Editing Disco (section)

===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.