How the Stones’ ‘Miss You’ Rode Disco’s Four-on-the-Floor While Mocking It

The easy answer: the Stones succeeded—‘Miss You’ became a Top Ten hit and proved they could out-disco the Bee Gees while sneering at the whole scene. But the comparison exposes a clever tension. The Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’ (1977) is pure, earnest four-on-the-floor—Bernard Edwards’s bass pattern and the hi-hat’s relentless pulse define the genre. Its falsetto is sweet and pleading, a sincere dance-floor cry. The Stones’ ‘Miss You’ (1978) uses the same rhythmic foundation—Charlie Watts locks into a straight kick-drum pattern, and the hi-hat keeps time—but everything around it is deliberately rough-edged. The falsetto isn’t smooth; Jagger yelps and