Editing Disco (section)

==History==
===1940s–1960s: First discotheques===
Disco was mostly developed from music that was popular on the dance floor in clubs that started playing records instead of having a live band. The first discotheques mostly played [[swing music]]. Later on, uptempo [[rhythm and blues]] became popular in American clubs and [[northern soul]] and [[glam rock]] records in the UK. In the early 1940s, nightclubs in Paris resorted to playing jazz records during the Nazi occupation.

[[Régine Zylberberg]] claimed to have started the first discotheque and to have been the first club DJ in 1953 in the "Whisky à Go-Go" in Paris. She installed a dance floor with colored lights and two turntables so she could play records without having a gap in the music.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zoK1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|title=The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume I: 1950-1967: From Dance Hall to the 100 Club|first1=Simon|last1=Frith|first2=Matt|last2=Brennan|first3=Emma|last3=Webster|date=March 9, 2016|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=9781317028871|access-date=June 1, 2020|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522075959/https://books.google.com/books?id=zoK1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 1959, the owner of the [[Scotch Club]] in [[Aachen|Aachen, West Germany]] chose to install a record player for the opening night instead of hiring a live band. The patrons were unimpressed until a young reporter, who happened to be covering the opening of the club, impulsively took control of the record player and introduced the records that he chose to play. Klaus Quirini later claimed to thus have been the world's first nightclub DJ.<ref name=Oxford />

===1960s–1974: Precursors and early disco music===
During the 1960s, discotheque dancing became a European trend that was enthusiastically picked up by the American press.<ref name=Oxford /> At this time, when the discotheque culture from Europe became popular in the United States, several music genres with danceable rhythms rose to popularity and evolved into different sub-genres: [[rhythm and blues]] (originated in the 1940s), [[Soul (music)|soul]] (late 1950s and 1960s), funk (mid-1960s) and [[go-go]] (mid-1960s and 1970s; more than "disco", the word "go-go" originally indicated a music club). Musical genres that were primarily performed by African-American musicians would influence much of early disco.

Also during the 1960s, the [[Motown]] record label developed its own approach, described as having "1) simply structured songs with sophisticated melodies and chord changes, 2) a relentless four-beat drum pattern, 3) a gospel use of background voices, vaguely derived from the style of [[the Impressions]], 4) a regular and sophisticated use of both horns and strings, 5) lead singers who were halfway between pop and gospel music, 6) a group of accompanying musicians who were among the most dextrous, knowledgeable, and brilliant in all of popular music (Motown bassists have long been the envy of white rock bassists) and 7) a trebly style of mixing that relied heavily on electronic limiting and equalizing (boosting the high range frequencies) to give the overall product a distinctive sound, particularly effective for broadcast over AM radio."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-motown-story-19710513|title=The Motown Story|newspaper=Rolling Stone|access-date=December 11, 2016|archive-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214230027/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-motown-story-how-berry-gordy-jr-created-the-legendary-label-178066/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Motown had many hits with disco elements by acts like [[Eddie Kendricks]] ("[[Girl You Need a Change of Mind]]" in 1972, "[[Keep on Truckin' (song)|Keep on Truckin']]" in 1973,<ref>{{cite web |first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: Eddie Kendricks' "Keep On Truckin'" |website= [[Stereogum]] |date= April 25, 2019 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2041127/the-number-ones-eddie-kendricks-keep-on-truckin/columns/the-number-ones/ |quote= "Keep On Truckin'," the first disco record ever to hit #1...Eddie Kendricks "Keep On Truckin'" |access-date= 28 December 2023 |archive-date= May 22, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240522075956/https://www.stereogum.com/2041127/the-number-ones-eddie-kendricks-keep-on-truckin/columns/the-number-ones/ |url-status= live }}</ref> "[[Boogie Down]]" in 1974).

At the end of the 1960s, musicians, and audiences from the Black, Italian, and Latino communities adopted several traits from the [[hippie]] and [[psychedelia]] subcultures. They included using music venues with a loud, overwhelming sound, free-form dancing, trippy lighting, colorful costumes, and the use of [[hallucinogenic]] drugs.<ref name="Partylikeits1975">[http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-07-10/news/disco-double-take/2 Disco Double Take: New York Parties Like It's 1975] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130151059/http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-07-10/news/disco-double-take/2 |date=January 30, 2015 }}. [[Village Voice]].com. ''Retrieved on August 9, 2009''.</ref><ref name="Cambridge">(1998) "The Cambridge History of American Music", {{ISBN|978-0-521-45429-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-521-45429-2}}, p.372: "Initially, disco musicians and audiences alike belonged to marginalized communities: women, gay, black, and Latinos"</ref><ref name="Traces">(2002) "Traces of the Spirit: The Religious Dimensions of Popular Music", {{ISBN|978-0-8147-9809-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8147-9809-6}}, p.117: "New York City was the primary center of disco, and the original audience was primarily gay African Americans and Latinos."</ref> In addition, the perceived positivity, lack of irony, and earnestness of the [[hippie]]s informed proto-disco music like [[MFSB]]'s album ''[[Love Is the Message (MFSB album)|Love Is the Message]]''.<ref name=Partylikeits1975/><ref>"But the pre-Saturday Night Fever dance underground was actually sweetly earnest and irony-free in its hippie-dippie positivity, as evinced by anthems like [[MFSB]]'s ''Love Is the Message''." – ''Village Voice'', July 10, 2001.</ref>
Partly through the success of [[Jimi Hendrix]], psychedelic elements that were popular in rock music of the late 1960s found their way into soul and early funk music and formed the subgenre [[psychedelic soul]]. Examples can be found in the music of [[the Chambers Brothers]], [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] with his [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] collective, [[Sly and the Family Stone]], and the productions of [[Norman Whitfield]] with [[The Temptations]].

The long instrumental introductions and detailed orchestration found in psychedelic soul tracks by the Temptations are also considered as [[cinematic soul]]. In the early 1970s, [[Curtis Mayfield]] and [[Isaac Hayes]] scored hits with cinematic soul songs that were actually composed for movie soundtracks: "[[Superfly (song)|Superfly]]" (1972) and "[[Theme from Shaft]]" (1971). The latter is sometimes regarded as an early disco song.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/hotstuffdiscorem00echo|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/hotstuffdiscorem00echo/page/24 24]|quote=shaft disco.|title=Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture|first=Alice|last=Echols|date=March 29, 2010|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780393066753}}</ref> From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, [[Philadelphia soul]] developed as a sub-genre that also had lavish [[Percussion instrument|percussion]], lush [[string orchestra]] arrangements, and expensive record production processes. In the early 1970s, the Philadelphia soul productions by [[Gamble and Huff]] evolved from the simpler arrangements of the late-1960s into a style featuring lush strings, thumping basslines, and sliding hi-hat rhythms. These elements would become typical for disco music and are found in several of the hits they produced in the early 1970s:
*"[[Love Train]]" by [[the O'Jays]] (with MFSB as the backup band) was released in 1972 and topped the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in March 1973
*"[[The Love I Lost]]" by [[Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes]] (1973)
*"[[Now That We Found Love]]" by [[The O'Jays]] (1973), later a hit for [[Third World (band)|Third World]] in 1978
*"[[TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)]]" by [[MFSB]] with vocals by [[The Three Degrees]], a wordless song written as the theme for ''[[Soul Train]]'' and a #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1974

Other early disco tracks that helped shape disco and became popular on the dance floors of (underground) discotheque clubs and parties include: 
* "[[Jungle Fever (song)|Jungle Fever]]" by [[The Chakachas]] was first released in Belgium in 1971 and later released in the U.S. in 1972, where it reached #8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 that same year
* "[[Soul Makossa]]" by [[Manu Dibango]] was first released in France in 1972; it was picked up by the underground disco scene in New York and subsequently got a proper release in the U.S., reaching #35 on the Hot 100 in 1973
* "[[The Night (Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons song)|The Night]]" by [[The Four Seasons (band)|the Four Seasons]] was released in 1972, but was not immediately popular; it appealed to the [[Northern soul]] scene and became a hit in the UK in 1975<ref>{{cite web |title=Official Singles Chart Top 50 - 04 May 1975 - 10 May 1975 |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19750504/7501/ |website=officialchart.com |access-date=January 19, 2021 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225075900/https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19750504/7501/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* "[[Love's Theme]]" by [[the Love Unlimited Orchestra]], conducted by [[Barry White]], an instrumental song originally featured on ''[[Under the Influence of... Love Unlimited]]'' in July 1973 from which it was culled as a single in November of that year; subsequently, the conductor included it on his own debut album
* "Sound Your Funky Horn" by [[KC and the Sunshine Band]]<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kc-the-sunshine-band-mn0000299668 KC and the Sunshine Band] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531232955/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kc-the-sunshine-band-mn0000299668 |date=May 31, 2023 }} allmusic.com  Retrieved 29 December 2023</ref> in 1974
* "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae in 1974
* "Do It" by [[B.T. Express]] in 1974
* "[[Boogie Down]]" by [[Eddie Kendricks]] in 1974
* "[[If You Talk In Your Sleep]]" by [[Elvis Presley]] in 1974.

Early disco was dominated by record producers and labels such as [[Salsoul Records]] (Ken, Stanley, and [[Joseph Cayre]]), [[West End Records]] ([[Mel Cheren]]), [[Casablanca Records|Casablanca]] ([[Neil Bogart]]), and [[Prelude Records (record label)|Prelude]] ([[Marvin Schlachter]]). The genre was also shaped by [[Tom Moulton]], who wanted to extend the enjoyment of dance songs — thus creating the extended mix or "[[remix]]", going from a three-minute 45 rpm single to the much longer 12" record. Other influential DJs and remixers who helped to establish what became known as the "disco sound" included [[David Mancuso]], [[Nicky Siano]], [[Shep Pettibone]], [[Larry Levan]], [[Walter Gibbons]], and Chicago-based [[Frankie Knuckles]]. Frankie Knuckles was not only an important disco DJ; he also helped to develop [[house music]] in the 1980s.

