It’s 1974. The world is getting grittier, but the dance floor is getting weirder. Suddenly, a voice cuts through the smoke of a New York club—a voice that sounds like a carnival barker on a glitter bender. "I wanna see you get dancin'!" This wasn't the polished, soulful disco of Donna Summer or the slick production of the Bee Gees. No. This was Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes, and their hit Get Dancin' was a chaotic, brilliant, and deeply campy explosion that changed the way people thought about the charts.
Honestly, if you listen to it now, it feels like a fever dream. You've got whistles, sirens, a crowd that sounds like it's having the time of its life, and Sir Monti Rock III—the man behind Disco Tex—basically ad-libbing his way through a six-minute party. It peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1975. People loved it. Critics were baffled. But for anyone who was actually there, it was the definitive sound of a specific kind of freedom.
The Man Behind the Glitter: Who Was Disco Tex?
To understand why this song worked, you have to understand Joseph Montanez Jr., known to the world as Sir Monti Rock III. He wasn't some studio-manufactured pop star. Before he was Disco Tex, he was a celebrity hairdresser. He was a talk show staple. He’d been on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson dozens of times. He was the guy who was "famous for being famous" before that was even a common concept.
Monti was flamboyant at a time when that was still dangerous. He was a whirlwind of energy. When he teamed up with Bob Crewe—the legendary producer behind The Four Seasons—they created something that shouldn't have worked on paper. Crewe was a perfectionist. Monti was a force of nature. Together, they formed the Sex-O-Lettes as a backing group and went into the studio to capture lightning in a bottle.
The Sex-O-Lettes weren't just window dressing, either. The group featured Freddy James and, most notably, a young Cindy Bullens, who would later go on to work with Elton John and have a successful solo career. They provided the musical muscle that kept Monti’s campy antics grounded in a real, funky groove.
Why Get Dancin' Was Digitally Ahead of Its Time (Sort Of)
The structure of the song is a mess. I mean that in the best way possible. Most disco tracks follow a very rigid 4/4 beat with predictable builds and drops. Get Dancin' ignores all of that. It starts with a whistle. It has sections where the music almost stops just so Monti can shout instructions at the crowd.
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- "Move your body!"
- "I like it!"
- "Sugar!"
It feels live. Even though it was recorded in a studio, Bob Crewe layered in ambient crowd noise so effectively that you feel like you're standing in the middle of a packed room in 1974. It’s a "party record" in the truest sense. It’s also one of the first major hits to use the "medley" style that would become a staple of disco. The song doesn't just play; it evolves. It’s a proto-remix.
The track clocks in at nearly four minutes for the single version, but the album version stretches it out, giving the Sex-O-Lettes room to breathe. The horns are sharp. The bassline is relentless. If you take away Monti’s shouting, you’re left with a top-tier funk track. But you can't take away the shouting. That’s the soul of the thing.
The Influence on the Club Scene
Let’s talk about the 1970s club culture for a second. Before Saturday Night Fever made disco safe for the suburbs, it was an underground movement fueled by Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities. Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes were the bridge. They brought the theatricality of the drag scene and the energy of the bathhouses to the mainstream radio.
When "Get Dancin'" hit the airwaves, it was a signal. It told people that it was okay to be "too much." The song is essentially about the joy of performance. It’s self-referential. It’s camp. In his book The Disco Files, journalist Vince Aletti noted how the song captured the "hysteria" of the dance floor better than almost any other record of the era. It wasn't trying to be cool. It was trying to be fun.
The Bob Crewe Connection
We can’t ignore Bob Crewe’s role in this. Crewe was a genius of artifice. He understood that pop music is about theater. By the time he worked with Monti Rock III, he had already written "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Big Girls Don't Cry." He knew how to write a hook.
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In Get Dancin', Crewe used the Sex-O-Lettes to create a wall of sound that was both kitschy and sophisticated. He used the studio as an instrument, mixing in the whistles and the shouts at just the right frequency to make them cut through the speakers of a cheap car radio or a massive club system.
The Backlash and the Legacy
Of course, not everyone was a fan. As disco grew, so did the "Disco Sucks" movement. Purists hated Disco Tex. They saw him as a caricature. They thought the song was a joke. And, to be fair, Monti Rock III was in on the joke. He was a showman.
But here’s the thing: the song survived. While other "serious" disco tracks have been forgotten, Get Dancin' still shows up in movies, commercials, and DJ sets. It has a DNA that you can trace through the B-52s, the Scissor Sisters, and even modern acts like RuPaul. It’s about the persona. It’s about the "Tex" in Disco Tex.
It also performed incredibly well internationally. It hit the top ten in the UK, proving that the language of "getting dancin'" was universal. The follow-up single, "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)," followed a similar blueprint, though it didn't quite reach the same heights. But for a brief moment, Sir Monti Rock III was the king of the world.
Why You Should Listen to It Today
If you haven't heard the full version lately, do yourself a favor and put it on. Use good headphones. Listen to the way the Sex-O-Lettes harmonize behind Monti’s gravelly commands. It’s a masterclass in production. It’s also a reminder that music used to be allowed to be weird.
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In a world of highly processed, perfectly quantized pop, there is something deeply refreshing about a middle-aged guy in a sequined tuxedo screaming "My soul is on fire!" over a funky brass section. It’s raw. It’s ridiculous. It’s human.
Actionable Insights for Music Lovers and Collectors
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes, or just want to capture that 70s energy, here is how to do it right:
1. Find the Original 12-Inch Vinyl
Don't settle for the 3-minute radio edit on Spotify. The magic of "Get Dancin'" is in the extended mix. Search for the original Chelsea Records releases. The B-side, "Acapulco Gold," is also a trip. The analog warmth of the vinyl brings out the "crowd" noise in a way digital files often flatten.
2. Explore the Bob Crewe Catalog
If you like the production on this track, look into the Bob Crewe Generation records. He was experimenting with "disco-fying" classic sounds long before it was a trend. It gives you a great perspective on how the "Get Dancin'" sound was engineered.
3. Watch the Live Performances
Go to YouTube and find the Midnight Special or Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert footage of Disco Tex. Seeing Monti Rock III in full costume, dripping in sweat and jewelry, is essential to understanding the "Sex-O-Lette" experience. You can't separate the visual from the audio here.
4. Add It to Your "Peak Energy" Playlist
Next time you’re hosting a party and the energy starts to dip, drop this track. It is a scientifically proven (okay, maybe just anecdotal) fact that the whistle at the beginning of "Get Dancin'" triggers an immediate physical reaction in any room.
The story of Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes isn't just a footnote in music history. It’s a testament to the power of personality. Monti Rock III didn't have the best voice in the world, and he wasn't a dancer in the traditional sense. But he had a vision of a world that was louder, brighter, and more inclusive. He just wanted to see us get dancin'. And fifty years later, we still are.