by William Ruhlmann
Bad Girls marked the high-water mark in Donna Summer's career, spending six weeks at Number One, going double platinum, and spinning off four Top 40 singles, including the chart-topping title song and &Hot Stuff,& which sold two million copies each, and the million-selling, Number Two hit &Dim All the Lights.& Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte recognized that disco was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of &Hot Stuff& and &Bad Girls& a rock edge derived from new wave. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the rocksteady beat of the first side giving way to a more traditional disco sound on the second side, followed by a third side of ballads, and a fourth side with a more electronic, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled Summer's 1977 hit &I Feel Love.& Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with &Sunset People,& one of Summer's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of disco itself.