"" is a song by
The Bee Gees , released as a
Single in
1977 . It was their first hit off of the album ''
Saturday Night Fever '' ("
Night Fever " followed two months later). "Stayin' Alive" is one of The Bee Gees' most popular and recognizable songs, in part because it was played in the opening scene of a popular
Disco film, ''
Saturday Night Fever ''. The song can still be heard in a variety of venues, ranging from
Dance Halls to
Sporting Event s.
The producer of the soundtrack,
Robert Stigwood (who also doubled as the Bee Gees' manager) called them up and asked them to write a few songs for a soundtrack to a film he was planning. At this point, the film was in very early stages and it didn't even have a title yet. All Stigwood had to go on was a ''
New York '' cover story about
Disco mania. He asked them to go on with the soundtrack anyway, and they wrote "Stayin' Alive" over the course of a few days while sprawled on the staircase at the
Chateau D'Herouville studio in
Paris .
On the day "Stayin' Alive" was recorded, drummer Dennis Bryon was late to the studio, so producer Robert Stigwood created a tape loop using the drum track from the already-recorded "Night Fever" instead. This accounts for the unchanging rhythm throughout the song.
The song was not originally supposed to be released as a single, but fans called radio stations and RSO Records immediately after seeing trailers for ''Saturday Night Fever'', in which the aforementioned introductory scene was played. The single was eventually released in mid-December, a month after the album, and moved to the top of the
Billboard Hot 100 in the
United States in February, where it would stay for four weeks. Soon after, it would slide to #2, locking in a solid one-two punch with the Bee Gees' other hit from the album, "
Night Fever ". In the
United Kingdom , "Stayin' Alive" was a solid seller but not as popular as it was in the United States, topping out at #4.
As for the message of the song, Robin Gibb was quoted as saying, "Stayin' Alive" is about survival in the big city—any big city—but basically New York."
The Bee Gees won a
Grammy Award for the song in 1977 for
Best Vocal Arrangement For Two Or More Voices .
Over the years, "Stayin' Alive" has earned more critical acclaim. The song was ranked #189 on the
List Of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time , and it was also on the list of
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll .
The song was prominently featured in the 1980 disaster spoof
Airplane! during a memorable flashback scene in which Robert Hayes' and Julie Hagerty's characters are shown meeting at a dive bar and engaging in an extremely exaggerated semblance of popular disco dancing which the film also mocked as the disco fad was beginning to wane in popularity.
