Summer Lovin' by the Bay

Despite the missteps on her newest recording, Donna Summer remains a hero in the development of electronica's myriad microgenres. SF Weekly approached some local tastemakers for their feedback on her impact on the dance music styles they play and perform today.

"Summer's hits are quintessential disco, and have any number of connections with modern house music and R&B. 'I Feel Love' in particular created an archetype that resonated through decades of soul, be it an R&B vocal style, syncopation and rhythmic innovation, or just raw emotion translated through music accompanied by machines. It directly informed techno's invention; it surfaced again when inner-city London married hip-hop, dancehall, rave, and sampled breakbeats to make hardcore and jungle; and it continues to happen in genres like two-step garage and bassline, combining the human with the artificial to create something more than either." — Mike Battaglia (aka Mikebee), electronica buyer at Amoeba Music and DJ on KUSF

"Donna's work with Giorgio [Moroder] helped push the new and foreign Euro style into the mainstream and helped to catapult her into that mainstream popularity. Otherwise, she would have been relegated to the middle-of-the-road disco road she was following. Many a diva wouldn't be who she is without the producer and vice versa. Moroder's style and his Euro counterparts — Gino Soccio, Barricentro, Klein & MBO, and S.F.'s Megatone Records with Patrick Cowley [who remixed Summer's 'I Feel Love'] have influenced me immensely." — Sergio, DJ on KALX and at "Kinky Beats" (Fridays at Café Flore)

"It cannot be [underestimated] how influential Moroder's production work with Donna Summer has been on electronic music. 'I Feel Love' took disco into a new, electronic direction. The galloping synth bassline became the blueprint for Italo disco and heavily influenced Chicago house and Detroit techno — it was a track that was way ahead of its time. There are also tracks like 'Bad Girls' and 'Hot Stuff' that are just great songs and put to shame most modern pop productions." — Cez, DJ on KUSF and at "Manifesto" (second and fourth Fridays at the Stud)

"As a vocalist who works with dance music producers, [Summer and Moroder] have absolutely influenced and inspired me. The main thing I hear and feel from them is their trust of each other as individuals, their rapport. The more I create art, I realize how key trust is, to be allowed to be artistically vulnerable to produce a piece that is honest and others can feel deeply. 'I Feel Love' is the gold standard, the perfect mix of simple-sounding tech and soul that still tries to get duplicated today. When the bass just persists, it kind of makes girls crazy! The rumors alone about how it was produced, with Donna writhing around on the studio floor — they impact how far and how much I open up in the studio." — Audio Angel, vocalist for Beatropolis and owner of www.rentadiva.info