The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 392

Number 392

KC & Sunshine Band

"Please Don't Go"

(1979)

Genre: Pop Rock

KC & the Sunshine Band remind me of more peaceful times with the likes of Chicago, Steve Miller Band, Steely Dan and Alan Parsons Project [to name a few]. Unobstuctive music, now if only that was an official term for the genre. Todays music seems to be the opposite and it leans toward the selfish, as Agent Smith once put it, its all about me, me, me.

But don't get me wrong, i would never want Disco back again but i do miss the big bombastic band arena sound and while the Kings of Leon fulfill my needs in 2009, it's today's generation that has to put up with [with open arms and wallets] re-hashed "disco" of Lady Ga Ga's rubbish!

Eminem's inspiration for "My Band"?

The Bee Gees may have been the undisputed disco kings of the late '70s, but KC & the Sunshine Band weren't far behind. From the mid- to late '70s, the multi-member and racially integrated group led by bandleaders Harry Wayne "KC" Casey and Richard Finch racked up some of the era's biggest and instantly recognizable dance hits. Casey and Finch first met in 1972 while both were employed by TK Records in Miami, FL, where among other chores, Casey served as a personal secretary and booking agent for artist Timmy Thomas. KC & the Sunshine Band officially formed in 1973, but a debut single, "Blow Your Whistle," sunk from sight upon release. But it was another Casey/Finch original, "Rock Your Baby," that R&B artist George McCrae scored a hit with in 1974 as KC & the Sunshine Band began issuing further albums and singles, quickly scoring big hits on their own.

Pastor Harry Wayne Casey

The group then began an impressive run of disco hits: 1977's "Shake Shake Shake (Shake Your Booty)," "I'm Your Boogieman," "Keep It Comin' Love," "Boogie Shoes" (the latter included on the monster-selling soundtrack to the hit John Travolta disco movie, Saturday Night Fever), 1979's "Do You Wanna Go Party," and 1980's "Please Don't Go." Despite earning nine Grammy Nominations (receiving three awards) and selling millions of records, KC & the Sunshine Band were still susceptible to the backlash that disco bands felt by the dawn of the '80s, eventually leading to dwindling sales and the group's split by the early '80s (although KC scored a moderate solo hit in 1983 with "Give It Up"). Come the '90s, an appreciation of everything '70s swept across the U.S., which led to a renewed interest bands from the era, prompting KC & the Sunshine Band to re-form for concert performances. That decade saw the release of countless KC "hits" collections and even an episode of VH1's popular Behind the Music series that studied the group's ups and downs. ~ [Greg Prato, All Music Guide]

ffs ..Please Don't Go!

"Please Don't Go" is a song recorded and released in 1979 on the KC and the Sunshine Band album Do You Wanna Go Party. The song was the band's first love ballad, in which the subject pleads obviously for a second chance. Ironically, shortly after the song's one-week run at number one, the group broke up and Harry Wayne Casey went solo. The song was the band's fifth and final number-one hit on Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song is incorrectly noted by some sources as being the last number one hit of the 1970s and the first of the 1980s on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, it was only the number one song for the chart week of January 5, 1980, making it the first #1 single of the 1980's. It was both preceded and followed at number one by "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, which dropped to number two for the week that "Please Don't Go" was number one ~ [source: Wikipedia]

For Bee Gees see Number 526 & #910

For John Travolta see Number 890

For Steve Miller see Number 458

For Steely Dan see Number 463 & #907

What does RS think of KC? [no, not KFC]

KC and the Sunshine Band's disco music is so minimal that the simplest element, such as the addition of a guitar part, can make the difference between excitement and monotony. More than any other top level commercial dance band, KC and the Sunshine Band substitute chant for melody. Though this chant is not much fun to listen to, it is very appealing body music whose repetitiveness and blue sky optimism ultimately suggest that an indigenous Floridian trance music has been born. ~ [Source: RS 228]

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '392nd Song of all Time' was "O-o-h Child" by The Five Stairsteps. The Five Stairsteps has not appeared in The Definitive 1000 of All Time.

Other songs with reference to KC & Sunshine Band #502, #762

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (You can't be serious?) and the Album ranked at (Now if it was KFC .. mmm mm)
This song has a Definitive 1000 rating of 79.2 out of 108