CoronaVinyl Day 12 ('70s): Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is the '70s, and it's Saturday, and it will be night tonight, and a fever is one of the tell-tale symptoms of the coronavirus, so the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack seems like the perfect choice.  I think this might be the first vinyl album I ever acquired.  I lifted it from one of my parents, although I didn't even have a record player at the time, so your guess is as good as mine as to why I took it.

Disco was and is a polarizing genre of music, but you can't understate its popularity in the late '70s.  Released in late 1977, this album is kind of the defining disco record, and it's the soundtrack to the defining disco movie.  It heavily features the Bee Gees, who kind of reinvented themselves from pop musicians into disco superstars, but there are also songs by disco mainstays KC & The Sunshine Band, The Trammps, Tavares, Kool & The Gang, Yvonne Elliman, and others.  There are sung songs and instrumentals.

The soundtrack was wildly successful across the world.  It was #1 on the Billboard album charts for 24 consecutive weeks and remained on the album charts for nearly two and a half years.  In the UK, it was #1 for 18 consecutive weeks, and it went to #1 on the album charts in at least eleven other countries.  The album topped the 1978 year-end album charts in at least eight countries.   It remains the best-selling soundtrack of all time, with 54 million copies sold worldwide, and it has been certified platinum 16 times over by the RIAA.

And check out how the songs from the albums performed on the singles charts.  It's pretty ridiculous.  Ten Top 40 hits in the U.S., including 7 #1s.

• "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 21 other international charts, including #1 on eight.
• "Night Fever" by The Bee Gees:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 20 other international charts, including #1 on five.
• "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 16 other international charts, including #1 on five.
• "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 6 other international charts, including #1 in Canada.
• "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 6 other international charts, including #1 in Canada.
• "Jive Talkin'" by The Bee Gees:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 5 other international charts, including #1 in Canada.
• "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy:  #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10 on 4 other international charts, including #1 in Canada.
• "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps:  #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 40 on 4 other international charts, including Top 10 in the UK.
• "More Than a Woman" by Tavares:  #32 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 40 on 3 other international charts, including Top 10 in Canada.
• "Boogie Shoes" by KC & The Sunshine Band:  #35 on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 40 on 4 other international charts.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees
This song is the one most associated with the movie, as it is featured in the iconic opening scene where John Travolta is strutting down a New York street with a butterfly collar and a paint can in his hand.  It's probably also the most iconic disco song, and it's the song that you can use when performing CPR chest compressions because it's 100 beats per minute.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy
It's a disco version of Beethoven's iconic Symphony No. 5, so there you go. 

Favorite song from Side 3:  "Jive Talkin'" by The Bee Gees
Behind "Tragedy,' this is probably my favorite Bee Gees song.  It's catchy.

Favorite song from Side 4:  "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps
The last track on the album is another disco classic, but it's the extended version, clocking in at nearly 11 minutes, so you have plenty of time to snort a few lines in the bathroom and get back out on the illuminated dance floor before the song ends.