Donna Summer “Hot Stuff” hit #1

Hot Stuff Donna Summer

Writer(s): Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey (see lyrics here) Released: April 21, 1979 First Charted: April 20, 1979 Peak: 13 US, 14 CB, 13 GR, 15 HR, 12 RR, 3 RB, 11 UK, 12 CN, 11 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.2 UK, 2.35 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 82.8 video, 301.66 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Summer’s earlier top-ten hits “Love to Love You Baby” and “I Feel Love” “introduced the world to the synthetic-psychedelic Euro-disco sound.” SG and established her as “the reigning queen of disco.” SG By 1979, she was “starting to get sick of disco” SG and “wanted to sing a rock song.” SG Neil Bogart, the head of her Casablanca label, suggested they give the resulting “Hot Stuff” to Cher, FB but Summer insisted on recording it herself “and she did it with a vengeance.” SS It was “one of the hardest-rocking singles of the 1970s” SS and even won a Grammy for best rock female vocal. Of course, “Hot Stuff” “still sounded a whole hell of a lot like a disco song” SG and ended up “a classic of the disco era.” DJ Although “Summer wasn’t an especially wild woman in real life, she could play one on record.” SG This was “one of the most salaciously sexually” SS songs of the decade. It “is a song about absolutely needing sex right now, about being so horny that you’re practically climbing the walls. Summer sells the hell out of it.” SG She’s “all feverish urgency.” SG The groove on ‘Hot Stuff’ is just a monster. The beat is a slowed-down panther-stalk version of the disco boom. The synth hook whines and nags, pushing the intensity further while also providing one more sticky hook.” SG At the end, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter of the Doobie Brothers and formerly with Steely Dan, “shows up to play a guitar solo that’s all spiky, discordant edges, growling just as hard as Summer.” SG It was the lead single from Bad Girls, the “last, biggest, and best” SG of a run of six studio albums in the last half of the ‘70s. Rolling Stone called it “the only great disco album other than Saturday Night Fever.” SG Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Donna Summer DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 77. SG Stereogum (2/5/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. WK Wikipedia First posted 1/23/2023.