Songoftheday 4/19/14 - Well you're dirty and sweet clad in black don't look back and I love you, you're dirty and sweet oh yeah...

The Power Station - "Get It On (Bang A Gong)"
from the album Power Station (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day is from the pop/rock "supergroup" Power Station, which started as a side project for Duran Duran's John and Andy Taylor, who hired on Chic drummer Tony Thompson and suave singer Robert Palmer. Their first single together, "Some Like It Hot" became an out-of-the-box top-10 pop hit in America with Fab Five fever still going strong. For their second release, they put out a cover of the song that convinced the Taylors to use Palmer for the whole record instead of an array of vocalists.

"Get It On (Bang A Gong)" was written by British glam-rock king Marc Bolan for his band T. Rex, who released the song as a single back in 1971. It ended up topping the British charts for a month, and reaching the top-ten on the American pop chart as well...

The Power Station amped the energy on the guitars, and cut the edit to mimic rap scratching, until Thompson's barreling drumbeat blasted in, and Palmer sounded more excitable than ever...

"Get It On" become the project's second straight top-ten pop single in the US in August of 1985, while stopping at #19 on the rock radio chart in Billboard. In their native England, the track made it to #22. ..

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Palmer had left the Power Station not long after the album's release, so Michael Des Barres filled his shoes when the act performed in Live Aid in 1985...

Back in 1979, disco act Witch Queen took a cover of the song to #8 on the dance chart in Billboard...

Industrial dance group KMFDM also recorded a version of the song called "Get It" in the mid-80s...


In 2000, British act Bus Stop interpolated the track into their single of the same name which climbed to #59 on the UK charts...

Lastly, here's Boy George and Black Lips covering "Get It On" for a live show in Philly just this week...


Boy George and Black Lips cover T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get it On)" Live at WXPN from WXPN FM on Vimeo.


Up tomorrow: A Canadian hunk who just won't quit.