Disco hit the television airwaves as part of the music/dance variety show ''[[Soul Train]]'' in 1971 hosted by [[Don Cornelius]], then [[Marty Angelo]]'s ''[[Disco Step-by-Step Television Show]]'' in 1975, Steve Marcus's ''Disco Magic/Disco 77'', Eddie Rivera's ''[[Soap Factory]]'', and [[Merv Griffin]]'s ''[[Dance Fever]]'', hosted by [[Deney Terrio]], who is credited with teaching actor [[John Travolta]] to dance for his role in the film ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' (1977), as well as DANCE, based out of [[Columbia, South Carolina]].

In 1974, New York City's [[WPIX-FM]] premiered the first disco radio show.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.discosavvy.com/discoearly70s.html|title=The First Years of Disco (1972-1974)|website=discosavvy.com|access-date=June 18, 2019|quote=In November 1974, WPIX FM launched the world's first disco radio show, "Disco 102", hosted by Steve Andrews for 4 hours every Saturday night.|archive-date=April 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427024520/http://www.discosavvy.com/discoearly70s.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Early disco culture in the United States====
In the 1970s, the key [[counterculture of the 1960s]], the hippie movement, was fading away. The economic prosperity of the previous decade had declined, and unemployment, inflation, and crime rates had soared. Political issues like the backlash from the [[Civil Rights Movement]] culminating in the form of [[List of ethnic riots#Civil Rights and Black Power Movement's Period: 1955–1977|race riots]], the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.]] and [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]], and the [[Watergate scandal]], left many feeling disillusioned and hopeless.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} The start of the '70s was marked by a shift in the consciousness of the American people: the rise of the [[feminist movement]], [[identity politics]], gangs, etc. very much shaped this era. Disco music and disco dancing provided an escape from negative social and economic issues.{{sfn|Shapiro|2006|pp=5-7}} The non-partnered dance style of disco music allowed people of all races and sexual orientations to enjoy the dancefloor atmosphere.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Lawrence |first1=Tim |title=Disco and the Queering of the Dance Floor |journal=Cultural Studies |date=March 2011 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=230–243 |doi=10.1080/09502386.2011.535989 |s2cid=143682409 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09502386.2011.535989 |access-date=March 20, 2021 |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427000421/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09502386.2011.535989 |url-status=live  |issn = 0950-2386}}</ref>

In ''Beautiful Things in Popular Culture'', [[Simon Frith]] highlights the sociability of disco and its roots in 1960s counterculture. "The driving force of the New York underground dance scene in which disco was forged was not simply that city's complex ethnic and sexual culture but also a 1960s notion of community, pleasure and generosity that can only be described as hippie", he says. "The best disco music contained within it a remarkably powerful sense of collective euphoria."<ref>Alan McKee, ''Beautiful Things in Popular Culture''. John Wiley & Sons, April 15, 2008, p.196</ref>

The explosion of disco is often claimed to be found in the private dance parties held by New York City DJ David Mancuso's home that became known as [[The Loft (New York City)|The Loft]], an invitation-only non-commercial underground club that inspired many others.<ref name=NYT>{{citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/arts/arts-in-america-here-s-to-disco-it-never-could-say-goodbye.html |title=ARTS IN AMERICA; Here's to Disco, It Never Could Say Goodbye |work=The New York Times, USA |date=December 10, 2002 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106064333/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/arts/arts-in-america-here-s-to-disco-it-never-could-say-goodbye.html |archive-date=November 6, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> He organized the first major party in his Manhattan home on Valentine's Day 1970 with the name "Love Saves The Day". After some months the parties became weekly events and Mancuso continued to give regular parties into the 1990s.<ref name='lawrence'>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timlawrence.info/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050730075122/http://www.timlawrence.info/articles/2005/mancuso_VV.php|url-status=dead|title=Tim Lawrence|archive-date=July 30, 2005|website=tim lawrence}}</ref> Mancuso required that the music played had to be soulful, rhythmic, and impart words of hope, redemption, or pride.{{sfn|Brewster|Broughton|2000|p=148}}

When Mancuso threw his first informal house parties, the [[gay community]] (which made up much of The Loft's attendee roster) was often harassed in the [[gay bar|gay bars and dance clubs]], with many gay men carrying [[Bail|bail money]] with them to gay bars. But at The Loft and many other early, private [[discotheque]]s, they could dance together without fear of police action thanks to Mancuso's underground, yet legal, policies. [[Vince Aletti]] described it "like going to party, completely mixed, racially and sexually, where there wasn't any sense of someone being more important than anyone else," and [[Alex Rosner]] reiterated this saying "It was probably about sixty percent black and seventy percent gay...There was a mix of sexual orientation, there was a mix of races, mix of economic groups. A real mix, where the common denominator was music."{{sfn|Brewster|Broughton|2000|p=148}}

Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] called the popular embrace of disco's exuberant dance moves an escape from "the general depression and drabness of the political and musical atmosphere of the late seventies."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teachrock.org/lesson/the-rise-of-disco/|title=The Rise of Disco|publisher=teachrock.org|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618001058/http://teachrock.org/lesson/the-rise-of-disco|archive-date=June 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Pauline Kael]], writing about the disco-themed film ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', said the film and disco itself touched on "something deeply romantic, the need to move, to dance, and the need to be who you'd like to be. Nirvana is the dance; when the music stops, you return to being ordinary."<ref>Pauline Kael, ''For Keeps'', Dutton, 1994, p. 767</ref>

====Early disco culture in the United Kingdom====
In the late 1960s, uptempo soul with heavy beats and some associated dance styles and fashion were picked up in the British [[Mod (subculture)|mod]] scene and formed the [[northern soul]] movement. Originating at venues such as the [[Twisted Wheel Club|Twisted Wheel]] in [[Manchester]], it quickly spread to other UK dancehalls and nightclubs like the [[Chateau Impney]] ([[Droitwich Spa|Droitwich]]), Catacombs (Wolverhampton), [[Blackpool Mecca#Northern soul at The Highland Room|the Highland Rooms]] at [[Blackpool Mecca]], [[Golden Torch]] (Stoke-on-Trent), and [[Wigan Casino]]. As the favoured beat became more uptempo and frantic in the early 1970s, northern soul dancing became more athletic, somewhat resembling the later dance styles of disco and break dancing. Featuring [[Turn (dance and gymnastics)|spins]], [[Flip (acrobatic)|flips]], karate kicks, and backdrops, club dancing styles were often inspired by the stage performances of touring American soul acts such as [[Little Anthony & the Imperials]] and [[Jackie Wilson]].

In 1974, there were an estimated 25,000 [[mobile discos]] and 40,000 professional disc jockeys in the United Kingdom. Mobile discos were hired deejays that brought their own equipment to provide music for special events. [[Glam rock]] tracks were popular, with, for example, [[Gary Glitter]]'s 1972 single "[[Rock and Roll Part 2]]" becoming popular on UK dance floors while it did not get much radio airplay.<ref>Reynolds, Simon (2016). ''Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century'', pages 206–208, Dey Street Books {{ISBN|978-0062279804}}</ref>

===1974–1977: Rise to mainstream===
From 1974 to 1977, disco music increased in popularity as many disco songs topped the charts. [[The Hues Corporation]]'s "[[Rock the Boat (The Hues Corporation song)|Rock the Boat]]" (1974), a US number-one [[Single (music)|single]] and million-seller, was one of the early disco songs to reach number one. The same year saw the release of "[[Kung Fu Fighting]]", performed by [[Carl Douglas]] and produced by [[Biddu]], which reached number one in both the UK and US, and became the best-selling single of the year<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| first= Joseph| last= Murrells| year= 1978| title= The Book of Golden Discs| edition= 2nd| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| location= London| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/344 344]| isbn= 0-214-20512-6| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/344}}</ref> and one of the [[List of best-selling singles worldwide|best-selling singles of all time]] with 11&nbsp;million records sold worldwide,<ref name="metro_biddu">{{cite web|title=Biddu|first=James|last=Ellis|work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]|date=October 27, 2009|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/412-biddu|access-date=April 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902182831/http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/412-biddu|archive-date=September 2, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="times_2004">{{cite web|date=August 20, 2004|title=It's a big step from disco to Sanskrit chants, but Biddu has made it|first=Malika|last=Browne|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/its-a-big-step-from-disco-to-sanskrit-chants-but-biddu-has-made-it-n796tx7klww |access-date=May 30, 2011}}</ref> helping to popularize disco to a great extent.<ref name="metro_biddu"/> Another notable disco success that year was [[George McCrae]]'s "[[Rock Your Baby]]":<ref name="Moore-Gilbert">{{cite book|title=The Arts in the 1970s: Cultural Closure|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eWo7eGPx8AC&q=%22list+of+1970s+best-sellers%22|last=Moore-Gilbert|first=Bart|publisher=Routledge|date=March 11, 2002|access-date=May 30, 2012|isbn=9780415099066|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522080000/https://books.google.com/books?id=7eWo7eGPx8AC&q=%22list+of+1970s+best-sellers%22|url-status=live}}</ref> it became the United Kingdom's first number one disco single.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Golden Discs|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr|url-access=registration|quote=Biggest selling singles discs.|edition=2, illustrated|first=Joseph|last=Murrells|publisher=[[Barrie & Jenkins]]|isbn=0-214-20480-4|year=1978}}</ref><ref name="Moore-Gilbert" />

In the northwestern sections of the United Kingdom, the [[northern soul]] explosion, which started in the late 1960s and peaked in 1974, made the region receptive to disco, which the region's disc jockeys were bringing back from New York City. The shift by some DJs to the newer sounds coming from the U.S. resulted in a split in the scene, whereby some abandoned the 1960s soul and pushed a modern soul sound which tended to be more closely aligned with disco than soul.

