Has disco music been rehabilitated?

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Majik_Sheff@reddit

Dua Lipa has been doing her best to bring disco back, and I'm here for it.

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I blame the Boomers for this, but yeah we were all totally wrong about Disco. For me it was the Foo Fighters cover of The Bee Gees (the Dee Gees) that really made me realize just how good that original sound was. Which led to really digging into Donna Summer, which led to really just finding more stuff that absolutely kicks like that.

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DieMensch-Maschine@reddit (OP)

I Feel Love is considered the first dance electronica song.

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Reginald_Sockpuppet@reddit

You can thank Giorgio Moroder, the godfather of house and techno.

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justmisspellit@reddit

I’d pin that title on Kraftwerk personally

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Reginald_Sockpuppet@reddit

Opinions vary on this one, for sure.

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Shoehorse13@reddit

Its sooooo effffin goooood.

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pestercat@reddit

I've had a similar conclusion driven by watching Gen Z kids on YouTube reacting to our music. They LOVE Stayin Alive, without exception. Just watching the sheer joy of these young people as they fall in love with music I already love is wonderfully wholesome-- I really recommend it, if you like watching having a video playing while you're doing chores and such.

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Zardozin@reddit

House, electronica, and a lot of hip hop are basically just extensions or refinements of disco in the same way that Metal is Rock.

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sonnyhancock@reddit

Disco never died. Disco evolved. Disco is house. Disco is techno.

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discogeek@reddit

You rang?

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blade944@reddit

It was awesome. Then it became oversaturated and people got tired of it. But musically, much of it is awesome. Great performers, great writers, great musicians.

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Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit

I watched PBS’s excellent documentary about discoat the same time I watched the documentary about hair metal. The two genres seemed to follow the exact same pattern.

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justmisspellit@reddit

Glad you commented this. That doc was great

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blade944@reddit

Thanks for the heads-up. I haven't seen that documentary. I'll have to watch it.

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Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit

It’s excellent. Really well-done.

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blade944@reddit

Been watching it since I posted. Just starting part 2. Fantastic

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Legitimate_Cricket84@reddit

Just like anything else, the big hits are usually pretty lame and when you dig into the underground, you find some really awesome stuff. Italo Disco was a huge influence on a lot of post music for instance. I had blinders on the genre for a long time and about 20 years ago I figured out I hadn’t been looking hard enough. Huge fan now.

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CommodoreGirlfriend@reddit

The hatred of disco was a reaction to it taking over the radio when some people wanted more guitar-focused music.

I think this is secondary, but there was also anti-lgbt and anti-black sentiment tied in, with disco being a direct sequel to funk music.

I grew up on Discovery, one of the first CDs I bought with my own money, and I love the hell out of Daft Punk to this day. Justice is also in that wheelhouse.

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DieMensch-Maschine@reddit (OP)

I'm glad someone brought this up. Disco was tarred with being "gay", at least in America. The so-called Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park was as much about racism (participants actually brought soul albums to the event) as it was about homophobia.

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Glass-Nectarine-3282@reddit

It was always awesome, we were lame.

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doodoo-voodoo@reddit

speak for yourself bro, by the time major labels were pumping grunge i was at the underground rave and couldn’t have cared less about flannels and depression.

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PlasticPalm@reddit

Where "lame" means racist, sexist, and heterosexist

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Satans_colon@reddit

Or maybe just not shallow. Many people like me hated disco while loving funk and later, house. Disco culture was shallow AF, far more so that any other scene I've encountered still The scene was centered almost exclusively around how much money you had and how hot you were. The materialism was over the top. Designer clothing,gaudy jewelry, and expensive cars were de rigueur. Conversations I had when visiting Discos almost always featured people ferreting out how wealthy I was, what I drove, who I "knew", and if I had any cocaine.

It was like Idiocracy: "Wow--You like sex and money, too. You're blowing my mind.

A few years later I was dancing my ass off and bonding with crowds that were predominantly AA and Gay. I found "my people" at an underage club on Chicago's North side that was associated with the Warehouse on the West Side. It was the early 80s house scene,. The music was awesome, and I met many awesome creative, unconventional people of various identity types..

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renaissancemono@reddit

But House music came from Disco, and House culture came from Disco, to the extent that no one thought of them as separate until 1987 or so. Listen to a Frankie Knuckles or a Larry Levan mix from the late 70s/early 80s and you’ll hear House and Disco mixed freely together, along with a lot of funk, soul, r&b, punk, dub, and early electronic stuff. It came out of an underground, which was primarily gay, black, Latino, and trans, and which predated the shallow pop culture representations of Studio 54 and Saturday Night Fever.

People overlooked the underground because it came out of a marginalized community. So when people seek to rehabilitate underground dance music and culture, it’s in part a recognition that this community matters and contributed something important to the world. It’s different than saying “it’s homophobic not to like the Village People.” It’s recognizing the importance of scenes like the one you were part of.

