{"id":397446,"date":"2026-01-07T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397446\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:10:09","slug":"the-rod-stewart-song-he-would-have-hated-listening-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397446\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rod Stewart song he would have hated listening to"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rod<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Wed 7 January 2026 7:51, UK <\/p>\n

Every rock band usually has to deal with following the money for most of their career. As much as fans want you to stay true to what you\u2019re doing whenever they pick up a new record, there\u2019s always that cruel, tempting feeling of making something that will give you a much larger audience. Rod Stewart<\/a> may have exuded bluesy rock and roll, but no one was safe from disco, especially with \u2018Do Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Granted, has time changed the public opinion on this track? The backlash from disco had already seen a backlash of its own when people insisted that it wasn\u2019t that bad, and since acts like Daft Punk reminded us how fun the genre could sound, can we really say the same thing for Stewart\u2019s classic?<\/p>\n

Well, I can report to you, good people, that our findings are a resounding\u2026 not really. Stewart may have still had the vocal chops of a bluesy singer, and hearing his signature rasp over what sounds like a rejected Donna Summer backing track just makes him sound weak compared to his predecessors. The Rolling Stones\u2019 \u2018Miss You<\/a>\u2019 might not be a glowing endorsement of rock and roll disco, but it sounds like a masterpiece compared to whatever this is.<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0Songfacts<\/a>in 2004, drummer for the session Carmine Appice reflected on recording \u2018Do Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy?\u2019, and how \u2018Miss You\u2019 impacted it. \u201cWe were in the studio, and \u2018Miss You\u2019 by The Rolling Stones was a big hit,\u201d the drummer remembered. \u201cRod was always a guy that used to listen to what was going on around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always looking at the charts and listening. He was a big fan of The Rolling Stones, so when they came out with \u2018Miss You,\u2019 disco was really big at the time, so he wanted to do some kind of disco-y song, but nothing like Gloria Gaynor.\u201d Famously, Gloria Gaynor\u2019s best-known song is the 1978 disco-pop hit, \u2018I Will Survive\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Rod<\/a>Rod Stewart in his glamorous youth. (Credits: Far Out \/ Allan Warren)<\/p>\n

Providing more detail about how \u2018Da Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy?\u2019 emerged, Appice continued: \u201cWith the band, he would always tell us, \u2018I want a song like this\u2019 or \u2018I want a song like that,\u2019 so I went home and I came up with a bunch of chords and a melody. I presented it to him via a friend of mine, Duane Hitchings, who is a songwriter who had a little studio. We went in his studio with his drum machines and his keyboards, and he made my chords sound better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Stewart may not have wanted to rehash the same thing, it\u2019s not like he was completely sold on the disco move by the end. Since this was the guy who sounds rootsy rock songs like \u2018Maggie May\u2019, he had no business being on a track with a disco hi-hat beat and a string section that sounds like it was programmed by a kid\u2019s pre-school keyboard.<\/p>\n

When talking about his big hit, Stewart even admitted that he would have wanted his money back after he heard the song, telling Classic Rock Stories<\/a>, \u201cIsn\u2019t it a wonder I\u2019ve survived some of my fucking terrible career moves? Sometimes I worry about me! \u2018Do Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy\u2019? If I was a male fan, I\u2019d think, \u2018Up yours, Jack!\u201d.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s anything to be taken out of \u2018Do Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy\u2019, though, at least it helped expose Stewart to a new audience. It may not have been the more representative song in his catalogue, but for those curious to look into his older material afterwards, they were in for some of the greatest singing of the 1970s.<\/p>\n

There are even a few pieces of the track that work well for what they are\u2026 only if they were in a different song. Since the guitars sound like static through most of the track, if you were to ditch them, remove Stewart\u2019s voice, and bring up the orchestral pieces in the mix, you would have a pretty decent Gloria Gaynor B-side on your hands.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like Stewart couldn\u2019t adapt, either. Just look at his recent turn making his own version of jazzy standards and you can hear the power that he has just with his voice and an orchestra behind him. There was potential for him to stretch out, but rarely does anyone try to experiment and take every wrong step like this. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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