[[File:Gloria Gaynor (1976).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|[[Gloria Gaynor]] in 1976]]
In 1975, [[Gloria Gaynor]] released her first [[Gramophone record|vinyl]] [[album]], which included a remake of [[the Jackson 5]]'s "[[Never Can Say Goodbye]]" (which, in fact, is also the [[Never Can Say Goodbye (Gloria Gaynor album)|album title]]) and two other songs, "Honey Bee" and her disco version of "[[Reach Out I'll Be There|Reach Out (I'll Be There)]]". The album first topped the Billboard disco/dance charts in November 1974. Later in 1978, Gaynor's number-one disco song was "[[I Will Survive]]", which was seen as a symbol of female strength and a gay anthem,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hubbs|first=Nadine|date=May 1, 2007|title='I Will Survive': musical mappings of queer social space in a disco anthem|url=https://zenodo.org/record/854793|journal=Popular Music|volume=26|issue=2|pages=231–244|doi=10.1017/S0261143007001250|s2cid=146390768|via=Cambridge Core|access-date=September 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905142529/https://zenodo.org/record/854793/files/article.pdf|archive-date=September 5, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> like her further disco hit, a 1983 remake of "[[I Am What I Am (Broadway musical song)|I Am What I Am]]". In 1979 she released "[[Let Me Know (I Have a Right)]]", a single which gained popularity in the civil rights movements. Also in 1975, [[Vincent Montana Jr.]]'s [[Salsoul Orchestra]] contributed with their Latin-flavored orchestral dance song "Salsoul Hustle", reaching number four on the Billboard Dance Chart; their 1976 hits were "[[Tangerine (1941 song)|Tangerine]]" and "Nice 'n' Naasty", the first being a cover of a 1941 song.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

[[File:Fly, Robin, Fly - Cash Box ad 1975.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Advertisement for [[Silver Convention]]'s "[[Fly, Robin, Fly]]", October 18, 1975]] 
Songs such as [[Van McCoy]]'s 1975 "[[The Hustle (song)|The Hustle]]" and the humorous [[Joe Tex]] 1977 "[[Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)]]" gave names to the popular disco dances "the Bump" and "the Hustle". Other notable early successful disco songs include [[Barry White]]'s "[[You're the First, the Last, My Everything]]" (1974); [[Labelle]]'s "[[Lady Marmalade]]" (1974)'; [[Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes]]' "[[Get Dancin']]" (1974); [[Earth, Wind & Fire]]'s "[[Shining Star (Earth, Wind & Fire song)|Shining Star]]" (1975); [[Silver Convention]]'s "[[Fly, Robin, Fly]]" (1975) and "[[Get Up and Boogie (song)|Get Up and Boogie]]" (1976); [[Vicki Sue Robinson]]'s "[[Turn the Beat Around]]" (1976); and "[[More, More, More]]" (1976) by [[Andrea True]] (a former pornographic actress during the [[Golden Age of Porn]], an era largely contemporaneous with the height of disco).

Formed by [[Harry Wayne Casey]] (a.k.a. "KC") and [[Richard Finch (musician)|Richard Finch]], Miami's [[KC and the Sunshine Band]] had a string of disco-definitive top-five singles between 1975 and 1977, including "[[Get Down Tonight]]", "[[That's the Way (I Like It)]]", "[[(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty]]", "[[I'm Your Boogie Man]]", "[[Boogie Shoes]]", and "[[Keep It Comin' Love]]". In this period, rock bands like the English [[Electric Light Orchestra]] featured in their songs a violin sound that became a staple of disco music, as in the 1975 hit "[[Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Evil Woman]]", although the genre was correctly described as [[Progressive rock|orchestral rock]].

Other disco producers such as [[Tom Moulton]] took ideas and techniques from [[dub music]] (which came with the increased [[Jamaicans|Jamaican]] migration to New York City in the 1970s) to provide alternatives to the "four on the floor" style that dominated. DJ Larry Levan utilized styles from [[Dub music|dub]] and [[jazz]] and remixing techniques to create early versions of [[house music]] that sparked the genre.<ref>{{cite book
| last =Shapiro
| first =Peter
| title =Modulations: A History of Electronic Music
| url =https://archive.org/details/impossibledancec00buck
| url-access =registration
| publisher =Caipirinha Productions, Inc.
| year =2000
| pages =254
| isbn =978-0-8195-6498-6
}} see p.45, 46</ref>

====Motown turning disco====
[[Norman Whitfield]] was an influential producer and songwriter at [[Motown records]], renowned for creating innovative "[[psychedelic soul]]" songs with many hits for [[Marvin Gaye]], [[The Velvelettes]], [[The Temptations]], and [[Gladys Knight & the Pips]]. From around the production of the Temptations album ''[[Cloud Nine (The Temptations album)|Cloud Nine]]'' in 1968, he incorporated some psychedelic influences and started to produce longer, dance-friendly tracks, with more room for elaborate rhythmic instrumental parts. An example of such a long psychedelic soul track is "[[Papa Was a Rollin' Stone]]", which appeared as a single edit of almost seven minutes and an approximately 12-minute-long 12" version in 1972. By the early 1970s, many of Whitfield's productions evolved more and more towards [[funk]] and disco, as heard on albums by [[the Undisputed Truth]] and the 1973 album ''[[G.I.T.: Get It Together]]'' by [[The Jackson 5]]. [[The Undisputed Truth]], a Motown recording act assembled by Whitfield to experiment with his psychedelic soul production techniques, found success with their 1971 song "[[Smiling Faces Sometimes]]". Their disco single "You + Me = Love" (number 43) was produced by Whitfield and made number 2 on the [[Dance Club Songs|US dance chart]] in 1976.

In 1975, Whitfield left Motown and founded his own label [[Whitfield records]], on which also "You + Me = Love" was released. Whitfield produced some more disco hits, including "[[Car Wash (song)|Car Wash]]" (1976) by [[Rose Royce]] from the [[Car Wash: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack|album soundtrack]] to the 1976 film [[Car Wash (film)|''Car Wash'']]. In 1977, singer, songwriter, and producer [[Willie Hutch]], who had been signed to Motown since 1970, now signed with Whitfield's new label, and scored a successful disco single with his song [[In and Out (Willie Hutch song)|"In and Out"]] in 1982.
 
[[File:Diana Ross 1976.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.85|[[Diana Ross]] in 1976]]
Other Motown artists turned to disco as well. [[Diana Ross]] embraced the disco sound with her successful 1976 outing "[[Love Hangover]]" from her self-titled album. Her 1980 dance classics "[[Upside Down (Diana Ross song)|Upside Down]]" and "[[I'm Coming Out]]" were written and produced by [[Nile Rodgers]] and [[Bernard Edwards]] of the group [[Chic (band)|Chic]]. [[The Supremes]], the group that made Ross famous, scored a handful of hits in the disco clubs without her, most notably 1976's "[[I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking]]" and, their last charted single before disbanding, 1977's "You're My Driving Wheel".

At the request of Motown that he produce songs in the disco genre, [[Marvin Gaye]] released "[[Got to Give It Up]]" in 1978, despite his dislike of disco. He vowed not to record any songs in the genre and actually wrote the song as a parody. However, several of Gaye's songs have disco elements, including "[[I Want You (Marvin Gaye song)|I Want You]]" (1975). [[Stevie Wonder]] released the disco single "[[Sir Duke]]" in 1977 as a tribute to [[Duke Ellington]], the influential [[jazz]] legend who had died in 1974. [[Smokey Robinson]] left the Motown group [[The Miracles]] for a solo career in 1972 and released his third solo album ''[[A Quiet Storm]]'' in 1975, which spawned and lent its name to the "[[Quiet Storm]]" musical programming format and subgenre of R&B. It contained the disco single "[[Baby That's Backatcha]]". Other Motown artists who scored disco hits were Robinson's former group, the Miracles, with [[Love Machine (The Miracles song)|"Love Machine"]] (1975), [[Eddie Kendricks]] with [[Keep On Truckin' (song)|"Keep On Truckin'"]] (1973), [[The Originals (band)|the Originals]] with "[[Down to Love Town]]" (1976), and [[Thelma Houston]] with her cover of the [[Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes]] song "[[Don't Leave Me This Way]]" (1976). The label continued to release successful songs into the 1980s with [[Rick James]]'s "[[Super Freak]]" (1981), and the [[Commodores]]' "[[Lady (You Bring Me Up)]]" (1981).

Several of Motown's solo artists who left the label went on to have successful disco songs. [[Mary Wells]], Motown's first female superstar with her signature song "[[My Guy]]" (written by Smokey Robinson), abruptly left the label in 1964. She briefly reappeared on the charts with the disco song [[Gigolo (Mary Wells song)|"Gigolo"]] in 1980. [[Jimmy Ruffin]], the elder brother of [[the Temptations]] lead singer [[David Ruffin]], was also signed to Motown and released his most successful and well-known song "[[What Becomes of the Brokenhearted]]" as a single in 1966. Ruffin eventually left the record label in the mid-1970s, but saw success with the 1980 disco song "[[Hold On (To My Love)]]", which was written and produced by [[Robin Gibb]] of the Bee Gees, for his album ''[[Sunrise (Jimmy Ruffin album)|Sunrise]]''. [[Edwin Starr]], known for his Motown protest song "[[War (The Temptations song)|War]]" (1970), reentered the charts in 1979 with a pair of disco songs, "[[Contact (Edwin Starr song)|Contact]]" and "[[H.A.P.P.Y. Radio (song)|H.A.P.P.Y. Radio]]". [[Kiki Dee]] became the first white British singer to sign with Motown in the US, and released one album, ''Great Expectations'' (1970), and two singles "The Day Will Come Between Sunday and Monday" (1970) and "Love Makes the World Go Round" (1971), the latter giving her first-ever chart entry (number 87 on the US Chart). She soon left the company and signed with [[Elton John]]'s [[The Rocket Record Company]], and in 1976 had her biggest and best-known single, "[[Don't Go Breaking My Heart]]", a disco duet with John. The song was intended as an affectionate disco-style pastiche of the Motown sound, in particular the various duets recorded by Marvin Gaye with [[Tammi Terrell]] and [[Kim Weston]].

