Editing Disco (section)

===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>