Forty years ago, disco ruled the airwaves and during this week Lipps, Inc.'s "Funkytown" was on top of the pop charts. This single, which reached number one in an impressive twenty-eight different countries, held this spot for four weeks in the US and remains one of the songs that best represents this dance craze.
This band was created by Steven Greenberg who was a Minnesota musician who wanted to jump on the disco bandwagon. He managed to get the attention of Casablanca Records with his song, "Rock It" which had been a local hit. Greenberg was signed to the label, the song was released nationally and reached the top twenty on the US Disco chart which prompted Casablanca to allow him to make an album. He assembled several session musicians and vocalist, Cynthia Johnson to make up Lipps, Inc.
"Funkytown", from the debut album, "Mouth To Mouth", was an instant hit and would be the group's only charting pop song in America. The only other significant hit for Lipps, Inc was a dance cover of Ace's 1975 hit, "How Long" which charted in a few countries including the US Dance. After Lipps Inc.'s third album "Designer Music", Johnson left the band and was replaced by Margie Cox and Melanie Rosales. There would be a final album, "4" in 1983 before Lipps, Inc. disbanded two years later. Let's get lost in the carefree time of dancing in a disco with "Funky Town":
The Australian rock band, Pseudo Echo did a cover of "Funkytown" in 1986. While it was intended to be more of a fun spoof, this group's version would also became a major international smash, reaching number six in America and number one in their native country, just like the original version. This would be Pseudo Echo's only significant hit and as a bonus, here is their dance-rock take of "Funkytown":
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