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History
1920s–1930s: etymology
The first documented use of the word boogie is dated back to 1929.Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...
states that the term was used as early as 1913. Boogie, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...
, is an occasion for dancing to the strongly rhythmic rock music that encourages people to dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
. Earliest association of the word boogie was with blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
and later rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...
and rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...
genres.
1970s–1980s: current meaning
In the 1970s, the term was revitalized for disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...
and later post-disco
Post-disco (also called boogie, synth-funk, or electro-funk) is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1985, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading t ...
subcultures. The term "boogie" was used in London to describe a form of African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
/funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
music from the 1980s. The name boogie tended to be used as, although essentially used to describe disco records, the word disco had gained bad connotations by the early 1980s. Originally the word boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie mus ...
could be found in 1970s funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
and disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...
records, most notably "Boogie Nights
''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic fi ...
" by Heatwave
A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in th ...
, "Blame It on the Boogie
"Blame It on the Boogie" is a song released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson. It has been covered by numerous other artists, including The Jacksons. The song was performed on ''Musikladen'' (January 1979), ''Aplauso'' (February ...
" by The Jacksons
The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most ...
, "Boogie Oogie Oogie
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" is a song by the American band A Taste of Honey from their 1978 self-titled debut album. Released as their debut single in the summer of 1978, the song became an extremely popular "crossover" disco song. It topped the America ...
" by A Taste of Honey
''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...
and "Boogie Wonderland
"Boogie Wonderland" is a song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions, released in April 1979 on Columbia Records as the first single from their ninth album, ''I Am'' (1979). The song peaked at number 14 on the US ''Billboard'' da ...
" by Earth Wind and Fire.
Kashif called to be one of the pioneers of the genre. His single " I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)" from the 1983 debut album Kashif helped to define the early 1980s boogie sound. Also such 1980s tracks like " Give Me the Night" (George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...
, 1980), "Boogie's Gonna Get Ya" (Rafael Cameron
Rafael Cameron (born 1951) is a Guyanese American singer-songwriter best known for his boogie song "Boogie's Gonna Get Ya", which was remixed by François Kevorkian. His most successful single in his career was, however, "Magic Of You (Like The W ...
, 1981), " If You Want My Lovin'" ( Evelyn King, 1981), " You're the One for Me" ( D. Train, 1981), "Don't Make Me Wait" (Peech Boys
The Peech Boys, also known as the New York Citi Peech Boys or NYC Peech Boys, were a band that comprised Bernard Fowler, Steven Brown, Robert Kasper, Darryl Short, Larry Levan and Michael de Benedictus. The group formed at the Paradise Garage ...
, 1982) or "Break Dancin' – Electric Boogie" ( West Street Mob, 1984) helped define the musical style of boogie.[
Throughout the 1980s, various New York City-based boogie groups began experimenting with the dub-infused bass which anticipated the sounds of house. One of these groups was Peech Boys, followed by D. Train, Vicky D, and ]Sharon Redd
Sharon Redd (October 19, 1945 – May 1, 1992) was an American singer from New York City. She was the half sister of Snap! singer Penny Ford.
Life and career
Sharon Redd was born on October 19, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Gene and Katherine ...
. While some record producers, such as François Kevorkian and Larry Levan
Larry Levan (; born Lawrence Philpot, July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992) was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern ...
, were polishing and extending the limits of urban-oriented boogie, others like Arthur Baker and John "Jellybean" Benitez
John Benitez (born November 7, 1957), also known as Jellybean, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, remixer, and music producer. He has produced and remixed artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and the Pointer Sisters. H ...
drew their influences from European and Japanese technopop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
music. The latter approach paved the way for electro, and subsequently, freestyle music
Freestyle music, also called Latin freestyle or Latin hip-hop ''(sic)'' is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area and Philadelphia, primarily among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the 1980s. I ...
.
Boogie had a popular following within London's underground scene
Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...
, often based around nightclubs and club DJs due to a lack of mainstream radio support. Boogie records were mostly imported from the U.S. and were sometimes labeled as "electro-funk" or "disco-funk."[
]
2010s: revitalization
Much later in the 2000s and early 2010s, indietronica
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
groups and artists such as James Pants
James Singleton, known professionally as James Pants, is an American multi-instrumental recording artist. Although his music defies simple categorization, he is promoted as a purveyor of the "fresh beat," an early-1980s sound with influences from ...
, Juice Aleem, Sa-Ra Creative Partners
Sa-Ra is an American musical group based in Los Angeles, California, also known by its full name, The Sa-Ra Creative Partners. The group is composed of Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn. The name translates roughly to "the children o ...
had been influenced by the sounds of boogie and 1980s electronic music in general.[BasicSoul.co.uk](_blank)
- Features - James Pants. Retrieved 2011-08-17. Chromeo
Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk.
, the band has relea ...
, a Canadian duo, published a boogie-oriented album called '' She's in Control'' in 2004. Dâm-Funk
Damon Garrett Riddick (born June 15, 1971), better known by his stage name Dâm-Funk (stylized as DāM-FunK; pronounced "Dame-Funk"), is an American funk musician, vocalist and producer from Pasadena, California. In 2007, Riddick signed with the ...
, another boogie-influenced artist hailing from Los Angeles, California, published an album ''Toeachizown
''Toeachizown'' is the first solo studio album by American neo-boogie musician Dâm-Funk, released on October 27, 2009 by Stones Throw Records. Album was produced by Leon Sylvers III, a record producer of SOLAR Records and a member of 70s disco ...
'' in 2009.
During the mid to late 2010s, boogie was part of the nu-disco and future funk renaissance, the former a primarily European artists-led EDM phenomenon, fusing French house with American 1970s disco and 1980s boogie, and 1980s European electronic dance music styles, the latter connected to the vaporwave
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, visual art style, and Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, elevator, R&B, and lounge music fr ...
scene. Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical ...
("Uptown Funk
"Uptown Funk" is a song by British record producer Mark Ronson from his fourth studio album, ''Uptown Special'' (2015), featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released as the album's lead single on 10 November 2014 via dow ...
") was one of the more mainstream 2010s artists influenced by boogie.
Electro
Among electro-boogie (later shortened to electro) pioneers include Zapp Zapp may refer to:
People
*Jim Zapp (1924-2016), baseball player
*Robert-Richard Zapp, a German U-boat commander during World War II
*Walter Zapp, a Baltic German inventor, designer of miniature cameras
*Zapp Brannigan, a fictional character from t ...
, D. Train, Sinnamon
Sinnamon was an American female R&B vocal trio, consisting of Connecticut natives Barbara Fowler, Marsha Carter, and Melissa Bell from New York City. The group went through an abrupt development from a minimalist contemporary R&B sound of post ...
and other post-disco/boogie musicians; especially those influenced by new wave and synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
acts like Human League or Gary Numan
Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...
, combined with the R&B sound of Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...
and George Clinton.[ As the electronic progression continued, acoustic instruments such as ]bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
were replaced by Japanese-made synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s and most notably by iconic drum machines like Roland TR-808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...
. Early uses of this drum machine include several Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is cons ...
tracks in 1980–1981, the 1982 track " Planet Rock" by Afrikaa Bambaataa, and the 1982 song "Sexual Healing
"Sexual Healing" is a song recorded by American singer Marvin Gaye from his seventeenth and final studio album, '' Midnight Love'' (1982). It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, followi ...
" by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
.
About electro origins, Greg Wilson argues:
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boogie (Genre)
20th-century music genres
1980s in music
2000s in music
2010s in music
American styles of music
Post-disco
New wave music