You know that bass line. It’s thick, it’s bouncy, and it basically demands that you move your feet. Even if you don’t know A Taste of Honey, you know "Boogie Oogie Oogie." It’s one of those rare tracks that defined the late 1970s disco explosion while somehow managing to annoy the rock purists of the era. But honestly? There is so much more to this group than just a catchy hook and some gold lamé outfits. They were trailblazers who broke glass ceilings in a male-dominated industry, and their story is a wild mix of Grammy glory, lineup shifts, and a massive pivot into Japanese pop culture that nobody saw coming.
The Capitol Records Gamble
Back in 1978, the music industry was a different beast. It was messy. Janice-Marie Johnson and Perry Kibble formed the band in 1971, spending years grinding in the Los Angeles club circuit and touring military bases. They weren't an overnight success. Far from it. By the time they signed with Capitol Records, the lineup featured Johnson on bass and vocals, Hazel Payne on guitar and vocals, Kibble on keyboards, and Donald Ray Johnson on drums.
The dynamic was unusual for the time. Having two women—especially two Black women—fronting a band while playing their own instruments (bass and lead guitar) was practically unheard of in the disco-funk sphere. Most female acts were vocal groups or solo divas backed by anonymous session men. A Taste of Honey was a self-contained unit.
When "Boogie Oogie Oogie" dropped, it didn't just climb the charts; it teleported to the top. It sold millions. It stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. The song was inspired by a bad night at a gig where the audience was stone-faced and refused to dance. Janice-Marie Johnson wrote it as a bit of a "take that" to the unenthusiastic crowd. Ironically, it became the anthem that forced everyone on earth to get up and shake it.
That Infamous Grammy Win
If you want to talk about A Taste of Honey, you have to talk about the 1979 Grammy Awards. This is where things get controversial in the history books. The band won Best New Artist.
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Now, look at who they beat: Elvis Costello and The Cars.
In the eyes of rock critics, this was a travesty. They saw disco as a plastic, fleeting trend and viewed Costello as the future of "real" music. The backlash was swift and, frankly, a bit tinted with the "Disco Sucks" sentiment of the time. But if you look at the musicianship, the win made sense. The bass playing on their debut album is complex. It’s funky. It’s melodic. Janice-Marie Johnson wasn't just a singer; she was a legitimate force on the four-string.
The pressure of that win was heavy. Follow-up albums like Another Taste tried to recapture the lightning, but the disco backlash was starting to freeze the gears of the industry. People were literally burning disco records in baseball stadiums. It was a tough time to be a dance band.
The Sukiyaki Pivot
By 1980, the band had shrunk down to just the duo of Johnson and Payne. They needed a win. They needed something that wasn't "Boogie Oogie Oogie Part 2."
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What they did next was genius. Or crazy. Maybe both? They took a 1963 Japanese hit by Kyu Sakamoto called "Ue o Muite Arukō," famously known in the West as "Sukiyaki."
Janice-Marie Johnson loved the melody but wanted new lyrics. She reached out to the original publishers, got the rights, and wrote an English version that was a total departure from their disco roots. It was a soft, soulful ballad. It featured a koto—a traditional Japanese stringed instrument—which Payne actually learned to play for the track.
It worked.
"Sukiyaki" hit number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. It proved that A Taste of Honey wasn't a fluke. They could do R&B, they could do ballads, and they could bridge international cultures. It remains one of the most successful covers of a non-English song in American history.
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Why They Disappeared (And Why They Stayed)
Internal friction is the silent killer of every great band. By the mid-80s, the creative partnership between Johnson and Payne had frayed. Hazel Payne eventually left the music business to pursue acting, while Janice-Marie Johnson went solo, releasing the album One Taste of Honey.
They never quite regained the massive commercial heights of the late 70s, but their DNA is all over modern music. Whenever you hear a female-led funk line or a disco-influenced pop track today—think Dua Lipa or Victoria Monét—you’re hearing the echoes of what Janice-Marie and Hazel started.
What People Get Wrong
- They weren't "studio puppets": Unlike many disco acts manufactured by producers, Johnson and Payne wrote much of their material and played their own instruments.
- They weren't just disco: Their later work dipped into jazz, adult contemporary, and traditional Japanese sounds.
- The Grammy win wasn't a mistake: History is often written by rock journalists, but A Taste of Honey sold the records and had the technical chops to back up the trophy.
How to Listen Today
If you really want to understand A Taste of Honey, you can't just stop at the greatest hits. You have to look for the deep cuts where the musicianship shines.
- Check out "Do It Good": The bass line is arguably better than "Boogie Oogie Oogie." It’s raw, syncopated, and shows off Janice-Marie’s thumb technique.
- Listen to "Sayonara": This track from their Ladies of the Eighties album shows their evolution into a more polished, synth-heavy R&B sound.
- Watch the live clips: Find the old Soul Train performances. Seeing Hazel Payne shred on a Gibson L5 or a Stratocaster while wearing high-fashion disco gear is a masterclass in stage presence.
A Taste of Honey represented a specific moment in time when the lines between funk, pop, and disco were beautifully blurred. They were a band of firsts—first Black group to win Best New Artist, one of the first female-led self-contained bands to go platinum, and the first to make a koto cool on American radio.
Your Next Steps for a Deep Dive:
- Track down the 1978 self-titled debut on vinyl: The production by Fonce Mizell and Larry Mizell (The Mizell Brothers) is legendary among crate-diggers for its clean, punchy sound.
- Compare the versions: Listen to Kyu Sakamoto’s original "Sukiyaki" and then the A Taste of Honey version back-to-back. Notice how they kept the emotional core of the melody while completely re-imagining the arrangement.
- Explore Janice-Marie Johnson’s solo work: Her 2000s album Hiatus of the Heart shows she never lost her vocal range or her ability to pen a soulful melody.