Interestingly enough, while this piece was supposed to be a factual report on the sub-culture that lived the disco scene, Cohn eventually revealed in 1997 that he had made it all up. It was thanks to British writer Nick Cohn, who wrote the 1976 New York Magazine article “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night” in which he glamorized discotheques and their crowds, that Hollywood became interested in the subject matter. Indeed, discotheques had a reputation of being homosexual hangouts, where drugs and prostitution were rampant and readily available. One of the reasons for such a lack of popularity is that, during the early and mid-’70s, disco was not well regarded by society at large. As a matter of fact, it is perhaps ironic that by the time of the production of this flick, disco music and dancing was mostly an underground New York trend in sheer decline.
By the mid-’70s the sound of disco was very well established with its distinctive “four to the floor” drum pattern and the pervasive use of a syncopated electric bass line. However, it is important to note that, contrary to popular belief, Saturday Night Fever did not invent disco music. In addition, the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever proved to be seminal in the renaissance of the disco music during the late ’70s, and in spite of all its detractors, it became the characteristic sound of the era. In the US alone, the Saturday Night Fever album has gone platinum no less than fifteen times (that is, more than 15 million copies have been sold in the US). Indeed, the resulting album quickly became the number one best selling soundtrack of all time, and to date it has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. But quite unexpectedly for everybody involved in the project, in only a matter of days after the release of the film, the Bee Gees’ featured songs “How Deep is your Love”, “Stayin’ Alive”, and “Night Fever” rocketed to the top of the charts, and stayed there for over 20 weeks.įew would disagree that, thanks to the popularity of the film and the music, the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever marked a new era in pop music. According to the trio of brothers, by the mid-’70s they only saw a grim and short future ahead of them. Interestingly enough, when the Bee Gees agreed to participate in Saturday Night Fever by providing the main themes, they could not have imagined that it was a decision that marked a major turning point in their careers. For instance, think about the memorable opening sequence where, on a Brooklyn street, Tony Manero (John Travolta) walks to the beat of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”. And in this regard perhaps the most brilliant quality of this flick is the profound way it fused cherished images with truly unforgettable music, making it impossible to talk about one without referring to the other. Still, any conversation about Saturday Night Fever often tends to boil down to a discussion of its trendy disco music. Therefore, it should not be a surprise that after nearly 30 years since its opening night, Saturday Night Fever remains the quintessential emblem of the ’70s. Clearly, even though Saturday Night Fever does not have today a huge and fervent fan following as the Star Wars saga does, it is also true that very few people ever dressed up like storm troopers or Jedi knights on a day-to-day basis.
It has also been reported that during the last part of the ’70s, John Travolta’s iconic white suit was the most popular in proms and other social gatherings. In an attempt to emulate the spirit of this flick, and for years to come, regular folks wore polyester shirts, platform shoes bell-bottom pants, gold chains, and elaborated hairstyles. Indeed, Saturday Night Fever not only revolutionized the film and music industries, but it also defined and dictated the dress codes and hairstyles of an entire generation. While it is true that other memorable films such as Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975) were seminal, inspirational, and generated the avid interest of legions of fans worldwide, the influence of Saturday Night Fever was far deeper, multifaceted, and across a wider segment of society.
#How many albums were sold for bee gees saturday night fever movie
Arguably, Saturday Night Fever is the movie that most radically altered and reshaped the many facets of popular culture. It is nearly impossible to objectively assess the magnitude of the impact that Saturday Night Fever had all over the world.
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