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spidersinthesoup@reddit

great response.

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Satans_colon@reddit

Thank you friend. I expected to get lambasted for "transgressing the unwritten law" by taking exception to an inaccurate accusation of racism/homophoia.

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BoboliBurt@reddit

This is the truth.

But I will say then 80s music got a bad rap for being cheesey and it dominates anything after it in terms of “pop music” and everyone knows those songs.

So some of it is just younger generations making their mark.

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MyriVerse2@reddit

Always loved disco music.

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yerfatma@reddit

Yes. Anti-disco was a reaction to minorities/ gay people openly enjoying themselves. If only there were an analogy here I could turn to.

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TheSpatulaOfLove@reddit

I never stopped loving it nor its various evolutions.

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mike___mc@reddit

The best night for clubbing back in the day was Sunday Trash Disco. Club was packed.

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Feeling_Name_6903@reddit

This is the correct answer.

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Kodiak01@reddit

Harry Chapin has entered the chat

"I am the morning DJ, at W.O.L.D.,

Playing disco bullshit that you can't pass by me."

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iwastherefordisco@reddit

I was there...3000 years ago

It was played at every dance in school and house parties, later at bars, yet if you admitted you liked it you were somehow 'not musically knowledgeable.' The bass lines and repetitive beats were deemed simplistic.

Took me a long time to realize that any music that moves you or speaks to you in some way, is good music.

My origin story is complicated and probably not interesting. Went from disco to hard rock to new wave to R&B and funk, then a healthy mix of everything I could listen to. A broad perspective of styles helped me understand that songs like You Should Be Dancing and That's The Way (I like it) are powerful pieces of music in their own right.

Took me even longer to realize that no amount of teasing should dictate what you like and don't like. I play old rock on my guitar and love dancing to YMCA.

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squirtloaf@reddit

I may be biased, as my most played artists on Spotify last year were The Bee Gees and Donna Summer...and I also play in a Bee Gees tribute band...

But yeah. Disco is super cool. Our gigs are well attended, and I have been to multiple DISCO party things where it is all young hipsters. People are EXHAUSTED by all of the political bullshit and inflation and shit, so they want to go out, forget about the world and party.

It is 1975 all over again. All we need is for them to start putting out Quaaludes.

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abbagodz@reddit

Disco became 'Dance' music in the 80's, but it was still Disco.

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MyriVerse2@reddit

I was entering my teens when disco was big. It was fairly popular around me. It all depended on which group you were in.

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jtrades69@reddit

disco had a huge comeback 15 or so years ago especially in the dance / club set and hasn't really gone away since

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StrictFinance2177@reddit

Disco wasn't bad. It was the mass creation of disco era house music at such a low quality trying to recreate the 'Disco Duck' and the likes, that sent Disco from being a fusion of funk, dance, pop, soul, and even rock, to being clearly commercialized to sell cheap music and oversaturated the market, taking away from bands and orchestras of different styles ability to cover the costs of a lifelong commitment from so many musicians.

It was never about hating the music, it was about recognizing that we, as the music consuming public, were going to erase a decade of super experimental, prog-rock, metal, hard rock on one side, and stop forcing Motown to convert their styles or die, all by being exploited for the fact that popular contemporary music could be controlled by those who distribute the records.

Of course, this wasn't the first or the last time the record industry tried to switch our name brand coffee for the cheap stuff, but it may have been the most obvious.

And yes, some Disco is great, complex, a fusion of so many styles that some artists deserve the accolades they received. I'm not an all or nothing person. I just don't like when the industry forces something on everyone.

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aortomus@reddit

It never went away.

It went underground and evolved into house music.

https://www.iconcollective.edu/the-history-of-house-music

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wyocrz@reddit

Absolutely.

For the uninitiated, here is Meat Beat Manifestos Satyricon.

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rulerofthewasteland@reddit

I saw them in late 89 and they were a very cool band.

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wyocrz@reddit

Very cool. I saw the way more mainstream Lords of Acid, very good time tho.

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gummislayer1969@reddit

ABSOLUTELY this!!! 🤓💙🤩

Those that REALLY know snicker under their breath because QUITE frankly (as Aortomus aptly stated) disco went underground, became house morfed into a bunch of sub-genres, which in turn became "modern" dance music...

Or something like that...🤪💙🎧

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Apprehensive_Put463@reddit

I still have a mix tape of the art of noise moments of love mixes and another tape with various house singles, This is acid, I'll house you, Promised land and more.

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fireside_blather@reddit

I second this response.

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rulerofthewasteland@reddit

I have always loved 70's/80's disco. The Bee Gees were awesome and I still listen to them and other disco artists and songs.

