Disco

Originating Location: US

Originating Era: Early 1970s

Key Artists

 * The Bee Gees
 * A Taste of Honey
 * ABBA
 * Chic
 * Sister Sledge
 * Donna Summer
 * Grace Jones
 * Gloria Gaynor
 * Boney M
 * Village People
 * K.C. And The Sunshine Band
 * Vicki Sue Robinson
 * MFSB
 * The Emotions
 * Silver Convention

Key Albums

 * Saturday Night Fever

Genre Description
A genre of music that grew out of 1960s and 1970s Funk and Soul. disco was a popular form of dance music, known especially for its thudding 4/4 beat, and typically lush arrangements. Many lyrics were about sex, dancing or just having a good time, though there were a few socially conscious disco songs. The genre was very much a singles format, and was one of the genres to take full advantage of the 12" single, usually putting extended mixes of songs for dancing on either the B-side or even the A-side. There was a huge backlash against Disco -- some people see it as a form of culturally-acceptable racism and homophobia, as disco was an important part of both Black and Gay subcultures, but other people think it was just a case of over-exposure.  Disco as "disco" went away in the end of the 1970s/early 1980s, although it never went away, reforming as Dance, Electronica and mainstream Pop.  Some acts even openly embrace the "disco" label, and "disco" has stopped being as much of a "dirty word" as it was in the 1970s and 1980s.

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