The Bee Gees, The #6 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Four

 

(Continued from Part Three)

What happened next not only changed the Bee Gees' career but the course of history.  Stigwood had been working on a movie project with John Travolta, who had starred as a young kid in the television show Welcome Back, Kotter.  Stigwood, being the multimedia genius he was, knew that for the project to achieve worldwide attention and success, he needed an amazing soundtrack album.  

Stigwood called the brothers who were working on songs at the Château d'Hérouville studio in France and asked if they had any songs completed that could be used in the film.  The Gibbs said they did, when in fact they did not at the time.  The talented songwriters proceeded to write four of the greatest songs in music history in a single weekend.  When Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived in France and listened to the demos, according to Barry:

              They flipped out and said these will be

                great.  We still had no concept of the

                movie, except some kind of rough script

                that they'd brought with them...We

                needed something new.  So we felt, "Oh

                Jeez, that's it.  That's our life span, like

                most groups in the late '60s."  So, we had to

                find something.  We didn't know what was

                going to happen.

       

 

The lead single from the album has the distinction of ending the then-record 10-week reign for Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life".  "How Deep Is Your Love", was released in 1977 and roared to #1 in the U.S. and Canada, #2 in Ireland and #3 in the U.K. and Australia.  It was the first of three new Bee Gees songs on the soundtrack to go Gold.

 

The most indelible memory that fans have of the movie is the opening scenes in which Travolta is walking down the street, which each step coming down to the beat of this next tune, which is another of the Bee Gees' signature songs.  "Stayin' Alive" was a massive hit, and it's very success made people who hadn't seen the movie want to see it and those who had to see it again.  It has sold over two million singles in the U.S. alone, and was a Top 5 hit in every single country in the world--including #1 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.  

 

By the time "Night Fever" was released, both the movie and soundtrack album were phenomenally successful.  Reflecting Stigwood's genius, Saturday Night Fever set the example of how a movie and soundtrack could feed off each other and boost the success of each.  Both the movie and album became among the tops in history.  With the exception of the outlier Australia with a peak of #7, "Night Fever" was a Top 5 smash as well in every country and gave the Bee Gees their third consecutive #1 in the U.S. and a #1 smash in the U.K., Canada, and Ireland.

The Bee Gees captured five Grammy Awards:  Album of the Year, Producer of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (for "How Deep Is Your Love" in 1978 and "Stayin' Alive" in 1979), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices (for "Stayin' Alive"), while "Stayin' Alive" was nominated for Record of the Year.  The group also captured American Music Awards for Favorite Popular (Rock, in other words) Band, Duo or Group, Favorite Popular Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Album.  

Massive album sales and airplay enabled the Bee Gees to place all three singles ("How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever") as well as this song never released as a single to reach The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*:  "More Than A Woman".

Those four classics the brothers wrote in a weekend were just the tip of the iceberg.  Not only were they writing songs for themselves, but others too, and those songs began to be released and move up the charts at the same time too.  The brothers also wrote "If I Can't Have You", which is featured in another pivotal moment in the movie when Travolta's character rejects Annette (played by Donna Peskow) as his dance partner and as a lover.  Yvonne Elliman turned that song into a fourth #1 from the album.  Although "More Than A Woman" was not released as a single, the Bee Gees let Tavares record it as well, and that version became a minor hit.  

This golden period for the Gibb brothers culminated on March 25, when five songs written by the Gibbs were in the Top 10 at the same time ("Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" (written for Samantha Sang), and "Love Is Thicker Than Water" (by younger brother Andy), something no other act in history has done besides the Beatles in 1964.  When "Night Fever" took over the #1 spot from "Stayin' Alive", it marked the first time this had happened since the Beatles.  

The "Saturday Night Fever" Soundtrack rocketed to the top of the charts, selling albums like hotcakes.  Within months, it became the top-selling album of all-time, an honor it carried for years until Michael Jackson's Thriller toppled it.  The soundtrack, which has now sold over 40 million copies, still is the #7-selling album in history.

In fact, during a nine-month period from the winter of 1977 through September of 1978, seven songs written by the Brothers Gibb held #1 for 27 of 37 weeks, a feat never accomplished before or since.  This amazing streak included a song Barry wrote for the next Stigwood project which also involved Travolta, the title song "Grease" for Frankie Valli.

However, the next project for the Bee Gees and Stigwood flopped.  Based on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, neither the film nor the soundtrack did well.

 

Still riding high, the Bee Gees released one more album during their golden period--Sprits Having Flown in 1979.  At the height of their popularity, they could have cashed in and rode their success for all it was worth.  Instead, all proceeds from the lead single, "Too Much Heaven" went to UNICEF, with the Bee Gees performing the song at the Music for UNICEF Concert.  And those proceeds were plenty (estimated to be at least $7 million), with "Too Much Heaven" selling over two million copies and becoming a Top 10 hit nearly everywhere, including #1 in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand, #2 in Canada and Ireland and #3 in the U.K.  The horn section from Chicago played on the track. 

 

"Too Much Heaven" gave the group four consecutive #1 songs.  The key portion of this song is when it builds into a crescendo capped by what sounds like a thunderbolt.  To achieve the effect, Barry cupped his hands over the microphone and made an exploding noise with his mouth.  Several of these sounds were mixed together to create the loud boom.  "Tragedy" went to #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K., tying the all-time record set by the Jackson Five, and giving the Bee Gees their fourth straight Platinum smash.

Spirits Having Flown was a #1 album in virtually every country in the world.  Once again, the Bee Gees were named Favorite Popular (Rock) Band, Duo or Group at the American Music Awards, where they also won Favorite Pop (Rock) Album.  The Bee Gees toured North America with 38 sold-out shows.  

 

"Love You Inside Out" ran the incredible string of chart-toppers to six, a Rock Era record until Whitney Houston posted seven straight in 1988.  The Bee Gees tied Paul McCartney for fourth at the time with nine career #1's, with only the Beatles (20), Elvis Presley (17), and the Supremes (12) ahead of them.

"Love You Inside Out" also went Gold for the band.  The great album has never been re-certified, but estimates of sales now show Spirits Having Flown topping six million in the U.S. and 30 million worldwide.

  

 

The Bee Gees received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979.  Another track stands out on the album.  This is "Reaching Out".

"Sonically, it's probably the most perfect record the brothers ever made," Robin's son, Spencer (who has worked in the industry as an engineer, producer, and singer-songwriter), said.  The title song has to be one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.  It was released as a single so as not to completely saturate the market as the Bee Gees were far and away producing the best music on the planet.

One music fan on YouTube has this to say about "Spirits Having Flown":

             It's probably been said already, but 

                   the chord progressions sound 

                   stunning in what is an absolutely

                   brilliant, highly original and 

                   atmospheric song.  It seems to

                   involve at least 2 different keys (D

                   major and A major) and fluctuate 

                   between them constantly!  My 

                   guess is that they were looking for a

                   soft rock/West Coast/Eagles vibe,

                   but the signature sound is 

                   unmistakably Bee Gees.  That's 

                   clever.  I probably took them for 

                   granted.  But in terms of quality,

                   this towers over most contemporary

                   pop, even the good stuff.  

Further proving their versatility, the group scored a minor hit on the Country charts with "Rest Your Love On Me", which was the B-side of "Too Much Heaven".  

Later in 1979, the Bee Gees released the album Greatest, a two-LP set that has sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone.

But the group was about to experience something no other artist in history had.  Radio stations now refused to play their records because the group had become too successful.  Re-read that last sentence for full effect.

That story next, on Part Five!