Heads High

Looking back at the last few years, soul, funk and rare groove have returned to the forefront of the clubbing scene all over again… Walking through your standard non-commercial nightlife district in London, you can pretty much hear Motown classics booming from every other venue. However a genre that has superseded those already mentioned based on the sheer impact it has had in its re-explosion back onto the scene is disco music.

Before I go on further, to avoid confusion, this modern craze will be distinguished from what has always been available. Up until a few years ago, disco was a niche sound appreciated by those who used to club to it the first time around in the 70s/80s. These nostalgic clubbers tend to be older and enjoy sparse nights out only on ‘special occasions’.

There is also nothing groundbreaking about the cheesy medium-sized bed-town clubs that run a “Saturday Night Fever” fancy dress disco party every first Friday of the month.

However, the surge of interest from city hedonists willing to re-explore the sounds of yesteryear has been unfounded to say the least. This audience is young, cool and seeking danceable music that is not too hard on the ear. Not only do there seem to be more DJs around responding to this need but venues alike which may have previously had no connection to any old-school music can now be seen boasting a strictly disco only play-list forcing a change in the way people party.

For a month, I worked in the cloakroom of one of these bars that have transitioned in their music offerings from EDM back to disco and it was from here that I realised the sheer quantity and quality of songs coming from this era. Although at its peak, disco became too popular, a lot of the hits have been carried through time pretty well without been frowned upon. As a reader of this post, I’m sure you could hum a few disco melodies and even if not, I would bet my right arm that you would surely be able to recognise many disco tracks if played to you.

Disco itself stems from an era of discontent, rebellion and creation. In the mid 70s, whilst seeking a new form of expression, a mish-mash of black, latino and gay party animals formed disco together with DJs (such as Larry Levan, Tom Moulton and many more), artists, fashionistas and socialites all based in New York. They wanted to dance… and hard. Rock music wasn’t really rocking it and the earlier soul, R&B movement of the 60s was way too agreeable. The Hippies had failed in their west-coast countryside exploits but these east-coast urbanites adopted their drug culture and sexual promiscuity, exchanged the acoustic guitars for record breaks and electric basslines and made it a whole lot fiercer (check out West End Records or Casablanca for typical sounds). By the mid 80s however, the saturation and commercialisation of disco music resulted in a sharp decline in its popularity. Although general consensus states that July 12, 1979 is the day that disco died when Steve Dahl and his pro-rock, Chicago White Sox posse staged the Disco Demolition Night, in hindsight it is evident that it merely morphed into other forms of music and has since proved itself to be a highly influential catalyst in creating what we now know to be electronic dance music. What is significant about this very brief history lesson is that the evolution in disco music has now somewhat reversed.

The word disco itself has come a long way too. The first time around, it went from referencing a pioneering, post flower-power funky scene to embodying a highly unfashionable, cheesy movement that dribbled into the 90s epitomized by tacky moustaches, hairy chests, medallions and the Bee Gees. Strangely enough however, these days the word has come full circle from its tabooed connotations to once again representing all things genuinely cool. This is seen to the extent that party promoters who may have called themselves raves or club nights are now referring to themselves as ‘discos’ despite the fact that they may be spinning jungle music all night long.

Back to 2010, how has this sound managed to reclaim its former glories of being the music to dance to and what is responsible for the resurgence of disco? I think it’s due to these reasons:

> Its musical makeup. Sound-wise, disco is very easy to dance to due to its melodic yet edgy characteristics. It is the safest compromise between dance, soul and pop music and draws from a number of other conflicting musical styles such as funk, jazz, rock and classical. The basic four-on-the-floor beat, syncopated bass lines and enriched, layered sounds makes disco music very danceable. In composition, very few instruments are spared and it was not uncommon for producers to incorporate orchestral harmonies over reverberated vocals.

> The quality of disco by comparison to contemporary pop music. Whether you are a fan of disco or not, you must admit that it is well made music by comparison to today’s array of chart-toppers. Even from before disco when Motown was bigger than the US government, they comfortably churned out quality sounds that now leave new-age pop music looking rather weak. For example, anyone that listens now to the Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder classic track “I Feel Love” gets the sense of a guilty pleasure but must still admit that by todays’ standards, is something to be very proud of.

