Boogie (genre)

The first documented use of the word boogie is dated back to 1929.[nb 1] Boogie, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is an occasion for dancing to the strongly rhythmic rock music that encourages people to dance.[13] Earliest association of the word boogie was with blues and later rock and roll and rockabilly genres.

In the 1970s, the term was revitalized for disco and later post-disco subcultures. The term "boogie" was used in London to describe a form of African-American dance/funk music from the 1980s. The name boogie tended to be used as, although essentially used to describe disco records, the word disco had gained bad connotations by the early 1980s. Originally the word boogie could be found in 1970s funk, soul, R&B and disco records, most notably "Jungle Boogie"(1974), "Spirit of the Boogie"(1975) by Kool and the Gang,[14] "Boogie Down"(1974) by Eddie Kendrics, "The Burtha Butt Boogie"(1975) by The Jimmy Castor Bunch[15]", "Boogie Fever"(1976) by The Silvers, I'm Your Boogie Man(1977)", "Boogie Shoes"(1978) by KC and the Sunshine Band,[16] "Boogie Nights(1977)" by Heatwave, "Boogie Oogie Oogie"(1978) by A Taste of Honey, "Aqua Boogie"(1978) by Parliament, and "Boogie Wonderland"(1979) by Earth Wind and Fire.[2]

Kashif called to be one of the pioneers of the genre.[17] His single "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)" from the 1983 debut album Kashif helped to define the early 1980s boogie sound.[17] Also such 1980s tracks like "Wake Up" (Bohannon), "Act Like You Know"(Fat Larry's Band), "Give Me the Night" (George Benson, 1980), "Boogie's Gonna Get Ya" (Rafael Cameron, 1981), "I'm in Love" (Evelyn King, 1981), "You're the One for Me" (D. Train, 1981), "Don't Make Me Wait" (Peech Boys, 1982) or "Break Dancin' – Electric Boogie" (West Street Mob, 1984) helped define the musical style of boogie.[3][4]

Throughout the 1980s, various boogie artists began experimenting with the heavy bass which anticipated the roots of house. One of these artists was Hamilton Bohannon,[18] D. Train, and Sharon Redd. While some record producers, such as François Kevorkian and Larry Levan, were polishing and extending the limits of urban-oriented boogie, others like Arthur Baker and John "Jellybean" Benitez drew their influences from European and Japanese technopop music. The latter approach paved the way for electro, and subsequently, freestyle music.[19]

Boogie had a popular following within London's underground scene, often based around nightclubs and club DJs due to a lack of mainstream radio support. Boogie records were mostly imported from the U.S. and were sometimes labeled as "electro-funk" or "disco-funk."[3]

Much later in the 2000s and early 2010s, indietronica groups and artists such as James Pants, Juice Aleem, Sa-Ra Creative Partners had been influenced by the sounds of boogie and 1980s electronic music in general.[20][21][22] Chromeo, a Canadian duo, published a boogie-oriented album called She's in Control in 2004.[23] Dâm-Funk, another boogie-influenced artist hailing from Los Angeles, California, published an album Toeachizown in 2009.[24]

During the mid to late 2010s, boogie was part of the nu-disco and future funk renaissance, the former a primarily European artists-led EDM phenomenon, fusing French house with American 1970s disco and 1980s boogie, and 1980s European electronic dance music styles,[8] the latter connected to the vaporwave scene. Bruno Mars ("Uptown Funk") was one of the more mainstream 2010s artists influenced by boogie.[25]