Many Motown groups who had left the record label charted with disco songs. [[The Jackson 5]], one of Motown's premier acts in the early 1970s, left the record company in 1975 ([[Jermaine Jackson]], however, remained with the label) after successful songs like "[[I Want You Back]]" (1969) and "[[ABC (The Jackson 5 song)|ABC]]" (1970), and even the disco song "[[Dancing Machine]]" (1974). Renamed as 'the Jacksons' (as Motown owned the name 'the Jackson 5'), they went on to find success with disco songs like "Blame It on the Boogie" (1978), "[[Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)]]" (1979), and "Can You Feel It?" (1981) on the Epic label.

[[The Isley Brothers]], whose short tenure at the company had produced the song "[[This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)]]" in 1966, went on release successful disco songs like "[[It's a Disco Night (Rock Don't Stop)]]" (1979). [[Gladys Knight & the Pips]], who recorded the most successful version of "[[I Heard It Through the Grapevine]]" (1967) before Marvin Gaye, scored commercially successful singles such as "Baby, Don't Change Your Mind" (1977) and "Bourgie, Bourgie" (1980) in the disco era. [[The Detroit Spinners]] were also signed to the Motown label and saw success with the Stevie Wonder-produced song "[[It's a Shame (The Spinners song)|It's a Shame]]" in 1970. They left soon after, on the advice of fellow [[Detroit]] native [[Aretha Franklin]], to [[Atlantic Records]], and there had disco songs like "[[The Rubberband Man]]" (1976). In 1979, they released a successful cover of Elton John's "[[Are You Ready for Love]]", as well as a medley of [[The Four Seasons (band)|the Four Seasons]]' song "[[Working My Way Back to You]]" and [[Michael Zager|Michael Zager's]] "Forgive Me, Girl". The Four Seasons themselves were briefly signed to Motown's MoWest label, a short-lived subsidiary for R&B and soul artists based on the West Coast, and there the group produced one album, ''[[Chameleon (The Four Seasons album)|Chameleon]]'' (1972) – to little commercial success in the US. However, one single, [[The Night (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song)|"The Night"]], was released in Britain in 1975, and thanks to popularity from the [[Northern Soul]] circuit, reached number seven on the [[UK Singles Chart]]. The Four Seasons left Motown in 1974 and went on to have a disco hit with their song "[[December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)]]" (1975) for [[Warner Curb Records]].

====Euro disco====
{{Main|Euro disco}}
[[File:ABBA - TopPop 1974 5.png|thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[ABBA]] in 1974.]]
By far the most successful Euro disco act was [[ABBA]] (1972–1982). This Swedish quartet, which sang primarily in English, found success with singles such as "[[Waterloo (ABBA song)|Waterloo]]" (1974), "[[Take a Chance on Me]]" (1978), "[[Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)]]" (1979), "[[Super Trouper (song)|Super Trouper]]" (1980), and their signature smash hit "[[Dancing Queen]]" (1976).

[[File:Giorgio Moroder (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Italian composer [[Giorgio Moroder]] is known as the "Father of Disco".<ref>"This record was a collaboration between Philip Oakey, the big-voiced lead singer of the techno-pop band the Human League, and Giorgio Moroder, the Italian-born father of disco who spent the 1980s writing synth-based pop and film music." {{cite web|url= {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r59464|pure_url=yes}}|title=Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder: Overview |access-date=December 21, 2009 |website=[[AllMusic]] |first=Evan|last=Cater}}</ref>]]
[[File:Donna Summer 1977.JPG|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Donna Summer]] in 1977|alt=]]
In the 1970s, [[Munich|Munich, West Germany]], music producers [[Giorgio Moroder]] and [[Pete Bellotte]] made a decisive contribution to disco music with a string of hits for [[Donna Summer]], which became known as the "Munich Sound".<ref name="munichsound">{{cite book |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Ahlers |editor2-first=Christoph |editor2-last=Jacke | first=Thomas| last= Krettenauer| year=2017 | title=Perspectives on German Popular Music |chapter=Hit Men: Giorgio Moroder, Frank Farian and the eurodisco sound of the 1970s/80s| publisher=[[Routledge]] | location= London| pages=77–78| isbn= 978-1-4724-7962-4}}</ref> In 1975, Summer suggested the lyric "[[Love to Love You Baby (song)|Love to Love You Baby]]" to Moroder and Bellotte, who turned the lyric into a full disco song. The final product, which contained the vocalizations of a series of simulated [[orgasm]]s, initially was not intended for release, but when Moroder played it in the clubs it caused a sensation and he released it. The song became an international hit, reaching the charts in many European countries and the US (No. 2). It has been described as the arrival of the expression of raw female sexual desire in pop music. A nearly 17-minute [[12-inch single]] was released. The 12" single became and remains a standard in discos today.<ref name="mixmag_moroder">{{cite web |first=Bill |last=Brewster |url=https://mixmag.net/feature/i-feel-love-donna-summer-and-giorgio-moroder-created-the-template-for-dance-music-as-we-know-it |title=I feel love: Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder created the template for dance music as we know it |publisher=[[Mixmag]] |date=June 22, 2017 |access-date=January 9, 2019 |archive-date=June 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622124251/https://mixmag.net/feature/i-feel-love-donna-summer-and-giorgio-moroder-created-the-template-for-dance-music-as-we-know-it |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/donna-summer-was-the-queen-who-made-disco-work-on-the-radio/story-fnb64oi6-1226360052284|title=Subscribe – theaustralian|website=theaustralian.com.au|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521034952/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/donna-summer-was-the-queen-who-made-disco-work-on-the-radio/story-fnb64oi6-1226360052284|archive-date=May 21, 2012|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" peaking on the ''Billboard'' charts at No.2 in 1976, is considered a feminist anthem and staple in the genre. Billboard recently ranked the song #1 on their list of "The 34 Top Disco Songs of All Time." Summer is featured at all top six spots on the list.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/lists/top-disco-songs-all-time/donna-summer-bad-girls/ |title=The 34 Top Disco Songs of All Time |magazine=Billboard |last=Moroder |first=Giorgio |date=January 6, 2022 |access-date=January 23, 2025}}</ref>

In 1976 Donna Summer's version of "[[Could It Be Magic]]" brought disco further into the mainstream. In 1977 Summer, Moroder and Bellotte further released "[[I Feel Love]]", as the B-side of "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)", which revolutionized dance music with its mostly [[Electronic music|electronic]] production and was a massive worldwide success, spawning the [[Hi-NRG]] subgenre.<ref name="mixmag_moroder" /> Giorgio Moroder was described by [[AllMusic]] as "one of the principal architects of the disco sound".<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p23915|pure_url=yes}} Giorgio Moroder] Allmusic.com</ref> Another successful disco music project by Moroder at that time was [[Munich Machine]] (1976–1980).

[[Boney M.]] (1974–1986) was a West German Euro disco group of four West Indian singers and dancers masterminded by record producer [[Frank Farian]]. Boney M. charted worldwide with such songs as "[[Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)|Daddy Cool]]" (1976) "[[Ma Baker]]" (1977) and "[[Rivers Of Babylon]]" (1978). Another successful West German Euro disco recording act was [[Silver Convention]] (1974–1979). The German group [[Kraftwerk]] also had an influence on Euro disco.

[[File:Dalida19673.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|[[Dalida]] in 1967.]]
In France, [[Dalida]] released "[[J'attendrai]]" ("I Will Wait") in 1975, which also became successful in Canada, Europe, and Japan. [[Dalida]] successfully adjusted herself to disco and released at least a dozen of songs that charted in the top 10 in Europe. [[Claude François]], who re-invented himself as the "king of French disco", released "La plus belle chose du monde", a French version of the Bee Gees song "[[Massachusetts (Bee Gees song)|Massachusetts]]", which became successful in Canada and Europe and "Alexandrie Alexandra" was posthumously released on the day of his burial and became a worldwide success. [[Cerrone]]'s early songs, "Love in C Minor" (1976), "[[Supernature (Cerrone song)|Supernature]]" (1977), and "Give Me Love" (1978) were successful in the US and Europe. Another Euro disco act was the French diva [[Amanda Lear]], where Euro disco sound is most heard in "[[Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)]]" (1978). French producer [[Alec R. Costandinos|Alec Costandinos]] assembled the Euro disco group [[Love & Kisses|Love and Kisses]] (1977–1982).

In Italy [[Raffaella Carrà]] was the most successful Euro disco act, alongside [[La Bionda]], [[Hermanas Goggi]] and [[Guido & Maurizio De Angelis|Oliver Onions]]. Her greatest international single was "Tanti Auguri" ("Best Wishes"), which has become a popular song with [[gay]] audiences. The song is also known under its Spanish title "Para hacer bien el amor hay que venir al sur" (which refers to Southern Europe, since the song was recorded and taped in Spain). The Estonian version of the song "Jätke võtmed väljapoole" was performed by [[Anne Veski]]. "[[A far l'amore comincia tu]]" ("To make love, your move first") was another success for her internationally, known in Spanish as "En el amor todo es empezar", in German as "Liebelei", in French as "Puisque tu l'aimes dis le lui", and in English as "Do It, Do It Again". It was her only entry to the [[UK Singles Chart]], reaching number 9, where she remains a [[one-hit wonder]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book | first = David
| last = Roberts| year = 2006 | title = British Hit Singles & Albums | edition = 19th | publisher = Guinness World Records Limited | location = London | isbn = 1-904994-10-5 | page = 95}}</ref> In 1977, she recorded another successful single, "Fiesta" ("The Party" in English) originally in Spanish, but then recorded it in French and Italian after the song hit the charts. "A far l'amore comincia tu" has also been covered in Turkish by a Turkish popstar [[Ajda Pekkan]] as "Sakın Ha" in 1977.

