Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that blends elements of funk and soul music. Disco was first popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s, and disco styles subsequently dominated mainstream pop for the rest of the decade. Disco songs usually have soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, a quaver (8th note) or semi-quaver (16th note) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a heavy, syncopated electric bass line. Strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create the background sound (lead guitar is rarely used).
Major mid-1970s disco performers included Donna Summer, The Jackson 5, Barry White, The Bee Gees, and ABBA. Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of its popularity. Films such as Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity. While disco music declined in popularity in the early 1980s, it was an important influence on the development of the 1980s and 1990s electric dance music genres of house and techno.
Origins
[edit] Late 1960s soul
Jerry Butler’s 1969 "Only the Strong Survive"[1] may be the first instance of the combined musical elements which would later become disco music. This song brings together Philly and New York soul, both evolutions of the Motown sound. The Philly Sound is typified by lavish percussion.Manu Dibango's 1972 "Soul Makossa" is considered one of the early disco songs. However, the term disco was not coined until an article by Vince Aletti in the September 13th 1973 edition of Rolling Stone Magazine titled "Discotheque Rock '72: Paaaaarty!"[2]
[edit] First chart-topping songs
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. Other chart-topping songs included "Love's Theme" by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, a chart-topper from earlier in 1974, to be the first to have achieved that distinction. 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.
In 1975, hits such as Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby" brought disco further into the mainstream. Other notable early disco hits include The Jackson 5’s "Dancing Machine" (1974), Barry White’s "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (1974), LaBelle’s "Lady Marmalade" (1974), The Four Seasons’ "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" (1975), Silver Convention’s "Fly Robin Fly" (1975), and The Bee Gees’ "Jive Talkin'" (1975). After this, disco's popularity began to increase, peaking between roughly 1976 and 1979. Films such as Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity.
Disco spread to Europe with such bands as ABBA, which topped worldwide charts from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Another influential European pop and disco group was Boney M, a group of four West Indian singers and dancers masterminded by West German record producer Frank Farian. In France, Dalida released "J'attendrai," which became a big hit in Canada and Japan.
[edit] Disco club scene
By the late 1970s many major US cities had thriving disco club scenes which were centered around discotheques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the dancers. The DJs played "... a smooth mix of long single records to keep people “dancing all night long” "[1] Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.
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." There were also disco fashions that discotheque-goers wore 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 suit jackets. Disco clubs and "...hedonistic loft parties" had a club culture which had many African American, gay" [2] and hispanic people.
[edit] Drug subculture
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 [3](nicknamed "blow"), amyl nitrite "poppers" [4], and the "...other quintessential 1970s club drug Quaalude, which suspended motor coordination and turned one’s arms and legs to Jell-O."[5] The "[m]assive 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."[6]
Famous disco bars included "...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. Other famous discotheques included the Loft, the Paradise Garage, and Aux Puces, one of the first gay disco bars.
[edit] 1976-1978: disco becomes mainstream
Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of its popularity, most often due to demand from record companies who needed a surefire hit. Many of these songs were not "pure" disco, but were instead rock or pop songs with disco overtones. Notable examples include Helen Reddy’s "I Can't Hear You No More" (1976); Marvin Gaye’s "Got to Give It Up" (1977); Barry Manilow’s "Copacabana (At The Copa)" (1978); Chaka Khan’s "I'm Every Woman" (1978); Wings’ "Silly Love Songs" (1976) and "Goodnight Tonight" (1979); Barbra Streisand’s "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (1979); Electric Light Orchestra’s "Last Train to London" and "Shine a Little Love" (1979); and Michael Jackson’s "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock With You," and "Off the Wall" (1979), from his breakout Off The Wall album. Many disco novelty songs sold well.
In addition, 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," a popular parody Frank Zappa famously parodied the lifestyles of disco dancers in "Dancin' Fool" on his Sheik Yerbouti album.
[edit] The "disco sound"
The orchestral sound usually known as "disco sound" relies heavily on strings and horns playing either 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. Dramatic minor and major seventh chords and harmonies predominate in much of disco. Typically, a "wall of sound" results; however, some disco music is more minimalist in nature, such as that of the group Chic.
Rhythm instruments commonly used by disco musicians included the rhythm guitar (often played in "chicken-scratch" style, usually through a wah-wah or phaser;lead guitar was rarely used in disco songs), bass guitar, piano, string synth, and electroacoustic keyboards (notably the Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, and Hohner Clavinet) and drums (including African/Latin percussion, timpani, and a drum kit, and electronic drums such as Simmons and Roland drum modules). The disco rhythm section was fleshed out with a rich variety of orchestral instruments, such as harp, violin, viola, cello, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, flugelhorn, French horn, tuba, English horn, oboe, flute, and piccolo.
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/inspired by the Dominican merengue rhythm; other Latin rhythms such as the rhumba, the samba and the cha-cha-cha are also found in Disco recordings. 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.
