Disco

This article is about the music genre. For the entertainment venue, see discothèque. For other uses, see Disco (disambiguation).

Disco ball

Stylized images of disco dancers are silhouetted against a starlit sky in this graphic design.

Disco is a genre of dance music. Its popularity peaked during the middle to late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Disco was used as a reaction by New York City's gays as well as blacks, Latinos and heterosexuals against both the domination of rock music and the demonisation of dance music by the counterculture during this period. Women embraced disco as well, and the music eventually expanded to several other popular groups of the time. In what is considered a forerunner to disco style clubs, in February 1970, the New York City DJ David Mancuso opened The Loft, a members-only private dance club set in his own home. Allmusic claims some have argued that Isaac Hayes and Barry White were playing what would be called disco music as early as 1971. According to the music guide there is disagreement as to what the first disco song was. Claims have been made for Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" (1972), Jerry Butler's "One Night Affair" (1972), the Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat" (1974) and George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" (1974). The first article about disco was written in September 1973 by Vince Aletti for Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1974 New York City's WPIX-FM premiered the first disco radio show.

Musical influences include funk, Latin and soul music. The disco sound has soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady "four-on-the-floor" beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a prominent, syncopated electric bass line sometimes consisting of octaves. The Fender Jazz Bass is often associated with disco bass lines, because the instrument itself has a very prominent 'voice' in the musical mix. In most disco tracks, strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create a lush background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies, and unlike in rock, lead guitar is rarely used.

Well-known late 1970s disco performers included Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, and The Jacksons. Summer would become the first well-known and most popular disco artist, giving her the title 'The Queen of Disco', and also played a part in pioneering the electronic sound that later became a part of disco (see below). While performers and singers garnered the lion's share of public attention, the behind-the-scenes producers played an equal, if not more important role in disco, since they often usually wrote the songs and created the innovative sounds and production techniques that were part of the "disco sound". Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of disco's popularity, and films such as Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity.

According to music writer Piero Scaruffi the disco phenomenon spread quickly because the "collective ecstasy" of disco was cathartic and regenerative and led to freedom of expression. Disco was the last mass popular music movement that was driven by the baby boom generation.

An angry backlash against disco music and culture emerged in the United States, hitting its peak with the July 1979 Disco Demolition Night riot. While the popularity of disco in the United States declined markedly as a result of the backlash, the genre continued to be popular elsewhere during the 1980s.

Because the term "disco" became unfashionable at the start of the 1980s it was replaced by "dance music" and "dance pop" which described music powered by the basic disco beat. In the decades since, dance clubs have remained highly popular, and the disco beat has informed the sound of many of music's biggest stars. Disco has been influential on several dance music genres that have emerged since, such as House, Nu-Disco, Hi-NRG, Italo Disco, Eurodisco, Disco-Funk and Latin Freestyle.

History

1966–1974: Early history

The disco sound, style and ethos has its roots in the early 1960s, as record hops and radio DJ's began to replace live bands with recorded music. Discos were first popular in Europe (where the term "Discotheque" was initially coined) and quickly spread to America.

During the 60s and 70s in New York City, musicians and audiences from the female, gay, black, and Latino communities, who were marginalized at the time, adopted several traits from the hippies and psychedelia. They included overwhelming sound, free-form dancing, "trippy" lighting, colorful costumes, and hallucinogens Psychedelic soul groups like the Chambers Brothers and especially Sly and The Family Stone influenced proto-disco acts such as Isaac Hayes, Willie Hutch and the Philadelphia Sound. In addition, the positivity, lack of irony, and earnestness of the hippies informed proto-disco music like M.F.S.B.'s "Love Is the Message".

Philly and New York soul were evolutions of the Motown sound. The Philly Sound is typified by lavish percussion and lush strings, which became a prominent part of mid-1970s disco songs. Early songs with disco elements include "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (The Supremes, 1966), "Only the Strong Survive" (Jerry Butler, 1968), "Message to Love" (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1969), "Soul Makossa" (Manu Dibango, 1972) and "The Love I Lost" (Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, 1973).

The early disco sound was largely an urban American phenomenon with producers and labels such as SalSoul Records (Ken, Joe and Stanley Cayre), West End Records (Mel Cheren), Casablanca (Neil Bogart), and Prelude (Marvin Schlachter) to name a few.

The disco sound was also shaped by Tom Moulton who wanted to extend the enjoyment of the music — thus creating the extended mix or "Remix". This has influenced many other latter genres such as techno, and pop. DJs and remixers would often remix (i.e., re-edit) existing songs using reel-to-reel tape machines. Their remixed versions would add in percussion breaks, new sections, and new sounds. Other influential DJs and remixers who helped to establish what became known as the "disco sound" included David Mancuso, Nicky Siano, Shep Pettibone, the legendary and much-sought-after Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, and later, New York–born Chicago "Godfather of House" Frankie Knuckles.

