Of all the types of music there are my true love is real disco. It's one of the many reasons I brand myself as a Disco and not a DJ as such. Sadly I was born about 5 years too late to indulge the disco scene in all its splendour and these days my dancing days have long gone.
I'm going to share with you some of the things that I love about the Discotheque because it's not just about the music. Like so many other genres there is history and culture than spanned from the dance floors of the late 70s.
The term Discotheque is taken from both French and Italian languages. Discotecha and Bibliothèque were combined to essentially represent a library of music discs. The terms Deejay and Disc Jockey were soon to follow on.
The first reason I love DIsco is what it represented. Unlike Northern Soul movement which was going on in the UK beforehand, the Disco movement started very underground and allowed people of all races, backgrounds, sexualities and beliefs to join together and dance to some truly great music. it was Illegal in the US at the time for two men to be seen dancing together. This brought together people from all walks of life and ultimately angered the bigots which eventually brought down the movement in the early 80s.
The second reason is the music itself. Starting with a perfect instruments, electric and bass guitar, keyboards and synthesizers, drums, and the occasional string or horn section. Disco songs are quintessentially recognised by punchy strong bass lines and the four on the floor beat. Disco takes the great styles of Funk, Soul, Latin and Psychedelic pop and creates tunes that are eternal and even in the charts of the last couple of years Disco tracks have been some of the biggest sellers with the Like if Uptown Funk and Get Lucky and Feels.
My third reason is the dancing. From the very first time I watched the Soul Train I wanted to be a dancer. Ok, I was hamstrung somewhat by being a little proky and having two left feet, but it's never stopped me trying. Disco Dancing was a big thing when I was growing up but was strangely a hobby mainly for girls which is in stark contrast to the 3 men to 1 girl rule that many disco clubs had over in America. The you had the spring offs, with my personal favourite being the roller disco, totally lethal fun.
The fourth and final reason for my love of Disco has to be the films starting with absolute classics like Saturday Night Fever, Xanadu and Staying Alive which were all set at the height of the Disco revolution. Then there are the resurgence films like Flashdance and Fame which followed the dancing side. My favourites however have to be the roller disco movies like Roller Boogie, Skatetown and Roll Bounce.
Andy P