Pop-Up Video: I Love the Nightlife (1978)

I Love the Nightlife

Single by Alicia Bridges

From the album: Alicia Bridges

B-side: Self Applause

Released: June 19, 1978

Songwriters: Alicia Bridges, Susan Hutcheson

Alicia Bridges is openly lesbian and a One Hit Wonder. Her song, "I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)," reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. The August 1998 MTV countdown of the Top 54 Dance Songs of the Disco Era ranked "I Love the Nightlife" number 37.

Song: 1978

This disco classic is about a woman tired of her man's cheating and lying. She tells him off and goes out for "action" at the club. Bridges wrote it with her personal and songwriting partner, Susan Hutcheson. ridges initially titled the song "Disco 'Round." Her producer suggested  "I Love the Nightlife," believing the song was R&B rather than disco 

Song: 1994

In 1994, the track was re-released after being featured in the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It reached number four in New Zealand and number five in Iceland. Its association with the film and Bridges' sexuality closely link this dance number to gay culture. 

Backstory

Alicia Bridges was primarily a singer of R&B, rock, and blues numbers. He and Susan Hutcheson wrote "I Love the Nightlife" as an R&B song. Bridges 'discofied' it to meet the prevailing trend. In a 1979 interview with Sounds, Hutcheson explained, "That wasn't cut at all with disco in mind. Disco was just where I was gonna go after I'd told this man to leave me alone; it wasn't meant to be the theme of the song. e do love the nightlife because we love to be awake at night when it's quiet and we can do some bizarre and productive thinking. But actually, I don't care for discos at all."

Just how little did Bridges think of disco? She told Sounds:  "I will never do a disco album. I'd prefer to do deodorant commercials.   I didn't sing since I was ten years old, so I could stand up like a moron and go 'Getfunkynow, getfunkynow, getboogie-woogie, getfunkynow'"

Pop-Up Video

The MTV Pop-Up video says this song peaked at number three on the charts. We're not sure which chart they mean. According to Wikipedia and our own research: "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" went to number two on the US Billboard National Disco Action Top 30 (now the Dance Club Songs chart) for two weeks. t became a crossover hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and found worldwide success, reaching the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and South Africa."