DISCO!

Disco seems to get a bad rap nowadays. While the music may possess less musical quality which music purists would stick their noses up at, I personally feel that disco provided a type of music that was all about just letting yourself go. This music obviously is not going to make someone sit down and ponder their life or feelings. There is no hidden meaning. Everything is thrown right out in front of the listener bare. Disco basically said, “Here ya go! Have fun!” The music emits a certain carefree attitude that was the perfect mold for dance music to flourish into.

Disco as a style and genre of music really revolutionized the whole social aspect of listening to music. By throwing together a hodge-podge of catchy beats, fun rhythms, and poppy countermelodies, people began to congregate around music. Music became a focal point of hang outs and dancing became a great and fun social activity. I also think that disco was able to revolutionize dance as well. Its message was reflected by the consumers and the music ultimately is designed to make people want to dance. Because there is no underlying theme or great moral, disco is amazing at serving its one purpose: to make people want to dance.

And, even if you are one of those people who pride themselves as being a music connoisseur, you can’t help but tap your foot subconsciously to the beats of the songs. The catchiness of it all is enough to make one want to run outside and just start randomly dancing like in a cheesy musical. Disco is so well known because it provides melodies that stick in your head. I STILL can’t get melodies out of my head from this morning! I found myself running the beat inside my head of Sugarhill Gang Apache! We have finally entered an era in which the music has become actually familiar with me. I don’t know how or when I was exposed to such disco music but I had heard a majority of the top disco hits of the 70s. This was somewhat scary to contemplate but doesn’t seem that far off. Because of the high energy and pure catchiness of the songs, disco music wiggled its way into all kinds of media (from movies to television to the oldies station on the radio). I became familiar with such tunes because they were actually being played around me, even though I was a few decades late.

While people may consider disco cheesy in the present, the bubble gummy sound of disco heavily influenced music in its time. It created a new type of dance music that maintained pretty consistent throughout later musical eras and varying subgenres. All of the dance music was very fast paced and fashion-oriented. This shifting mentality towards “what’s hot right now” may have also lent itself to why albums became less common as artists shifted towards production of singles. Disco is not something that you can simply sit down and listen to for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. Consuming an album of disco would not be a fun task. But in brief bursts, disco thrives. The only other way you could handle listening to disco for that long is if you were getting up and moving to the beat! Disco did not provide the depth of earlier music, but was able to allow people to escape from the boring life and simply dance with one another.

Before I show some specific examples of disco that stood out to me, I would also like to make a brief note about the style of the day. Clothing was horrendous (whew glad I got that off my chest). The dancing, while seemingly full of flailing around, was rather interesting though. It was a very good visual interpretation to what I think disco’s message was; letting go.

Some of my favorites of the time include “Chic le Freak” and “Sugarhill Gang Apache”. I can’t quite place where the appeal lies but these songs just resonate in my head. Chic le Freak had a lot of elements of funk incorporated into the song. The driving bass and drum set gave that song an appalling edge. And Sugarhill Gang Apache is just good. Check them out: