THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

784-The Players Association-Turn the Music Up.

1979-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 4.26. ‘If you like it, I can play all night. If you like it, I can play all night.’ I used to take these lyrics for granted, until the ‘Covid 19’ pandemic set in.

The Players Association were formed as a studio group only, in New York City, United States, in 1977, by the drummer, and musical arranger Chris Hills, and the music producer Danny Weiss, they would remain active through until 1981. When required the duo would bring in some of the era’s top session musicians to perform on their records. In total The Players Association released five studio Albums between 1977-1981, and 11 singles in the same time period. Some of the groups recordings were cover versions, including the two single releases, ‘Disco Inferno,’ (1977) (see also best songs 184) and ‘Love Hangover (1977) (see also best songs 519.) but the majority of their songs were original compositions in the ‘Disco,’ and ‘Jazz Funk’ genres. The Players Association never had a hit on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, but two of their tracks reached the Billboard ‘Dance Club Songs’ chart, with ‘We Got the Groove,’ peaking the highest at Number 18 in 1980. In the UK, only ‘Turn the Music Up’ made the top 40, but the follow up single ‘Ride the Groove’ just missed out, when reaching Number 42.

‘Turn the Music Up’ was the first of two singles released from The Players Association’s third studio Album of the same name from 1979. The song was co-written by Chris Hills, and Laurel Dann, (1947-2016) with the production being by Danny Weiss. As previously mentioned, The Players Association would bring in the best session musicians to record their songs, and these included Joe Farrell, (1937-1986) who was an American Jazz multi-instrumentalist, who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flautist. Farrell released 17 Albums between 1967-1985, and his other appearance on this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list, is playing the flute solo on Aretha Franklin’s 1973 hit ‘Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do.’) (see also best songs 366.) Other musicians who contributed to The Players Association include David Sanborn, who is an American alto saxophonist, his vast discography includes the very memorable saxophone part that he played on David Bowie’s 1975 song ‘Young Americans’ (see also best songs 209.) Another was James Mtume, (1946-2022) who is probably best remembered as the founding member of the American ‘R&B’ group ‘Mtume,’ whose 1983 song ‘Juicy Fruit,’ which James Mtume wrote and produced, is repeatedly sampled in the ‘Hip-Hop’ community.

Chris Hills who was one of the two founding members of The Players Association is a singer, songwriter, producer, drummer, and keyboardist. Prior to forming The Players Association, he was a member of the early 1960’s American Funk band ‘Everything Is Everything, who with Hills as a member in 1965, would evolve in to ‘The Free Spirits,’ who have been credited with being among the first ‘Jazz/Rock’ groups. In 1975, just prior to the forming of The Players Association, Chris Hills and David Weiss co-wrote the song ‘Isn’t It A Dream Come True,’ which was recorded by Hills, and released on the ‘All Platinum’ record label.

‘Turn the music up, turn the music up, turn it up, party down, c’mon. You got your music up, turn it up party down, party down. Turn the music up, turn it up and party down. Turn the music up
yeah and party down, and party down down down down.’