Disco

Disco is a music genre that is dance-oriented. It was popularized among the American, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual people, and the Hispanic communities in the United States, possibly beginning in the late 1960s but having its strength in the mid 1970's and spreading to all lifestyles.

In February of 1970, in New York City, disc jockey David Mancuso opened a private-dance club called The Loft in his own home, exclusively for members only. It was considered to be the forerunner to disco style clubs. However, some people believe that the first disco songs weren't released until 1973, though some argue that the Soul Makossa by Manu Dibangos is the first disco record. It was also in 1973 when the first article about disco, written by Vince Aletti, was published for Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1974, the first radio show that featured disco music was premiered by New York’s WPIX-FM.

Disco’s musical influences include soul music and funk. The disco sound has elevated vocals over a steady eighth note, "four-on-the-floor" beat, or sixteenth note hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat and an outstanding syncopated electric bass line.

It was in the 1970s that well-known disco performers such as the Bee Gees, The Jacksons and Donna Summer played significant roles in revolutionizing the electric sound that became a part of disco music, and disco soared to superstar music status for a short time, where clubs and dance lessons seemed to be everywhere and having anything to do with disco was the same as opening a bank, almost.
     Below: It's easy to believe the cartoons are over-cliche; but in the disco era, people wore big hair, bright polyester with garish prints, wide collars, open chests, and flared legs. It was real. It was such an over-the-top style that it is now a favorite style for dress-up parties and retro dance parties.

And the explosion had an equal and opposite reaction by saturating the market so quickly and completely that people grew to hate it as immediately as they embraced it; in the late 1970's disco became a 'leper' and disco albums were literally piled in streets and burned.

But in later years, certain disco musical artists were seen for their genius, and it became acceptable again - carefully - to love disco and to respect the genre and the artists who created some of the most unique music in history. It has now become a retro fad, fully accepted, and the old stigma of being disco is another niche in a world of accepted and loved musical niches.