We've all read the comments about disco music, most seem to heavily weigh on the side of "it sucks". I cannot say how many times I've read that two word remark......yet, without any explanation. One thing for sure, that era defined our consciousness and is an important part of our musical history.
Frankly, I love listening to several artists from that era ... Bee Gees, Donna Summer, KC & The Sunshine Band...………..
I really can't understand how anyone can listen to these artists and not be moved to get up and dance. That IS an emotional connection. The exact connection most of us long for. So, what's the problem?
I always thought disco was a joke, and it wasn’t very funny. And the Talking Heads were not even close to being disco. Not sure how anyone could make that connection. Saturday Night Fever was an extremely crappy movie. Except for the part where the one guy jumped off the bridge into the river. That was kinda funny. I remember wishing that the rest of them would jump off the bridge also, so that the movie would be over sooner. IMO of course
I own 'Saturday Night Fever' as part of my collection, you really can't talk about the '70s and not include that particular piece of music. Its as definitive a work as DSOTM. It defines the era. I play it for my kids who are in their mid 20s. They get a big kick out of it. Now, back then I wouldn't have owned it, but today its a relic of an era and still stands up.
I really did like groups like BT Express, Chic and the Bee Gee's especially because they were good writers of song and music.
But in the seventies I was mostly into some good ole funk like p-funk and George Duke and for the life of me, at the time couldn't figure out why funk wasn't dance music anymore!
I lived thru the disco years. Being a rock ’n roller and a drummer, I hated the music. My friends would drag me to discos which were formerly live rock venues. What bothered me more than the thumping formula music was the disco lifestyle; platform shoes, silk shirts exposing mounds of chest hair, coke spoon necklaces.
So in 1977 I welcomed the punk invasion and the British new wave. In England it was a political movement and a revolt against the establishment and "dinosaur rock." For the US, it was a great movement against disco. Many punk clubs sprung up in NYC and it was a welcome relief to a stagnant time in music and culture. If you’d like to understand that period of time, watch the film "Summer of Sam." It is accurate and hits close to home since I lived in the Bronx. In addition to the Son of Sam murders, there was a divide between friends over the disco movement.
Regarding the music, there were a couple of standout acts, Nile Roger’s and Chic being one.
Problem with Disco was it followed on the heels of some very historic, groundbreaking musical trends from the 60's. It was an obvious money grab that corporate music completely embraced and basically shoved down the throat of the American public. And we ate it up! You have to understand, it wasn't just the music, it was a complete social overhaul. Picture the prototypical hippy from Woodstock, we went from THAT to John Travolta in Saturday Night fever!
Yup.
Seems to me there is some music that is a solitary experience. Much like reading a book. And there is some music that is a social/group experience, like dancing.
Right again.
So what you got with Disco was a corporate profits driven music conglomerate suddenly becoming incredibly socially powerful. Before disco we had Clapton, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, a list of talent so long its futile even trying to pick a few examples. Aerosmith, Gerry Rafferty, Journey. The one thing they all had in common, talent. Styx, The Doobie Brothers, Credence. Talent for lyrics, melodies, songwriting, performing. Tom Petty. The music, incredibly varied. Steely Dan. Look at the talent! Look at the range!
The one thing they did not have, glamorous good looks. Simon and Garfunkel were of course the gold standard, but they all were to some extent making music for all us totally average kids to listen to alone in our rooms. We were (are) all like that, and with so much to choose from you could be sure to find something that reached deep inside and helped you find meaning. Meaning you share with your friends when you share that music.
Into this came Disco, which is dance music, which is fast dance or slow dance. Not a whole lot of variety. Either way, got to be a steady beat at a tempo you can dance to. Which being dance, you are out in public, so you better look good. And dancing: Not done alone. Kinda hard without a girl. Which a lot of guys sad to say don't have. Which the music we had before disco, a lot of it was about. Us not having a girl. Trying to get a girl. Heart being broken by a girl. Archetypal stuff.
And yeah I know there are disco songs about these same things. Except, listening in your room, or car, or with your friends, versus all dressed up with a bunch of strangers on a crowded dance floor. Probably don't even know the girl you're dancing with. Not even remotely the same thing.