Disco was also shaped by nightclub DJs such as Francis Grasso, who used multiple record players to seamlessly mix tracks from genres such as soul, funk and pop music at discothèques, and was the forerunner to later styles such as house. Women also played important roles at the turntable. Karen Cook, the first female disco DJ in the United States, spun the vinyl hits from 1974 to 1977 at 'Elan, Houston, TX, and also programmed music for clubs throughout the US that were owned by McFaddin Ventures.

Disco hit the television airwaves with Soul Train in 1971 hosted by Don Cornelius, then Marty Angelo's Disco Step-by-Step Television Show in 1975, Steve Marcus' Disco Magic/Disco 77, Eddie Rivera's Soap Factory and Merv Griffin's, Dance Fever, hosted by Deney Terrio,The National disco champs winners of the 1977 American Bandstand, Brother and sister Dance team Gary and Gloria Poole who is credited with teaching actor John Travolta to dance for his upcoming role in the hit movie Saturday Night Fever.

1974–1978: Chart-topping songs

From 1974 through 1978, Disco music continued to increase in popularity as many disco songs topped the charts. The Hues Corporation's 1974 "Rock The Boat", a U.S. #1 single and million-seller, was one of the early disco songs to hit #1. Another early disco hit "Kung Fu Fighting", produced by Biddu and sung by Carl Douglas, reached #1 in the UK and US that same year, and became the best-selling single of the year, selling nine million records worldwide. Other chart-topping disco hits that year included "Walking in Rhythm" by The Blackbyrds, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae, and "Love's Theme" by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. Also in 1974, Gloria Gaynor released the first side-long disco mix vinyl album, which included a remake of The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" and two other songs, "Honey Bee" and "Reach Out (I'll Be There)". Also significant during this early disco period was Miami's KC and the Sunshine Band. Formed by Harry Wayne Casey ("KC") and Richard Finch, KC and the Sunshine Band had a string of disco-definitive top-five hits between 1975 and 1977, including "Get Down Tonight", "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man" and "Keep It Comin' Love".

The Bee Gees used Barry Gibb's falsetto to garner hits such as "You Should Be Dancing", "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever" and "More Than A Woman". Andy Gibb, a younger brother to the Bee Gees, followed with similarly-styled solo hits such as "I Just Want to Be Your Everything," "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" and "Shadow Dancing." In 1975, hits such as Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" and "Could It Be Magic" brought disco further into the mainstream. Other notable early disco hits include The Jacksons’s "Dancing Machine" (1974), Barry White’s "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (1974), LaBelle’s "Lady Marmalade" (1975) and Silver Convention’s "Fly Robin Fly" (1975). Chic's "Le Freak" (1978) became a classic and is heard almost everywhere disco is mentioned; other hits by Chic include the often-sampled "Good Times" (1979) and "Everybody Dance" (1978). Michael Jackson also scored his first chart-topping solo hit in the disco genre with "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (1979). Martin Dow, an influential DJ at the time in Key West, FL was the resident DJ at The Monster, who pioneered the NYC sound across the state and was a recipient of the IRAA Gold Record for the Atlantic Records hit single "Dance, Dance, Dance" by Chic. He was influenced by Roy Thode, a NYC DJ who played in many NYC clubs at the time and was a close friend of Jim Burgess. Roy and Martin were notable for their ability to phase and mix three turntables simultaneously.

Diana Ross was one of the first Motown artists to embrace the disco sound with her hugely successful 1976 outing "Love Hangover" from her self-entitled album. Ross would continue to score disco hits for the rest of the Disco era, including the 1980 dance classics "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out", (the latter immediately becoming a favorite in the gay community). Ironically enough, the group Ross led to superstardom during the 1960s, The Supremes, scored a handful of hits in the disco clubs themselves, most notably 1976's "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking" and, their last charted single before disbanding, 1977's 'You're My Driving Wheel". Also noteworthy are Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" (1978), Evelyn "Champagne" King's "Shame", (also 1978), Cher's "Take Me Home" (1979), Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" (also 1979), Geraldine Hunt's "Can't Fake The Feeling" and Walter Murphy's various attempts to bring classical music to the mainstream, most notably his hit "A Fifth of Beethoven" (1976).

The rich orchestral accompaniment that became identified with the disco era conjured up the memories of the big band era which brought out several artists that recorded and disco-ized some Big Band Music including Perry Como, who re-recorded his 1929 and 1939 hit, Temptation, in 1975, as well as Ethel Merman, who released an album of disco songs entitled The Ethel Merman Disco Album in 1979. The disco fad was even picked up by more unexpected musicians, such as country artists Bill Anderson (Double S), Connie Smith (with her cover of Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" and Ronnie Milsap (High Heel Sneakers). Myron Floren, second-in-command on The Lawrence Welk Show, released a recording of the Clarinet Polka entitled "Disco Accordion." Even the I Love Lucy theme wasn't spared from being disco-ized. Other notable disco hits based on movie and television themes included the medley from Star Wars, "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" (1977), by Meco, and "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" by Manhattan Transfer (1979).

