Disco was a very fun and interesting American Roots Music topic to research. The syncretism of Disco is much more diverse than I had realized. It started during the 1970s and had a slow, yet rapid decline in the early 1980s. The Disco genre was created in the 1970s to add a little bit more fun through music with dance and electronic instruments to combat the melancholy times in the earlier years of being in the Cold War, the Space Race, President John F Kennedy assassination, and Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act being signed. The genre of Disco did not begin in the U.S., it began in Germany with the influence of the Nazis. The nightclub scene was extremely popular, even though live music was banned from performing. The use of phonograph records began in Germany, then it spread into the French countries. The French-speaking people used the word “discotheque” which means library of phonograph records. When "discotheque" traveled across the water, the people of the United States abbreviated the word to “disco”.
The multiple cultures that spilled into the Disco genre were Italian Americans, African Americans, and Latinos. Disco is also a spinoff of the music genres R&B and Funk from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The R&B scene influenced the use of many electronic instruments and the popular use of a synthesizer. The synthesizer was used to produce artificial sound of acoustic instruments. The string synthesizer was the most popular kind of a synthesizer used during the period of Disco. It was developed to be a cheaper alternative and a more portable synthesizer to the more expensive type of synthesizer. Also, the string synthesizer was created sounds similar to a string orchestra, so that a string band would have to be used for a song or album.
With the nightclub scene being prominent in America and the United Kingdom, and Disco being nicknamed “dance music”, DJs and the drug culture had a huge impact on the music and the atmosphere inside the nightclubs. The most popular drugs that people were addicted to were cocaine and quaaludes, they were nicknamed the “disco biscuits”. The mixture of music from the DJs, and the nightclub-goers being under the influence made the experience of dancing more enjoyable. The DJs became extremely popular because remixes of songs that were used on radios, nightclubs, and at other events.
The characteristics of the songs were very distinct during the disco period. These four characteristics are syncopation, 4-on-the-floor beats, instruments, and repetitive vocals. The syncopation in the most famous disco songs fills the “empty space” between beats and verses, the definition of syncopation is a beat in-between beats or the “off-beat”. The 4-on-the-floor beat is similar to a heartbeat rhythm, with four quarter notes in a meter. The most used instruments of the disco period were horns, strings, flutes, the electronic piano, and the electric guitar. The vocals and lyrics of a song did not change too much throughout the songs because there was more of a focus on the beats and weird sounds than the words.
The lyrics were very repetitive and straightforward with no deep meaning. The song meanings in disco were very surface and did not have an underlying message like music of nowadays and of earlier periods. The normal topics of the songs would be about love, encouragement, happiness, unifying the world, and sexual liberation. The songs were used of ways to escape the ideas of war, gang violence, and rising social and economic issues. The most prominent artists of the 1970s are people that we grew up listening to from our parents, or people who are continued to be played on radio stations. These artists are Stevie Wonder, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind and Fire, Diana Ross, and The Jacksons. The some of the most popular songs from disco are “We Are Family”, “I Will Survive”, “I Feel Love”, “ABC”, “Stayin’ Alive”, and “Disco Inferno”.
This is the well-know singer Stevie Wonder!
This is the wonderful Gloria Gaynor!
Donna Summer who was known as Queen of Disco
This the band Earth, Wind, and Fire
This a more recent photo of Diana Ross
This a photo of the band The Jacksons
The popularity of Disco increased when film “Saturday Night Fever” was released with the main character being played by John Travolta. This movie aided the music into famous. These songs would be “Stayin Alive”, “Night Fever”, “If I Can’t Have You”, “Boogie Shoes”, etc.
The period of disco has also influenced many shows and movies to encourage people of now to enjoy disco music. For example, the musical show “Glee” had a full episode dedicated to disco. In the episode, the characters had a competition to get a white polyester suit resembling the one in “Saturday Night Fever” worn by John Travolta. The characters sang different disco songs and danced in 1970s clothes.
The decrease of disco popularity began with the event Demolition Night and continued through the 1980s. Demolition Night was a event promoted by the Major League Baseball organization for people to attend games. The people would bring a disco record to be burned, or destroyed in any kind of way in between games. The disco records would give the attendants a discount on tickets and they would only cost 98cents. The Demolition Night event sideways and ended in a riot over a homophobic situation. However, disco kept its popularity in Italy, India, and anywhere over the Middle East.
Citations
“Disco Characteristics - Elena's Music Genres in Context.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/site/elenasgenres/home/disco-extracts/disci-influences/disco-practitioners/disco-characteristics.
“Disco.”Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco.
This was a pretty interesting background! Disco music looks like so much fun and if I was a teen during that era id have the time of my life haha. I was shocked to hear disco music is from Germany! I wouldn't expect that especially the influence being Nazis. I thought it was pretty funny the drugs were called "disco biscuits", I wonder who came up with that. Great blog!!
I was so excited to see that you chose to do your blog post on disco!! I’ve always been a big fan of the Bee Gees, Jackson 5, Earth Wind And Fire, and other disco groups I grew up hearing in my house as a kid. It wasn’t until listening to an episode on a podcast, You’re Wrong About, about Disco Demolition Night that I’d learned more about the genre’s origins and how much of it was pioneered by queer Black and Latin artists, as well as how its origins were often brushed under the rug when disco grew more commercialized. I didn’t know until reading your blog that disco didn’t originate in the US! It was very surprising to learn that it began in the German nightclubbing scene, and reading your blog certainly made me curious to learn more about disco’s roots in Germany, as well as the specific synthesizers used in disco. I’d also never deeply considered how disco has influenced dance music as we know it today. Your post made me realize that I still have a lot more to learn about disco music. Thank you for sharing!
This is the well-know singer Stevie Wonder!
Donna Summer who was known as Queen of Disco
This a more recent photo of Diana Ross
This was so interesting. Disco songs are so fun. I had no idea about Disco demolition night. That was very surprising.
ReplyDeleteThis was a pretty interesting background! Disco music looks like so much fun and if I was a teen during that era id have the time of my life haha. I was shocked to hear disco music is from Germany! I wouldn't expect that especially the influence being Nazis. I thought it was pretty funny the drugs were called "disco biscuits", I wonder who came up with that. Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteMaggie,
ReplyDeleteI was so excited to see that you chose to do your blog post on disco!! I’ve always been a big fan of the Bee Gees, Jackson 5, Earth Wind And Fire, and other disco groups I grew up hearing in my house as a kid. It wasn’t until listening to an episode on a podcast, You’re Wrong About, about Disco Demolition Night that I’d learned more about the genre’s origins and how much of it was pioneered by queer Black and Latin artists, as well as how its origins were often brushed under the rug when disco grew more commercialized.
I didn’t know until reading your blog that disco didn’t originate in the US! It was very surprising to learn that it began in the German nightclubbing scene, and reading your blog certainly made me curious to learn more about disco’s roots in Germany, as well as the specific synthesizers used in disco. I’d also never deeply considered how disco has influenced dance music as we know it today. Your post made me realize that I still have a lot more to learn about disco music. Thank you for sharing!
Cara