It’s been 50 years since Wild Cherry released their only No. 1 hit, “Play That Funky Music,” but the song is still making history. The hit single from the band’s self-titled 1976 debut album was just named among Ultimate Classic Rock’s “Big 4 of ‘70s One-Hit Wonders.”
“Play that Funky Music” was listed alongside Pilot’s “Magic” (1974), Ram Jam’s “Black Betty” (1977) and Stealer’s Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” (1972) on the Big 4 list. It’s a pretty big boast, considering the ‘70s were dominated by a whole lotta one-hits and novelty songs.
UCR noted, “In the early ‘70s, Wild Cherry was a hard rock cover band. They were getting gigs but not getting much traction with original material. …Seeing the shift in trends, [lead singer Rob Parissi] told his bandmates that they should start playing disco music. …Released in April of 1976, ‘Play That Funky Music’ still contained some of Wild Cherry’s earlier rock influences, but with enough soul to get listeners dancing.”
Featuring an iconic guitar intro, session musicians and big band instruments, “Play That Funky Music” reached No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976. The former bar cover band was nominated for a Grammy and won an American Music Award for Top R&B Single of The Year.
Parissi famously wrote the song in minutes after he was heckled by patrons at a disco for not playing “funky” music.
“It was a five-minute thing,” Parissi told Classic Bands in an interview. “When the disco machine would go off, they’d say, ‘You white boys gonna play any funky music’ … Those guys were upset because we were like a rock band… Finally, the drummer just spoke up and said, ‘Yeah, it’s like they keep saying ‘play that funky music, white boys.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good title.”
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Releasing three more albums, Wild Cherry tried to find success a second time by appeasing their record company with a sequel song, “Keep on Playin’ That Funky Music,” in 1979.
“I did what they asked me to do,” Parissi shared. “I was stupid. I told them in the beginning, ‘One song does not make a career. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I can’t even resume that. Let’s move on.’ And then they kept coming back saying, ‘We don’t hear any more hits there.’ And I said, ‘I told you, there are three here if you release them correctly.'”
“As it turns out over time, if they would have, it would have been better,” the Wild Cherry frontman added. “But what I did was, I caved, and I tried to appease them.”
Wild Cherry split in 1979.
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