Everybody's Dancin'

{{Distinguish|Everybody's Dancin' (film)|text=Everybody's Dancin', a 1950 American musical film}}

{{more citations needed|date=February 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Everybody's Dancin'

| type = Album

| artist = Kool & the Gang

| cover = Everybody's Dancin1978.JPG

| alt =

| released = October 1978

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = Disco, funk

| length = {{duration|m=35|s=58}}

| label = De-Lite

| producer = Kool and the Gang, Ronald Bell

| prev_title = The Force

| prev_year = 1977

| next_title = Ladies' Night

| next_year = 1979

}}

Everybody's Dancin' is a studio album by the American band Kool & the Gang, released in 1978. It peaked at No. 71 on Billboard's Top Black Albums chart.{{cite magazine |title=Kool & the Gang |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/kool-the-gang/chart-history/tlp/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=13 February 2024}}

Reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{AllMusic |class=album |id=r42574 |label="Kool & the Gang: Everybody's Dancin’" |accessdate=29 October 2011}}

}}

In 1978, despite their music's recent feature in Saturday Night Fever, Kool & the Gang were "at a low point" of commercial decline.{{Cite web |date=2022-10-08 |title=WBSS Media-Clifford Adams |url=https://wbssmedia.com/artists/detail/2471 |access-date=2024-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008000859/https://wbssmedia.com/artists/detail/2471 |archive-date=8 October 2022 }}

The Rolling Stone wrote that the band struggled to maintain its relevance in the disco world, despite a prominent horn section.{{Cite magazine |date=2024-12-05 |title=He Sang Kool & the Gang's Hits. Now He's Headed to Rock Hall of Fame |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kool-and-the-gang-jt-taylor-rock-hall-fame-celebration-1235136497/ |access-date=2024-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241205111916/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kool-and-the-gang-jt-taylor-rock-hall-fame-celebration-1235136497/ |archive-date=5 December 2024 }} Speaking of the circa-1978 era, drummer George "Funky" Brown stated, "We tried our version of disco. It didn't work."

The Detroit Free Press opined that "Kool and the Gang have gone bland," noting that "they've joined the disco lemmings...The edge has gone".{{cite news |last1=Duffy |first1=Mike |title=Kool and his gang have gone bland |work=Detroit Free Press |date=31 Dec 1978 |page=4B}}

= Predecessor to commercial success =

{{See also|Ladies' Night (album)}}

The year of its release, the band played at a record store to promote Everybody's Dancin'.{{Where|date=December 2024}} When nobody showed up for the performance, the band was "humiliated".{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Ronald Bell recalled that a teenager visiting the store told the band "something they all vaguely sensed": that despite the success of "Jungle Boogie" (1973), "Hollywood Swinging" (1974), and "Funky Stuff" (1973), Kool & the Gang was "now...washed up". Bell claimed he took it as a wake-up call to "make something pop" the next time the band was in the studio.

The following year, producer Eumir Deodato arranged for traditional choruses, a front man vocalist (J. T. Taylor) and the band released Ladies' Night. It was their first major success and their first album to go platinum.

Track listing

{{Track listing | headline = Side one

| title1 = Everybody's Dancin{{'-}}

| writer1 = Ronald Bell

| length1 = 8:02

| title2 = Dancin' Shoes

| writer2 = Claydes Smith

| length2 = 3:54

| title3 = Big Chief Funkum

| writer3 = Ronald Bell

| length3 = 4:50

}}

{{Track listing | headline = Side two

| title1 = I Like Music

| writer1 = Ronald Bell

| length1 = 3:37

| title2 = You Deserve a Break Today

| writer2 = Ronald Bell, Deborah Bell

| length2 = 3:36

| title3 = At the Party

| writer3 = Ronald Bell

| length3 = 3:30

| title4 = Stay Awhile

| writer4 = George Brown, Cynthia Huggins

| length4 = 4:43

| title5 = It's All You Need

| writer5 = Claydes Smith

| length5 = 3:13

| title6 = Peace to the Universe

| writer6 = Claydes Smith

| length6 = 0:33

}}

References

{{reflist}}