It got stuck at #2 for 2 weeks before moving up to #1 and then got stuck at #2 for 3 weeks after falling from #1, so it had the potential to be #1 for 6 weeks.
Had its own 45 label design . . . Though the label type varied by plant, all copies used this variant which was derived from the 78 RPM design that launched Atlantic in early 1948.
I liked this one about as much as "Le Freak". The groove and those strings are amazing. In fact, that groove was so amazing we'd be hearing it again in the not too distant future. And again. And again. And again... I'm actually surprised I never bought a Chic album. I suspect if I'd been a year older when this topped the charts, I would have. I wasn't quite in my album buying phase - yet.
Yeah... I was only 11, and my allowance didn't allow for a lot of album buying. At this point I owned: Abba: Greatest Hits Volume 2 Blondie: Plastic Letters Neil Diamond: Serenade Anne Murray: New Kind Of Feeling
It wasn't unique. I don't know how many 45s Atlantic pressed with that label, but that was one they used in the two years of 1979-1980. AC/DC's "Back In Black", and at least three Narada Michael Walden albums used it.
The first time I heard this was on the radio when visiting my sister at college in June of 1979. It was so good I had to hear it repeatedly. The urban station in the Phoenix area played the album/12" version like every hour on the hour. I bought the 45, and then the album the very minute I could. That extended breakdown was the icing on the cake. I always thought it was interesting how they sarcastically deadpanned the lyrics on a song with a title of "Good Times". Years later I found that it was yet another swipe at disco, and that Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers really didn't like disco, and only used it to get to the point where they could do rock music. If you listen to the whole album "Risqué", you'll find a similar negative vibe throughout.
Actually, the LP labels you speak of with that design, go back to 1973 with J. Geils Band. From whom we'll be hearing in a few years. But 45 RPM, though . . .
I remember that too (and I know the song you're referring to), but I seem to recall "Cara Mia" by Jay and the Americans also got a mention.
I love the groove on "Good Times". (A number of artists did as well as evidenced by a number of hits that would come down the pike over the next few years). Another example of how well Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, and Tony Thompson locked in with one another.
entering the top 10 this week, for a peak at #9 will be Elton John's first top 10 in 3 years. For my money, it's one of his best singles in any time frame.. and should have been #1. Part of this reason being that I absolutely WORSHIP Thom Bell.
Then, Atlantic used it periodically, and seems to have tried replacing the iconic Atlantic labels altogether in 1979, 1980, and 1981. They used grey, red, and yellow. But, even that wasn't across the board, as I have Chic albums from 1980 with the classic logo.
I find the song kind of boring and monotonous. I got sick of hearing it, too. What's funny is that a lot of the songs we are now discussing had been played on the radio for months at that point.
And Mr. John was the second artist whom Mr. Bell persuaded to sing in a lower register. (The first, in 1973, was Johnny Mathis.)
"Good Times" was another song whose instrumental break on the long version was used to sign off WLIB at sundown. (Messrs. Rodgers and Edwards were among a group of R&B'ers who did promos for WLIB as "The Best of Both Worlds" at that point. The other I remember who did that were McFadden & Whitehead, who would have their biggest - and only - hit as stand-alone artists this year with "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now.") But it would also make sense that there was this subversive streak in Mr. Edwards and Mr. Rodgers.
That's why I only like the 12" disco version of "Ain't No Stopping Us Now". Not only that, Narada Michael Walden also copped that long instrumental break for a couple of singles he released at the turn of the decade.
Is it because the song has no bridge? I will admit it would have benefitted from being about 30 seconds shorter. But in the disco era... it didn't sound so repetetive in contrast.
It's not the lack of a bridge, it's Elton himself. He sounds like he was bored or was self-medicated.