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-Blixx-@reddit

I always assumed the people who hated disco couldn't dance.

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Crankyanken@reddit

There was some great disco music on my 45 player. My favorite was Donna Summer's, I Feel Love from '77.

If that song doesn't make you happy or make you dance, you are dead.

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Parking_War979@reddit

The Grateful Dead released “Shakedown Street” and it got vilified as “Disco Dead.” The title track went on to become one of their most popular jams. Which helps to show disco was wrongly discounted before it was happily rediscovered.

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ArturosDad@reddit

I'll take the downvotes. With very few exceptions, Disco was and remains awful.

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CrescentPhresh@reddit

I love it when I hear someone proclaim “disco sucks” and then proceed to go on about how great house music is.

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grahsam@reddit

Because everything old is new again, of course there will be interest again. The fun vibe of the music would have an appeal with today's music listeners.

The culture of disco is what killed it in the 70s. It was a focal point of excess, drugs, affirming women's sexuality, normalizing homosexuality. As the late 70s skidded into the Reagan 80s with conservatism on the rise, the Disco vibe became very unpopular with "regular folks."

None of these are really issues anymore.

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TastyCatBurp@reddit

I never liked disco, and I still don't.

Despite some people in this thread thinking otherwise, not everyone is a secret disco lover. That's just stupid.

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ACsonofDC@reddit

the operative word is 'never' - B I G mistake

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djauralsects@reddit

120 bpm dance music never went away, it just dropped the disco label. The push back against disco was because it was “too black and too gay.” We live in less bigoted times.

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Alternative-Way-8753@reddit

Disco House is disco"s final form. Perfection.

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Fabulous-Profit-3231@reddit

At the time, we were oversaturated with disco (the Rolling Stones and Kiss recorded disco songs for Pete’s sake). The Disco Demolition Night fiasco gained outsized notoriety and is remembered as being a bigger and more widely relevant story than it actually was.

After a few years, it became clear to many of us that the songs were well performed and recorded. The sounds were lush; the real musicians playing real music (horns! strings!) is so far removed from today’s soulless, ProTools-constructed formulaic music that disco is clearly better than we remembered

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PDM_1969@reddit

I dont mind some of it, but I agree our musical tastes were still developing.

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InsanoVolcano@reddit

Why are genres of music hated? Because groups of people are hated. Disco, country, rap, metal, doesn't matter. They were all great for the people that it meant something to. Sometimes they crossover into popular airplay, sometimes they don't. I look at the history of disco hate and I feel that we should all need to see it in the lens of history and human behavior.

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ConsciousSteak2242@reddit

Just like all music genres, disco became too mainstream. Too many jumped on the bandwagon and the actual good artists were diluted. Everything became mediocre and then something new and revolutionary came along. Eventually the same thing happened and the new genre falls by the wayside. This happened with disco, then punk, then college radio, then hair metal, the pop punk, then nu metal, the list goes on.

Since everything comes back around, only the best is remembered when there’s a nostalgic revival. We forget all the copycats and wannabes.

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revchewie@reddit

Nope. Disco sucks, and has sucked since I was a kid. Death before disco!

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anotherpredditor@reddit

There was always good Disco. The genre just had so much bad and weird gimmicks that it makes it hard to redeem.

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Tunashuffle@reddit

I’m 55 and disco puts me in a good, safe space.

That cool age when you are old enough to notice people, see and get the things happening.

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cactusflinthead@reddit

As long as you don't make me wear another pair of polyester pants or jacket we're good.

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MaxwellEdison74@reddit

I always liked disco. I never felt the need to hate on it just to prove my loyalty to another genre. I like a lot of different kinds of music.

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AuroraKayKay@reddit

Yeah, music and fashion sort of trends every 20 -30 years. Kids grow up listening to parents' music so it's their second favorite genre. Then they start writing the music.

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Good_Nyborg@reddit

Anyone who thinks disco was lame, never got their groove on to the Bee Gees while on the skate floor.

Rexxers Rule in Rhythm!

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MrsByrne80@reddit

To be fair, there are some absolutely fantastic disco songs. Just the other day I was belting out “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman in the car on the way home from work.

Boogie Oogie Oogie, Don’t Leave Me This Way, More Than a Woman are a few other favourites. As someone who loves late 70s new wave/punk, there’s plenty of room for a bit of disco in my playlists.

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edasto42@reddit

My hip hop/soul band covers Boogie Oogie Oogie at the request of our frontwoman. I love playing that bass line.

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TreacleUpstairs3243@reddit

Donna Summer is not just the Queen of Disco she’s a Queen.