Recently, Carrà has gained new attention for her appearance as the female dancing soloist in a 1974 TV performance of the [[Experimental music|experimental]] [[gibberish]] song "[[Prisencolinensinainciusol]]" (1973) by [[Adriano Celentano]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/11/04/164206468/its-gibberish-but-italian-pop-song-still-means-something|title=It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something|website=NPR.org|access-date=April 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318092600/http://www.npr.org/2012/11/04/164206468/its-gibberish-but-italian-pop-song-still-means-something/|archive-date=March 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> A remixed video featuring her dancing went [[viral video|viral]] on the internet in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEogw6w5d_jNGyUvjmdcDdJgqG40Wl-eN|title=Popular Videos – Prisencolinensinainciusol – YouTube|via=YouTube|language=en|access-date=April 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410161344/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEogw6w5d_jNGyUvjmdcDdJgqG40Wl-eN|archive-date=April 10, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} In 2008 a video of a performance of her only successful UK single, "Do It, Do It Again", was featured in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[Midnight (Doctor Who)|Midnight]]". Rafaella Carrà worked with [[Bob Sinclar]] on the new single "[[Far l'Amore]]" which was released on [[YouTube]] on March 17, 2011. The song charted in different European countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/c8d07/Bob-Sinclar-&-Raffaella-Carra-Far-l'amore|title=Bob Sinclar & Raffaella Carrà – Far l'amore|website=ultratop.be|access-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705005907/http://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/c8d07/Bob-Sinclar-%26-Raffaella-Carra-Far-l%27amore|archive-date=July 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Also prominent European disco acts are [[Spargo (band)]], [[Time Bandits (band)]] and [[Luv']] from the Netherlands.

Euro disco continued evolving within the broad mainstream pop music scene, even when disco's popularity sharply declined in the United States, abandoned by major U.S. record labels and producers.<ref>{{cite news|title=ARTS IN AMERICA; Here's to Disco, It Never Could Say Goodbye|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/arts/arts-in-america-here-s-to-disco-it-never-could-say-goodbye.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 10, 2002|access-date=February 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224103954/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/arts/arts-in-america-here-s-to-disco-it-never-could-say-goodbye.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm|archive-date=December 24, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Through the influence of [[Italo disco]], it also played a role in the evolution of early [[house music]] in the early 1980s and later forms of [[electronic dance music]], including early '90s [[Eurodance]].

===1977–1979: Pop preeminence===

==== ''Saturday Night Fever'' (John Badham, 1977) ====
In December 1977, the film ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' was released. It was a huge success and its [[soundtrack]] became one of the [[List of best-selling albums|best-selling albums]] of all time. The idea for the film was sparked by a 1976 ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cohn|first1=Nik|title=Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night|url=https://nymag.com/nightlife/features/45933/|website=New York|date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=October 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929174704/http://nymag.com/nightlife/features/45933/|archive-date=September 29, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> article titled "[[Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night]]" which supposedly chronicled the disco culture in mid-1970s New York City, but was later revealed to have been fabricated.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Charlie|first1=LeDuff|title=Saturday Night Fever: The Life|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/09/nyregion/saturday-night-fever-the-life.html|access-date=October 2, 2015|date=June 9, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011182214/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/09/nyregion/saturday-night-fever-the-life.html|archive-date=October 11, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Some critics said the film "mainstreamed" disco, making it more acceptable to heterosexual white males.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slVWT5EDdbIC&q=reasons+for+disco&pg=PT234|title=Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture|first=Alice|last=Echols|date=June 5, 2017|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|access-date=June 5, 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9780393338911|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522081458/https://books.google.com/books?id=slVWT5EDdbIC&q=reasons+for+disco&pg=PT234#v=snippet&q=reasons%20for%20disco&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Many music historians believe the success of the movie and soundtrack extended the life of the disco era by several years.

Organized around the culture of suburban discotheques and the character of Tony Manero, portrayed by [[John Travolta]] (which earned him an [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] nomination),<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1978 1978|Oscars.org]</ref> ''Saturday Night Fever'' became a cultural phenomenon that recast the dance floor as a site for patriarchal masculinity and heterosexual courtship. This transformation aligned disco with the interests of the perceived mass market, specifically targeting suburban and Middle American audiences.<ref name=":0" />

The portrayal of the dance floor in ''Saturday Night Fever'' marked a reappropriation by straight male culture, turning it into a space for men to showcase their prowess and pursue partners of the opposite sex. The film popularized the hustle, a Latin social dance, reinforcing the centrality of the straight-dancing couple in the disco exchange. Notably, the soundtrack, dominated by the [[Bee Gees]], risked presenting disco as a new incarnation of shrill white pop, deviating from its diverse and inclusive origins.<ref name=":0" /> The success of ''Saturday Night Fever'' was unprecedented, breaking box office and album sale records. Unfortunately, its impact went beyond mere popularity. The film established a template for disco that was easily reproducible, yet thoroughly de-queered in its outlook. By narrowing the narrative to fit into the conventional ideals of suburban heterosexual culture, the film contributed to a distorted and commodified version of disco.

==== Disco goes mainstream ====
[[File:Bee Gees 1977.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Bee Gees]] had several disco hits on the soundtrack to ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' in 1977.|alt=|234x234px]]The Bee Gees used [[Barry Gibb]]'s [[falsetto]] to garner hits such as "[[You Should Be Dancing]]", "[[Stayin' Alive]]", "[[Night Fever]]", "[[More Than a Woman (Bee Gees song)|More Than A Woman]]", "[[Love You Inside Out]]", and "[[Tragedy (Bee Gees song)|Tragedy]]". [[Andy Gibb]], a younger brother to the Bee Gees, followed with similarly styled solo singles such as "[[I Just Want to Be Your Everything]]", "[[(Love Is) Thicker Than Water]]", and "[[Shadow Dancing (song)|Shadow Dancing]]".

In 1978, Donna Summer's multi-million-selling vinyl single disco version of "[[MacArthur Park (song)#Donna Summer version|MacArthur Park]]" was number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for three weeks and was nominated for the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Best Female Pop Vocal Performance]]. The recording, which was included as part of the "MacArthur Park Suite" on her double live album ''[[Live and More]]'', was eight minutes and 40 seconds long on the album. The shorter seven-inch vinyl single version of MacArthur Park was Summer's first single to reach number one on the Hot 100; it does not include the balladic second movement of the song, however. A 2013 remix of "MacArthur Park" by Summer topped the Billboard Dance Charts marking five consecutive decades with a number-one song on the charts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/163401-donna-summers-macarthur-park-2013-remix-1-a.html |title=Donna Summer's 'Macarthur Park 2013' Remix #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs Chart - #AltSounds |access-date=August 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720151423/http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/163401-donna-summers-macarthur-park-2013-remix-1-a.html |archive-date=July 20, 2014 }}</ref> From mid-1978 to late 1979, Summer continued to release singles such as "[[Last Dance (Donna Summer song)|Last Dance]]", "[[Heaven Knows (Donna Summer song)|Heaven Knows]]" (with [[Brooklyn Dreams]]), "[[Hot Stuff (Donna Summer song)|Hot Stuff]]", "[[Bad Girls (Donna Summer song)|Bad Girls]]", "[[Dim All the Lights]]" and "[[On the Radio (Donna Summer song)|On the Radio]]", all very successful songs, landing in the top five or better, on the Billboard pop charts.

The band Chic was formed mainly by guitarist [[Nile Rodgers]]—a self-described "street hippie" from late 1960s New York—and bassist [[Bernard Edwards]]. Their popular 1978 single, "[[Le Freak]]", is regarded as an iconic song of the genre. Other successful songs by Chic include the often-sampled "[[Good Times (Chic song)|Good Times]]" (1979), "[[I Want Your Love (Chic song)|I Want Your Love]]" (1979), and "[[Everybody Dance (Chic song)|Everybody Dance]]" (1979). The group regarded themselves as the disco movement's rock band that made good on the [[hippie]] movement's ideals of peace, love, and freedom. Every song they wrote was written with an eye toward giving it "deep hidden meaning" or D.H.M.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/books/review/le-freak-an-upside-down-story-of-family-disco-and-destiny-by-nile-rodgers-book-review.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2 The Rock Days of Disco] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626185303/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/books/review/le-freak-an-upside-down-story-of-family-disco-and-destiny-by-nile-rodgers-book-review.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2 |date=June 26, 2017 }}, [[Robert Christgau]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 2, 2011</ref>

[[Sylvester (singer)|Sylvester]], a flamboyant and openly gay singer famous for his soaring falsetto voice, scored his biggest disco hits in late 1978 with "[[You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)]]" and "[[Dance (Disco Heat)]]". His singing style was said to have influenced the singer [[Prince (musician)|Prince]]. At that time, disco was one of the forms of music most open to gay performers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://popmatters.com/column/167895-queen-of-disco-the-legend-of-sylvester/|title=Queen of Disco: The Legend of Sylvester|website=popmatters.com|date=February 12, 2013|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203185623/http://www.popmatters.com/column/167895-queen-of-disco-the-legend-of-sylvester/|archive-date=February 3, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Village People]] were a singing/dancing group created by [[Jacques Morali]] and [[Henri Belolo]] to target disco's gay audience. They were known for their onstage costumes of typically male-associated jobs and ethnic minorities and achieved mainstream success with their 1978 hit song "[[Macho Man (song)|Macho Man]]". Other songs include "[[Y.M.C.A. (song)|Y.M.C.A.]]" (1979) and "[[In the Navy]]" (1979).

