# Eargasm

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{{Short description|1976 studio album by Johnnie Taylor}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Eargasm
| type       = studio
| artist     = [Johnnie Taylor](/source/Johnnie_Taylor)
| cover      = Johnnie Taylor - Eargasm.png
| alt        =
| released   = March 1976
| recorded   = 
| studio     = United Sound Systems, Detroit; [Muscle Shoals Sound Studios](/source/Muscle_Shoals_Sound_Studios); Sundance Studios, Dallas
| genre      = [R&B](/source/Rhythm_and_blues), [soul](/source/soul_music)
| length     = 34:45
| label      = [Columbia](/source/Columbia_Records)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBVjDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA3192|title=Goldmine Record Album Price Guide|first=Martin|last=Popoff|date=September 8, 2009|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781440229169 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
| producer   = [Don Davis](/source/Don_Davis_(record_producer))
| prev_title = Super Taylor
| prev_year  = 1974
| next_title = Rated Extraordinaire
| next_year  = 1977
}}
'''''Eargasm''''' is an album by the American [R&B](/source/R%26B) singer [Johnnie Taylor](/source/Johnnie_Taylor), released in March 1976 on [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnnie-taylor-mn0000198162/biography|title=Johnnie Taylor Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref name="DF">{{cite book |last1=Aletti |first1=Vince |title=The Disco Files 1973-78: New York's Underground, Week by Week |date=2009 |publisher=DJhistory.com |page=171}}</ref> The album contains "[Disco Lady](/source/Disco_Lady)", which was a No. 1 pop hit for four weeks, and achieved the first platinum certification for a single, with two million copies sold.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jun-02-me-36672-story.html|title=Johnnie Taylor; Singer Had Hit With 'Disco Lady'|date=June 2, 2000|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> ''Eargasm'' was Taylor's first album for Columbia Records, after many years spent recording for [Stax](/source/Stax_Records).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/18/nyregion/johnnie-taylor-62-soul-singer-had-hit-with-disco-lady.html|title=Johnnie Taylor, 62; Soul Singer Had Hit With 'Disco Lady'|work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2000|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

The album peaked at No. 5 on the [''Billboard'' 200](/source/Billboard_200); it spent two weeks at No. 1 on the [Soul Albums](/source/Top_R%26B%2FHip-Hop_Albums) chart,<ref name="BB200"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Mayfield |first1=Geoff |title=Remembered |magazine=Billboard |date=Jun 17, 2000 |volume=112 |issue=25 |page=108}}</ref> and peaked at No. 41 in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4129a.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Albums – June 5, 1976}}</ref> Taylor's most commercially successful album, ''Eargasm'' achieved gold status in 1980 and platinum status in 2001.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Chris |title=Obituary: Johnnie Taylor |work=The Guardian |date=15 June 2000 |page=1.26}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Gold Record Albums |journal=Ebony |date=Feb 1980 |volume=35 |issue=4 |page=92}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Pesselnick |first1=Jill |title=Platinum Albums |magazine=Billboard |date=Dec 22, 2001 |volume=113 |issue=51 |page=52}}</ref> The album's second single, "Somebody's Gettin' It", was also a hit.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Spencer |first1=Leigh |title=Johnnie Taylor |work=The Independent |date=5 June 2000 |location=Obituaries |page=6}}</ref>

The album helped Taylor earn the [Southern Christian Leadership Conference](/source/Southern_Christian_Leadership_Conference)'s award for the 1976 "Entertainer of the Year".<ref>{{cite journal |title=SCLC: Presidential Candidates Don't Know About Poor |journal=Jet |date=Sep 2, 1976 |volume=50 |issue=24 |page=21}}</ref>

==Production and marketing==
The album was produced by [Don Davis](/source/Don_Davis_(record_producer)).<ref>{{cite news |title=Johnnie Taylor Finishes New Album, Sets '76 Concert Tour |work=Chicago Metro News |date=December 13, 1975 |page=17}}</ref> Recorded in Dallas and Memphis, the backing musicians included [Bernie Worrell](/source/Bernie_Worrell) and [Bootsy Collins](/source/Bootsy_Collins).<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/mr-somebody-6395133|title=Mr. Somebody|first=Robert|last=Wilonsky|website=Dallas Observer}}</ref>

The scholar [Houston Baker](/source/Houston_Baker) contends that "Disco Lady" was among the first R&B singles to be advertised to white record buyers; this was part of a 1970s practice of major labels signing veteran black musicians, and then focusing on crossover hits rather than career growth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Echols |first1=Alice |title=Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture |date=2010 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Brian |title=Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations |date=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |page=423}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)
| rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/eargasm-mw0000311827|title=Eargasm – Johnnie Taylor {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)}}</ref>
| rev2 = [Robert Christgau](/source/Robert_Christgau)
| rev2score = C+<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=689|title=Robert Christgau: CG: Johnnie Taylor|website=www.robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music](/source/The_Encyclopedia_of_Popular_Music)''
| rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="CL">{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=Muze |volume=8 |page=65}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[The Rolling Stone Album Guide](/source/The_Rolling_Stone_Album_Guide)''
| rev4score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=694}}</ref>
}}
[Robert Christgau](/source/Robert_Christgau) thought that "Taylor's commitment to the traditional soul style remains unimpeachable even when he accedes to material as modish as the likable but lightweight 'Disco Lady'."<ref name="auto"/>

