Big Blog 1: Disco 💃

 

The genre of disco emerged in the early 1970s primarily in New York City and Philadelphia. The term disco was derived from the dance-oriented nightclubs called discotheque that appeared in the 1960s. Disco was a genre that got its main exposure from catering to gay, black, and Latino dancers in underground nightclubs The most popular nightclubs for disco in the 70s were Studio 54, The Loft, and Paradise Garage. The genre was initially ignored by radio stations and was taken in by creative deejays who were a major force in the start of the genre. Deejay helped to establish hit songs and encouraged focusing on singles which led to a new subindusty of 12-inch extended play singles that evolved to meet the needs of club deejays. Pre-existing genres like funk, salsa, and soul fed into the genre of disco, primarily the syncopation of funk, the melodies and rhythms of soul, and the polyrhythms of salsa. One of the first hit disco songs was Gloria Gaynor’s Never Can Say Goodbye, released in 1974. It was one of the first records ever mixed specifically to be played at clubs. In the early stages of disco, the performers were mainly African American, but as the genre grew in popularity it welcomed artists of all ethnicities and groups.

Some of disco’s earliest artists and icons are Bee Gees, Village People, Michel Jackson, ABBA, Earth Wind & Fire, Boney M, The Jackson Five, Donna Summer, and many more. The genre became more popular in the mid-1970s moving from only nightclubs to radio stations and making its way onto the U.S. Top 40 list through musicians like Chic, Hot Chocolate, Heatwave, etc. Some commercially successful independent labels that housed disco arites were TK in Miami Flordia and Casablanca in Las Angeles.

The hit movie Saturday Night Fever which came out in 1977 featured many disco artists on its soundtrack but was dominated by the Bee Gees. This soundtrack inspired rock musicians such as Cher with Take Me Home, The Rolling Stones with Miss You, and Rod Stewart with D’Ya Think I’m Sexy. The Overall genre was described as dance-oriented, lively, and beat-driven. Disco typically tended to have more instrumental music rather than vocals and its rhythm was upbeat and driving giving it the dance-oreneted feel. The music usually had lots of layers and reverb on the vocals often doubled by various instruments.

Speaking of instruments some typically involved in disco are electric guitar, bass guitar, electric piano, keyboard, drums, drum machine, horn section, string section, and orchestral instruments used for both solos and harmony. Some of the orchestral instruments are harp, violin, viola, cello, flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, English horn, trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, etc. Vocal styles for this genre had tight harmonies with vibrato and falsetto a good example of this is Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees in the chorus.

The lyrics for the disco genre typically tended to be about dancing, love, relationships, and even social commentary. They also heavily promoted party culture/ the act of partying. The rise of disco came during a time of sexual revolution in the United States. Disco, for many people, represented sexual liberation and freedom as the disco subculture was influenced by the second wave of feminism. It became a place where women and homosexual people could show their sexuality explicitly. Women now have access to birth control regardless of marital status lots of sexual taboos were broken during this time including interracial dating, open homosexuality, casual nudity, etc.

Although this time was liberating for many people it didnt come without its setbacks. Criticism of this genre came as great as its praises with the genre roots being subversively homoerotic and interracial, which was very taboo for the 1970s. Disco clubs like Studio 54 were rapid with the use of cocaine and other hard drugs and would eventually be another part of the genre's initial downfall. In July of 1979, an anti-disco demonstration was shown in Chicago and from then disco died out rather fast. The mainstream media became more homophobic and sexist which killed off disco until the 1980s and 90’s. In the 80s disco returned with artists like Madonna on the radio showing small pieces of disco's continued development. In the 90s it would make another comeback and create offshoot genres like house and techno.

Works Cited

Bruce. (2005, February 28). 100 Greatest Disco artists. DigitalDreamDoor. https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_disco-artists.html 

Disco Music Artists. AllMusic. (n.d.). https://www.allmusic.com/style/disco-ma0000002552/artists  

Disco. Visit the main page. (n.d.). https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Disco 

Emergence of disco and sexuality - free essay example. PapersOwl.com. (2023, November 30). https://papersowl.com/examples/emergence-of-disco-and-sexuality/ 

Garofalo, R. (2024, January 21). Disco. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/disco 

Larotonda, D. (2023, March 9). 1970s New York - the disco era. Jagged Metal. https://www.jaggedmetal.com/blogs/jagged-music/1970s-new-york-the-disco-era 

Maultsby, P. K. (2021). History of disco. Timeline of African American Music. https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/genres/disco 

Wheeler, J. (n.d.). Sign up for emails. IMPROVISING IN A DISCO STYLE | Rock & Pop | Trinity College London. https://www.trinityrock.com/improvising-disco-style#:~:text=They%20combined%20tight%20harmonies%20with,recognisable%20brand%20of%20disco%20music