Also noteworthy are [[The Trammps]]' "[[Disco Inferno]]" (1976), (1978, reissue due to the popularity gained from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack), [[Heatwave (band)|Heatwave]]'s "[[Boogie Nights (song)|Boogie Nights]]" (1977), [[Evelyn King (singer)|Evelyn "Champagne" King]]'s "[[Shame (Evelyn King song)|Shame]]" (1977), [[A Taste of Honey (band)|A Taste of Honey]]'s "[[Boogie Oogie Oogie]]" (1978), [[Cheryl Lynn]]'s "[[Got to Be Real]]" (1978), [[Alicia Bridges]]'s "[[I Love the Nightlife]]" (1978), [[Patrick Hernandez]]'s "[[Born to Be Alive (song)|Born to Be Alive]]" (1978), [[Earth, Wind & Fire]]'s "[[September (Earth, Wind & Fire song)|September]]" (1978) and "[[Boogie Wonderland]]" (1979),  [[Peaches & Herb]]'s "[[Shake Your Groove Thing]]" (1978), [[Sister Sledge]]'s "[[We Are Family (song)|We Are Family]]" and "[[He's the Greatest Dancer]]" (both 1979), [[McFadden and Whitehead]]'s "[[Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now]]" (1979), [[Anita Ward]]'s "[[Ring My Bell]]" (1979), [[Kool & the Gang]]'s "[[Ladies' Night (song)|Ladies' Night]]" (1979) and "[[Celebration (Kool & the Gang song)|Celebration]]" (1980), [[The Whispers]]'s "[[And the Beat Goes On (The Whispers song)|And the Beat Goes On]]" (1979), [[Stephanie Mills]]'s "[[What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin' (song)|What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin']]" (1979), [[Lipps Inc.]]'s "[[Funkytown]]" (1980), [[The Brothers Johnson]]'s "[[Stomp! (Brothers Johnson song)|Stomp!]]" (1980), [[George Benson]]'s "[[Give Me the Night (George Benson song)|Give Me the Night]]" (1980), [[Donna Summer]]'s "[[Sunset People]]" (1980), and [[Walter Murphy]]'s various attempts to bring [[classical music]] to the mainstream, most notably the disco song "[[A Fifth of Beethoven]]" (1976), which was inspired by [[Beethoven's fifth symphony]].

At the height of its popularity, many non-disco artists recorded songs with disco elements, such as [[Rod Stewart]] with his "[[Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?]]" in 1979.<ref>{{cite book |last=Abjorensen |first=Norman |title=Historical Dictionary of Popular Music |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=2017 |isbn=9781538102152 |page=143}}</ref> Even [[mainstream rock]] artists adopted elements of disco. [[Progressive rock]] group [[Pink Floyd]] used disco-like drums and guitar in their song "[[Another Brick in the Wall|Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2]]" (1979),<ref name="choir and disco">It was producer [[Bob Ezrin]]'s idea to incorporate a disco [[riff]], as well as a second-verse children's choir, into "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2".{{cite journal | title = "Good Bye Blue Sky", (Pink Floyd: 30th Anniversary, The Wall Revisited.) | journal = [[Guitar World]] | volume = 30 | issue = 10 | pages = 79–80 | url = https://www.guitarworld.com/article/pink_floyd_goodbye_blue_sky?page=0%2C3 | editor = Simmons, Sylvie | publisher = Future | date = October 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110513090114/http://www.guitarworld.com/article/pink_floyd_goodbye_blue_sky?page=0%2C3 | archive-date = May 13, 2011 | df = mdy-all }} A few other Pink Floyd songs of the 1970s incorporated disco elements, especially songs like Part 8 of "[[Shine On You Crazy Diamond]]" (1975), "[[Pigs (Three Different Ones)]]" (1977), and "[[Young Lust (song)|Young Lust]]" (1979), which all featured a funky, syncopated bass line.</ref> which became their only number-one single in both the US and UK. The [[Eagles (band)|Eagles]] referenced disco with "[[One of These Nights (Eagles song)|One of These Nights]]" (1975)<ref>[[Don Henley]] commented on "One of These Nights"'s disco connection in the liner notes of ''[[The Very Best Of (Eagles album)|The Very Best Of]],'' 2003.</ref> and "[[The Long Run (album)|Disco Strangler]]" (1979), [[Paul McCartney & Wings]] with "[[Silly Love Songs]]" (1976) and "[[Goodnight Tonight]]" (1979), [[Queen (band)|Queen]] with "[[Another One Bites the Dust]]" (1980), [[the Rolling Stones]] with "[[Miss You (The Rolling Stones song)|Miss You]]" (1978) and "[[Emotional Rescue (song)|Emotional Rescue]]" (1980), [[Stephen Stills]] with his album ''[[Thoroughfare Gap]]'' (1978), [[Electric Light Orchestra]] with "[[Shine a Little Love]]" and "[[Last Train to London]]" (both 1979), [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]] with "[[Chicago 13|Street Player]]" (1979), [[the Kinks]] with "[[(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman]]" (1979), the [[Grateful Dead]] with "[[Shakedown Street (song)|Shakedown Street]]", [[The Who]] with "[[Eminence Front]]" (1982), and the [[J. Geils Band]] with "[[Come Back (The J. Geils Band song)|Come Back]]" (1980). Even [[hard rock]] group [[Kiss (band)|KISS]] jumped in with "[[I Was Made for Lovin' You]]" (1979),<ref>[[Paul Stanley]], a guitarist for the rock group Kiss became friends with [[Desmond Child]] and, as Child remembered in Billboard, "Paul and I talked about how dance music at that time didn't have any rock elements." To counteract the synthesized disco music dominating the airwaves, Stanley and Child wrote, "I Was Made For Loving You." So, "we made history," Child further remembered in Billboard, "because we created the first rock-disco song." {{cite magazine |title=Gifted Child |last=Barnes |first=Terry |magazine=Billboard |volume=111 |issue=48 |pages=DC-23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gggEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA47 |date=November 27, 1999 |access-date=February 3, 2017 |archive-date=May 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522081459/https://books.google.com/books?id=gggEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA47#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Ringo Starr]]'s album ''[[Ringo the 4th]]'' (1978) features a strong disco influence.

The disco sound was also adopted by artists from other genres, including the 1979 U.S. number one hit "[[No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)]]" by [[easy listening]] singer [[Barbra Streisand]] in a duet with Donna Summer. In [[country music]], in an attempt to appeal to the more mainstream market, artists began to add pop/disco influences to their music. [[Dolly Parton]] launched a successful crossover onto the pop/dance charts, with her albums [[Heartbreaker (Dolly Parton album)|''Heartbreaker'']] and [[Great Balls of Fire (Dolly Parton album)|''Great Balls of Fire'']] containing songs with a disco flair. In particular, a disco remix of the track "[[Baby I'm Burnin']]" peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart; ultimately becoming one of the year's biggest club hits.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Zac |title=Heartbreaker - Dolly Parton {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/heartbreaker-mw0000253166 |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 2, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407194525/https://www.allmusic.com/album/heartbreaker-mw0000253166 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Additionally, [[Connie Smith]] covered Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" in 1977, [[Bill Anderson (singer)|Bill Anderson]] recorded "Double S" in 1978, and [[Ronnie Milsap]] released "Get It Up" and covered [[blues]] singer [[Tommy Tucker (singer)|Tommy Tucker]]'s song "[[Hi-Heel Sneakers]]" in 1979.

Pre-existing non-disco songs, standards, and TV themes were frequently "disco-ized" in the 1970s, such as the ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' theme (recorded as "Disco Lucy" by the [[Wilton Place Street Band]]), "[[Aquarela do Brasil]]" (recorded as "Brazil" by [[The Ritchie Family]]), and "[[Baby Face (song)|Baby Face]]" (recorded by the [[Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps]]). The rich orchestral accompaniment that became identified with the disco era conjured up the memories of the [[big band]] era—which brought out several artists that recorded and disco-ized some big band arrangements, including [[Perry Como]], who re-recorded his 1945 song "[[Temptation (Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed song)|Temptation]]", in 1975, as well as [[Ethel Merman]], who released an album of disco songs entitled ''[[The Ethel Merman Disco Album]]'' in 1979.

[[Myron Floren]], second-in-command on ''[[The Lawrence Welk Show]]'', released a recording of the "[[Clarinet Polka]]" entitled "Disco Accordion." Similarly, [[Bobby Vinton]] adapted "[[Pennsylvania Polka|The Pennsylvania Polka]]" into a song named "Disco Polka". Easy listening icon [[Percy Faith]], in one of his last recordings, released an album entitled ''[[Disco Party (album)|Disco Party]]'' (1975) and recorded a disco version of his "[[Theme from A Summer Place|Theme from ''A Summer Place'']]" in 1976. Even classical music was adapted for disco, notably [[Walter Murphy]]'s "A Fifth of Beethoven" (1976, based on the first movement of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|5th Symphony]]) and "Flight 76" (1976, based on [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]]'s "[[Flight of the Bumblebee]]"), and [[Louis Clark]]'s ''[[Hooked On Classics]]'' series of albums and singles.

[[File:Manhattan Transfer.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.13|The [[a cappella]] [[jazz]] group [[the Manhattan Transfer]] had a disco hit with the 1979 "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" theme.]]
Many original [[television]] [[theme songs]] of the era also showed a strong disco influence, such as ''[[S.W.A.T. (1975 TV series)|S.W.A.T.]]'' (1975), ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'' (1975), ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' (1976), ''NBC Saturday Night At The Movies'' (1976), ''[[The Love Boat]]'' (1977), ''[[The Donahue Show]]'' (1977), ''[[CHiPs]]'' (1977), ''[[The Professionals (TV series)|The Professionals]]'' (1977), ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'' (1978), [[NBC Sports]] broadcasts (1978), ''[[Kojak]]'' (1977), and ''[[The Hollywood Squares]]'' (1979).

Disco [[jingle]]s also made their way into many TV commercials, including [[Ralston Purina|Purina's]] 1979 "Good Mews" cat food commercial<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtKOGvHqgvg|url-status=dead|title=1979 Purina Good Mews cat food TV commercial|date=August 15, 2013|via=YouTube|access-date=March 9, 2019|archive-date=May 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520154001/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtKOGvHqgvg&gl=US&hl=en}}</ref> and an "IC Light" commercial by [[Pittsburgh]]'s [[Iron City Brewing Company]].