Prominent European pop and disco groups were Luv' from the Netherlands and Boney M, a group of four West Indian singers and dancers masterminded by West German record producer Frank Farian. Boney M charted worldwide hits with such songs as "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker" and "Rivers of Babylon". In France, Claude Francois who re-invented himself as the king of French disco, released "La plus belle chose du monde" a French version of the Bee Gees hit record, "Massachusetts" which became a big hit in Canada and Europe and "Alexandrie Alexandra" was posthumously released on the day of his burial which became a worldwide hit; "Dalida released "J'attendrai", which became a big hit in Canada and Japan, and Cerrone's early hit songs – "Love In C Minor", "Give Me Love" and "Supernature" – became major hits in the U.S. and Europe.

As one of the first movies to be scored with disco music before Saturday Night Fever, the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me garnered great popularity from composer Marvin Hamlisch's score, especially the disco-flavored Bond 77 opening track.

Eurodisco

Main article: Eurodisco

Eurodisco was not as funky, more pop oriented and less soul influenced than American styled disco. European acts Silver Convention, Love and Kisses, Munich Machine, and American acts Donna Summer, and the Village People were acts that defined the late 1970's Eurodisco sound. Producers Giorgio Moroder whom Allmusic described as "one of the principal architects of the disco sound" and Jean-Marc Cerrone were involved with Eurodisco. The highly influential German group Kraftwerk is regarded by some as the first Eurodisco act. Disco lasted several years longer in Europe than it did in the United States; while disco had faded from favor by 1980 in the United States, the UK was still producing disco albums, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's famous Hooked on Classics series, which paralleled American composer Walter Murphy's earlier combinations of disco with classical music.

1978–1980: Pop pre-eminence

In December 1977 the film Saturday Night Fever was released. The film was marketed specifically to broaden disco's popularity beyond its primarily gay and black audience. It was a huge success, helping to make disco a worldwide phenomenon, and became the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Disco's popularity led many non-disco artists to record disco songs at the height of its popularity.

Many of these songs were not "pure" disco, but were instead rock or pop songs with (sometimes inescapable) disco influence or overtones. Notable examples include Blondie's ""Heart of Glass" (1978), Cher's "Hell on Wheels" (1979), The Rolling Stones' "Miss You" (1978), Barry Manilow’s "Copacabana" (1978), David Bowie "John I'm Only Dancing (Again)" (1975), Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1979), Electric Light Orchestra’s "Shine a Little Love", "Don't Bring Me Down", and "Last Train to London" (1979), George Benson's "Give Me the Night" (1980), Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980), Paul McCartney & Wings' "Goodnight Tonight" (1979), Kiss' "I Was Made For Lovin' You" (1979) and Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall (1979).

Several parodies of the disco style were created, most notably "Disco Duck" and "Dancin' Fool". Rick Dees, at the time a radio DJ in Memphis, Tennessee, recorded "Disco Duck"; Frank Zappa parodied the lifestyles of disco dancers in "Dancin' Fool" on his 1979 Sheik Yerbouti album.

1979–1981 Backlash and decline

See also: Disco Demolition Night

Though disco music had enjoyed several years of popularity, an anti-disco sentiment manifested itself, particularly in America. Many musicians and fans of a variety of rock music styles expressed strong disapproval of disco throughout the height of its popularity. Among these critics, the slogans "disco sucks" and "death to disco" were common by the late 1970s and appeared in written form in places ranging from tee shirts to graffiti. Radio DJs organized mass burnings of Bee Gees albums and posters. Rock artists such as Rod Stewart and David Bowie who added disco elements to their music were accused of being sell outs.

The punk subculture both in the United States and United Kingdom was often very critical of disco, even to the point of being downright hostile. Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys likened disco to the cabaret culture of Weimar Germany for its apathy towards government policy and its escapism (which Biafra saw as delusional). He sang about this in the song "Saturday Night Holocaust", the B-side of the song "Halloween". Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo has said that Disco was "like a beautiful woman with a great body and no brains" and a product of political apathy of that era. Aside from Mothersbaugh's and Biafra's criticism, punk fans shared the "disco sucks" sentiment of other rock fans. New Jersey rock critic Jim Testa wrote "Put a Bullet Through The Jukebox", a vitriolic screed attacking disco that was a punk call to arms. Many punk rock songs had anti-disco lyrics, examples includes "Diskofnask" by Incest Brothers, "Discofreak" by Rabies GBG, "På Stockholms alla diskotek" by Watabout, "Diskotönt" by Nervös Reaktion, "Discoäckel" by GLO, "Discoglin" by Skäms, "Diskotek" by Bitch Boys, "Disco" by Cathy & The Heat, "Discodivor" by Massmedia, "Anti-disco" by Snobbslakt, "Anti-disco" by WAX, "Discoråtta" by Kalle Bollträ and "Discosvin" by Kvalster.

Man wearing Disco Sucks T-Shirt

July 12, 1979 became known as "the day disco died" because of an anti-disco demonstration that was held in Chicago. Rock station DJs Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, along with Michael Veeck, son of Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, staged Disco Demolition Night, a promotional event with an anti-disco theme, between games at a White Sox doubleheader for disgruntled rock fans. During this event, which involved exploding disco records, the raucous crowd tore out seats and turf in the field and did other damage to Comiskey Park. It ended in a riot in which police made numerous arrests. The damage done to the field forced the Sox to forfeit the second game to the Detroit Tigers who won the first game. The stadium suffered thousands of dollars in damage.

