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DISCO
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Listen To The Bee Gees - Staying Alive 
Listen to Disco on Playa Cofi Jukebox
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A Typical Disco Light Ball
Studio 54
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RM Radio Coming Soon 
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To quote one commentator: 'The term disco was originally a shortened form of the word
discotheque - a type of dance hall that had begun in France in the early 1960s. Cabaret owners
had found it far more economical to hire one disc jockey to spin records than to hire a live
band; also a variety of music could be played, some of which was bound to please every
customer's taste. During the 1960s, the discotheque concept was adopted in the United States,
at first in the form of "underground" clubs. However the concept caught on, and soon discos
catering to all segments of society were flourishing all over the country. With the coming of the
San Francisco-style concert halls, with their live bands, discos faded out somewhat in the late
1960s and very early 1970s. Soon, however, they re-emerged, featuring music that was
specifically designed for dancing - a style that became known, naturally enough, as disco
music.
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KC & The Sunshine Band - That's The Way I Like It
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The 1970s discos offered a disk jockey armed with two turntables so that he or she could move
smoothly from record to record; thus the "beat never stopped". Adding to this sound
environment were an array of pulsing coloured lights and flashing strobe lights. The disco
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was formatted into 12 inch discs with one song per
side. In the early 1970s, discos played pop and rock music, but they increasingly leaned towards the danceable black sound of Philadelphia International and similar styles. The music of the O'Jays, The Spinners, The Stylistics, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye was the typical fare of the early 1970s discos. |
By early 1974, several artists released records specifically designed for the new disco scene.
The Hues corporation's 'Rock the Boat' and George McRae's 'Rock Your Baby' both reached
Number 1 in 1974. 'Rock Your Baby' was written and produced by 2 engineers in Florida. They
later formed their own band called KC and the Sunshine Band and released many more disco
songs. They scored four number one hits between 1975 and 1977. KC's music featured a
simple but insistent rhythm track that never varied. The vocal line typically consisted of short
unison phrases more in the nature of repeating patterns than a true melody in the traditional
sense. Lyrics were simple and repetitive to the point of absurdity. A horn line was also simple
and repetitive and was used to punctuate the vocal line. The rhythm was all important a solid
4 beats per bar -- absolute dancing music!
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The Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat
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George McCrae - Rock Your Baby
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In 1975, the disco-style exploded on the national scene. Led by Studio 54 in New York City,
discos opened everywhere - either glitzy new constructions or rejuvenated old clubs, barns or
ball rooms. Some reports estimate that there were 10,000 discos in North America at the height
of the Disco craze, with some 200 to 300 in New York City alone.
Famous New York Disco - Studio 54
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Bees Gees - You Should be Dancing
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Celebrities at Studio 54
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One of the biggest disco hits of 1975 was 'The Hustle' by Van McCoy. Hitting the Number One spot in the Summer of 1975, the song spawned variants such as the California Hustle, The Latin Hustle, the American Hustle, the New York Hustle, and the Tango Hustle. Coupled with the success of KC, Shirley and the Company, The Hues Corporation, George McCrae and others, disco became 'The Thing' for many pop artists. |
Van McCoy - The Hustle
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Some Major Disco Artists
Donna Summer was often considered the 'Queen of Disco'. 'Love to Love You Baby' a sexy,
heavy breathing song was a major hit followed by many others. Originally a four minute song,
it was increased to a nearly seventeen - minute version for disco play. Too long for the
standard seven -inch single, it was released to be sold on a twelve inch single like the ones used
by disco disk jockeys. The twelve inch single soon became a common medium for commercial
disco releases and , for that matter, was still around in the late 1990s.
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The Trammps - Disco Inferno
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Mixed Sounds Of The 70s
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Disco - Funk Fever Mix
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Tina Charles - I Love To Love
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Tina Charles - Dance Little Lady Dance
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Saturday Night Fever And The Bee Gees
If 1975 was the year disco became a national phenomenon, 1977 was the year it became an
international rage. Perhaps the most influential factor in this augmentation of disco's popularity
was the extremely popular film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta. The film's story
line concerns a young working-class New York man who becomes a prizewinning disco
dancer. The sound track album became a true blockbuster, selling over 25 million copies and
becoming the biggest selling sound track of all time. It held the number 1 position for twenty-
four weeks. The album included songs by several artists we have already mentioned.
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Bees Gees - Jive Talking
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The Bee Gees
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Bees Gees - Saturday Night Fever
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There is no doubt that the big winners from Saturday Night Fever were the Bee Gees. Anything
but newcomers to the industry, the Bee Gees had already been huge rock stars but their career
as a band was drastically on the wane after having a series of huge hits in the late '60s and
early '70s. The years 1973 and 1974 were difficult for the Bee Gees; they had no hit singles for
the first time since 1967, and their albums fared poorly. But just as it appeared they would fade
as so many others had before them, the new disco style offered salvation. The 1975 album
Main Course hit the Top 20 and contained the number 1 song 'Jive Talkin'. After two
more successful albums, plus a live album and greatest hits album (and another half-dozen
single hits), the Bee Gees were established as the ultimate disco superstars.
70s Disco Dancing - Saturday Night Fever
But it was Saturday Night Fever that turned the Bee Gees into a household name and led to the
'inevitable' 'Next Beatles' suggestions. Most of the film's music was written by the brothers;
they sang six songs on the double album, three of which became number 1 songs in 1977-78
("How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever"). They followed with three
more number 1 songs in 1978-79, making an impressive string of six consecutive number 1s.
Following Saturday Night Fever, the Bee Gees produced two more number 1 albums. But as
the disco mania faded in the early 1980s, so did the Bee Gees, who had become typed as a
disco act. In the 1990s, however, the group enjoyed a renaissance, although more so in the
United kingdom and Germany than in the US.
Saturday Night Fever
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Donna Summers - Love To Love You Baby
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Among the other groups that found success in the late 1970s disco surge were Kool and the
Gang, the Village People, Tavres, and Chic. By 1980, disco had been adopted by jet-set, upper
class society, and thus became the target of intense ridicule by the rock community. It seemed
as though everyone had a disco song or album - even Rod Stewart and Elton John. Although
one could still go to affluent metropolitan clubs and hear a steady diet of 1980s-style
synthesizer-oriented disco (called "techno-dance"), the basic style died an unmourned death
around 1980. In the rock establishment, disco became an even more reviled and derided style
than soft rock. Nevertheless, in the period from 1975 to 1980, it was an extremely potent force
in the music industry.
Let's Leave Disco With The Village People
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