Get Down on It

"Get Down on It" rode the wave of rejuvenation that began with the band's 1980 comeback, "Celebration." After a wobble at the end of the 1970s, Kool & the Gang once again found their stride -- albeit with a different approach to funk and, by the time of the song's release in 1982, the band's horn-driven jams had been submerged beneath a smoother, softer soul. But both group and vocalist James "J.T." Taylor proved that they were masters of those sounds as well -- indeed, Taylor's voice was almost better suited to the band's early-'80s output than anything which had gone before.

Sweetly soft, but still packing that classic Kool & the Gang punch, "Get Down on It" was completely contemporary for its time, but still held onto the past -- best recalled within the shouted exhortations of the chorus. A classic Deodato production, the song hit the charts in the U.S. as expected, but also crossed the ocean as well to give the band their first Top Five hit in the U.K.