Disco  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Generic Salsoul twelve inch sleeve (1970s)

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"Scorned and ridiculed as feather-lite, escapist pap when it emerged in the mid-seventies, and now reduced to a kitsch scenario of Afro wigs, polyester suits and drunken singalongs at office Christmas parties and bachelor weekends, disco is just about the last place anyone would look for avant garde practice." --Peter Shapiro, The Wire Magazine, Feb 2003.

Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs in the mid-1970s, and which dominated mainstream pop until the late 1970s. In the United States, the term disco, which is a shortened form of discothèque, refers to a specific style of pop music that was derived from funk and soul music, also dubbed proto-disco. In Europe the same term is used for American disco and "Euro Disco" productions, that had 50s and 60s beat music and yé-yé influences.

Major mid-1970s mainstream disco performers included Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, and ABBA. Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of its popularity. Films such as Saturday Night Fever contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity with artists such as the Rolling Stones and Blondie making "disco" records. While disco music declined in popularity after the racist and homophobic "Disco Sucks" incident, it was an important influence on the development of the 1980s and 1990s electronic dance music genres of house and techno.

"Underground disco" was centered around the Gold Mind Records, Prelude Records, Salsoul and West End Records; DJs David Mancuso, Tee Scott, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and Nicky Siano and clubs such as The Loft and the Paradise Garage.

Rise and fall

The 1972 African single "Soul Makossa" is considered the first disco record, this was before the term was popularized by Vince Aletti in a piece called "Discotheque Rock '72: Paaaaarty!" Rolling Stone on September 13 1973. In 1974, disco is an underground phenomenon, in 1977 everyone dances to disco along with John Travolta, on July 12 1979, disco sucked. "Funkytown" is the last disco song to hit #1 in the U.S..

Critique

'Disco was a dance fad of the Seventies with a profound and unfortunate influence on popular music.' --The 1989 edition of the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Bibliography

• Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (1999) - Brewster and Broughton

CD compilations discography

• Club Classics & House Foundations (1995) - Various
• Super Rare Disco (1997) - Various
• Jumpin' Vol.1 and 2 (1997 - 1998) - Various
• Disco Not Disco (2000 - 2001) - Various
• Disco Spectrum series (1999 - 2002) - Various

Related

dance - disco sucks - discotheque - DJs - Euro disco - gay music - funk - groove - house music - italo disco - mix - New York music - Philly soul - soul music - twelve inch

Etymology

1964, Amer.Eng. shortening of discotheque; sense extended 1975 to the kind of music played there. --Online Etymology Dicitionary [Jan 2006]

Discotheques and other venues

The Loft - Paradise Garage - Studio 54

Recordings

Ain't No Stopping Us Now - Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Don't Make Me Wait - Is It All Over My Face? - Jingo - Love is the Message - Soul Makossa - Together Forever - Weekend (Tonight Is Party Time)

North-American recording artists

Patrick Adams - Roy Ayers - Jocelyn Brown - Peter Brown - Leroy Burgess - Donald Byrd - Gregory Carmichael - Chic - First Choice - Rochelle Fleming - Gwen Guthrie - Loleatta Holloway - Grace Jones - François Kevorkian - Inner Life - Michael Jackson - MFSB - Patti Labelle - Vince Montana jr. - Tom Moulton - Musique - Arthur Russell - Salsoul Orchestra - Gino Soccio - Donna Summer - Pam Todd - Christine Wiltshire - Village People - Earl Young

European recording artists

Giorgio Moroder

Production and development

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 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, FL), 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, John Luongo, Robert Ouimet of The Limelight, and David Mancuso.

The 12-inch single format also allowed longer dance time and format possibilities. In May, 1976, Salsoul Records released Walter Gibbons' remix of Double Exposure's "Ten Percent", the first commercially-available 12-inch single. Motown Records’ "Eye-Cue" label also marketed 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."

DJs, producers and (re)mixers

Walter Gibbons - Francis Grasso - Norman Harris - Larry Levan - David Mancuso - Herb Powers - Tee Scott - Nicky Siano

Labels

Casablanca - Gold Mind Records - Philadelphia International Records - Prelude Records - Salsoul - West End Records