Charlie Mills

Charlie Mills is currently lost in the Reid Library stacks, please send a rescue team

Over ten West Australians gathered in the city over the weekend, protesting an issue close to many hearts – Earth, Wind & Fire. The group marched down Hay Street, holding signs and chanting, “September never, Wonder/land forever.”

What do they mean? It’s simple – they want to make Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1979 certified banger ‘Boogie Wonderland’ the band’s most popular hit, instead of what they deem as the undeserved holder of the crown, 1978’s ‘September’.

Pelican editors recently met with protest organiser and self-described funk and disco expert, J.J. Beats*. Last year, Mr. Beats formed ‘The Funky Cool Cats’, which he described as “a collection of politically minded disco and funk enthusiasts.”

“We have a simple dream, and we want to bring it to the people. Whenever we hear the funky guitar chords that form the opening bars of ‘September’, all we hear is injustice. Give me the loud brass, the driving drums, and funky lyrics of ‘Boogie Wonderland’, please.”

When asked about the specific goals and motivations of his organisation, Mr. Beats seemed evasive. Instead, he seemed to delve into some pseudo-philosophical exploration of what is now a forty-two-year-old song.

“The song starts, ‘do you remember, twentyfirst night of September.’ Well, I remember – the whole world remembers. But does anyone remember ‘Boogie Wonderland’?” he said.

At this point, we did try to explain to Mr. Beats that whilst ‘September’ was an immensely popular song, so too was ‘Boogie Wonderland’. Mr. Beats became quite agitated.

“‘September’ has totally eclipsed ‘Boogie Wonderland’. ‘September’ has over 850 million plays on Spotify, compared to ‘Boogie Wonderland’ which has a measly 220 million. I’m not saying ‘September’ is a bad song – all I’m saying is that next to ‘Boogie Wonderland’, it’s a big old pile of trash.”

UWA Musical Historian Professor Sandra Michaels said of the protest: “to be honest, I don’t get it. Yeah, ‘Boogie Wonderland’ is a bop, but I don’t see the need to protest about it. I’ve always been more of a ‘Let’s Groove’ (1981) girl myself.”

Despite its opposition, Mr. Beats’ movement appears to be gaining traction.

“Our numbers are growing every day. The next step is marching on parliament house.”

*EDITORS NOTE: J.J. Beats is actually named Tom Gordon, but for some reason he insisted we refer to him as J.J. Beats. It was either that or ‘DJ Disco’.