"Mighty High" - Mighty Clouds of Joy

[ClassicCase]

Since we're on the subject of gospel crossovers.......

Another forgotten jam that most radio stations in the urban sector choose to ignore. Before Kirk Franklin Stomped his way to the top, this veteran gospel group made a dent in both the urban and pop charts around late 1975/early 1976 with this near-chart topping one hit wonder (most of the others ended up in gospel surveys during their 40+ year career). Many of the fans of Mighty Clouds of Joy actually thought that they actually strayed from their traditional gospel sound and got funky. I guess ABC Records (later bought by MCA and now Geffen) had to give them some kind of image to take gospel on a new level. But I don't think we weren't that ready for it then.

I think that their chart record with this song must be in the R&B top 20 while it was below the top 40 pop in Billboard. Old school scholars, look up its history to back it up, please! I will be glad to e-mail you the clip of this song.

[irock]

I used to love the Mighty Clouds of Joy. I wasn't aware that this song had crossed over, but I remember how it broke the mold for them. It was a great song, but unfortunately the group's creative juices had pretty much run out by this time.

With a few exceptions like this one, the best MCJ music came in the 50s and early 60s.

[cartman2002]

Mighty High was a rare gospel crossover pop hit reached #65 in 1976

[620 Soul Train]

This is the one that spent five consecetive weeks at #1 on the CLub Play Dance/ Disco charts. Now "Stomp" was a huge club jam , however this one was even bigger. They knocked the O'Jays "I Love Music" out of the top spot!