It’s Saturday night, circa 1977, you are a single guy (or girl) and you are looking to go out with your friends, have some fun, and maybe, if you are lucky, dance with the best looking girl (or guy) on the dance floor while the spotlights highlight your best moves.
If you are old enough to identify with the scenario above, then you experienced disco-induced “Saturday Night Fever.” (No, I am not referring to the Travolta film, though I will touch on it below).
Disco was a popular dance movement that had its musical roots in the late 1960s. The early "disco" sound was largely an urban American phenomenon with such legendary producers and labels such as SalSoul Records (Ken, Joe and Stanley Cayre), Westend Records (Mel Cheren), Casablanca (Neil Bogart), and Prelude (Marvin Schlachter) to name a few. They inspired and influenced such prolific European dance-track producers as Giorgio Moroder and Jean-Marc Cerrone. Moroder was the Italian producer, keyboardist, and composer who produced many songs of the singer Donna Summer. These included the 1975 hit "Love to Love You Baby", a 17-minute-long song with “shimmering” sounds and a definitely sensual attitude.
The "disco sound,” was unique and it defied a unified description. Jazz, classical, calypso, rock, Latin, soul, funk, and new technologies — just to name a few of the obvious — were all mingled to create the “disco sound.” Vocals could be frivolous or serious love intrigues — all the way to extremely serious socially-conscious commentary.
By the late 1970s many major US cities had thriving disco club scenes which were centered around discotheques (or discos), nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the dancers. Some cities even had disco dance instructors or dance schools which taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", "the hustle" and "the cha cha." The pioneer of disco dance instruction was Karen Lustgarten, her book The “Complete Guide to Disco Dancing” (Warner Books, 1978) was the first to name and break down popular disco dances and distinguish between disco freestyle, partner and line dances. The book hit the New York Times Best Seller List for 13 weeks and was translated into Chinese, German and French.
There were also disco fashions that discotheque-goers wore for nights out at their local disco, such as sheer, flowing Halston dresses for women and shiny polyester Qiana shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit (yikes!!!) suit jackets.
The popularity of disco spawned a number of films, such as Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983), and the musical A Chorus Line (1975). None, however, achieved the notoriety and star-creating power of Saturday Night Fever (1977).
The movie focuses on Tony Manero (played by John Travolta), a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a local discothèque. While in the disco, Tony is the king, and the visits help him to temporarily forget the reality of his life: a dead-end job, clashes with his unsupportive and squabbling parents, racial tensions in the local community, and his associations with a gang of dead-beat friends. The movie became a huge commercial success; its success helped to popularize disco music around the world and made Travolta a household name. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees, is among the best selling soundtracks of all time. The film is also notable for being one of the first instances of cross-media marketing, with the tie-in soundtrack's single being used to help promote the film before its release and the film popularizing the entire soundtrack after its release.
The Bee Gees, a trio of English-born brothers, were successful for most of its forty years of recording music. They were successful in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a harmonic "soft rock" act. The Bee Gees really skyrocketed into mega-fame as the foremost stars of the disco music era in the late 1970s.
The disco movement was short-lived, however. Eventually disco music and dancing fads began to be depicted by rock music fans as silly and effeminate. Some listeners objected to the perceived sexual promiscuity and illegal drug use that had become associated with disco music. Others objected to the obvious connections to the gay community. Finally, rock fans objected to the idea of centering music around an electronic drum beat and synthesizers instead of live performers.
It should be noted that, unlike in the U.S., there was never a focused backlash against disco in Europe, and discotheques and the Disco culture continued past 1980 in Europe.
Nowadays Disco is making a comeback of sorts. Dance clubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco are featuring “disco nights.” And disco dancing lessons are becoming popular once again. One trend I would not like to see, however, is a return to double-knit polyester clothing. More petro-chemicals were probably used in the 1970s creating fabrics for the disco crowd than were used at any other time in history. Well, I may be exaggerating a tad. Still if disco ever makes a full blown return, it better say NO to polyester and double-knit fabrics!
It’s Saturday Night … grab your best girl (or guy) and let the music move you - you should be dancing!!!
