June 19, 2003

The Eagles, "The Disco Strangler" (1979)
There's hardly any bottom here at all, and what "bass" is here is purely ornamental, serving no real function other than to provide a quirky counterpoint to the monochromatic rhythm-guitar strums in the absence of a melodic lead guitar part. If it's a disco parody, it's a poor one, because it doesn't send up the genre in any perceptive, knowledgeable, or even necessary way that shows why disco DESERVES to be sent up (wow, prominent hi-hats... no rock band has ever done THAT). As disco-qua-disco it's pretty worthless; even the most mediocre hacked-out Prelude Records house-band stuff would be more successful getting people on the dance floor than this, except that as rock-qua-experimentalprotopostpunk it's a near-masterpiece, the bastard right-wing cousin of Devo's "Satisfaction"!