On July 21—six days after the riot—the top six records on the U.S. charts were of the disco genre. By September 22, there were no disco records in the top 10. The media, in celebratory tones, declared disco dead and rock revived.

The anti-disco backlash, combined with other societal and radio industry factors, changed the face of pop radio in the years following disco-demolition night. Top 40 radio stations avoided playing music by black artists in an effort to prevent their stations from being labeled with the dreaded "disco" tag. These stations converted to a variety of niche formats. One of the more popular of these formats, country music, rose into favor when Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta had a hit with the film Urban Cowboy, a movie that has been perceived as a rejection of disco.

The television industry—taking a cue from the music industry—responded with an anti-disco agenda as well. A recurring theme on the television show WKRP in Cincinnati was a hateful attitude towards disco music.

It was during this backlash and decline that several record companies were folded, reorganized or sold. In 1979, MCA Records bought ABC Records and shut it down. Casablanca Records' founder Neil Bogart was forced out in 1980 by label owner PolyGram. RSO Records founder Robert Stigwood left the label in 1981. TK Records closed in 1981. Salsoul Records managed to hang on until 1984.

Factors

Anti-disco sentiment proliferated at the time because of over-saturation and the big-business mainstreaming of disco. The popular 1977 film Saturday Night Fever prompted major record labels to mass-produce hits, a move which some perceived as turning the genre from something vital and edgy into a safe "product" homogenized for mainstream audiences. A bad economy, political chaos that would lead to the election of Ronald Reagan, and burnout brought on by the hedonistic lifestyles led by participants (along with the emergence of AIDS) also have been cited as factors leading to the decline of the genre . According to Gloria Gaynor, the music industry supported the destruction of disco because rock music producers were losing money and rock musicians were losing the spotlight. Disco was criticized for being elitist. Songs such as Frank Zappa's satirical song "Dancin' Fool" and Steve Dahl's "Do Ya Think I'm Disco?" described patrons of exclusive discos as being overdressed and vapid.

The attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, sexism and homophobia.

Craig Werner, A Change Is Gonna Come

In January 1979 rock critic Robert Christgau wrote that homophobia and most likely racism were reasons behind the backlash. a conclusion seconded by John Rockwell in The New York Times. In the years since Disco Demolition night, social critics have described the backlash as implicitly macho and bigoted and an attack on non-white and non-heterosexual cultures. Legs McNeil, founder of the fanzine Punk, was quoted in an interview as saying, "the hippies always wanted to be black. We were going, 'fuck the blues, fuck the black experience'." He said that disco was the result of an unholy union between gays and blacks. Harold Childs senior vice president at A&M Records told the Los Angeles Times "radio is really desperate for rock product", "there all looking for some white rock-n-roll". Steve Dahl has denied the charges, saying "It's really easy to look at it historically, from this perspective, and attach all those things to it. But we weren't thinking like that." It has been noted that United Kingdom punk rock critics of disco were very supportive of the pro-black/anti-racist reggae genre. And both Christgau and Testa acknowledged that there were legitimate artistic reasons for being critical of disco.

1990–Present: Resurgence

In the late 1980s and increasingly through the 1990s, a revival of the original disco style began to emerge. The disco influence can be heard in such songs as Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" (1988), Deee-Lite's Groove Is in the Heart (1990), Gloria Estefan's "Get On Your Feet" (1991), Paula Abdul's "Vibeology" (1992), Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman" (1993), U2’s "Lemon" (1993), Diana Ross's "Take Me Higher" (1995), France Joli's "Touch" (1996), Spice Girls' "Who Do You Think You Are" (1997), Gloria Estefan's "Heaven's What I Feel" (1998) & "Don't Let This Moment End" (1999), George Michael's Outside (1998), Cher’s "Strong Enough" (1998), and Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" (1999).

The trend continued in the 2000s with hit songs such as Kylie Minogue's "Spinning Around" (2000) as well as her album "Light Years" (2000), Sheena Easton's "Givin' Up, Givin' In" (2001), Michael Jackson's "You Rock My World" (2001), Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Murder on the Dancefloor" (2001), Mýa's "Free" (2001) RuPaul's "Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous", (2004) Janet Jackson's "R&B Junkie", (2004) La Toya Jackson's "Just Wanna Dance" (2004) & "Free the World" (2005). Madonna's 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor echoes traditional disco themes, particularly in the single "Hung Up", which samples ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)". Madonna continued doing disco music in her 2008 release, "Hard Candy", this time experimenting with the old days of funk- and soul-influenced disco in songs like "Beat Goes On" and "Dance 2nite".

In the early 2000s, the genre of music known as dance-punk enjoyed increased popularity. Dance-punk bands like The Rapture, !!!, and LCD Soundsystem fused elements of punk rock with different forms of dance music, especially disco. Many of these bands hailed from New York City.

