Just like “Sharknado” and “The Room” have done for cinema, the Bee Gees discography combines the worst and most-indulgent tropes from several genres, delivering some of the most embarrassing and glorious art ever created.
Opinion editor Chris Core thinks that modern boyband One Direction has created the best guilty pleasure music of all time, but to be honest, there’s nothing to be ashamed of when listening to some cleanly produced and catchy pop music.
Sure, the group has a few stinkers that come off as lazy or derivative, such as “Best Song Ever,” which builds around piano chords that sound way too close to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”
But honestly, feeling embarrassed about listening to some crowd-pleasing pop says more about the listener’s self esteem than the quality of the tunes. No offense, Chris.
Unlike One Direction’s output of sleek, modern and catchy pop songs, the Bee Gees captured the worst clichés from several eras of pop music post-1960, creating tunes that are just as dated as they are addictive.
After forming their band in 1958, the brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb released their debut album in 1965, beginning their massive
22-album-long discography.
Despite the fact that most probably remember the Bee Gees for their ’70s disco hits like “Stayin’ Alive” and “You Should Be Dancing,” their earlier albums deliver plenty of corny goodness in various styles.
Although their earlier records sound like passable rip-offs of The Beatles, it didn’t take too long for their albums to get much more campy and interesting.
Despite its clumsy mixing and laughable vocal performances, the Bee Gees’ 1969 album “Odessa,” desperately wants you to take it seriously, pummeling you with melodramatic background vocals and thinly recorded string sections.
The double album’s extravagant 7-minute ballads like opening track “Odessa (City On The Black Sea)” and wonky pop ditties like “Marley Purt Drive” all tie into the album’s half-baked narrative about a fictional
1700s shipwreck.
At many points throughout “Odessa,” it’s difficult not to picture how clever the band thought they were while recording each muddy instrumental backdrop and awkward lyric and start laughing hysterically.
Their 1971 album “Trafalgar” is just as gloriously ill-conceived, featuring production much more polished than “Odessa’s” that is consistently and hilariously undercut by the brothers’ outlandish vocal performances.
Every time the brothers find a catchy melody or subtle harmony that perfectly matches the album’s lavish instrumentals, they always ruin it with cartoonish inflections, aggressive vibrato and strained falsettos.
Each track becomes a cringe-inducing and thrilling waiting game: How will the boys wreck this one?
Sporting only the most garish ’70s fashion and exposing way too much chest hair, the trio released their 1976 undisputed classic, “Children Of The World,” a danceable and unintentionally gut-busting celebration of all things disco.
Don’t let how much “You Should Be Dancing” has been overplayed keep you from appreciating how inherently ridiculous it is, with a chorus of unintelligible shrieking over simple drum beats, bright chords and cheap synths.
“Children Of The World’s” deep cuts get even worse in the best way possible, with the vocal back and forth between the brothers on “Lovers” sounding more like chopped up Yoda dialogue than pop stars at their prime.
Unfortunately, after releasing their last album in 2001, the Bee Gees’ beautiful reign of terror came to an end when Maurice Gibb died in 2003, followed by Robin in 2012.
Maybe people don’t remember their music in the way the brothers might have hoped for, but that doesn’t take away from how special their work is.
If you need something to cheer you up and help you escape from the facts and struggles of everyday life, nothing quite does the trick like the wild and hilarious music of the
Bee Gees.