[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) deemed "Disco Lady" "the song of year", writing that "the rest of the album was standard soul, but this was overlooked in the rush".<ref name="auto1"/> ''[The Rolling Stone Album Guide](/source/The_Rolling_Stone_Album_Guide)'' determined that "the songwriting is nowhere near as punchy or pointed as on the Stax records; however, Taylor throws down some heavy gospel-style testimony."<ref name=RS/>

The ''[Dallas Observer](/source/Dallas_Observer)'', reviewing the album's 1999 rerelease on compact disc, called it "a wonderful record ... full of la-de-de, la-da-dum-da choruses and it-don't-hurt-me verses; the man could sing about infidelity and made it signify even among the most faithful."<ref name="auto2"/> The ''[Fort Worth Star-Telegram](/source/Fort_Worth_Star-Telegram)'' concluded that "Taylor had the good sense to mix strings with the sort of horn-based soul that made him a star on Stax in the '60s and come up with a Memphis/Detroit/Philadelphia hybrid."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ferman |first1=Dave |title=Johnnie Taylor, Eargasm, Columbia |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=April 23, 1999 |location=Star Time |page=19}}</ref> ''[Music Week](/source/Music_Week)'' wrote that "the album is full of classy urban ballads and tidy midtempo grooves, with only 'It Don't Hurt Me Like It Used To' in true disco tempo."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Johnnie Taylor Eargasm |journal=Music Week |date=Jan 18, 2013 |page=51}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| headline = ''Eargasm'' track listing
| title1 = [Disco Lady](/source/Disco_Lady)
| writer1 = Albert James Vance, [Don Davis](/source/Don_Davis_(record_producer)), [Harvey Scales](/source/Harvey_Scales)
| length1 = 4:25
| title2 = Please Don't Stop (That Song from Playing)
| writer2 = Don Davis
| length2 = 2:55
| title3 = Don't Touch Her Body (If You Can't Touch Her Mind)
| writer3 = Don Davis
| length3 = 3:13
| title4 = I'm Gonna Keep On Loving You
| writer4 = Don Davis, Richard Morris
| length4 = 4:00
| title5 = You're the Best in the World
| writer5 = Norma Toney
| length5 = 3:18
| title6 = Running Out of Lies
| writer6 = Perry Jordan
| length6 = 4:50
| title7 = Somebody's Gettin' It
| writer7 = Chico Jones, Clarence Coulter, Don Davis
| length7 = 4:01
| title8 = It Don't Hurt Me Like It Used To
| writer8 = Herbert Ross, Perry Jordan
| length8 = 3:13
| title9 = Pick Up the Pieces
| writer9 = Don Davis, Fred Briggs, Kent Barker
| length9 = 4:50
| total_length = 34:45
}}

==Personnel==
*[Johnnie Taylor](/source/Johnnie_Taylor) – lead vocals
*[Bruce Nazarian](/source/Bruce_Nazarian), [Don Davis](/source/Don_Davis_(record_producer)), Emmett Smith, [Glen Goins](/source/Glen_Goins), [Jimmy Johnson](/source/Jimmy_Johnson_(session_guitarist)) – guitar
*[David Hood](/source/David_Hood), [Michael Henderson](/source/Michael_Henderson), [Bootsy Collins](/source/Bootsy_Collins) – bass
*[Barry Beckett](/source/Barry_Beckett), [Bernie Worrell](/source/Bernie_Worrell), George Rountree, Melvin Griffin, Rudy Robinson – keyboards
*Jerry Jones, [Richard "Pistol" Allen](/source/Richard_%22Pistol%22_Allen), [Roger Hawkins](/source/Roger_Hawkins_(drummer)), Zachary Slatter – drums
*Carl Austin and the Detroit Fisher Theatre Strings – strings, horns
*Eli Fontaine – alto saxophone
*Brandye – backing vocals
*Bobby Eaton – backing vocals arrangements
*Bernie Worrell, [David Van De Pitte](/source/David_Van_De_Pitte), Don Davis, [Wade Marcus](/source/Wade_Marcus), Rudy Robinson, Sonny Sanders – arrangements

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Chart performance for ''Eargasm''
! scope="col"| Chart (1976)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
{{album chart|Canada|41|chartid=4129a|rowheader=true|access-date=October 24, 2022}}
|-
! scope="row"| US [''Billboard'' 200](/source/Billboard_200)<ref name="BB200">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1976-04-24/|title=Billboard 200: Week of April 24, 1976|magazine=[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref>
| 5
|-
! scope="row"| US [Soul Albums](/source/Top_R%26B%2FHip-Hop_Albums) (''[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-albums/1976-04-17/|title=Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: Week of April 17, 1976|magazine=[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref>
| 1
|}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|award=Platinum|type=album|artist=Johnnie Taylor|title=Eargasm|accessdate=24 October 2023|relyear=1976|certyear=2001}}
{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:1976 albums
Category:albums arranged by Wade Marcus
Category:albums produced by Don Davis (record producer)
Category:Columbia Records albums

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eargasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eargasm) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eargasm?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.