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 Just what does make a record successful?
Consider it a combination of four major ingredients and you won't go wrong: 1) The Song; 2) The Singer; 3) The Producer; and 4) The Fame.
When an artist is firing on all four cylinders--in the case of the Beatles, for instance--success becomes inevitable.
Anyone wondering where Wild Cherry fits into this equation need only look at 1976's pop singles chart to get a clue. In a year where # 1 records included one-hit wonders like C.W. McColl ("Convoy"), Rhythm Heritage ("Theme From S.W.A.T."), the Starland Vocal Band ("Afternoon Delight"), and the immortal Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band ("A Fifth Of Beethoven"), Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" was more of the same but better. It soared to the top of both the pop and r 'n' b charts and remains the Ohio-based band's sole claim to fame. Who were they? What did they look like? Not important, really. Yet the song--released at the very height of the disco era and lyrically very much to the point--certainly was.
Having the right song is by no means limited to flashes-in-the-pan. Heatwave's "Boogie Nights," which emerged a year later, was a similar slice of dance-funk, but the track was just one of many fine tunes recorded by this still-underrated, multi-national group. Here again, we have a case of the right song at the right time--and the one that helped the group establish a respectable career.
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