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Play That Funky Music
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"Play That Funky Music" (sometimes called "Play That Funky Music White Boy") is a funk rock song written by Robert Parissi and recorded by the rock band Wild Cherry. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976. It was also the basis of a top five U.S. hit for Vanilla Ice in 1990.
The song was inspired by a black audience member who shouted, "Play some funky music, white boy" while they were playing at the 2001 Club.
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Encyclopedia
"Play That Funky Music" (sometimes called "Play That Funky Music White Boy") is a funk rock song written by Robert Parissi and recorded by the rock band Wild Cherry. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976. It was also the basis of a top five U.S. hit for Vanilla Ice in 1990.
The song was inspired by a black audience member who shouted, "Play some funky music, white boy" while they were playing at the 2001 Club. Lead singer Robert Parissi decided they should, and wrote down the phrase on a bar order pad. They later recorded it in Cleveland with a Disco sound. Although the band was concerned about the lyrics, Parissi insisted on keeping them.
Originally, it was planned that the song should be released on the B-side of Wild Cherry's cover of the Commodores' "I Feel Sanctified;" however, when the owners of their record label heard the song, they suggested that the B-side become the A-side. The song sold over two million copies, but was Wild Cherry's only hit.
The song listed at #73 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.
Parissi said he often wrote songs in a similar style as a song he'd pick out from each new week of the Top 40. After writing songs in this manner for some time, one of the songs he wrote was Funky Music. The song that served as inspiration for the hit was Fire by Ohio Players, which features a remarkably similar bass line and rhythm guitar part.
Part of the song's popularity stemmed from the controversy surrounding its lyrics. Many listeners thought the lyrics were "play that fucking music, white boy". There was much debate at the time and that helped raise the visibility of the record. At the time, Parissi and the record label vehemently denied that there was any profanity in the vocals but several years later, Parissi confided to band members and others that, in actuality, on every occurrence of the word 'funky' in the lyrics, there was always at least one person saying the word 'fucking'. Parissi often bragged that his was the first broadcast recording that featured the word 'fuck'.
Vanilla Ice version
Vanilla Ice later released a cover of "Play That Funky Music". Although it did not initially catch on, its B-side, "Ice Ice Baby", gained more success when a disc jockey played that track instead of the single's A-side.
Following the success of "Ice Ice Baby", "Play That Funky Music" was reissued as its own single, and peaked at #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #10 in the UK.
Charts
Other cover versions
- A tribute version of the song was arranged and recorded by Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band on their 2006 record The Phat Pack.
- A spoken word version of the song, deliberately done in an unflattering manner, was used in the early 1990s in a Pioneer Electronics commercial for their automobile audio products.
- A cover version in 1988 by the pop-rock group Roxanne peaked at #63 on the American pop charts.
- The Leningrad Cowboys issued a cover version on their 2006 Album "Zombies Paradise".
Usage In Other Media
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