon not shared in places like the UK, where punks like the Clash listened to Chic (amongst others).
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“… teen rock ‘n’ roll celebs in their native Australia”
Not exactly. They were born on the Isle of Mann and began their musical career as youngsters after the family emigrated to Australia. But yes, they were a very popular act here before eventually becoming mega-hits overseas.
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One of Nina Simone’s greatest songs is a Bee Gee’s cover. Anyone that thinks they suck doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.
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It was readily facilitated, because Disco was inherently both “too Black and too Gay.”
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you don’t know what it’s like to love somebody
Absolutely love both versions. Turn it up loud!!!:
Barry Gibb wrote/co-wrote 16 #1 songs, 9 were hits for the Bee Gees, 7 were hits for other artists:
- 3 for Andy Gibb
- 1 for Yvonne Elliman
- 1 for Frankie Valli
- 1 for Barbra Streisand
- 1 for Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton
7 of his songs were #1 in 1978, including 4 that were #1 back-to-back-to-back-to-back, with Stayin’ Alive followed by Andy Gibb’s Love Is Thicker Than Water, then Night Fever replaced by Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You.
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I am glad he discovered his falsetto, because it is one of the best I have ever heard, his vibrato is godlike.
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