Ed Sheeran’s Not The Bee Gees, & My Problem With Dance Music’s Future

“Shape of You” is 110% not “Night Fever,” and that’s a problem…

It’s entirely likely that Ed Sheeran’s tropical, house-tinged single “Shape of You” will spend an entire calendar year in the top 50 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts, three months of which were at number one. Comparatively, in 1977, the similarly pop-to-dance crossover hit-making Bee Gees’ single “Night Fever” — the disco predecessor to “Shape of You’s” dominance — spent 25% less time at number one, and likely 60% fewer consecutive weeks on the top 100 charts overall. In both songs being considered “dance” hits, but one actually being the most anti-dance dance song ever written, well, it says everything about the de-evolving place of “dance music” in mainstream pop, and maybe as a motivating factor for tastes of pop music fans in general.

In 1977, the lyrics of The Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” presented the premise that nightlife was this mystical alternative universe where ethereal women floated like angels on gossamer-like disco beats…