"Play That Funky Music" is a song written by Rob Parissi and recorded by the band Wild Cherry. The single was the first released by the Cleveland-based Sweet City record label in April 1976 and distributed by Epic Records. The performers on the recording included lead singer Parissi, electric guitarist Bryan Bassett, bassist Allen Wentz, and drummer Ron Beitle, with session players Chuck Berginc, Jack Brndiar (trumpets), and Joe Eckert and Rick Singer (saxes) on the horn riff that runs throughout the song's verses. The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976; it was also No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of over 2 million records and eventually sold 2.5 million in the United States alone.

"Wild Cherry" were actually a hard rock cover band from Pittsburgh. When disco hit, it hit hard and big and bands like Wild Cherry were losing audiences. Lead singer Parissi explained that when Disco hit, many girls stopped seeing bands like Wild Cherry and went to discos. And where the girls went, the boys went. Parissi appealed to the band that they needed to play more disco stuff, but they were very much against it. Disco was hated by rock music fans and rock music bands were scared to be associated with it.

I have read a couple of variations about how the song came about, but it is known they were playing a few bars one of which was frequented by African Americans who were not great fans of their music. As they were about to play one night, an audience member shouted out (according to most accounts) “Are you going to play some funky music, white boys?” which was heard by drummer Ron Beitle. He later told the rest of the band and Parissi grabbed a drink order pad and started scribbling down some lyrics. The song was top 10 over most of the world with #5 in Australia, #4 in New Zealand, #2 in Canada and #7 in the UK.
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