In the mid-late part of the decade, many disco songs have been released, becoming hits, including (2005) Gorillaz's "Dare", Ultra Nate's "Love's The Only Drug" (2006), Gina G's "Tonight's The Night" (2006), The Shapeshifters' "Back To Basics" (2006), Michael Gray's "Borderline" (2006), Irene Cara's "Forever My Love" (2006), Bananarama's "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)", the Freemasons "Rain Down Love" (2007), Claudja Barry's "I Will Stand" (2006), Pepper Mashay's "Lost Yo Mind" (2007), Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s "Me and My Imagination" (2007), Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" (2007) Justice’s "D.A.N.C.E.", "Phantom (Part II)" (2007), Dannii Minogue's "Touch Me Like That" (2007), Cerrone's "Misunderstanding" and "Tattoo Woman" (2008), Sean Ensign's "I Wanna Be With You" (2008), Donna Summer's "I'm a Fire" (2008), Jody Watley's "A Beautiful Life" (2008), Crystal Waters's "Dancefloor" (2008), Alcazar's comeback single "We Keep on Rockin'" (2008), RuPaul's "Jealous Of My Boogie" (2009)", Shakira's "She Wolf" (2009), Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill" (2009), Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" (2010), and Katy Perry's song "California Gurls" (2010). Music producer, Ian Levine has also produced many new songs with such singers as George Daniel Long, Hazell Dean, Sheila Ferguson, Steve Brookstein and Tina Charles among others for the compilation album titled, Disco 2008, a tribute to Disco music using original material.

In the 2000s, artists such as Duck Sauce, DE SIGNER, Ali Love, Hercules and Love Affair and producer JMV have revived the disco sound helping bring further mainstream interest and success. Disco tributes continue to be popular draws. The World's Largest Disco, an annual celebration held over Thanksgiving weekend in Buffalo, New York, draws thousands of disco fans in 1970s-era attire. In addition to playing disco hits of the era, live performers from the 1970s make appearances. One surprising place disco arrived and then never went away is English Junior schools. By 1975 discos began for young children and are still an annual feature in many schools today.

Musical characteristics

Disco bass pattern

Rock & disco drum patterns: disco features greater subdivision of the beat, which is four-to-the-floor

The "disco sound", while unique, almost defies a unified description, as it is an ultra-inclusive art form that draws on as many influences as it produces interpretations. Jazz, classical, calypso, rock, Latin, soul, funk, and new technologies — just to name a few of the obvious — were all mingled with aplomb. Vocals can be frivolous or serious love intrigues — all the way to extremely serious socially-conscious commentary.

The music tended to layer soaring, often-reverberated vocals, which are often doubled by horns, over a background "pad" of electric pianos and wah-pedaled "chicken-scratch" guitars. Other backing keyboard instruments include the piano, organ (during early years), string synth, and electroacoustic keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, and Hohner Clavinet. Synthesizers are also fairly common in disco, especially in the late 1970s. The rhythm is laid down by prominent, syncopated basslines (with heavy use of octaves) played on the bass guitar and by drummers using a drum kit, African/Latin percussion, and electronic drums such as Simmons and Roland drum modules). The sound is enriched with solo lines and harmony parts played by a variety of orchestral instruments, such as harp, violin, viola, cello, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, flugelhorn, French horn, tuba, English horn, oboe, flute (sometimes especially the alto flute and occasionally bass flute), piccolo, timpani and synth strings or a full-blown string orchestra.

Most disco songs have a steady four-on-the-floor beat, a quaver or semi-quaver hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a heavy, syncopated bass line. This basic beat would appear to be related to the Dominican merengue rhythm. Other Latin rhythms such as the rhumba, the samba and the cha-cha-cha are also found in disco recordings, and Latin polyrhythms, such as a rhumba beat layered over a merengue, are commonplace. The quaver pattern is often supported by other instruments such as the rhythm guitar and may be implied rather than explicitly present. It often involves syncopation, rarely occurring on the beat unless a synthesizer is used to replace the bass guitar. In general, the difference between a disco, or any dance song, and a rock or popular song is that in dance music the bass hits four to the floor, at least once a beat (which in 4/4 time is 4 beats per measure), whereas in rock the bass hits on one and three and lets the snare take the lead on two and four. Disco is further characterized by a sixteenth note division of the quarter notes established by the bass as shown in the second drum pattern below, after a typical rock drum pattern.

The orchestral sound usually known as "disco sound" relies heavily on strings and horns playing linear phrases, in unison with the soaring, often reverberated vocals or playing instrumental fills, while electric pianos and chicken-scratch guitars create the background "pad" sound defining the harmony progression. Typically, a rich "wall of sound" results. There are, however, more minimalistic flavors of disco with reduced, transparent instrumentation, pioneered by Chic.

