Boogie Wonderland

"Boogie Wonderland" is a single by Earth, Wind & Fire with the Emotions, released in April 1979 on Columbia Records.[1] The song peaked at number 14 on the dance chart, number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.[2][3] Boogie Wonderland was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA and Gold in the UK by the BPI.

"Boogie Wonderland"
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions
from the album I Am
B-side"Boogie Wonderland (Instrumental) (Vinyl)"
ReleasedMay 6, 1979
Genre
Disco
Length4:49 (LP/7") 9:21 (12")
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
"September"
(1978)		 "Boogie Wonderland"
(1979)		 "After the Love Has Gone"
(1979)
Music video
"Boogie Wonderland" on YouTube

Overview

The song was composed by Allee Willis with Jon Lind[4] and produced by EWF leader Maurice White and Al McKay.[1]

Critical reception

Rose Riggins of Gannett wrote "Boogie Wonderland is the hit. But it is more than just an average pop song. The song is an exploration is of times spent at house parties and at discos, when you wanted to be disco queen or king and the spotlight just wouldn't focus on you. You wonder why and look into the mirror and it says, Uh, Uh, baby it don't work you dance to shake the hurt. Like so many of EWFs hits, Boogie Wonderland, is bolstered by the blazing horns that have become the groups trademark. Teamed up with the talented vocal group the Emotions, EWF has created a song that will join the ranks of such past hits as Mighty Mighty, Getaway, Fantasy and September." [5] Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone said Maurice White "takes simple dance formulas like 'Boogie Wonderland' and finds fresh possibilities within them."[6] Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic stated "one of the few records that paired two full-fledged groups successfully, the combination of EWF and the Emotions worked wonders here and it remains a classic of the period."[7] Ace Adams of the New York Daily News also found that "The Emotions' Boogie Wonderland gets Earth, Wind & Fire off to a flying start on this album".[8]

"Boogie Wonderland" was Grammy nominated in the categories of Best R&B Instrumental Performance and Best Disco Recording.[9]

Covers
  • "Boogie Wonderland" was the basis for the dance song "I'm Alive" by Stretch & Vern Present "Maddog"; the song reached number 6 in the UK in September 1996.[10]

Appearances in other media

Chart performance

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[27] Gold 1,000,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[28] Gold 500,000^
Italy (FIMI)[29] Gold 25,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to "Boogie Wonderland" is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.[30]

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Gary Mulholland U.K. This Is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock 2002 *
Dave Marsh U.S. The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made 1989 737
Bruce Pollock U.S. The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000 2005 *
The Guardian UK 1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear 2009 *

(*) designates lists that are unordered.

gollark: One interesting (story-wise) path AI could go down is that we continue with what seems to be the current strategy - blindly evolving stuff without a huge amount of intentional design - and eventually reach human-or-better performance on a lot of tasks (including somewhat general-intelligency ones), while working utterly incomprehensibly to humans.I was going to say this after the very short discussion about ad revenue maximizers but left this half written and forgot.
gollark: And probably isn't smart enough to think very long-term, and isn't in charge of demonetization and stuff.
gollark: Which would be very bad.
gollark: An ad revenue maximizer.
gollark: I'm excited for Y2038, which will inevitably break another large batch of systems.

References
  1. Earth, Wind & Fire featuring The Emotions: Boogie Wonderland. Columbia Records. April 1979.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 86.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 179.
  4. Willis, Allee (25 November 2018). "How I wrote 'Boogie Wonderland'" Songwritingmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  5. Riggins, Rose (August 25, 1979). "'Boogie Wonderland' more than just pop". The Californian. Gannett. p. 35 – via newspapers.com.
  6. Marsh, Dave (August 29, 1979). "I Am". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone.
  7. Greenwald, Matthew. "Earth, Wind & Fire featuring The Emotions". allmusic.com. Allmusic.
  8. Adams, Ace (June 22, 1979). "Mini Reviews". newspapers.com. New York Daily News. p. 321.
  9. "Earth, Wind & Fire". grammy.com. The Recording Academy.
  10. "The Official Charts Company Stretch 'N' Vern Presents 'Maddog' - I'm Alive".
  11. "American Idol: Not The Final Coundown!". TV.com. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  12. American Idol. Season 2. Episode 23. April 2, 2003. FOX.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Earth Wind and Fire – Boogie Wonderland" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  14. "Toutes les Chansons N° 1 des Années 70" (in French). InfoDisc. 1979-06-22. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  15. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Boogie Wonderland". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  16. "NL Top40 - Search Results Boogie Wonderland". Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  17. "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1979-07-22. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  18. http://www.rock.co.za/files/sa_charts_1969_1989_songs_(A-B).html
  19. "Top 100 1979-07-14". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  20. Steffen Hung. "Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland". Lescharts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  21. "Australian Chart Book". Austchartbook.com.au. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  22. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  23. "Top Selling Singles of 1979 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1979-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  24. "Top Singles 1979". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 22 December 1979. p. 27.
  25. "Top 100 Hits of 1979/Top 100 Songs of 1979". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  26. "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1979". Cashbox Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  27. "Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions: Boogie Wonderland". riaa.com. RIAA. 29 May 1979.
  28. "Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions: Boogie Wonderland". bpi.co.uk. BPI. 1 July 1979.
  29. "Certificazioni Album (week 44/2019)". fimi.it. FIMI. October 2019.
  30. "Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions: Boogie Wonderland". Acclaimed Music.
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