1. Holy ghost
2. Move your boogie body
3. Traffic Jammer
4. She Talks to me with her body
5. Sexomatic
6. Attitudes
7. Certified True
8. Boogie Bodyland
9. Do it(Let me see you shake)
10.Shut the Funk up/Let's have some fun

Let's Have Some Fun
Attitude
Holy Ghost
Son of Shaft
Soul Finger
Sex-O-Matic
Shut the Funk Up
Deliver Us
Move Your Boogy Body
Too Hot to Stop

How can you all leave out I'll Dance ?




And this tune

Body Fever



http://www.youtube.com/wa...h4uQb_WcJc

A lot of these top 10 list threads poppin' up
My favorites are...

The entire Too Hot To Stop album
The entire Flying High On Your Love album
Holy Ghost
Soul Finger

1. Traffic Jammer
2. Move Your Boogie Body
3. Body Fever
4. Boogie Bodyland
5. She Talks To Me With Her Body (12 Inch)
6. Holy Ghost
7. Hit And Run
8. Do It (Let Me See You Shake)
9. Freakshow On The Dance Floor
10. Let's Have Some Fun

I can't believe that none of you guys put "Freaky Behavior" on your list


that's a much better song than the over-played,Midnight Star rip off "Freakshow On The Dancefloor"!

I almost put it on there but then I changed my mind and replaced it with "Let's Have Some Fun". My list is strictly the way I feel at the moment (that's why I don't like making top 10 or 20 lists). My list changes all the time but "Traffic Jammer" is always my favorite Barkays song.



That one never gets any airplay in my area. I don't think I've heard it on the radio since it was popular in 1984.

80s PUNK FUNK JAM OF THE DAY: "Freaky Behavior" by the Bar Kays (1981)

http://www.youtube.com/wa...7HssXXkbRQ

vainandy said:[quote]


In my area,that's the only BarKays song that they play We have an oldies R&B station and they always play it.I guess it was their biggest crossover hit? They usually only play the biggest hits by an artist,which annoys me.I'd rather hear lesser hits like "Dirty Dancer","Hit and Run" and "Move Your Boogie Body".
[Edited 10/10/07 6:56am]

SoulAlive said:

"Freakshow on the Dancefloor" wasn't a crossover hit (how did you come to that conclusion?), but it did peak at No. 2 on the Billboard R&B Singles charts. I also wonder how did you think "Move Your Boogie Body" (No. 3 for six weeks in 1979) and "Hit and Run" (No. 5 in 1982) were lesser hits.

It's also funny you call "Freakshow" a "No Parking on the Dancefloor" ripoff but yet you say would rather hear "Dirty Dancer," a song that is a "Billie Jean" ripoff. Not to mention "Freaky Behavior" was obviously inspired by Rick James' stock sound.
[Edited 10/10/07 7:05am]

It gets on my nerves that these stations only play an artist's biggest hits. In my area, we have two oldies stations but they aren't R&B stations so when they play an R&B artist, it's always a crossover hit.

We have an R&B station that plays an hour of oldies at noon on Monday through Friday. They call it "The Lunchtime Oldies". They also have a DJ that plays the oldies on Saturday afternoon from around 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. He throws down the funk. He plays lots of stuff that wasn't an artist's biggest hit. Other than those times, that station has a boring ass "soft soul" format and plays nothing but boring slow shit from mostly the late 80s to today, the kind of shit I can't even stand to be in the same room with. It's almost like Shitney Houston is programming their music during the week.

Najee said:

Nearly all of the BarKays 80s singles were "inspired" by other popular songs that were out around the same time but for some reason "Freakshow..." annoys me more than the others.Maybe because (in my area,at least),it got more aiplay than any of their other singles? That's why I thought maybe it crossed over.

How well did "Freakshow" do on the pop charts?

vainandy said:

Our station picks an artist and plays two or three of their biggest hits over and over and over.It's always the same two or three songs! They seem to forget that real fans also like the lesser hits too.Sure,"Brick House" is a classic and I like it,but how about playing "Too Hot Ta Trot" sometime?

SoulAlive said:

"Freakshow on the Dancefloor" peaked at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts. It was The Bar-Kays' highest charting single on the R&B Singles charts and also was on the "Breakin'" soundtrack.

Most of The Bar-Kays' songs in general from their Mercury days were soundalikes of whatever was popular, so it's not just their '80s hits. Songs like "Too Hot to Stop" reminded me of The Commodores' stuff, "Shine" was an evident inspiration from Earth, Wind & Fire, "Let's Have Some Fun" was Kool & The Gang-derivative, etc.
[Edited 10/10/07 7:20am]

I think "Soul Finger" is one of the funkiest songs ever recorded. Maybe the funkiest, IMHO.