In 1977, Giorgio Moroder again became responsible for a development in disco. Alongside Donna Summer and Pete Bellotte he wrote the song "I Feel Love" for Summer to perform. It became the first well-known disco hit to have a completely synthesised backing track. The song is still considered to have been well ahead of its time. Other disco producers, most famously Tom Moulton, grabbed ideas and techniques from dub music (which came with the increased Jamaican migration to New York City in the seventies) to provide alternatives to the four on the floor style that dominated. Larry Levan utilized style keys from dub and jazz and more as one of the most successful remixers of all time to create early versions of house music that sparked the genre.

Production

The "disco sound" was much more costly to produce than many of the other popular music genres from the 1970s. Unlike the simpler, four-piece band sound of the funk, soul of the late 1960s, or the small jazz organ trios, disco music often included a large pop band, with several chordal instruments (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer), several drum or percussion instruments (drumkit, Latin percussion, electronic drums), a horn section, a string orchestra, and a variety of "classical" solo instruments (e.g., flute, piccolo, etc.).

Disco songs were arranged and composed by experienced arrangers and orchestrators, and producers added their creative touches to the overall sound. Recording complex arrangements with such a large number of instruments and sections required a team that included a conductor, copyists, record producers, and mixing engineers. Mixing engineers had an important role in the disco production process, because disco songs used as many as 64 tracks of vocals and instruments. Mixing engineers compiled these tracks into a fluid composition of verses, bridges, and refrains, complete with orchestral builds and breaks. Mixing engineers helped to develop the "disco sound" by creating a distinctive-sounding disco mix.

Early records were the "standard" 3 minute version until Tom Moulton came up with a way to make songs longer, wanting to take a crowd to another level that was impossible with 45-RPM vinyl discs of the time (which could usually hold no more than 5 minutes of good-quality music). With the help of José Rodriguez, his remasterer, he pressed a single on a 10" disc instead of 7". They cut the next single on a 12" disc, the same format as a standard album. This method fast became the standard format for all DJs of the genre.

Because record sales were often dependent on floor play in clubs, DJs were also important to the development and popularization of disco music. Notable DJs include Rex Potts (Loft Lounge, Sarasota, Florida), Karen Cook, Jim Burgess, Walter Gibbons, John "Jellybean" Benitez, Richie Kaczar of Studio 54, Rick Gianatos, Francis Grasso of Sanctuary, Larry Levan, Ian Levine, Neil "Raz" Rasmussen & Mike Pace of L'amour Disco in Brooklyn, Preston Powell of Magique, Jennie Costa of Lemontrees, Tee Scott, Tony Smith of Xenon, John Luongo, Robert Ouimet of The Limelight, and David Mancuso.

Disco clubs and culture

In October 1975 notable discos included "Studio One" in Los Angeles, "Leviticus" in New York and "The Library" in Atlanta.

Blue disco quad roller skates

By the late 1970s most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, but the largest scenes were in San Francisco, Miami, and most notably New York City. The scene was centered on discotheques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the patrons who came to dance. The DJs played "...a smooth mix of long single records to keep people 'dancing all night long'". Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.

At the height of the disco era, McFaddin Ventures were operating many successful and profitable nightclubs. In an effort to maximize profit, McFaddin Ventures in Houston, Texas commissioned a study on the stimulation of males and females during the playing of music. They accordingly custom tuned their speakers to make their numerous clubs more exciting. Their programmer/disc jockey, Karen Cook, was the first female disco DJ in the states Template:Confirmation by Lance McFaddin, Principal of McFaddin Ventures and Judy Meyer and trained other McFaddin Ventures discjockeys to work their music format (6 up, 3 down) which was designed to sell more drinks. Karen is currently Producer/Director at VividMix.

In the late 1970s, Studio 54 was arguably the most well known nightclub in the world. This club played a major formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general.

Disco dancing

In the early years dancers in discos danced in a "hang loose" style. Popular dances included "Bump", "Penguin", "Boogaloo, "Watergate" and the "Robot". By October 1975 The Hustle reigned. It was highly stylized, sophisticated and sexy. Variations included the Brooklyn Hustle, New York Hustle and Latin Hustle.

During the disco era, many nightclubs would commonly host disco dance competitions or offer free instructional lessons. Some cities had disco dance instructors or dance schools which taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", "the hustle" and "the cha cha". The pioneer of disco dance instruction was Karen Lustgarten in San Francisco in 1973. Her book The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing (Warner Books, 1978) was the first to name, break down and codify popular disco dances as a dance form and distinguish between disco freestyle, partner and line dances. The book hit the New York Times Best Seller List for 13 weeks and was translated into Chinese, German and French.

Some notable professional dance troupes of the 1970s included Pan's People and Hot Gossip. For many dancers, the primary influence of the 1970s disco age is still predominantly the film Saturday Night Fever (1977). This developed into the music and dance style of such films as Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983),"The Last Days of Disco"(1998). It also helped spawn dance competition TV shows such as Dance Fever (1979).

Disco fashion

Disco fashions were very trendy in the late 1970s. Discothèque-goers often wore expensive and extravagant fashions for nights out at their local disco, such as sheer, flowing Halston dresses for women and shiny polyester Qiana shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit polyester shirt jackets with matching trousers known as the leisure suit. Necklaces and medallions were a common fashion accessory.

