History of Disco

The disco music genre dates back to the very start of the 1970s in the US, and has its roots in nightclubs that catered to African American communities in Philadelphia and New York City - especially those frequent by black gay men. Psychedelic culture's trippy lighting, overwhelming sound, and hallucinogens were huge influences on the disco scene, as were groups such as Sly and The Family Stone, the Chambers Brothers, Isaac Hayes and Willie Hutch. The 1960s Philadelphia Sound, typified by lavish percussion, went on to become a prominent part of mid-1970s disco songs.

However, it wasn't until around 1973, when disco began to be embraced by the predominantly white gay clubs of New York, that it caught mainstream attention. Disco was soon popular with other sections of the community, such as Latinos and women, and by 1974, New York City's WPIX-FM premiered the first disco radio show. Popular disco artists included Chic, KC and the Sunshine Band, The Bee Gees, and 'The Queen of Disco': Donna Summer. Meanwhile, the producers of the records worked behind the scenes to create the innovative production techniques and arrangements that were part of the new disco sound, drawing on influences such as soul, funk, classical, calypso, jazz, rock and Latin.

Although the early disco sound was largely an urban American phenomenon with labels and producers such as Westend Records (Mel Cheren), SalSoul Records (Ken, Joe and Stanley Cayre), Prelude (Marvin Schlachter) and Casablanca (Neil Bogart), the phenomenon soon crossed the Atlantic, where European dance-track producers such as Giorgio Moroder began to produce songs such as Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" in 1975.

At the time, singles were limited to a maximum of around 5 minutes, held on a 7" vinyl disc. In the mid 1970s, disco producer Tom Moulton and re-masterer José Rodriguez came up with the idea of pressing a 10" disc (and then later a 12" disc) in order to create a 'remix' single with a much longer dance time. Remixed versions would typically add in new sections, percussion breaks and new sounds, and soon became the standard format for all DJs of the disco genre. Disco was also shaped by DJs who used a number of record players to mix tracks seamlessly from other genres such as pop music, soul and funk at discothèques.

The Hues Corporation's 1974 hit "Rock The Boat" was one of the first songs in the disco genre to claim the Number 1 spot in the US.

Films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977) contributed to disco's rise in popularity, making it a mainstream phenomenon. This led to rock and pop artists releasing songs that were perhaps not 'pure' disco, but had considerable disco influence or overtones, such as Heart of Glass (Blondie), Rock with You (Michael Jackson) and Victim of Love (Elton John).

Although disco reached its peak by mid-1979 in the US, the genre continued to be popular elsewhere around the world during the 1980s. Disco has continued to influence dance music since that time (for example, Techno, House and Nu-Disco) and many modern artists still embrace the genre, or use elements of it in their music.