In Defence of Disco (Again) (New Formations, Summer 2006)
[Last updated: 16.11.2006 22:46]
"Disco" is the overburdened name given to the culture that includes the
spaces (discotheques) that were organised around the playback of
recorded music by a DJ (disc jockey); the social practice of individual
freeform dancing that was established within this context; and the
music genre that crystallised within this social setting between 1970
and 1979. Although disco has rarely been taken seriously, its impact
was ⎯ and remains ⎯ far-reaching. In the 1970s, some fifteen thousand
discotheques opened in the United States alone, with notable scenes
also emerging in Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the UK, and the
music, which revolved around a four-on-the-floor beat (an even-tempo
"thud, thud, thud, thud" on the bass drum), polyrhythmic percussion and
clipped vocals, became the best-selling genre on the American Hot 100
during this period.
Since the 1970s, disco, which formally went out of production towards the end of 1979, has moved under a different guise, yet remains prevalent. The clubbing sections of Time Out are testament to the ongoing popularity and vitality of the social practice popularised by disco, and the music's pounding rhythm is prominent in mainstream pop acts such as Kylie and the Scissor Sisters. Madonna wasn't just born out of the embers of seventies disco (her debut album was rooted in the New York dance scene of the early 1980s); she also owes her recent revival to the music. "Hung Up", Madonna's first unblemished success for the best part of a decade, doesn't just sound like disco (the album from which it is taken, Confessions on A Dance Floor, unambiguously references club culture). In sampling Abba's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", a staple on the white gay dance floors of 1970s New York, it also recycles disco...
New Formations, 58, Summer 2006, 128-46
For information on how to access the full article, contact Tim at tlawrence1@mac.com
Since the 1970s, disco, which formally went out of production towards the end of 1979, has moved under a different guise, yet remains prevalent. The clubbing sections of Time Out are testament to the ongoing popularity and vitality of the social practice popularised by disco, and the music's pounding rhythm is prominent in mainstream pop acts such as Kylie and the Scissor Sisters. Madonna wasn't just born out of the embers of seventies disco (her debut album was rooted in the New York dance scene of the early 1980s); she also owes her recent revival to the music. "Hung Up", Madonna's first unblemished success for the best part of a decade, doesn't just sound like disco (the album from which it is taken, Confessions on A Dance Floor, unambiguously references club culture). In sampling Abba's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", a staple on the white gay dance floors of 1970s New York, it also recycles disco...
New Formations, 58, Summer 2006, 128-46
For information on how to access the full article, contact Tim at tlawrence1@mac.com