> The over-fragmentation and homogeneity of music today. These days there’s an increasing multitude of sub-genres as newer sounds are developed. Individual tastes have become more specific than ever. No longer do people have to endure mainstream techno when in actual fact they prefer minimal tech or tech-house. The side effects of this imply that one may feel alienated if not absolute music snobs or enthusiasts of very niche genres. Conversely, most of popular music has become so washed out and dumb down to a homogeneous blend of crap that it either all sounds the same or of nothing. The fans of this scene can almost be generalised as those that are probably hammered in a student union on ‘2-4-1 Sambuca shots,’ not really caring about the music that comes on and are expected to hear the precise same set list the following week. People should expect and deserve more.

> Aspect of nostalgia.  The re-emergence of disco’s analogue, synth-driven sound is unique and distinctive of that era. Nostalgia is the ‘feel-good-factor’ that people experience when dancing to disco. Party people today can escape back into the more adventurous times of the colourful 70s and 80s. Disco also represents the very beginning of dance music (without being neurotic about the issue). Thus musically, this genre represents the oldest reference point of danceable music a non-niche venue can present without loosing their customers.

> Its cheapness. Disco so far is not an expensive affair. Bars, clubs and DJs don’t charge the over-inflated rates people expect to pay these days on a night out. This has helped wean people back into the genre.

> It induces inebriation. Disco although cheap to experience, is a wild money-making sound. Disco requires its young hearts to run free. People want to drink in homage to the era and the feelings the genre encapsulates. This is perfect for club and bar owners.

> The accessibility and inclusivity. Disco is neither threatening nor alienating. Although initially a black style, the big hits opened up the genre to all. Disco is also one of the few genres that doesn’t discriminate those that know from those that don’t; it is to a degree, highly predictable by comparison to jazz for example. Even the more obscure sub-genres such as Italo, Eurodisco, New Wave, Hi-NRG are still not too specialised to not be appreciated by all. The pioneers of the scene cast very long shadows when they integrated all styles into the genre. Most people know more than they realise regarding disco, which means that familiarity and initiation into the scene today is instant. There is very little learning to do for those that do not wish to explore deeper into the genre.

> The variety in the scene. Disco branched off into hip hop, new wave, post punk, electro, house as well as establishing DJ culture, which in turn branched off into many more contemporary genres such as techno. Disco therefore has the capabilities to capture a broad audience coming from its many musical descendants who can all find an aspect of disco that distantly relates to their personal tastes. Here are the three main types of totally divergent disco DJs that have been reawakened by the revival of the scene:

1. “Cool” DJs exercising a shift in taste towards the music that their modern stuff came from. The saturation of electro music presented the need to quickly stray away from their core sound by mixing it with something divergent for differentiation. Examples of this type of DJ are Erol Alkan and his Disco 3000 alter-ego. DFA Records, Horse Meat Disco (aka Jim Stanton) and Disco Bloodbath. They play massive venues and their loyal fanbase will enjoy anything these DJs choose to spin at marked-up prices, if that happens to be electroclash or Italo – so be it. With this category, there tends to be a focus on the more synth-led eurodisco aesthetics.

2. “Original” DJs who have always been renowned within the genre before the niche re-exploded. Frankie Knuckles for example, John Morales, Danny Krivit or Rahaan all from the States. This is probably the most quality you can find when hunting down a real retro set. Hardcore crate diggers who live and breath the stuff. Some of them are lucky enough to have established themselves in the house music scene and still sell out venues like “Little” Louie Vega (MAW). Their fans range from the accidental listeners to the hardcore lovers of the sound. Many of these DJs moved into house music but due to their thorough knowledge of disco will still spin anything from very early disco tracks to the more experimental house sounds.

3. “Wedding” DJs are a tad more difficult to define as they spin everything, yet essentially are not particularly attached to whatever is being played as opposed to the reactions they get from the crowd. They play the same tracks that ‘get the party started’ and rely on their audience’s inebriation to overlook the substandard mixing. Examples of these can be found in generic bars that have adopted the new music policy but are not prepared to pay for serious DJs since their customers probably won’t even notice the difference. Here, people are more likely to hear all the classic danceable disco hits.

Where will disco go from here? To be honest, I haven’t any idea but I do wish it the best of luck.  I also believe that disco may prove to have greater stamina this time around despite the danger of ‘wedding’ DJs killing the music again. Luckily for Londoners, contemporary pop music has taken on this role, running the risk of cannibalising itself as it bears the brunt for poor audiences and DJs.

So when next passing a venue in Shoreditch with the sounds of KC and the Sunshine Band blasting out, lets not be too hasty to raise our noses up at what was possibly one of the golden eras in popular music.