Hedonism: drug subculture and sexual promiscuity

In addition to the dance and fashion aspects of the disco club scene, there was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine (nicknamed "blow"), amyl nitrite "poppers", and the "...other quintessential 1970s club drug Quaalude, which suspended motor coordination and gave the sensation that one’s arms and legs had turned to Jell-O." According to Peter Braunstein, the "massive quantities of drugs ingested in discotheques produced the next cultural phenomenon of the disco era: rampant promiscuity and public sex. While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction, actual sex usually took place in the nether regions of the disco: bathroom stalls, exit stairwells, and so on. In other cases the disco became a kind of 'main course' in a hedonist’s menu for a night out."

Famous disco bars included the very important Paradise Garage and Crisco Disco as well as "...cocaine-filled celeb hangouts such as Manhattan's Studio 54", which was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Studio 54 was notorious for the hedonism that went on within; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with an image of the "Man in the Moon" that included an animated cocaine spoon.

Influence on other music

1982–1990: Post disco and dance

Main article: Post Disco

The transition from the late-1970s disco styles to the early-1980s dance styles was marked primarily by the change from complex arrangements performed by large ensembles of studio session musicians (including a horn section and an orchestral string section), to a leaner sound, in which one or two singers would perform to the accompaniment of synthesizer keyboards and drum machines.

In addition, dance music during the 1981–83 period borrowed elements from blues and jazz, creating a style different from the disco of the 1970s. This emerging music was still known as disco for a short time, as the word had become associated with any kind of dance music played in discothèques. Examples of early 1980s dance sound performers include D. Train, Kashif, and Patrice Rushen. These changes were influenced by some of the notable R&B and jazz musicians of the 1970s, such as Stevie Wonder, Kashif and Herbie Hancock, who had pioneered "one-man-band"-type keyboard techniques. Some of these influences had already begun to emerge during the mid-1970s, at the height of disco’s popularity.

Songs such as Gloria Gaynor’s "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974), Thelma Houston’s "Don't Leave Me This Way" (1976), Donna Summer’s "Spring Affair" (1977), Rod Stewart’s "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?&quot; (1978), Donna Summer’s "Bad Girls" (1979), and The Bee Gees’ "Love You Inside Out" (1979) foreshadowed the dramatic change in dance music styles which was to follow in the 1980s.</ref>

During the first years of the 1980s, the "disco sound" began to be phased out, and faster tempos and synthesized effects, accompanied by guitar and simplified backgrounds, moved dance music toward the funk and pop genres. This trend can be seen in singer Billy Ocean's recordings between 1979 and 1981. Whereas Ocean's 1979 song American Hearts was backed with an orchestral arrangement played by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, his 1981 song "One of Those Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down)" had a more bare, stripped-down sound, with no orchestration or symphonic arrangements. This drift from the original disco sound is called post-disco. In this music scene there are rooted sub-genres, such as italo-disco, techno, house, dance-pop, boogie, and early alternative dance.

During the early 1980s, dance music dropped the complicated melodic structure and orchestration which typified the "disco sound". Examples of well-known songs which illustrate this difference include Kool & the Gang’s "Celebration" (1980), Rick James’ "Super Freak" (1981), Grace Jones's "Pull Up to the Bumper" (1981), Carol Jiani's "Hit N' Run Lover" (1981), Laura Branigan's "Gloria" (1982), The Pointer Sisters’ "I'm So Excited" (1982), Prince’s "1999" (1982), The Weather Girls's "It's Raining Men" (1982), Madonna’s "Holiday" (1983), Irene Cara's "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" (1983), Angela Bofill's "Too Tough" (1983), Miquel Brown's "So Many Men, So Little Time" (1983), Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" (1983), Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" (1983), Cerrone's "Back Track" (1984), Jocelyn Brown's "Somebody Else's Guy" (1984), and Klymaxx's "Meeting in the Ladies Room" (1984).

TV themes

During the 1970s, many TV theme songs were produced (or older themes updated) with disco influenced music. Examples include S.W.A.T. (1975), Charlie's Angels (1976), NBC Saturday Night At The Movies (1976), The Love Boat (1977), The Donahue Show (1977), CHiPs (1977), The Professionals (1977), Dallas (1978), Kojak (1978), and 20/20 or Mike Post & Pete Carpenter's Showtime (1983) from The A-Team, which kept the disco sound throughout the 1980s. The British Science Fiction program Space: 1999 (1975) also featured a soundtrack strongly influenced by disco. This was especially evident in the show's second season.

DJ culture

The rising popularity of disco came in tandem with developments in turntablism and the use of records to create a continuous mix of songs. The resulting DJ mix differed from previous forms of dance music, which were oriented towards live performances by musicians. This in turn affected the arrangement of dance music, with songs since the disco era typically containing beginnings and endings marked by a simple beat or riff that can be easily slipped into the mix.