====Parodies====
Several parodies of the disco style were created. [[Rick Dees]], at the time a radio DJ in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], recorded "[[Disco Duck]]" (1976) and "Dis-Gorilla" (1977); [[Frank Zappa]] parodied the lifestyles of disco dancers in "[[Disco Boy (song)|Disco Boy]]" on his 1976 ''[[Zoot Allures]]'' album and in "[[Dancin' Fool]]" on his 1979 ''[[Sheik Yerbouti]]'' album. [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s [["Weird Al" Yankovic (album)|eponymous 1983 debut album]] includes a disco song called "Gotta Boogie", an extended pun on the similarity of the disco move to the American slang word "[[Dried nasal mucus|booger]]". Comedian [[Bill Cosby]] devoted his entire 1977 album ''[[Disco Bill]]'' to disco parodies. In 1980, ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad Magazine]]'' released a flexi-disc titled ''Mad Disco'' featuring six full-length parodies of the genre. [[Rock and roll]] songs critical of disco included [[Bob Seger]]'s "[[Old Time Rock and Roll]]" and, especially, [[the Who]]'s "[[Sister Disco]]" (both 1978)—although the Who's "[[Eminence Front]]" (four years later) had a disco feel.

===1979–1981: Controversy and decline in popularity===
[[File:Rich Carey, 1977.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|A man wearing a "disco sucks" T-shirt.]]
By the end of the 1970s, anti-disco sentiment developed among [[rock music]] fans and musicians, particularly in the United States.<ref name=allmusicdisco/><ref>''Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture'', {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}} (2001) p. 217: "In fact, by 1977, before [[punk rock]] spread, there was a 'disco sucks' movement sponsored by radio stations that attracted some suburban white youth, who thought that disco was escapist, synthetic, and overproduced."</ref> Disco was criticized as mindless, [[Consumerism|consumerist]], [[Overproduction (music)|overproduced]] and [[escapism|escapist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/27/paranoia-at-the-disco|title=Disco Doesn't Suck. Here's Why.|date=May 27, 2014|website=Reason|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802123422/http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/27/paranoia-at-the-disco|archive-date=August 2, 2017|url-status=live}} Also see ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture'', {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}} (2001) p. 217.</ref> The slogans "Disco sucks" and "Death to disco"<ref name=allmusicdisco/> became common. Rock artists such as [[Rod Stewart]] and [[David Bowie]] who added disco elements to their music were accused of [[selling out]].<ref name="Christgau">[http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj78.php Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1978: New Wave Hegemony and the Bebop Question] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004025459/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj78.php |date=October 4, 2009 }} [[Robert Christgau]] for the ''[[Village Voice]]'' Pop & Jop Poll January 22, 1978, 1979</ref><ref name=espn/>

The [[punk subculture]] in the United States and the United Kingdom was often hostile to disco,<ref name="allmusicdisco">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/disco-ma0000002552|title=Disco Music Genre Overview – AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019012752/https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/disco-ma0000002552|archive-date=October 19, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> although, in the UK, many early [[Sex Pistols]] fans such as the [[Bromley Contingent]] and [[Pamela Rooke|Jordan]] liked disco, often congregating at nightclubs such as Louise's in Soho and the Sombrero in Kensington. The track "[[Love Hangover]]" by [[Diana Ross]], the house anthem at the former, was cited as a particular favourite by many early UK punks.<ref>''England's Dreaming'', [[Jon Savage]] Faber & Faber 1991, pp 93, 95, 185–186</ref>
The film ''[[The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle]]'' and [[The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (album)|its soundtrack album]] contained a disco medley of Sex Pistols songs, entitled ''Black Arabs'' and credited to a group of the same name.

However, [[Jello Biafra]] of the [[Dead Kennedys]], in the song "Saturday Night Holocaust", likened disco to the [[cabaret]] culture of [[Weimar Republic|Weimar]]-era [[Germany]] for its apathy towards government policies and its escapism. [[Mark Mothersbaugh]] of [[Devo]] said that disco was "like a beautiful woman with a great body and no brains", and a product of political apathy of that era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://juicemagazine.com/home/devo/|title=DEVO|date=September 1, 2001|website=Juicemagazine.com|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620165319/http://juicemagazine.com/home/devo/|archive-date=June 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Experimental film|Experimental filmmaker]] [[Wheeler Winston Dixon]] called it "absolutely brain dead", around the clock disco-based radio as "just awful" and Studio 54 struck him as "really dull and elitist" and "everything I was against" (favoring CBGB, which he called "something of a haven", and New Wave acts like [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]], [[The Ramones]] and [[Television (band)|Television]]).<ref>Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey [http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/wheeler_winston_dixon/ "Community, Loss, and Regeneration: An Interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon"], Senses of Cinema. Accessed February 7, 2020.</ref> [[David Byrne]], lead singer of [[The Talking Heads]], remarked on the [[liner notes]] for the [[compilation album]] ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]'' about lyrics in their 1979 song "[[Life During Wartime (song)|Life During Wartime]]" ("this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around")<ref>[https://americansongwriter.com/talking-heads-life-wartime/ Behind the Song: Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime" - American Songwriter]</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first= Joel
| last= Whitburn
| year= 1997
| title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles
| edition= 
| publisher= Record Research Inc
| location= Menomonee Falls, WI
| isbn= 0-89820-122-5
| page= 869}}</ref><ref name=AllMusic>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/life-during-wartime-mt0031644471|title=Life During Wartime - Talking Heads &#124; Song Info &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref>

<blockquote>The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck! Remember when they would build bonfires of Donna Summer records? Well, we liked some disco music! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, [[camp (style)|camp]], silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement.</blockquote>

New Jersey rock critic Jim Testa wrote "Put a Bullet Through the Jukebox", a vitriolic screed attacking disco that was considered a punk call to arms.<ref name="Testa">{{cite book|first1=Mark|last1=Andersen|first2=Mark|last2=Jenkins|title=Dance of days: two decades of punk in the nation's capital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU1jKq0TlvQC&pg=PA17|access-date=March 21, 2011|date=August 1, 2003|publisher=Akashic Books|isbn=978-1-888451-44-3|pages=17–|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522081459/https://books.google.com/books?id=CU1jKq0TlvQC&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Steve Hillage]], shortly prior to his transformation from a [[progressive rock]] musician into an [[Electronic music|electronic]] artist at the end of the 1970s with the inspiration of disco, disappointed his [[Rockism|rockist]] fans by admitting his love for disco, with Hillage recalling "it's like I'd killed their pet cat."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Steve_Hillage_feature.htm|title=Steve Hillage Terrascope Feature|website=terrascope.co.uk|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104140430/http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Steve_Hillage_feature.htm|archive-date=November 4, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Anti-disco sentiment was expressed in some television shows and films. A recurring theme on the show ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'' was a hostile attitude towards disco music. In one scene of the 1980 comedy film ''[[Airplane!]]'', a wayward airplane slices a radio tower with its wing, knocking out an all-disco radio station.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Foster |first1=Buzz |title=Disco Lives Forever! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtsQI2IeM5U | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/vtsQI2IeM5U| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|via=YouTube |access-date=November 4, 2021 |date=May 17, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> July 12, 1979, became known as "the day disco died" because of the [[Disco Demolition Night]], an anti-disco demonstration in a [[baseball]] double-header at [[Comiskey Park]] in Chicago.<ref name="Campion">Campion, Chris ''Walking on the Moon: The Untold Story of the Police and the Rise of New Wave Rock''. John Wiley & Sons, (2009), {{ISBN|978-0-470-28240-3}} pp. 82–84.</ref> Rock station DJs [[Steve Dahl]] and [[Garry Meier]], along with Michael Veeck, son of [[Chicago White Sox]] owner [[Bill Veeck]], staged the promotional event for disgruntled rock fans between the games of a White Sox doubleheader which involved exploding disco records in [[Baseball field|centerfield]]. As the second game was about to begin, the raucous crowd [[Pitch invasion|stormed onto the field]] and proceeded to set [[Bonfire|fires]] and tear out seats and pieces of turf. The [[Chicago Police Department]] made numerous arrests, and the extensive damage to the field forced the White Sox to forfeit the second game to the [[Detroit Tigers]], who had won the first game.

Disco's decline in popularity after Disco Demolition Night was rapid. On July 12, 1979, the top six records on the U.S. music charts were disco songs.<ref name="ComiskyThriller">[http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2009/jul/14/disco-demolition-night/ From Comiskey Park to Thriller: The Effect of "Disco Sucks" on Pop] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119085207/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2009/jul/14/disco-demolition-night/ |date=November 19, 2011 }} by [[Steve Greenberg (record producer)|Steve Greenberg]] founder and CEO of [[S-Curve Records]] July 10, 2009.</ref> By September 22, there were no disco songs in the US Top 10 chart, with the exception of [[Herb Alpert]]'s instrumental "[[Rise (instrumental)|Rise]]", a [[smooth jazz]] composition with some disco overtones.<ref name="ComiskyThriller" /> Some in the media, in celebratory tones, declared disco dead and rock revived.<ref name="ComiskyThriller" /> [[Karen Mixon Cook]], the first female disco DJ, stated that people still pause every July 12 for a moment of silence in honor of disco. Dahl stated in a 2004 interview that disco was "probably on its way out [at the time]. But I think it [Disco Demolition Night] hastened its demise".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5429592|work=NBC News|title='Countdown with Keith Olbermann' Complete Transcript for July 12, 2004|date=July 12, 2004|access-date=February 15, 2013|archive-date=September 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924003428/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5429592|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Impact on the music industry====
The anti-disco movement, combined with other societal and radio industry factors, changed the face of pop radio in the years following Disco Demolition Night. Starting in the 1980s, [[country music]] began a slow rise on the pop chart. Emblematic of country music's rise to mainstream popularity was the commercially successful 1980 movie ''[[Urban Cowboy]]''. The continued popularity of [[power pop]] and the revival of [[oldies]] in the late 1970s was also related to disco's decline; the 1978 film ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]'' was emblematic of this trend. Coincidentally, the star of both films was [[John Travolta]], who in 1977 had starred in ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', which remains one of the most iconic disco films of the era.

