KC & The Sunshine Band ~ Get Down Tonight 1975 Disco Purrfection Version

The most recognizable part of this song is the high pitched shimosen like sound that opens the song and plays over the bridge and sounds like nothing you have heard before is not a synthesizer. It is actually a guitar that was recorded to a slowed down track of the song, and then played back at normal speed thus changing pitch to sit above the trick first pioneered by guitar legend Les Paul. This was KC & The Sunshine Band’s first megahit, topping both the R&B and the Pop Charts in August of 1975. At 16 KC was in a band called Five Doors Down as the member “who just sang“. He only played piano when he was alone at home. A big fan of Motown, Stax and Atlantic, he began working at a local record store. One of his stops was at Tone Distribution where he went to pick up new records where he was invited to visit the TK recording studios. He knew right then that this was the place he was meant to be. Hanging around doing odd jobs there, he met Rick Finch, wrote George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby“ and decided to form a band with him. At first KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band (as they were known in Britain) put out “Queen Of Clubs“ and “Sound Your Funky Horn“ which made them a name in the UK. For “Get Down Tonight“ they experimented with tape speeds. Here the opening guitar was recorded at half speed then the tape was returned to normal speed which put the sound a couple of octaves higher and created this original sound. This particular technique was pioneered by guitar legend Les Paul back in the 50’s. Once the song was recorded, KC kept playing it over and over and knew he had something special. The song was released on April 12, 1975 to R&B, gained points and then started falling down the chart. The band then left for a European tour and when they got back, “Get Down Tonight“ was #1 song on the R&B charts. “Get Down Tonight“ was released three months later to the waiting pop audience and hit #1 the following month.