Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

The Trammps -- Disco Inferno

 

Welcome to the weekly Reminiscings of Youth! I remember when I saw "Ghostbusters" at the theatre over 40 years ago, there was that one scene with nebbishy accountant Louis Tully (played by "SCTV" cast member Rick Moranis who excelled in playing such characters) holding a party for his clients. Just to show how out of touch he was with most things, The Trammps' "Disco Inferno" was playing all too loudly on his stereo during a time when disco was considered way out-of-date in the new age of New Wave, synthpop and breakdancing music. Plus even the term "Disco Sucks" itself was pretty much a cliché at that point.

But I remember when "Disco Inferno", along with a lot of other similar songs back in those 1970s, was the bee's knees in the record shops, dance clubs and radio. I also heard it a lot on those disco LP compilation commercials on TV. It was released on December 28th 1976 and though it didn't make too much headway up the charts in its initial release, it was given rocket boosters once it had been included onto the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack in its nearly 11-minute version. In the following year of 1978, "Disco Inferno" even scraped the Top 10 by reaching No. 11 in America while in Canada, it actually penetrated the Top 10 on RPM by scoring a No. 6 ranking. 

Never had a chance to dance to this, but after seeing John Travolta incinerating the floor at the disco, I wouldn't dare. Anyways, what was at the top of the Oricon charts on December 27th 1976?

1. Harumi Miyako -- Kita no Yado Kara (北の宿から)


2. Koichi Morita and The Top Gallants -- Seishun Jidai (青春時代)


3. Naoko Ken -- Abayo (あばよ)

3 comments:

  1. You know I look twice when I see 1976, that kind of underdog or forgotten year of the music world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aku Yu: Dang, that dude wrote EVERYTHING!

    ReplyDelete

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