In retrospect, disco wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

I refused to see Saturday Night Fever when I was young and it was showing at the theaters. I was a fan of jazz, blues, rock, and soul at the time (and a major classical fan). Having grown up on the music and free spirit of the 60s, I didn't like the slick, glossy style of disco clothes and hairdos where every hair was perfectly in place and people looked like a brand new product that just came out of a manufacturer's box. Disco music to me had no guitar solos and no real soulful flourishes on the drums that made 60s music so colorful. In fact, the rhythm section on disco records was robotic and monotonous to me. Although I can't say I'm now a disco fan, I've got to admit that some tunes were pretty cool. Maybe it's also because of the music that came after disco that I now look back on some of the tunes with a little nostalgia. I find this tune by Kool And The Gang irresistible. I love the way Michael Jackson and Dionne Warwick are grooving on this, seated in the front row.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. I loved disco, not so much for the music, but the dancing.

[jakeXT]

2. I had my ipod on random 70's recently and I heard Esther Phillips again

I was reminded of the orgasmic sound effects

http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0226039595

[Populist_Prole]

3. My opinion has mellowed on it over the years

When it was in full swing, me and my friends hate hate hated it. Thought it was the absolute scourge of the music world bent on subjugating our beloved rock music. It was visceral; as in "This movement has gotta be stopped!". Probably much the same as our own parents felt of our hard rock, and their parents thought of Doo-Wop.

Well it burned out quickly and our fears were unfounded. Now when I hear it sometimes I get a little nostalgic even. I guess it's true what they say: "Nostalgia is just memory lane without the potholes".

[narnian60]

4. Loved it then--

love it now.

[lame54]

5. Even as a little kid...

I knew those disco sucks rally's where they burned records were wrong

not a disco fan but not a hater either

but burning records or books is wrong

[steve2470]

13. completely agree

Don't hate on my music, I won't hate on yours. That includes COUNTRY. I respect it, they can respect my music, which is currently EDM.

[Le Taz Hot]

6. Yes it was.

Absolutely no musical value whatsoever. Mindless drivel. We are open to all opinions, aren't we?

[brooklynboy49]

9. I'm with you

It sucked then, it sucks now and it'll still suck 50 years from now.

Disco sucks!

[Frank Cannon]

14. The worst disco song ever made...

Which would be, what, Disco Duck by Rick Dees, maybe?--is like fucking Mozart compared to the automated, autotuned garbage that the megacorporate music industry slops to us in "power rotation" these days.

But, then again, de gustibus non est disputandum and all that.

[Shrek]

15. +1

Beyond dispute.

[kentauros]

31. Even the Portsmouth Sinfonia, the world's worst orchestra,

recognized it as one of the worst genres ever, and would not be upstaged!

[Major Nikon]

36. Prime example: made it to #15 on the charts

[ailsagirl]

7. It was good to have on while exercising and that was about it

[cemaphonic]

8. Hey, if Pink Floyd can cut a disco track and have it be one of their biggest hits,

there's room for rock and disco to coexist.

Actually I always thought that the rock vs disco notion was overblown considering how many rock bands incorporated disco licks into their style afterwards.

[Le Taz Hot]

16. For a person who has a Tom Waits

avatar which tells me you have some musical savvy, and I as a Pink Floyd enthusiast, I'd like to know what in the hell are you talking about? What Pink Floyd track was "disco?" Surely you're not referring to "Another Brick in the Wall." That came out in 1980 and by 1980 disco was dead. Besides, can you seriously imagine Roger Waters saying, "Hey guys, let's to a disco track." Really? They didn't need the money and in 1980 Pink Floyd still had musical integrity. I'm truly baffled.

[cemaphonic]

41. Yeah, "Another Brick in the Wall'

Google the production history of the song sometime - it's interesting. Their producer specifically suggested a disco drumbeat, and Waters liked the idea, so they tried it out and it worked. It wasn't really a case of selling out by trying to appeal to disco's popularity (if anything, I would think they would have liked the dissonance of pairing a style associated with hedonistic fun to such gloomy lyrics), just musicians absorbing and adapting the musical vocabulary of the time to their own style. Plus the squared-off rhythm really fits the song's lyrics about stifling conformity.



Also, I've always thought that some of the fills in the guitar part sound a little discoish too, but those probably weren't deliberate.

[bettyellen]

45. LOL, Another Brick in the Wall, the Stones with Some Girls, Bowie... the list goes on with talented

musicians who didn't have issues with stealing disco's backbeats long after some white boys in plaid shirts declared it "dead".

[Archae]

10. I still love disco!

Bee Gees, "Night Fever," "Staying Alive," etc.

Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive."

We used to get the biggest laughs from the Village People, especially when they appeared on a Bob Hope TV special doing "In The Navy."
The oldsters never did quite get the joke, did they?

And KC and Sunshine Band, they were wired!
I remember remarking to my sister that KC looked like he was hopped up on pills or something.
Turns out he was! (Cocaine)

[Skittles]

11. I absolutely detested disco

except for the Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Rod Stewart's If You Think I'm Sexy

[Le Taz Hot]

17. I must admit

I still rock out at "Brickhouse."

[Arugula Latte]

24. That is a classic. No one can resist it.

Although I'd argue it's a funk-disco fusion song.

[steve2470]

12. I loved disco and went dancing all the time

I'm not as fond of it now, but yea, many good memories.