[edit] Regional subgenres
Main article: Disco orchestration
Many regional styles of disco developed during the mid-1970s as a result of the collaborative efforts of many individuals, many of whom were formally educated in music theory and orchestration. Though individual disco songs shared the broad traits of "disco sound" in common, the sound of an individual piece relied not only on the particular tastes of the artists, arranger, producer, and audio engineer, but also on the style of the contributing orchestra as determined by the orchestral conductor or concertmaster.
Notable regional subgenres included that of The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in groups such as MFSB, The O'Jays, The Three Degrees, Patti LaBelle, and The Ritchie Family. The "New York Sound" of the New York Philharmonic is typified in songs such as Van McCoy’s "The Hustle" (1975), Odyssey’s "Native New Yorker" (1977), Grace Jones’ "I Need A Man" (1977), Amanda Lear’s "Fashion Pack (Studio 54)" (1978), Gerri Granger’s "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" (1976), Vicki Sue Robinson’s "Turn the Beat Around" (1976), Roberta Flack’s "Back Together Again" (1979), and LaBelle’s "Lady Marmalade" (1974). The "Los Angeles Sound" of the The Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra contributed to such pieces as Carrie Lucas’ "Dance with You" (1979), Love Unlimited Orchestra’s "My Sweet Summer Suite" (1976), Tavares’ "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" (1976), Phyllis Hyman’s "You Know How to Love Me" (1979), and High Inergy’s "Shoulda Gone Dancing" (1979).
[edit] Production and development
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.). To be able to incorporate all of these instruments and sections, disco songs were arranged and composed by experienced arrangers and orchestrators.
Recording complex arrangements with such a large number of instruments and sections they 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.
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 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, Preston Powell of Magique, Jennie Costa of Lemontrees, Tee Scott, John Luongo, Robert Ouimet of The Limelight, and David Mancuso.
[edit] Format
Singles were initially released on 45s. However, this format was subsequently replaced by the better sound quality and longer length of 12-inch singles.
Motown Records’ "Eye-Cue" label was the first to market 12-inch singles; however, the play time remained the same length as the original 45s. In 1976, Scepter/Wand released the first 12-inch extended-version single, Jesse Green's "Nice and Slow." This single was packaged in a collectible picture sleeve, a relatively new concept at the time. Twelve-inch singles became commercially available after the first crossover, Tavares' "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel." The 12-inch single format allowed longer dance time and format possibilities.
[edit] Decline in popularity
The popularity of the 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. Though disco music had enjoyed several years of popularity, an anti-disco sentiment manifested in America. Worried about declining profits, rock radio stations and record producers encouraged this trend. According to Gloria Gaynor, among others, the music industry supported the destruction of disco because rock music producers were losing money.[3] Many hard rock fans expressed strong disapproval of disco throughout the height of its popularity. Among these fans, the slogan "Disco Sucks" was common by the late-1970s.
Disco music and dancing fads began to be depicted as silly and effeminate, such as in Frank Zappa's satirical song "Dancin' Fool". Some listeners objected to the perceived sexual promiscuity and illegal drug use (e.g., cocaine and Quaaludes) that had become associated with disco music. Others were put off by the exclusivity of the disco scene, especially in major clubs in large cities, where bouncers only let in fashionably dressed club-goers, celebrities, and their hangers-on. Rock fans objected to the idea of centering music around an electronic drum beat and synthesizers instead of live performers.
To "...fans of rock music", disco was a "direct and intentional challenge to rock’s position." Rock fans believed that "...disco represented all that was synthetic, aristocratic,...fake" and elitist, "...while populist rock stood for all that was earthy and real." Whereas "...[r]ock had been an ongoing celebration of uncontested straight male sexual dominance; disco bypassed hetero men in favor of black women divas, gay male dancers, and virtually any other alternative."[7] White American male hard rock fans who spoke out against the music were sometimes accused of prejudice for objecting to disco's connection to minorities (blacks) and the gay subculture.
To further complicate matters, several prominent hard rock bands recorded songs with disco influences, such as Kiss’ "I Was Made For Lovin' You" (1979) and The Rolling Stones’ "Miss You" (1978). Though these fusions of hard rock and disco were initially met with critical and commercial acclaim, many of the bands were subsequently viewed as "sell-outs". Since the advent of disco and dance music, rock music has absorbed many of the rhythmic sensibilities of funk-influenced dance music, while nevertheless retaining a distinct sound and audience culture.
The emergence of the punk and New Wave scenes contributed to disco's decline. However, unlike in the U.S., there was never a focused backlash against disco in the UK or Europe, and discotheques and club culture continued longer in Europe than in the US.