So really, when you think about it, we went from music based on meaning and experience we all have in common to commercialism for the beautiful popular people. We all (well, a lot of us) want to dream of being the beautiful people. So a lot bought into it. But reality we never are. Its why they're beautiful, after all: they're not average. If you wanted to breed resentment, hard to think of a better way.
Intellectually, emotionally, musically, artistically, there is no comparison. The one thing disco had going for it was commercialism. Fleetwood Mac might fill ten 15k seat venues a year, with all the money going to them. Disco can fill ten THOUSAND clubs with 300 people a hundred nights a year, with all the money going to those ten thousand club owners.
And really: Fleetwood Mac. Bee Gee's. Seriously???!
So you asked, now you know. Although for most people, "disco sucks" will do just fine.
If you have not already, check out Random Access Memories by Daft Punk---they would have loved it in Studio 54--has a few too many bathtub farts though!
Wow, this is unexpectedly lots of angry thoughts about a music genre.
Maybe those who praise Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and whatever else while despising Disco came to the party too late, with their tastes already cemented. Too bad, it was a good party. Maybe next time?
There are those who enjoy playing Ottawan, Lipps Inc., Patrick Hernandez, and whatever else, even when alone while considering Fleetwood Mac boring, Steely Dan music for wannabe intellectuals, and Santana a virtuoso with three truly brilliant pieces of music and not much else. Why is it considered that Disco was made by people with less talent than some mentioned above? Sounds of a cat being pulled by a tail, played on a guitar, are no more pleasant than a lively rhythm Disco provided.
I would also like to remind everyone that big hits for Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones were Another Brick In The Wall and Miss You.
Yeah, disco sucks. How can anyone can like blues; it's just the same chord patterns with the same lyrics over and over. Grunge is a few whiny bands from the same gray town who are pissed off at being alive. Metal? There's no music there, only hormones and screaming. You really want to hear some garbage? Listen to a few "songs" of hardcore. It's a joke, right? Don't even get me started on bebop. Who can listen to that tuneless crap. Oh, and don't forget modern C&W. It's pablum for people too stupid to listen to anything else. Only one thing I know for sure. The music you listen to is dumber than the music I listen to.
tlong1958, it's that distinctive "four on the floor" drumbeat that is common to disco and some Talking Heads songs. The Tom Tom Club, a big hit with the early 80's dance culture, was a subset of Talking Heads. Again, I like Talking Heads for the most part. Disco, not so much with a few exceptions.
The Bee Gees were far better lyricists or should I say song writers period than a whole lot of groups regardless of genre. They wrote songs like ’I started a joke’ (which I think you can relate to) and many others that were covered by quite a lot of artist back in the day.
What I learned about the music industry is that there are only 2 types of music. Good and bad. It took me years to appreciate the Bee Gees until I heard their covers on artist like Richie Havens albums. Remember one mans dog is another mans hit song.
Speaking of Bee Gees, they truly had a split personality, in some musical sense. Compare Odessa with Saturday Night Fever and it cannot be more different. The only consistency is that, I think, both are brilliant in their own right.
To add to tyray’s post above, all of you girls/guys have nice systems. Get Al Green’s Let’s stay together album (vinyl, if you can, but anything will do), dim the lights, play How can you mend a broken heart, and come back here and make fun of Bee Gees. If you can, that is.
As a bonus, you could also try Rod Stewart (with Booker T.) and To love somebody. You will be treated to a performance by the man who sang Da ya think I’m sexy singing song written by Bee Gees. Double whammy.
