''Bad Girls'' is the seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American singer-songwriter

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her musi ...

. It was released on April 25, 1979, by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

. Originally issued as a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

, ''Bad Girls'' became the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Summer's career (before the release of '' On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II''). It was also her final studio album for Casablanca Records. In 2003,

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and it ...

re-issued ''Bad Girls'' as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition. ''Bad Girls'' reached the top of the US ''Billboard'' 200, where it stayed for six weeks: for one week on June 16, 1979, and then for five consecutive weeks, from July 7 to August 4, 1979. ''Bad Girls'' also topped the ''Billboard'' R&B Albums chart for three weeks, from June 23 to July 7, 1979, and all cuts from the album topped the Disco Top 80 for seven weeks, from May 26 to July 7, 1979. It contained the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one hits " Hot Stuff" and " Bad Girls", and the number-two hit "

Dim All the Lights "Dim All the Lights" is a song by American recording artist Donna Summer released as the third single from her 1979 album '' Bad Girls''. It debuted at number 70 on August 25, 1979, and peaked that year at number two on November 10 and November 17 ...

". Summer also achieved further success when she became the first female artist to have two songs in the top three of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, when on the week of June 30, 1979, "Hot Stuff" fell to number two and "Bad Girls" rose to number three. ''Bad Girls'' was universally acclaimed and was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

—now double platinum—by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA) within just a week of its release. At the

1980 Grammy Awards The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 1980, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1979. This year was notable for being th ...

, ''Bad Girls'' was nominated for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

and

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

and "Hot Stuff" won

Best Female Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for works (songs or albums) conta ...

. Additionally, "Dim All the Lights" was nominated for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards ...

and "Bad Girls" was nominated for

Best Disco Recording The Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording was an award presented at the 22nd Grammy Awards in 1980. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy ...

. ''Bad Girls'' is widely considered one of the greatest

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 ...

albums. It was ranked by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'''s list of the Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time at number 23, where the magazine wrote, "The late great Queen of Disco pulls out all the stops for an album that sums up Seventies radio, from ladies-choice smooch jams to filthy funk." In a

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio ...

review of the album, Daryl Easla wrote, "''Bad Girls'' is a fantastic reminder of when

ummer Kachinamthoduka Puthiyapurayil Ummer known as K. P. Ummer (Malayalam: കെ.പി. ഉമ്മർ) was an Indian actor from Thekkepuram quarter of Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He was active in the Malayalam cinema from early sixties until lat ...

was the Madonna, Whitney, Tina, Diana, Barbra, Aretha, Mariah, Beyonce, Taylor, including Britney, Christina,

Mary J Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also cal ...

and

Missy Missy or Missie is a feminine first name, often a short form of Melissa. People * Mathilde de Morny (1863-1944), French aristocrat and artist * Michele "Missy" Avila (1968-1985), American murder victim * Missie Berteotti (born 1963), American L ...

of her day all rolled into one. No one compares to her as she mastered voice versatility with more than ten voices singing all genres".

Background

Having made her name in the preceding years as "the queen of disco," Summer set to work on her new album with long-time partners

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

and

Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...

, 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 Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

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 In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

/ 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 The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

and became popular again in the 1990s when it was featured in ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is ...

'' and again in the film '' The Martian''. "

" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.

Release and reception

''Bad Girls'' was universally acclaimed by music reviews. As well as the winner of the aforementioned

for " Hot Stuff" (

). The song " Bad Girls" was also nominated for

. "

" was nominated for

and the album itself was nominated for

and

. The album was also nominated for "Favourite Pop/Rock Album" at the

American Music Awards of 1980 The seventh Annual American Music Awards were held on January 18, 1980. Winners and nominees References

* http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1980/amas.htm {{AMAyear American Music Awards, 1980 ...

. The single took an

American Music Award The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produ ...

for "Favorite Pop/Rock Single", while Summer took awards for "Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist" & "Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist". In 2020, the album was ranked at 283 on ''Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. ''Bad Girls'' would be Summer's final studio album for

, who ended 1979 with the release of a greatest hits double-album. For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other formats of music but since she and Casablanca could not come to an agreement on her musical direction, Summer opted to sign a new deal with

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, the then-new label formed by

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in ...

. Her first album with Geffen Records was more rock/ new wave oriented. In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the ''Bad Girls'' album into 1980: "

Sunset People "Sunset People" is a song by American singer Donna Summer taken from her very successful album '' Bad Girls''. The album, released on Casablanca Records in the US, had already produced several chart-topping singles for the disco star, but Summer ...

" and "Walk Away", the latter of which became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

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

, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued ''Bad Girls'' as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.

Commercial performance

The album was certified double platinum for sales in excess of 2 million copies in the U.S. on December 1, 1993 (double albums are certified per disc by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

rather than per complete unit). It also became her second consecutive number-one album in the U.S., also spending three weeks at number one in Canada on the ''

RPM 100 ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

'' national albums chart. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

All tracks produced by

and

except "My Baby Understands" by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers.

Personnel

Musicians

*Donna Summer – lead and background vocals, composition, production *

–

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 ...

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 ...

, guitar, composition, production *

– bass guitar, composition, production *

Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeier (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the "Axel F" theme for the feature film ''Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the 1 ...

– bass guitar, composition,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, keyboards,

synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the earl ...

Bruce Sudano Bruce Charles Sudano (born September 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and his late wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano is t ...

– synthesizer, composition *Joe Esposito – background vocals, composition *

Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The SpectrumCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons - The Vault - Chris ...

– background vocals, drums, percussion, composition *

Jeff Baxter Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense cons ...

– guitar (solo on "Hot Stuff") * Bob Conti – percussion, composition *Edward "Eddie" Hokenson – composition *Pamela Quinlan – background vocals *Jai Winding – piano * Jay Graydon,

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

– guitar *

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2 ...

– steel guitar *Sid Sharp – strings *Scott Edwards,

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

– bass guitar *Gary Grant,

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

, Steve Madaio – trumpet *Gary Herbig – saxophone * Dick Hyde,

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

– trombone * Stephanie Straill, Julia, Maxine Willard – backing vocals

Production

*Producers:

*Arranged by:

*Recording Engineer: Jürgen Koppers, Steven D. Smith *Assistant Engineer: Carolyn Tapp *Mixing Engineer: Jürgen Koppers *Original Mastering Engineer:

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

at Allen Zentz Mastering,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

** recorded and mixed at Rusk Sound studios,

; January – March 1979Discogs – ''Bad Girls'' 2-vinyl LP 1979 Polygram (NBLP-2-7150) New Zealand
/ref> *Production manager: Budd Tunick *Art direction: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff *Design: Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Jeri McManus *Photography: Harry Langdon Jr.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

*''Billboard'' (North America) *Outside North America

Certifications and sales

References

External links

*
Bad Girls
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Deluxe edition reviews
{{Authority control 1979 albums Donna Summer albums Albums produced by Giorgio Moroder Albums produced by Pete Bellotte Casablanca Records albums