Song · Wild Cherry
“Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry
Released 1977
“Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry appears on 4 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1990 and 2025. It was first released in 1977. Its best result is #32 on the WFPK Top 100 Party Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,443 hard rock song of all time.
Rob Parissi wrote "Play That Funky Music" and sang lead on it, and in April 1976 Wild Cherry's record became the very first single on Sweet City, a Cleveland label with Epic handling distribution. It's funk rock played with a bar band's elbows out: Bryan Bassett on electric guitar, Allen Wentz on bass, Ron Beitle on drums, and a horn riff snaking through every verse courtesy of session players Chuck Berginc and Jack Brndiar on trumpets and Joe Eckert and Rick Singer on saxes.
On September 18, 1976, it sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it topped the Hot Soul Singles chart as well, going platinum and selling 2.5 million copies in the US alone. Billboard ranked it No. 93 on its all-time top 100 in 2018. Wild Cherry never reached the US Top 40 again.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 1000 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 2004 | 283 | Q101 | Q101 Top 300 Party Songs of All-Time (July 2004) | 300 |
| 2005 | 32 | WFPK | WFPK Top 100 Party Songs | 100 |
| 2025 | 343 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
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