Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool & the Gang

Episode notes

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Kool & the Gang have made some of the biggest hits of all time. We’re talking about some of the greatest party songs ever: “Get Down On It,” “Celebration,” “Ladies Night.” 

But, we’re also talking about a lot more than just dance floor fillers. 

Kool & the Gang hit the music scene in the mid-60s and took off running. Robert “Kool” Bell started the group with his brother Ronald and a couple of friends from their high school. 

Together, they played jazz, but not just jazz. They backed everyone who came through town. Played instrumental covers of Motown records. And on more than one occasion, James Brown tunes. By the time they started recording in 1968, they were one of the baddest bands in the country.

The group’s early albums were almost all instrumental and always genre-bending. All of them seemed a little too funky to be soul-jazz. A little too jazzy to be funk. They lacked the hooks to make radio hits, but they were too danceable for jazz clubs. 

The music though? The music was heavy. 

By the time 1973 rolled around, they’d added vocals, gotten funkier, and started making hits like “Hollywood Swinging” and “Funky Stuff.” 

That wasn’t their first reinvention. 

As funk gave way to disco, Kool & the Gang made some of the biggest hits of all time. The ones you’ve danced to at weddings. “Celebration” and “Cherish” and “Get Down On It.” Songs that grandmas and grandchildren and everyone in between will be listening to for decades to come.

Now, it’s been a half-century since Kool & the Gang started making music, and they’re still at it.

They have a new album dropping on July 14th called People Just Wanna Have Fun. The group’s also on tour until later this year. You can find tickets to their shows here.

Kool & the Gang drummer and founding member George Brown also just released a new book. It’s called Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me.