Bad Girls
marked the high-water mark in
Donna Summer
's career, spending six weeks at Number One, going double platinum, and spinning off four Top 40 singles, including the chart-topping title song and
"Hot Stuff,"
which sold two million copies each, and the million-selling, Number Two hit
"Dim All the Lights."
Producers
Giorgio Moroder
and
Pete Bellotte
recognized that
disco
was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of
"Hot Stuff"
"Bad Girls"
a
rock
edge derived from
new wave
. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the
rocksteady
beat of the first side giving way to a more
traditional
sound on the second side, followed by a third side of
ballads
, and a fourth side with a more
electronic
, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled
Summer
's 1977 hit
"I Feel Love."
Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with
"Sunset People,"
one of
's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of
itself. ~ William Ruhlmann