[MissMillie]

18. A producers medium

For the big bulk of disco, it was all about the producer (one really huge exception was the Bee Gees, who are amazing songwriters) and I think the big backlash came because the disco era came right after the singer/songwriter era of the early '70s.

Let's face it, if you like to dance, the disco stuff serves the purpose.

[Populist_Prole]

26. I agree

It was more about glitter and pretense. While rock sure has its share of schlock and one-hit wonders, at least its primary medium was song writing and musical instumentants played by the band members.

[malthaussen]

19. Agree with you.

Pretty much in exactly the same groove you were back then. Disco was anathema. Viewed through the mists of time, however (and the failing ears of time, lol), it seems much more tolerable now. And campy, in a way. All-in-all, it really was the perfect music for the late '70s.

-- Mal

[brooklynboy49]

20. Have to disagree

IMO, the perfect music for the late '70s was The Ramones, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, and their lesser known brethren.

[malthaussen]

21. Well, I'm talking about the mainstream...

... Disco fit right in with the late '70s zeitgeist.

-- Mal

[brooklynboy49]

39. Your point is well taken

nt

[CanSocDem]

22. It got people back onto the dance floor...

...and to me that was a good thing. In the early sixties, you could still go to a nightclub and dance to swing and latin music. The rumba, cha cha and jiving not to mention the slow dance. It was such fun that I became a professional advocate with AMDS.

For the next few years while I clung to the classics in a world of hard rock, protest songs and cultural disruption, it became harder and harder to go out dancing. I had almost given up hope when along came this weird dance craze called the Hustle. First thing you know all these 'nightclubbers' were back on the floor doing 'line dances'.

The music was predictable enough that people could move their bodies with abandon and creativity which was a huge jump from the stoned weaving and swaying that characterized the dancefloors of the day. It had rhythm and tempo and enough layers to thrill an old school hoofer like me. When Saturday Night Fever came out the dancing was more like eye candy than a blueprint but the music endures even though my disco moves of the 70's have regressed to the aforementioned "stoned weaving".

I think we can thank disco for the current interest in competitive celebrity ballroom dancing that is making TV networks rich and shy, clunky celeb's less so.

Personally, learning to dance was the best education I ever received.




.

[RobinA]

23. Didn't Like Disco

because it wasn't rock. I just wanted disco to be over so we could get back to rock. Ahhhh, to be young and unschooled in the ways of the world again.

When I stopped waiting for rock to come back I switched to folk and classical. I still love rock, but I just can't listen to Maggie May every day for the rest of my life.

[Arugula Latte]

25. There was some great dance music made in that era.

Disco brought black & white, gay & straight together to dance. That's a good thing.

A lot of it was pure fun. Also a good thing.

I was in junior high at the time and we had a "disco" for young people on Friday nights at a community center. Good times.

&feature=kp

This one -- the horns! What happened to horn sections?!

This was my favorite when I was a kid:

[arcane1]

27. In many ways, the 70's were a high point in music

I have a collection of hits from that era that I just LOVE! Everyone plays actual instruments, there is less division between genres, and it's FUN!

Granted, there was a ton of crap too

[AnneD]

28. My sneaky School Nurse trick......

I have a disco cd and when the little ones came in claiming 'sick', I would let them lie down but pop in the disco music. If they started wiggeling their feet or toes....they were busted and sent back to class.

I do sometimes miss the days when the toughest decision I made all week was what to wear when we went dancing on the weekend. The ultimate was disco roller skating. Yes, they really were places like that.

[kwassa]

29. Most disco was bad, with only a few real artists.

Even the Stones did a disco song.

Donna Summer was a great singer, even if I didn't care for her records.

and this is just a great song with a great vocal, even if you have to wait for the commercial to end. The one disco song I really like.

[MrScorpio]

30. Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer (1979)

Chic ~ I Want Your Love

S.O.S. BAND - Take your time (Do it right) (1980)

Denroy Morgan " I'll I Do Anything For You 1981

Young and Company - I Like What You're Doing To Me

Change - The Glow Of Love

Slave - Watching You

[Kaleva]

32. This thread has lured the disco lovers out of the shadows and exposed them.

Hopefully MIRT and/or Admin is taking notes!!!

[LanternWaste]

33. My grandmother told me that she'd always thought the seventies were the worst period of American mus

My grandmother told me that she'd always thought the seventies were the worst period of American music ever (regarding deep tracks rather than FM pop). Then the nineties came along forcing her to update her opinion, and we're ironically on board the same train now.

[rug]

34. When I am in my last moment, reflecting on my life,

I pray to God this will not be the last thought I have.

[Paulie]

42. Amen!

[bigwillq]

35. Disco is great.

A fun, fun genre. Corny? Sure. But very, very fun.

Wish I were old enough to enjoy it back in the 1970s.

[Jenoch]

37. I was just a kid through most of the disco

era, but I liked some of the songs and bands. I have some KC and the Sunshine Band and of course Dr. John on my iPod.

http://m.

Maybe a better description is funk.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. I was just listening to Bruno Mars

He's got the mirror ball and everything!

[Taitertots]

40. Disco was great... If you want go out dancing and have a good time

I always laugh when people complain about the music that other people listen to. They come up with some contrived justification for why their music is better.

People like different things, it doesn't make your personal preferences superior.

[Feral Child]

43. The music was a bit simplistic

but I loved the collateral promiscuity.

[sinkingfeeling]

44. I loved disco dancing. The moves were great and you and your partner actually

were coordinated!