First, I do enjoy some disco and I have a large collection of disco. I also really enjoy Jazz, EDM, Classical, Classic Rock, some Pop, Blues, Celtic and R&B. But not country, most punk, most heavy metal and some others I cannot think of at the moment. I took part quite heavily in the whole disco scene (not the drugs too expensive). I have always enjoyed dancing (no I am not gay) and learned the Hustle and Salsa as a result. Met a lot of girls, one became my wife and a lot of great people. I will say only two or three of the groups mentioned would I say were good disco; they were Chic, Donna Summers and Giorgio Morodor. Most of the good disco IMO was european disco or club music such as Cerrone, Voyage, Amant, Gino Soccio, Change, Sylvester, and many more. I agree that the beat is pretty monotonous, but it is pretty hard to dance to something that does not have a steady beat. As far as musicallity goes listen to Voyage or Change, I think it is great music for the genre. I try not to compare music from one genre to the next and then make a distinction on which is better, I think it is an apple and orange comparison. What I will say in support of disco, for some, it gets your feet moving and your heart pumping and that's good. If your looking for something cerebral or meditative the disco genre is not it but neither is Punk, Grunge or Swing. It was made to dance to and not much else.
I played in a local disco/funk band for many years (ironically, well after disco died).
Just received an album I purchased on discogs: Meco’s disco version of the Star Trek Movie and The Black Hole themes. It’s terrific. All hail disco!!!! And ignore the stick I’m the muds who never learned to dance :)
Wow this post took me back to the beginning of my musical coming-of-age time period, when I would argue with friends and siblings about what was acceptable to play on the boombox while we played bball or foursquare in the driveway. Girls all loved pop and disco tunes, guys preferred rock, the more anthemic, the better. I think if I would have caught on to the link between girls and their love of music they can dance to, my high school experience would have been very different. Instead, I spent years in my bedroom listening to "real music" on my "real stereo" and feeling very superior. Luckily, eventually, I found there were girls who liked The Cure, Talking Heads, New Order. Dance music that wasn't disco....or was it?
And of course my young adult daughters and middle age wife still prefer Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Abba to Talking Heads, Jonathon Richman, Steely Dan. I guess I need to try Daft Punk rather than LCDSS while we are doing the dishes?
I was only 12 at the peak of Disco in '77, but even then I thought it was cool to blend rock drums, funk bass, and an orchestral string section to create dance music. I've always been a fan of well produced music, and Disco had some amazing productions..... sure a lot of it was horribly repetitive and went nowhere musically, but the sound quality and production quality was top notch. I'm still amazed at the string arrangements and performance quality of that time.... and that was pre-computer and digital editing. I don't hear that kind of quality in any of today's modern music, outside of Hollywood soundtracks.
Therein lies the problem, " . . . it defined our consciousness . . . " and not everybody wanted to have that definition of who and what they were required to be in order to conform and to fit in by a simplistic linear drum beat on the level of kindergarten nursery rhymes. Disco was something forced down peoples' throats by making it a part of everybody's environment, playing it in passing cars, putting in on every television station including PBS when Ronald Regan ordered the dumbing down expedient of replacing concert music with more commercial pop culture, and the surplus civil right to play it so your neighbors had to hear it violating the privacy of our back yards. That is why everybody rebelled against its cultural tyranny by back-lashing against it with intolerance.
For some reason, people often say "disco sucks" instead of saying "I dislike disco".
And the reason is usually imo, the bitterness left from disco having such a impact on rock music at a time when it had become imho incredibly pretentious, borish, and frankly quite silly. "Rock is dead" many said at the time. Of course it did survive in the end - but only because of the back to basics underground music scenes of New York and London.
At the end of the day, popular music is democratic in that consumers of it vote with their wallets. The pompous dinosaur bands of the seventies had their run. But the only constant is that there is no constant. It’s time to get over it.
I have to disagree with the post that disco was all about electronica. That happened with the rise of freestyle and the late disco era of 1980 forward.
The Disco era was a fusion of electronica and real instruments. It was displayed masterfully on the alec r. Costandionos and his band love and kisses. Anyone remember those long 15 minute songs like Romeo and juliete, I’ve found love and accidental lover? I love the disco era although I came late into that era, but thankfully I did. Had it not been for disco, I would not be into music, not have a record collection to speak of, or be the audiophile that I am today.
I am not just an audiophile, I am a Disco-phile as well. What is a disco-phile? Someone who knows disco better than anyone else. Yes, I am that good folks!!! And yes, I have great gems that most have not heard of before.
If anyone has a disco question about a song artist or group, chances are I know it.
Isn’t there a like button somewhere in this forum? There are people here making excellent comments about their memories of disco and what it was all about.
The night the Chicago White Sox decided to hold a disco sucks night in 1979 was a shameful time in America. For all you disco challenged people who never got why disco became so popular is because of the political era of the 60s an 70s. Yes, I am talking about the Vietnam and johnson-nixon era. A very dark and bitter time in us history. People were rightfully angry at the political climate that came about in that era. If you can understand the times of that era, then you can understand why Disco was such a popular movement in the late 70s.
Disco was the perfect music that came at the perfect time. It gave people a chance to be free, or at least a chance to relax and listen to music that makes you feel good. I don't think rock could ever give that kind of feeling that disco brings.
One person explained it to me long ago what disco music was all about. Beautiful music.
That is what the anti-disco and the disco-sucks movement never understood. I hope this helps them out.
@glupson. I was at the movie with a date and she thought the movie was great. I suffered through it to make her happy. Got dragged into discos because that’s where all the girls wanted to go, and I like girls. Hated the disco music and the idiotic disco lifestyle.
@dbx01 Let’s not forget how meaningful and intellectual the “beautiful” music was. Everyone I knew was glad when disco died. Because it sucked. But it was replaced with country pop. Which might have been even worse
I've always liked the best from all genres of music. I was big into the blues based rock of late 60's into early 70's. Growing up in Ann Arbor I got to see bands like Stooges, Rationals, Mitch Ryder, MC5, etc. as a young adolescent. Later on weekly trips into Detroit, saw most all the big name acts. And then disco came on the scene. I had one set of friends and various relatives who loved it, kinda of a regular at various Ann Arbor venues and the Roostertail in Detroit. Also trips to Florida and New York City would always entail Disco nights. I remember some awesome times completely exhausting yourself with what seemed liked endless dancing till the end of time! On the other hand I had a set of friends who despised disco, rock remained their sole interest. While I continued to enjoy rock, I also thought it had grown stale, arena rock was taking over and I was still attached to the early more blues based rock of the earlier era. I still love the earlier rock, probably into mid 70's, kind of blah about everything later. When new wave replaced disco I was again happy, disco was wearing thin. And then there have always been other less popular or more regional genres, classical, blues, jazz, country, I love the best of all these. Don't forget pop music, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, etc. and easy listening, Percy Faith, Mantovani, etc., love all the best of these genres as well.
And now we have 90's up new genres and sub-genres of music, regular new finds on Tidal and Qobuz. I listen and enjoy the best of probably every genre of music ever conceived, my playlists reflect that. Right now is the best time ever to be an audiophile and music lover!
Tlong 1958 Were you looking for intulectual music or music that was beautiful and made you feel good? If an artist could do both, good for them.
Perhaps those such as yourself threatened because disco was the biggest genere to come out of the music scene since rock music was invented.
Some of your favoririte rock bands had good disco success. A couple of examples.
Rod Stewart passion December 1980Blondie heart of glass 1979 call me Feb 1980 rapture December 1980 - the bands biggest and most successful songs of their career The bee geesKylie Minogue can't get you outta my head Feb 2002
I can go on with a few more. And if I were to look into your music catalogue, I be willing to bet you have a couple of village people songs in your stash.
On another thread, someone mentioned that song as something to play on her/his funeral. I guess that one would not be moved by it although she/he wouldn't be able to tell you.
"If you love disco, check out The Disco Biscuits!" Aquatic Ape - never really understood those lyrics. Interesting song to dance too.
Just Last night I caught a little of Saturday Night fever by chance after the Sixers/Nets game - Wow what a great movie that was and brought back some fine memories . In the late 70’s I said Disco Sucks over and over - but still had a wonderful time dancing to the music . Never bought a single Disco Album but my wife had a few and they are still in our collection - yet - rarely ever see playing time. Personally I preferred funk and still do . Had some George Duke on just the other day . Right after Snarky Puppy and before Mt. Joy .
Where did those good times go - Don’t know but busy making more . Still dancing at 60 and don’t intend to stop .
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