Wild Cherry, 1976: ‘Play That Funky Music’

Wild Cherry was essentially more of a hard rock band. They played rotating gigs in Rochester at the 2001 Club, and with disco big at the time, their sound wasn’t really taken lightly at this particular club. After one their train wrecks of a show, an African American audience member shouted, “Play some funky music, white boy.” With that, Parissi agreed that the band should be playing funkier music. He wrote down the that audience member’s phrase on a bar order pad. They recorded the hit in Cleveland, Ohio with more of a disco sound: drum and bass being mixed way up front. The band was kind of iffy about the lyrics, but Parissi insisted that they kept them. Boy, was that a good idea.

What was the hit originally a B-side to? Click “Next” to find out!