Disco: Trash or Treasure?

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Disco all day. I DJ a lot of Chicago/French House and plus I get to explain that Rapper's Delight is clearly a disco song to people who don't like disco.

And who the fuck doesn't love danceable shit?

ETA: And Giovanni Giorgio Moroder ffs.
I mean, Sugarhill Gang is quite literally a Disco Rap group.
Speaking of which, man Disco Rap, that was really fun spin-off of Disco.
 
I find it kinda funny that Disco is characterized as "gay black dance music" by OP, since for the longest time I was under the impression that Disco was a whiter-than-white fad forced by Saturday Night Fever. Anyway, despite (supposedly) having influence on pretty much all dance music made after it, I really don't give a damn about Disco. Always came across to me as rather one note, whereas everything that came after it is much more versatile musically (especially in the 90s, 90s EDM from House to Techno, Techno to Jungle, and Jungle to IDM won't be matched for a very long time).

When it comes to EDM progenitors I'm far more of a Dub guy than a Disco guy anyway. Sue me, mon.
Was mostly quoting what detractors of Disco have said, I remember one boomer saying something basically the equivalent to “The god damn nigger faggot dance music is playing all the damn time on the radios!”
I remember he cited the falsetto male vocals as a reason for why he thought the male vocalists were gay, even though most Disco stars were fucking a lot of groupies in the back of their stage after snorting Cocaine.
 
Chicago House mainly started from black gospel music, so I can see the theory, but Jackmaster Fuck started in whatever year, I can't remember right now and am too busy to searchhole it down rn
 
I fuckin' love disco. I love funk, and soul as well. I don't care if the blacks think disco was "the whites" trying to make "black music" popular, I don't care if older whites think disco was annoying or oversaturated. That shit lasted through the years for a reason. The 70s isn't going to die out that easy baby.


I fucking love these two especially

 
I find it kinda funny that Disco is characterized as "gay black dance music" by OP, since for the longest time I was under the impression that Disco was a whiter-than-white fad forced by Saturday Night Fever.
Disco was around for years before Saturday Night Fever was released, although SNF dramatically whitewashed it (and arguably sped up disco's demise in mainstream music).
Anyway, despite (supposedly) having influence on pretty much all dance music made after it, I really don't give a damn about Disco. Always came across to me as rather one note, whereas everything that came after it is much more versatile musically (especially in the 90s, 90s EDM from House to Techno, Techno to Jungle, and Jungle to IDM won't be matched for a very long time).
Without disco, there wouldn't be any house or techno as we know it. I imagine that EDM would have evolved into something much colder without disco, as it probably would've been more heavily influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk. Just a hypothesis.
I unironically love disco, even the more obscure or kitschy stuff and I know this is an unpopular opinion, but not only do I like disco and the more "dad rock" classic rock stuff, but I also strongly dislike punk and most later forms of alternative rock (with a few very noteworthy exceptions)
One common thread among virtually any genre is that the music shows a great deal of improvement when it veers off the commercial path. The further away from commercialism it goes, the better it usually gets.
I mean, Sugarhill Gang is quite literally a Disco Rap group.
Speaking of which, man Disco Rap, that was really fun spin-off of Disco.
"Rapper's Delight" set the template for a lot of hip-hop thereafter, which lingers to this very day. It was all about bling and hos.

Does "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five count as Disco Rap? There's definitely a disco aesthetic to the beat, but it was a much more serious track (and set the template for social commentary in hip-hop, even though social commentary was present in earlier black genres).
 
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I'm not sure everyone would consider this disco, but:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZXx0pWpszKg
Laura Branigan did quite a few cover versions of Italian tracks, mainly Italo Disco. I'd consider "Gloria" (and "Self Control") to be disco on this basis.

wrt a post from @Baptiste XIX RoseOfSharyn that I'm unable to quote for some reason, it's true that there were plenty of disco artists that were straight as an arrow and nailing just as many chicks as a typical rockstar.

That said, some of the greatest disco tracks of all time came from obviously gay dudes.

 
“Does "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five count as Disco Rap? There's definitely a disco aesthetic to the beat, but it was a much more serious track (and set the template for social commentary in hip-hop, even though social commentary was present in earlier black genres).”
@Pee Cola

You are on point with the beats having a Disco sound to it
& I do agree that it is mostly a Conscious Hip Hop track, which honestly is kinda ahead of it’s time for early Hip Hop considering Hip Hop around the late 70s & early 80s was almost entirely Disco Rap.
The evolution of Hip Hop in itself is interesting with the very first Rap song being a Sketch Comedy/Comedy Rap track called Here Come The Judge by Pigmeat Markham in 1968, & the next step being Disco Rap in the late 70s.
 
Disco is a bit before my time, but I don't dislike it as a lot of people generally do (like my parents, who grew up with it, and I suspect that's only because they're embarrassed for once liking it). Maybe not something I listen to regularly, but it was undeniably catchy and I understood its popularity. And it sometimes works well when paired with other genres.
 
Thrill Kill Kult, my nigga.

I would never buy drugs, I love drugs, it's great. I'm the white rabbit.
 
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