‘90s Rock Icons Unite to Perform 1977 No. 1 Disco Anthem
You really got to give it up for Flea and Thom Yorke: they know how to get down and funky.
Flea, best known as the off-the-wall bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, played London's KOKO venue on May 26, performing the jazz-inspired music from his debut solo album, Honora (h/t Stereogum). During the night, the Radiohead frontman joined Flea onstage to play "Traffic Lights," an uptempo bop off of Honora that features Yorke's dreamy vocals.
But that was not all - at the end of the night, Yorke returned to join Flea and his band in a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up." Flea and Yorke (who previously played together in Atoms For Peace) turned the song into a jazz improvisation, with Yorke leaning into the falsetto when singing Gaye's lyrics.
"Got To Give It Up (Pt. 1)" was Gaye's third and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Released in 1997, "Got To Give It Up" was a departure for Gaye. Here was a disco-funk hit from a living R&B and soul icon.
"The reason I did [‘Got To Give It Up'] was that it was the closest I was going to get to disco, despite what some forces wished," he told music journalist Nelson George in the 80s. "I thought it was ridiculous, and I refused to get into that madness. That was as close as I was coming. I just said I was going to ride out that crazy disco number."
"Got To Give It Up" solved two problems for Gaye. It gave his record label, Motown, the disco song they badly wanted from him. "Motown was screaming disco at me," he said in Divided Soul, per Classic Motown, "Disco disco disco disco! I couldn't be bothered."
It also filled out his double album, Live at the London Palladium. There wasn't enough material from the actual London concert, so Gaye recorded the 12-minute "Got to Give It Up" to occupy the entire fourth side of the album.
Despite Gaye's misgivings about disco, the song went to No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Younger audiences might recognize it as the song at the heart of Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams' hit "Blurred Lines." The children of Marvin Gaye sued Thicke and Williams in 2013, alleging that "Blurred Lines" was too similar to "Got to Give You Up." The two parties went to trial in 2015, with Williams testifying that he didn't use Gaye's chart-topper as inspiration for his song.
Ultimately, the jury sided with the Gaye estate, demanding Thicke and Williams pay $7.4 million, according to CBS.
Gaye died in April 1984, a day before his 45th birthday, following a violent confrontation with his father.
Related: 1989 Cover of ‘70s No. 1 Hit Became Band's First Mainstream Radio Smash
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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 10:24 AM.