ROCK Sex: "Love Is The Drug" - Roxy Music > Chic > Grace Jones > Duran Duran

ROCK Sex dims the light, you can guess the rest.

Today, under the influence of "Love Is The Drug".

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in the mid-'70s, Roxy Music began intersecting their Art Rock with Funk, through Bryan Ferry's love of Soul music.

The quintessential "Love Is The Drug" was the game-changer.


ROXY MUSIC -"Love Is The Drug" (1975)




Nigel Rogers loved the tight terse bass sound so much that it inspired this classic by Chic.

CHIC -"Good Times" (1979)


(Many other songs were then catapulted by this song.)



The combination of angular pop with martial disco influenced PostPunk, Mutant Disco, and New Wave bands to follow.

In the nexus of Reggae Dub, Disco, and New Wave was Grace Jones with her cover version.

GRACE JONES -"Love Is the Drug" (1980)



And if you combine the two songs by Roxy Music and Chic, you have the template for Duran Duran.

DURAN DURAN -"Planet Earth" (1981)



The Duran Duran spin-off band, The Power Station, featured Bernard Edwards (producer) and Tony Thompson (drums) of Chic.

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"Love Is The Drug" also inspired these variations.


THE HOT RATS (Supergrass) -"Love Is the Drug" (2009)


BALLA -"Montra" (2010)


Bryan Ferry himself remade the song in a 1920s Jazz style, which was included in Baz Luhrmann's version of THE GREAT GATSBY (2013).





© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "Good Times!" - Chic > SugarHill Gang > Queen > Defunkt > Ting Tings

• "Soul Makossa" - Manu Dibango > Trovaioli >
Michael Jackson

• "Don't Bring Me Down" - Ronnie Dawson > Electric Light Orchestra > Dazz Band > The Hives

• ROCK Orgy: "Genius of Love"

• "Strict Machine" - Norman Greenbaum + Donna Summer = Goldfrapp


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Let's Dance" - David Bowie > George Clinton > Craig David

ROCK Sex is putting on its red shoes to dance the blues.

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Here's David Bowie's comeback hit "Let's Dance", which helped launch the career of guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan:

DAVID BOWIE -"Let's Dance" (1982)



Here's P-Funk commander George Clinton meeting him back at the turnaround:

GEORGE CLINTON -"Last Dance" (1983)



And here's Craig David putting some new steps in the relay:

CRAIG DAVID -"Hot Stuff (Let's Dance)" (2007)




© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "Fame" - James Brown > David Bowie > James Brown

• "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes > Iggy Pop > The Jam > David Bowie

• "Ground Control to Major Tom" - THE LONELY ASTRONAUT Movies, with Music Player!

• BEYOND COOL: Pedro Bell, Funkadelic's visionary!


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Good Times!" - Chic > SugarHill Gang > Queen > Defunkt > Ting Tings

ROCK Sex is all about the throughline that runs through everything.

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Chic conquered Disco with a tight propulsive rhythm section [Bernard Edwards (b), Tony Thompson (d), and Nile Rodgers (g)] and bright pop harmonies (Norma Jean Wright, Luci Martin)...

CHIC -"Good Times" (1979)



Sugar Hill Records used that as the backbeat for THE breakthrough Rap song emceed by The Sugarhill Gang. The music was played by Keith Leblanc (d), Skip McDonald (g), and Doug Wimbish (b), who went on to become the avant-Funk group Tackhead.

SUGARHILL GANG -"Rapper's Delight" (1979)



Freddie Mercury loved that hard beat and the emerging HipHop so much that he corraled Queen into one of the biggest hits they ever had...

QUEEN -"Another One Bites the Dust" (1980)



Defunkt came out of the NYC PostPunk scene, with an edgy mix of James Brown rhythms, Sonny Sharrock guitar, and Charles Bukowski-esque lyrics. This acerbic deconstruction of "Good Times" contrasts prostitution and addiction against the Reagan whitewash of the American Dream.

DEFUNKT -"In the Good Times" (1981)



And here's that rhythm again in this dance club hit by Ting Tings from England.

TING TINGS -"Shut Up and Let Me Go" (2008)



"I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip hop, ah you don't stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat!"

© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "APACHE", HipHop's Sacred Secret Beat! - Bongo Band > Bambaataa > EVERYONE EVER

• "Amen Break" - How 6 Seconds From 1969 Propel All Modern Music


• ROCK Orgy: "Genius of Love"


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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