“Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer

A disco stomper of the highest order from one of the genre’s legendary voices.

My love of disco starts and ends with Donna Summer. Hers was one of the first diva voices of that era with whom I fell in love. The ferocious nature of her vocals and the frankness of her sex appeal epitomized the illicit appeal disco carried for many. Summer’s music belongs on the dancefloor, throbbing under the strobe lights and the gyrating bodies. Of all the tracks she’s best known for, several of which come from the same parent album, 1979’s blockbuster Bad Girls, “Hot Stuff” encapsulates everything that made her so special as a performer. It’s no coincidence that several remixes have kept it front and center in clubs worldwide in the decades since.

Produced by Pete Bellotte and Giorgio Moroder, “Hot Stuff” has a lot in common with other Summer hits the duo collaborated on, including her international breakthrough “Love to Love You Baby” and the granddaddy of all house songs, “I Feel Love.” The stomp-clap rhythm and those irresistible opening bass vamps set the tone right away. Summer underscores the mood perfectly with that iconic first verse: “Sittin’ here eatin’ my heart out waitin’/Waitin’ for some lover to call/Dialed about a thousand numbers lately/Almost rang the phone off the wall.” The guitar solo, provided by Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan disciple Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, adds another layer of danger and intrigue to the proceedings. It’s an excellent example of how rock, having been bumped off its pedestal by dance music, was suddenly open to sonic experimentation to remain relevant.

“Hot Stuff” was a runaway success, helping make 1979 a truly incredible year for Summer. Three of her songs finished inside the Top 15 tracks of the year, with this one selling over 2 million copies alone. On June 30 of that year, Summer became the first female artist to have two singles in the Hot 100’s Top 3 simultaneously, when “Hot Stuff” fell to the second position and “Bad Girls” moved up the third spot. That chart performance has rarely been equaled. In 2018, Billboard named “Hot Stuff” as one of the 100 biggest songs in their history, a testament to the fact that disco, unlike its detractors projected, wasn’t simply some fad that faded into the background after its 15 minutes of fame were up.

RIP to Donna, disco’s all-time queen.