I doubt it did well on the pop chart but it's the only Barkays' song I remember hearing on the pop stations in my area. It's one of those songs that a lot of white people liked but weren't going to purchase because it sounded "too black". Other examples of songs like these are "Burn Rubber" by The Gap Band, "Let It Whip" by The Dazz Band, and "Operator" by Midnight Star. A lot of white people know of these songs but the artists never got their "white pass" so they didn't buy the songs. They were too concerned with what their other white friends would think of them having "jungle music" (as they liked to call it) in their collection.

funkpill said:

As some of you mentioned it was difficult just naming ten but it is only subjective because my list could change anyday with the exception of holy ghost and move your boogie body as my top two. I left off hit and run, freaky behavior, soul finger, you're sexy, anticipation, etc. The barkays are one of my favorite all time acts as well. I miss those days with the flashpots, cannon crackers going off, and larry d struttin around the stage with those boa constrictors.

vainandy said:

The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip" was a top-five pop single in 1982 and Midnight Star's "Operator" was the band's biggest pop hit, peaking at No. 18 in 1985. It makes sense that white pop fans were familiar with the songs. Conversely, I don't know of any white people who were familiar with The Bar-Kays' "Freakshow on the Dancefloor."

SoulAlive said:

hell yeah. this so is freakin amazing! i would actually say it's one of the best songs ever made! i ber rick james wishes he wrote it, since they pretty much ripped him off!

dancerella said:

Personally, I thought "Traffic Jammer" would have a better follow-up single to "Hit and Run" because it was a more original song and was much funkier.

"She's a real traffic jammer, a stone, sexy hammer
With a body built to wreck your mind.
Every time she turns a corner, she makes me wanna
Pull up and watch her from behind."
[Edited 10/10/07 20:11pm]

I think it has a lot to do with the area you live in and the circumstances at the time. 1984 was a huge year for Prince who was a black artist who really exploded with white people that year. Michael Jackson had blew up a year or two earlier. Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, and The Pointer Sisters were all over pop radio in 1984 also.

I remember 1984-1985 was my senior year in high school. My high school was maybe 75% white and 25% black at the time but they finally started getting black DJs for the school dances. "Freakshow On The Dance Floor" was a favorite at the dances. Those white people would get out on that dance floor doing that funny little dance that Eddie Murphy used to make fun of. You know the one I'm talking about. I usually went skating on the "Super Soul Skate Nights" but I started hearing more and more black music on the regular nights. Then I started hearing "Freakshow On The Dance Floor" on the pop radio stations, especially on Saturday nights when they would have a mix show. Mixing was another thing the white DJs were being influenced by the black DJs.

I think "Freakshow"'s popularity with white people has a lot to do with someone's area and circumstances. Soul Alive may have experienced some of the same things that was going on in my area at the time. However, with me being in The South, a lot of these white people down here were, and still are, very racist and they won't buy anything black that their other white friends don't accept. "Freakshow" was to them kind of like a Klan member sleeping with a black woman. They hated her color but they couldn't resist her fine-ness and had to have it in secret.

"Traffic Jammer" is my alltime favorite Barkays song. Hell, that should have been the lead single. I think they released "Freaky Behavior" as the second single because they wanted to get some of that Rick James success that was happening at the time. That song is definately "Super Freak" influenced and Rick was on fire that year.

vainandy said:

I wouldn't have objected to "Freaky Behavior" being a third single from "Nightcruising," after "Hit and Run" and "Traffic Jammer." I feel "Hit and Run" was the right choice as the lead single; "Traffic Jammer" was a little too hardcore and rock-oriented at that time for black stations to be a first single, but the success of "Hit and Run" definitely would have loosened up things and it would have been a perfect follow-up single.
[Edited 10/10/07 21:15pm]

Najee said:

Maybe not the original lp version but the alternate version on the barkays funk essentials volume 2 seemed to be a bit prince inspired as well as most of the material on banging the wall. No surprise since prince was on top of the mountain in 1984 and 1985.

phunkdaddy said:

I never heard of that alternate, "Erotic City"-sounding version of "Your Place or Mine" until I bought volume 2 of that greatest hits release. I always got the impression that was remixed just for that album. The original version of "Your Place or Mine" is superior and more original, IMO.
[Edited 11/6/07 17:56pm]

I noticed that no one ever mentions certified true. Am i the only one who
is feeling this one by the barkays? I know it was a top 10 r&b hit for the
guys in 1987 and probably their last top 10 r&b hit.