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edasto42@reddit

Disco was revolutionary. IMO toxic masculinity is what informed the detractors. But if you look at the influence people like Georgio Morodor had on pushing music forward, his effects are still being felt today. The use of sequencers was revolutionary. You wouldn’t have artists as diverse as New Order, Blondie, Human League, Duran Duran, Ministry, NIN, Grandmaster Flash, Daft Punk, etc without his work. As any music style goes, it did get played out and became passe. And today, most pop songs can be traced back to disco roots. I mean have you listened to Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan? It’s basically I Will Survive-especially the intro.

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profjamie4102005@reddit

Always awesome.

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Strangewhine88@reddit

It was forgiven long ago. Niles Rodgers and Donna Summers are such talents! Besides it never died, it just went underground and emerged rebranded as club music.

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DeaddyRuxpin@reddit

You can’t listen to ABBA and think disco as a music genre was ever lame. That’s not to say I didn’t keep my love of it in the closet. I wouldn’t want my older brother who constantly said disco sucks to think I was lame. It wasn’t until I was married that I proudly came out as a disco listener. My hard rock wife was shocked but she learned to accept the real me. She has even decided to try ABBA with me from time to time. She did freak out however the day she caught me listening to country. I had to deny that one and say it just came on the computer and I wasn’t deliberately trying to listen.

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MoonageDayscream@reddit

Disco was awesome, but the fad made a lot of people sick of it and it became cool to hate it. I think we are over that now.

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Recipe_Limp@reddit

Yacht Rock is whet it’s at!

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scottwricketts@reddit

Yes. I feel bad for shit talking it back in the day. It's always been good.

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ComicsEtAl@reddit

Yes, it’s long enough that we should be able to admit many of us were dicks about disco.

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Apprehensive_Put463@reddit

Disco was never lame, you just weren't into music. Close your eyes and listen to BeeGees You should be dancing. Chics Good time, Barry White Can't get enough of your love. And too many others to list.

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punkdrummer22@reddit

Lame for my tastes. I dont mind the odd disco beat here and there but most of it was terrible

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Judgy-Introvert@reddit

It was awesome. It is awesome. It will always be awesome. I say this as a metal fan.

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Judgy-Introvert@reddit

It was awesome. It is awesome. It will always be awesome.

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GreatGreenGobbo@reddit

Disco kinda became House Music. Then came all the EDM.

Stuff from Pet Shop Boys, Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers is amazing. These guys have serious music chops and are fully versed in music theory.

All their stuff is light years ahead of the current sprinkler track rap.

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Major-Silver7918@reddit

Born in ‘75, when I was in my early-mid 20’s there was a local club that played nothing but Disco on the weekends decked out with a disco ball, time-apropos murals on the wall, and “fishbowls” that were fruit punch and everclear.

It. Was. AWESOME!!!!

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MiltownKBs@reddit

Same age and there were a couple spots like that around here. One place had a light up dance floor which was under a giant black light mushroom. Good times.

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Major-Silver7918@reddit

That sounds so awesome, too bad can’t get back those days gone by. It seems like just yesterday but being in our 20’s seemed so much simpler then compared to all the stress that seems to accompany it presently.

Guess that’s Gen Z and young millennials issue to deal with 🤷‍♂️😂

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sxhnunkpunktuation@reddit

The cover of “You Should Be Dancin” by The Big Apple Band is the rawest form of disco I’ve ever heard. Chic before Chic. Worth a listen.

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RVAblues@reddit

It’s so not lame.

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RVAblues@reddit

Disco never went away. In the US, it just gradually morphed into techno (initially in Detroit, iirc). From there it turned into EDM.

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noideajustaname@reddit

Yes and no; the good disco acts were always good eg Donna Summer or Gloria Gaynor, and the era was recognized as having a lot of trend chasers who put out gimmicky or just plain bad songs eg Rod Stewart’s If Ya Think I’m Sexy. There’s a third category too of New Wave/post-punk type bands like Blondie who could put out a great disco song as well.

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justfukkingtired@reddit

You better not be saying Disco Duck was a trend chaser! I will not stand for such slander /s…that was my jam until I went to kindergarten

That whole Disco Sucks movement was because a douche canoe got fired when the radio station he worked for changed format…it got really scary because venomous hate filled people seemed to target artists that were not a part of the disco genre.

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SarahJaneB17@reddit

I liked it and still do. It's probably because I was sneaking into clubs that had lax ID policies as a teen. The Communards did a great cover of "Don't Leave me this way" back in the day too. I did a lot of dancing to The Weather Girls and Sylvester along with alternative dance music. Good, good times.

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Reginald_Sockpuppet@reddit

as a 25 year house DJ, disco has really always been around. It's commercialized disco and its attendant aesthetic that people hated. Everyone knows there are bad ass disco songs. Donna summer, the BeeGees, Gloria Gaynor...fucking great and always have been. It's all about delivery.

Now that rave is deeply, deeply commercial, it's already on another downswing and it'll tank soon and become underground and edgy again for 10 or 15 yeaars and then swing back up.

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