Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by Bee Gees & various artists | ||||
Released | November 15, 1977 | |||
Recorded | 1975–1977 | |||
Genre | Disco | |||
Length | 75:54 | |||
Label | RSO, Polydor, Reprise | |||
Producer | Bill Oakes (Music Supervisor) | |||
Bee Gees chronology | ||||
|
||||
Singles from Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Robert Christgau | (B+) |
Pitchfork Media | (8.7/10.0) |
Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track is the soundtrack album from the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. In the United States, the album was certified 15× Platinum for shipments of over 15 million copies. The album stayed atop the album charts for 24 straight weeks from January to July 1978 and stayed on Billboard's album charts for 120 weeks until March 1980. In the UK, the album spent 18 consecutive weeks at No. 1. The album epitomized the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic and was an international sensation. The album has been added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being culturally significant.
According to the DVD commentary for Saturday Night Fever, the producers intended to use the song "Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs in the rehearsal scene between Tony and Annette in the dance studio, and choreographed their dance moves to the song. However, representatives for Scaggs's label, Columbia Records, refused to grant legal clearance for it, as they wanted to pursue another disco movie project, which never materialized. Composer David Shire, who scored the film, had to in turn write a song to match the dance steps demonstrated in the scene and eliminate the need for future legal hassles. However, this track does not appear on the movie's soundtrack.
The Bee Gees's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs."
Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film.
Robin Gibb recalled: