Disco music today: is it really dead?

1979, the year disco music died… But is it true? After 30 years, the term “disco” is still at the center of the scene, and continues to influence music, fashion, and trends. It is still a worldwide commercial phenomenon, a cultural heritage that involves multiple generations. Even today, disco belongs to everyone: it is a “spontaneous” music, felt as their own by young and old, white and black, experts and amateurs, DJs and ex-DJs, it is “the” popular music par excellence, capable of representing anything for anyone. The disco years were not only about sex, hedonism, and drugs; there were above all civil rights, gay rights, freedom, political concessions, and a sense of community. Many contemporaries feel nostalgia for disco, and the “’70s nostalgia syndrome” is widespread; the memory of such an engaging and “rich” era of content (contrary to what disco detractors claim) is still alive in people’s minds, aware that that combination of independence, fun, passion, and community is unrepeatable. In modern society, the word “disco” is no longer an unmentionable term on formal occasions.

EUROPE VS. AMERICA

Europe has had a different relationship with disco music, and with pop music in general, compared to America. The Village People, in the USA, are now accepted in athletic settings as a form of halftime entertainment: using disco as a means to express one’s machismo is unthinkable. In European pop culture, however, excessive ostentation and violence often go hand in hand. In reality, disco in Europe had a slower evolution and diffusion compared to the United States, so it was never overexposed or abused: these are the reasons why disco never died on our continent. Peter Shapiro: “Disco, like hip hop, was born in New York, but today it is as European as welfare programs and the Mediterranean diet. Though caught between two worldviews—between a utopian, communal dream and a cynical, harsh vision in which nothing moves except money—disco was, and is, in favor of integration and community, for pleasure and fun and not for toil, for the democracy of the dance floor and not for the false idols of the stage.”

DISCO MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURY

On June 29, 1999, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the “Seventies Night” is held. Before the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers, the Village People perform in a concert and sing their greatest hits (“YMCA” and “In the Navy” first among them). Nearly 20 years after the anti-disco riots, despite the Village People being considered completely “wrong” by mainstream America, the band even receives a standing ovation. About 5 months later, on November 17, the United States Postal Service presents a disco stamp, in the commemorative thematic series for the “Celebrate the Century” collection. The stamp depicts a man and a woman, dressed like John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney in Saturday Night Fever, dancing under the mirror ball. The stamp is surpassed only by the smiley face, by Sesame Street, and by Earth Day, and it surpasses the invention of the VCR, the bicentennial of independence, the establishment of Monday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ four consecutive Super Bowl victories, the feminist movement, and the Pioneer satellite. In 1998, disco is the subject of two films—54 and The Last Days of Disco—and has a supporting role in the film Boogie Nights.

In the early ’90s, Take That, produced by Ian Levine, redefine the concept of a boy band by blending Elton John’s seriousness with the sparkle of disco music. Levine brings the pop group to the surface by producing covers of Tavares’ “It Only Takes a Minute” and Barry Manilow’s “Could it Be Magic”. In 1993, Levine is replaced by Dave Lee (alias Joey Negro, one of disco’s most experienced advocates) to create a version of Dan Hartman’s “Relight My Fire”. Since then, disco has dominated the European charts in the form of covers (the All Saints‘ “Lady Marmalade”) or samples (Alcazar‘s “Crying at The Discoteque”).

FROM DISCO MUSIC TO DANCE MUSIC (the ’80s) TO HOUSE MUSIC (the ’90s)

Today we can say that disco music is still alive. Not only in the covers and samples inserted in successful hits even in our century, but also in fashions and trends that draw heavily from the ’70s-’80s decade, one of the most creative periods of the last 30 years. In the ’80s, music becomes more electronic, produced more in the studio than with real instruments, and this changes the sound of radio and dance floors. It is the decade of pop/dance groups (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet…), but also of the formation of pop idols who grew up with disco music, like Madonna and Michael Jackson. DJs transform into true producers and are in search of new sounds. The house music of the late ’80s is a genuine novelty, but it has disco samples, the real key to success. With the rhythm of the ’90s, the beat of records, now CDs or just files, is much higher, and in clubs people mainly dance to house music, where the nearly nonexistent lyrics and choruses give way to an incessant rhythm.

Today, dance music is all-encompassing (as long as it is danceable), and is commonly identified as “commercial.” It is easy to find ’70s-’80s nights that are receiving proper recognition. But in the charts, in record sales, one often finds that simple disco recipe that favors the voice, harmony, and catchy chorus. Even the great Bob Sinclar, before achieving international success, changes several identities; when he revives disco music, he soars to the top of the charts.

In short, house is danced to, but disco still sells. This is why we affirm that “GOOD MUSIC NEVER DIES.”