Rave culture

Main article: Rave

As the Disco era came to a close in the late 70's, Rave culture began to see significant growth. Rave culture incorporated Disco culture's same love of dance music, drug exploration, sexual promiscuity, and hedonism. Although disco culture had thrived in the mainsteam, the rave culture would make an effort to stay underground to avoid the animosity that was still surrounding disco and dance music.

Hip hop and electro

The disco sound had a strong influence on early hip hop. Most of the early rap/hip-hop songs were created by isolating existing disco bass-guitar lines and dubbing over them with MC rhymes. The Sugarhill Gang used Chic's "Good Times" as the foundation for their 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight", generally considered to be the song that first popularized Rap music in the United States and around the world. In 1982, Afrika Bambataa released the single "Planet Rock", which incorporated electronica elements from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers." The "Planet Rock" sound also spawned a hip-hop electronic dance trend (electro music), which included such songs as Planet Patrol's "Play At Your Own Risk" (1982), C Bank's "One More Shot" (1982), Cerrone's "Club Underworld" (1984), Shannon's "Let the Music Play" (1983), Freeez's "I.O.U." (1983), Midnight Star's "Freak-A-Zoid" (1983), Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (1984).

Post Punk

Main article: Post Punk

The Post Punk movement that originated in the late 1970s both supported Punk Rock's rule breaking while rejecting its back to raw rock music element. Post Punk's mantra of constantly moving forward lent itself to both openness to and experimentation with elements of disco and other styles. Public Image Limited is considered the first Post Punk group. The group's second album Metal Box fully embraced the studio as instrument methodology of disco. The group's founder John Lydon told the press that disco was the only music he cared for at the time. No Wave was a sub genre of post punk centered in New York City. For shock value, James Chance who was a notable member of the No Wave scene penned an article in the East Village Eye urging his readers to move uptown and get "trancin' with some superadioactive disco voodoo funk". His band James White and the Blacks wrote a disco album Off White. Their performances resembled those of disco performers (horn section, dancers etc.). In 1981 ZE Records led the transition from No Wave into the more subtle Mutant disco (post-disco/punk) genre. Mutant disco acts such as Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Was Not Was, ESG and Liquid Liquid influenced several British Post Punk acts such as New Order, Orange Juice and A Certain Ratio.

Nu-disco

Main article: Nu-disco

Nu-disco is a 21st century dance music genre associated with the renewed interest in 1970s and early 1980s disco, mid-1980s Italo disco, and the synthesizer-heavy Eurodisco aesthetics. The moniker appeared in print as early as 2002, and by mid-2008 was used by record shops such as the online retailers Juno and Beatport. These vendors often associate it with re-edits of original-era disco music, as well as with music from European producers who make dance music inspired by original-era American disco, electro and other genres popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is also used to describe the music on several American labels that were previously associated with the genres electroclash and deep house.

See also

• Number-one dance hits of 1978 (USA)
• Number-one dance hits of 1979 (USA)
• Philadelphia International Records
• Stealth disco

Further reading

• Michaels, Mark (1990). The Billboard Book of Rock Arranging. ISBN 978-0-8230-7537-9.
• Jones, Alan and Kantonen, Jussi (1999). Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco. Chicago, Illinois: A Cappella Books. ISBN 978-1-55652-411-0.
• Article on the 30th Annversary of Saturday Night Fever DVD, re-mastered by writer John Reed.
• Campion, Chris]]. Walking on the Moon:The Untold Story of the Police and the Rise of New Wave Rock. John Wiley & Sons, 2009. ISBN 978-0470282403

• Brewster, Bill and Broughton, Frank (1999) Last Night a DJ Saved my Life: the History of the Disc Jockey Headline Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7472-6230-5
• Lawrence, Tim (2004) Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3198-8.
• Angelo, Marty (2006) Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. Impact Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9618954-4-0.
• Shapiro, Peter (2005) Turn The Beat Around – The Secret History of Disco. Faber And Faber. ISBN 978-0-86547-952-4 ISBN 978-0-86547-952-4
• Echols, Alice (Professor of American studies and history Rutgers University) (2010) Hot Stuff – Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-393-06675-3
• Gillian, Frank (2007) Discophobia: Antigay Prejudice and the 1979 Backlash against Disco Journal of the History of Sexuality – Volume 15, Number 2, May 2007, pp. 276–306 E-ISSN: 1535-3605 Print ISSN: 1043-4070
• Disco Inferno 2.0: A Slightly Less Hedonistic Comeback Charting the DJs, labels, and edits fueling an old new craze article by Andy Beta for The Village Voice (November 2008)
• Can you feel the force? by Paul Lester for The Guardian February 23, 2007
• When ‘Disco Sucks!’ echoed around the world by Tony Sclafani for MSNBC July 10, 2009
• Aletti, Vince (2009) THE DISCO FILES 1973–78: New York's underground week by week DJhistory.com ISBN 978-0-9561896-0-8

External links

• Radio Disco – Disco Music Webradio
• disco music.com – large disco information repository, and message boards
• Disco Savvy – chronological lists of disco songs
• Sexy Days of Disco – slideshow by Life magazine