[edit] Disco's decline
Music historians generally refer to July 12, 1979, 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 Bill Veeck, who was the owner of the Chicago White Sox, staged Disco Demolition Night, a promotional event with an anti-disco theme, between games at a White Sox doubleheader for disgruntled Rock fans. The event, which involved exploding disco records, ended in a riot in which police made numerous arrests. Because of serious damage to the field and stadium, the second game of the doubleheader had to be forfeited.[4]
The anti-disco backlash may have helped to cause changes to the landscape of Top 40 radio. Negative responses from the predominantly white listenerships of many Top 40 stations encouraged these stations to drop all disco songs from rotation, filling the holes in their playlists with New Wave, punk rock, and album-oriented rock cuts.
WLS in Chicago, KFJZ-FM (now KEGL) in Dallas/Fort Worth, and CHUM-AM in Toronto were among the stations that took this approach. Although WLS continued to list some disco tracks, such as "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc., on its record surveys in the early 1980s, it refused to air them. Other stations, for example New York City's WABC, became softer instead of harder, taking an adult contemporary approach that was equally exclusive of dance music but not of black artists who recorded ballads, such as Smokey Robinson and James Ingram. Many of these stations continued to exclude urban music until several years later when MTV began to promote artists such as Michael Jackson and Prince.
However, many all-disco radio stations on the FM dial continued to serve the black community by evolving into urban contemporary formats. KKDA in Dallas/Fort Worth began as a disco station in the late 1970s, then found even greater success after progressing to an urban contemporary format in the early 1980s.
Currently, most radio stations that play dance music or 1970s-era music play disco and related forms such as funk and Philadelphia soul at some point in their playlists; both major satellite radio companies also have disco music stations in their lineup. However, dance music stations in general are not known for having high ratings in the U.S., in contrast to the large number of popular dance-oriented radio stations in the UK. Most recently, the most popular dance format radio stations in the U.S. are Dance and Rhythmic Top 40 combination stations that also stream on-line (e.g., WKTU). Other non-commercial, listener-sponsored radio stations include WBAI, WMPH, and KNHC, among others.
[edit] From "disco sound" to "dance sound"
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. [8]
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.
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), The Weather Girls’ "It's Raining Men" (1982), The Pointer Sisters’ "I'm So Excited" (1982), Prince’s "1999" (1983), Madonna’s "Lucky Star" (1983), Irene Cara’s "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" (1983), Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" (1984), and the Village People’s "Sex Over The Phone" (1985).
[edit] Influence
[edit] Early 1980s music
In 1982, Afrika Bambataa released the single "Planet Rock," which incorporated elements from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers." The "Planet Rock" sound also spawned a non-hip-hop electronic dance trend, which included such songs as Planet Patrol's "Play At Your Own Risk" (1982), C Bank’s "One More Shot" (1982), Shannon's "Let The Music Play" (1983), Freeez's "I.O.U." (1983), Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent" (1983), Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (1983), and Midnight Star's "Freak-A-Zoid" (1983).
[edit] House music
An Italian record producer and synthesizer pioneer, Giorgio Moroder, had a number of hit disco singles such as "From Here to Eternity" (1977) which greatly influenced the development of the later electric dance music genres such as house and techno. Both house music and techno which rely on the repetitive bass drum rhythm and hi-hat rhythm patterns introduced by disco.
Early house music, which was developed by innovators such as Larry Levan in New York and Frankie Knuckles in Chicago, consisted of various disco loops overlapped by strong bass beats. House music was usually computer-driven, and longer segments were used for mixing. Clubs associated with the birth of house music include New York's Paradise Garage and Chicago's The Warehouse and The Music Box.
[edit] 1990s and 2000s "disco revival"
In the 1990s, a revival of the original disco style began to emerge. The disco influence can be heard in songs as U2’s "Lemon" (1993), Brand New Heavies’ "Spend Some Time" (1994), Jamiroquai’s "Cosmic Girl" (1996) and "Canned Heat " (1999), The Spice Girls’ "Who Do You Think You Are" (1997) and "Never Give up on the Good Times" (1997), and Cher’s "Strong Enough" (1998).
The trend continued in the 2000s with songs such as Kylie Minogue’s "Spinning Around" and "Love at First Sight" (2001), Ultra Nate’s "I Don't Understand It" (2001), Alcazar’s "Crying at the Discoteque" (2001), Jamiroquai’s "Little L" and "Love Foolosophy" (2001), Daft Punk’s "Voyager" (2001), Awaken’s Party In Lyceum's Toilets (2001), Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s "Murder on the Dancefloor" (2001), and Michael Franti and Spearhead’s "Love Invincible" (2003). 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)."
In the mid-2000s, many disco-influenced songs have been released, including Gina G’s "Tonight's The Night" (2006), the Freemasons's "Rain Down Love" (2007), Suzanne Palmer's "Free My Love" (2007) and Kate Ryan’s "All For You" (2007).