Bad Girls is the seventh
studio album by American
pop singer
Donna Summer, released April 25, 1979 on
Casablanca Records. Originally issued as a
double album, it incorporates such musical styles as
disco,
soul, and
rock.
Bad Girls became the best-selling album of Summer's recording career, achieving
double platinum sales certification in the United States, and selling approximately four million copies total worldwide.
Background
Since the release of her breakthrough album which contained the sexually arousing "
Love to Love You Baby",
Summer had been nicknamed "the First Lady of Love" in the press and her
record label wanted her to keep this image, despite the fact that she
was never truly comfortable with it. Several years later, Summer became
addicted to prescription medication. Upon her recovery, Summer set to
work on her new album with long-time partners
Giorgio Moroder and
Pete Bellotte,
as well as various others she had not worked with before. By this time,
although disco music was still popular, other styles such as
punk and
heavy metal
were also doing well on the charts, so the team decided to incorporate a
rockier sound into some of the songs. Other songs had a more
soul/
R&B
feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to
date. The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident, and
synthesizers were used to augment the sound for a more electronic and
dance oriented electro music in the first two songs on the album - "
Hot Stuff" and "
Bad Girls",
which also became the first two singles to be released from the album.
Both were huge hits and made number one on the American singles chart.
The former also won Summer a
Grammy Award for
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and became popular again in the 1990s when used in the British film
The Full Monty. "
Dim All the Lights" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.
Release and reception
The album became her best-selling album ever, currently double
platinum, at over 2 million copies sold in the U.S. and shifting about
four million total worldwide. It also became her second consecutive
number-one album in the U.S., spending in addition three weeks at number
one in Canada on the
RPM 100 national albums chart.
As well as the aforementioned
Grammy Award for "
Hot Stuff" (
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance), the song "
Bad Girls" was also nominated for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and
Best Disco Recording. "
Dim All the Lights" was nominated for
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the album itself was nominated for
Album of the Year.
The year 1979 ended with
Casablanca releasing a Donna Summer greatest hits double-album, which also included a couple of new songs, one being the hit single
On the Radio.
For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other
formats of music but she and the label could not come to an agreement on
her musical direction. Summer instead opted to sign a new deal with
Geffen Records, the then-new label formed by
David Geffen. Her first album with Geffen Records was more
rock/
new wave
oriented, a format Summer had always liked, not to mention there had
been a "disco backlash". In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release
more singles from the
Bad Girls album; "
Sunset People" and "
Walk Away". "Walk Away" became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/
PolyGram also released a special edition compilation entitled
Walk Away - Greatest Hits 1977-1980, which featured a selection of her hits from the
Bad Girls period and the preceding years. In 2003
Universal Music, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued
Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
Track listing
Original LP
Deluxe edition
In 2003, Universal Music re-issued
Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
- Disc one
Remastered original album with bonus track.
- 16. "Bad Girls" (Demo version) - 3:59
- Disc two
Contains a selection of 12" versions and extended mixes from the years 1977-1980.
- "I Feel Love" (12" Version) (Bellotte, Moroder, Summer) - 8:12
- "Last Dance" (Paul Jabara) - 8:12
- MacArthur Park Suite: "MacArthur Park"/"One of a Kind"/"Heaven Knows"/"MacArthur Park (Reprise)" (Bellotte, Mathieson, Moroder, Summer, Jimmy Webb) (12" Single Mix) - 17:37
- "Hot Stuff" (12" Version) - 6:47
- "Bad Girls" (12" Version) - 4:57
- "Walk Away" (12" Version) - 7:16
- "Dim All the Lights" (12" Version) - 7:14
- "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (Duet with Barbra Streisand) (Roberts, Jabara) - 11:45
- "On the Radio" (Long Version) (Moroder, Summer) - 7:34
- From 1979 soundtrack Foxes. Original version appears on On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II
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Personnel
Musicians
- Donna Summer - lead and background vocals, composition, production
- Giorgio Moroder - bass, synthesizer, guitar, composition, production
- Pete Bellotte - bass, composition, production
- Harold Faltermeyer - composition, drums, keyboards, synclavier
- Bruce Sudano - synthesizer and composition
- Joe Esposito - background vocals and composition
- Keith Forsey - background vocals, drums, percussion, and composition
- Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - guitar (solo on "Hot Stuff")
- Bob Conti - drums and composition
- Edward "Eddie" Hokenson - composition
Production
- Producers: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer
- Engineer: Jason Corsaro
- Production manager: Budd Tunick
- Drum programming: Jimmy Bralower
- Art direction: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
- Design: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Jeri McManus
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