As the Spring of 1979 warmed into the Summer of 1979, HERC and his junior high friends had three ongoing, heated debates:
1) Who was the best superhero group in comics: Fantastic Four, The Uncanny X-Men, or The Mighty Avengers? HERC has always been firmly in the Avengers camp, natch.
2) Who was the hottest woman on prime time TV: Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angels), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), or Loni Anderson (WKRP In Cincinnati)? HERC was a Lynda Carter man until he saw Loni Anderson's sweet white bikini poster in the BX one day.
3) Was Donna Summer's new song "Hot Stuff" too rock for disco or too disco for rock? This debate had begun nearly a year earlier when The Rolling Stones had released the rockin' disco choon "Miss You". Then Rod Stewart followed that with his own hybrid "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Further fanning the flames of discourse would be Paul McCartney & Wings and their dance floor ditty "Goodnight Tonight", which was released just before "Hot Stuff" in March 1979. But those all represented rock stars going disco - Summer was the first Disco star going rock. Not surprisingly, HERC and his friends were equally split on this point - some of them thought it was too rock, others thought it was too disco, and still others, mimicking Goldilocks, thought it was just right. That last group was HERC's group. When "Hot Stuff" debuted at #79 on the Hot 100 for the week ending April 21, 1979, the Top 3 songs and 10 out of the Top 16 were disco songs. By June 2nd, it was the Number One song in the country with the title track of the album racing up the charts in its second week. On June 23rd, both songs were in the Top 5, and the following week, it was "Hot Stuff" at number 2 and "Bad Girls" at number 3, with Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" holding the top spot. The next week, the two songs flipped positions in preparation for the ascension of "Bad Girls" to the top on July 14th. The two tracks would share the Top 10 for four more weeks - the duration of the reign of "Bad Girls" as #1 - and both would end up in the Top 5 of all 1979 singles at year's end. Even after all this time, HERC can't hear "Hot Stuff" without it segueing seamlessly into "Bad Girls".
3) Was Donna Summer's new song "Hot Stuff" too rock for disco or too disco for rock? This debate had begun nearly a year earlier when The Rolling Stones had released the rockin' disco choon "Miss You". Then Rod Stewart followed that with his own hybrid "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Further fanning the flames of discourse would be Paul McCartney & Wings and their dance floor ditty "Goodnight Tonight", which was released just before "Hot Stuff" in March 1979. But those all represented rock stars going disco - Summer was the first Disco star going rock. Not surprisingly, HERC and his friends were equally split on this point - some of them thought it was too rock, others thought it was too disco, and still others, mimicking Goldilocks, thought it was just right. That last group was HERC's group. When "Hot Stuff" debuted at #79 on the Hot 100 for the week ending April 21, 1979, the Top 3 songs and 10 out of the Top 16 were disco songs. By June 2nd, it was the Number One song in the country with the title track of the album racing up the charts in its second week. On June 23rd, both songs were in the Top 5, and the following week, it was "Hot Stuff" at number 2 and "Bad Girls" at number 3, with Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" holding the top spot. The next week, the two songs flipped positions in preparation for the ascension of "Bad Girls" to the top on July 14th. The two tracks would share the Top 10 for four more weeks - the duration of the reign of "Bad Girls" as #1 - and both would end up in the Top 5 of all 1979 singles at year's end. Even after all this time, HERC can't hear "Hot Stuff" without it segueing seamlessly into "Bad Girls".
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