(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots - "Disco Duck (Part 1)"
Hit Number 1: October 16, 1976
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
A disc jockey in Memphis had the bright idea of making a disco novelty song. It's no secret, and I've said it many times already, disco in late 1976 had officially began to take off, and it was inescapable. Going out to dance was the thing to do in the late '70s, with upbeat songs about dancing playing everywhere. Rick Dees, the Memphis disc jockey, even began to notice this, despite living in Memphis where soul and blues dominated. Nationally, disco dominated even more. It's unclear if Dees wanted his shot at a disco tune or if he hated it and wanted to make fun of it, but he decided to write a song with a satirical approach to the genre. His creation ended up being something unfathomable, both just in what it was, and how popular it became. I'm talking about the infamous "Disco Duck," a song literally about a guy who goes to a disco and can't resist the urge to start dancing, except he starts dancing like a duck. He flaps his arms and "gets down" like a duck would, I guess. He sits down and considers starting to dance again, and notices everyone doing the dance he was just doing.
Dees wrote the whole song in one day at his apartment, which normally is hard to believe, except "Disco Duck" is such a strange song, I don't think it should be hard for anyone to wrap their head around this thing being written in one day. Dees even wrote a couple other songs in 1975, but both of those flopped. However, for whatever reason, "Disco Duck" began to pick up some steam in the south after the minor Fretone label released it, and Dees began to pitch the song to other more major labels that could help it circulate nationwide. But there's no way any major label would listen to this and be okay with taking it on, right? Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here writing about it. RSO agreed to take "Disco Duck" and release it nationwide, and it freaking took off. And not just in America either. "Disco Duck" hit #1 in Canada too, and made it into the top ten in countries around the globe. I get it, disco was huge, and there were some truly stupid songs becoming hits at this time, but I just don't get the fascination with "Disco Duck." The song's about a guy pretending to be a duck while at a disco, and there's a dude imitating Donald Duck throughout the song. There's not much good going on here. But alas, "Disco Duck" ended up being one of the most successful singles in 1976.
I might be stating the obvious here but Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots were not a real band. The so-called "idiots" were a bunch of people Dees recruited just for this one song, with the duck guy being somebody Dees met at a gym that could do a spot on Donald Duck impression. (Which begs the question on why somebody was doing a Donald Duck impression at a gym. I have many questions right now) I guess you could say everything came together the way it was supposed to for Dees, with the song making it to the summit of the Hot 100. It's just so hard to believe how all this happened the way it did. I am someone who will stand up for novelty songs. I don't think there's anything wrong with a song designed to make its listeners laugh, with no other purpose. But then there's songs like "My Ding-a-Ling" that are so disturbing, it's no longer funny. It only makes for a bad song. "Disco Duck" is in that latter category for me. That Donald Duck voice is way too much for me, and the content of the song is so ridiculous that it's past novelty territory, and it becomes cringe material. The only good quality it has is a somewhat catchy, earwormy chorus, but the "duck" can't even shut up while that's going on. However. it's not Dees that I'm annoyed with. Remember, it's a satire, making fun of the crazy levels of popularity disco was achieving. It's the music-buying public in 1976 that I blame for this. It's their fault for letting this happen. Dees wasn't really going for a hit here, at least I hope not. People that for some reason bought this record are the ones that made it a hit, so they're the ones that should take the heat here.
Even though I clearly despise "Disco Duck" and everything it stands for, it ended up being the beginning of Dees' super-stardom. Dees wasn't allowed to play or even mention the song at WMPS-AM, the radio station he worked at, but of course, one day he slipped and mentioned the song and got fired. The song made it to #1 just five days after his firing. He would be hired by a rival Memphis station, before eventually landing at Los Angeles' KIIS where he worked from 1982-2004, even hosting his own show, Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. The guy is definitely absurdly rich today, and to think it all started with a song about dancing like a duck at a disco is irritating. But you know what, good for Dees. Clearly he had a radio personality that people loved, and he made a great living doing that. However I, and honestly maybe even him, might want to forget about the stupid song that made him internationally famous.
GRADE: 2/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Of course there's little to no instances of "Disco Duck" being featured in pop culture, so here's a scene in Saturday Night Fever where the song plays for a bit. It's the best I could do this time around.
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