During this period of decline in disco's popularity, several record companies folded, were reorganized, or were sold. In 1979, [[MCA Records]] purchased [[ABC Records]], absorbed some of its artists and then shut the label down. [[Midsong International Records]] ceased operations in 1980. [[RSO Records]] founder [[Robert Stigwood]] left the label in 1981 and [[TK Records]] closed in the same year. [[Salsoul Records]] continues to exist in the 2000s, but primarily is used as a reissue brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/salsoul.shtml|title=Salsoul Records @ Disco-Disco.com|website=disco-disco.com|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014151424/http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/salsoul.shtml|archive-date=October 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Casablanca Records]] had been releasing fewer records in the 1980s, and was shut down in 1986 by parent company [[PolyGram]].

Many groups that were popular during the disco period subsequently struggled to maintain their success—even ones who tried to adapt to evolving musical tastes. [[The Bee Gees]], for instance, retreated from the pop mainstream in the early 1980s and spent the first half of the decade writing and producing successful material for other artists such as [[Barbra Streisand]] and [[Dionne Warwick]], finally returning for [[1987]]'s [[E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)|E.S.P]] which spawned the chart topping hit ''[[You Win Again (Bee Gees song)|You Win Again]]'' in their home country -  whilst in the US, they only had one top-10 entry (1989's "[[One (Bee Gees song)|One]]") and three more top-40 songs, and the band itself had largely abandoned disco in its 1980s and 1990s songs. [[Chic (band)|Chic]] never hit the top-40 again after "[[Good Times (Chic song)|Good Times]]" topped the chart in August 1979. Of the handful of groups not taken down by disco's fall from favor, [[Kool and the Gang]], [[Donna Summer]], [[the Jacksons]], and [[Gloria Gaynor]] in particular, stand out. In spite of having helped define the disco sound early on,<ref>''[[Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection]]'' (1996), liner notes.</ref> they continued to make popular and danceable, if more refined, songs for yet another generation of music fans in the 1980s and beyond. [[Earth, Wind & Fire]] also survived the anti-disco trend and continued to produce successful singles at roughly the same pace for several more years, in addition to an even longer string of R&B chart hits that lasted into the 1990s. Some popular disco tracks released after Disco Demolition Night include "[[Steppin' Out (Kool & the Gang song)|Steppin' Out]]" by [[Kool and the Gang]] (1981), "In the Middle" by [[Unlimited Touch]] (1981), "[[I'm Coming Out]]" by [[Diana Ross]] (1980), "[[My Feet Keep Dancing]]" by [[Chic (band)|Chic]] (1980), "[[Funkytown]]" by [[Lipps Inc.]] (1980), "[[Lady (You Bring Me Up)]]" by The [[Commodores]] (1981) and "[[All American Girls (song)|All American Girls]]" by [[Sister Sledge]] (1981).

Six months prior to Disco Demolition Night (in December 1978), popular progressive rock radio station WDAI ([[WLS-FM]]) had suddenly switched to an all-disco format, disenfranchising thousands of Chicago rock fans and leaving Dahl unemployed. WDAI, who survived the change of public sentiment and still had good ratings at this point, continued to play disco until it flipped to a short-lived hybrid Top 40/rock format in May 1980. Another disco outlet that competed against WDAI at the time, [[WGCI-FM]], would later incorporate [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] and [[pop music|pop]] songs into the format, eventually evolving into an [[urban contemporary]] outlet that it continues with today. The latter also helped bring the [[Chicago house]] genre to the airwaves.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

====Factors contributing to disco's decline====
Factors that have been cited as leading to the decline of disco in the United States include economic and political changes at the end of the 1970s, as well as [[Occupational burnout|burnout]] from the [[Hedonism|hedonistic]] lifestyles led by participants.<ref name="BeeGees">[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3652|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic BeeGees bio]</ref> In the years since Disco Demolition Night, some social critics have described the "Disco sucks" movement as implicitly [[Machismo|macho]] and bigoted, and an attack on non-white and non-heterosexual cultures.<ref name=allmusicdisco/><ref name=espn/><ref name=Campion/> It was also linked to a wider cultural "backlash", the move towards conservatism,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks Ben Myers: "Why 'Disco sucks!' sucked"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320111407/https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks |date=March 20, 2021 }}, in: [[The Guardian]], June 18, 2009, accessed on March 26, 2020.</ref> that also made its way into US politics with the election of conservative president [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, which also led to Republican control of the [[United States Senate]] for the first time since 1954, plus the subsequent rise of the [[Christian right|Religious Right]] around the same time.

In January 1979, rock critic [[Robert Christgau]] argued that [[homophobia]], and most likely [[racism]], were reasons behind the movement,<ref name="Christgau" /> a conclusion seconded by [[John Rockwell]]. Craig Werner wrote: "The Anti-disco movement represented an unholy alliance of [[funk]]ateers and [[feminist]]s, progressives, and [[puritan]]s, rockers and reactionaries. Nonetheless, the attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, [[sexism]] and homophobia."<ref>Easlea, Daryl, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/disco-inferno-680390.html Disco Inferno] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913220555/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/disco-inferno-680390.html |date=September 13, 2011 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', December 11, 2004</ref> [[Legs McNeil]], founder of the [[fanzine]] ''[[Punk (magazine)|Punk]]'', was quoted in an interview as saying, "the [[hippie]]s always wanted to be black. We were going, 'fuck the blues, fuck the black experience.'" He also said that disco was the result of an "[[Unholy alliance (geopolitical)|unholy]]" union between homosexuals and blacks.<ref name="Reynolds154">Rip it Up and Start Again POSTPUNK 1978–1984 by [[Simon Reynolds]] p. 154</ref>

[[Steve Dahl]], who had spearheaded Disco Demolition Night, denied any racist or homophobic undertones to the promotion, saying, "It's really easy to look at it historically, from this perspective, and attach all those things to it. But we weren't thinking like that,"<ref name="espn">{{cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=behrens/040809 |title=Top Sports Searches – ESPN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504172447/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=behrens%2F040809 |archive-date=May 4, 2010 }}</ref> it was "just kids pissing on a musical genre".<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1979 riot that 'killed' disco |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230922-the-night-angry-rock-fans-destroyed-disco-music |website=BBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102120513/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230922-the-night-angry-rock-fans-destroyed-disco-music |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |date=September 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>  It has been noted that British [[punk rock]] critics of disco were very supportive of the pro-black/anti-racist [[reggae]] genre as well as the more pro-gay [[new romantic]]s movement.<ref name="allmusicdisco" /> Christgau and Jim Testa have said that there were legitimate artistic reasons for being critical of disco.<ref name="Christgau" /><ref name="Testa" />

In 1979, the music industry in the United States underwent its worst slump in decades, and disco, despite its mass popularity, was blamed. The producer-oriented sound was having difficulty mixing well with the industry's artist-oriented marketing system.<ref>"Are We Not New Wave Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s Theo Cateforis Page 36 {{ISBN|978-0-472-03470-3}}</ref> Harold Childs, senior vice president at [[A&M Records]], reportedly told the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' that "radio is really desperate for rock product" and "they're all looking for some white rock-n-roll".<ref name="Campion" />

===1981–1989: Aftermath===
====Birth of electronic dance music====
Disco was instrumental in the development of [[electronic dance music]] genres like [[house music|house]], [[techno]], and [[Eurodance]]. The Eurodisco song ''[[I Feel Love]]'', produced by Giorgio Moroder for Donna Summer in 1976, has been described as a milestone and blueprint for electronic dance music because it was the first to combine repetitive synthesizer loops with a continuous [[Four on the floor (music)|four-on-the-floor]] bass drum and an [[Beat (music)#On-beat and off-beat|off-beat]] [[Hi-hat (instrument)|hi-hat]], which would become a main feature of techno and house ten years later.<ref name="munichsound"/><ref name="mixmag_moroder"/><ref name="ZPKM">{{cite web |url=https://songlexikon.de/songs/ifeellove/ |title=Donna Summer: I Feel Love |date=8 May 2017 |publisher=Zentrum für Populäre Kultur und Musik |language=de |access-date=May 26, 2022 |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524182438/https://songlexikon.de/songs/ifeellove/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the first years of the 1980s, the traditional disco sound characterized by complex arrangements performed by [[big band|large ensembles]] of studio session musicians (including a [[horn section]] and an orchestral string section) began to be phased out, and faster tempos and synthesized effects, accompanied by guitar and simplified backgrounds, moved dance music toward electronic and pop genres, starting with [[hi-NRG]]. Despite its decline in popularity, so-called club music and European-style disco remained relatively successful in the early-to-mid 1980s with songs like [[Aneka]]'s "[[Japanese Boy]]", [[The Weather Girls]]'s "[[It's Raining Men]]", [[Stacey Q]]'s "[[Two of Hearts (song)|Two of Hearts]]", [[Dead or Alive (band)|Dead or Alive]]'s "[[You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]]", [[Laura Branigan]]'s "[[Self Control (Raf song)|Self Control]]", and [[Baltimora]]'s "[[Tarzan Boy]]". However, a revival of the traditional-style disco called [[nu-disco]] has been popular since the 1990s.

House music displayed a strong disco influence, which is why house music, regarding its enormous success in shaping electronic dance music and contemporary club culture, is often described being "disco's revenge."<ref>[https://www.vice.com/en/article/house-music-is-discos-revenge-a-look-at-the-early-days-of-american-house/ "House Music is Disco's Revenge: A Look at the Early Days of American House"] , in: [[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] magazine, September 9, 2014, accessed on March 26, 2020.</ref> Early house music was generally dance-based music characterized by repetitive four-on-the-floor beats, rhythms mainly provided by [[drum machine]]s,<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/house-ma0000002651 |title=House : Significant Albums, Artists and Songs, Most Viewed |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006233620/http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/house-ma0000002651 |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized basslines. While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, it was more electronic and minimalist,<ref name="allmusic"/> and the repetitive rhythm of house was more important than the song itself. As well, house did not use the lush string sections that were a key part of the disco sound.