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Reply #30 posted 11/22/10 2:47pm

DakutiusMaximu
s

Man, kinda hard to come up with any more after those lists but I did think of a few:

The Star Wars treatments by Meco were very cool, especially the Cantina Band

I Love the Nightlife by Alicia Bridges

Shame, Shame, Shame Shirley and Company

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by Santa Esmeralda

The Power by Snap

Ain't Too Proud to Beg by TLC

And anything by BT Express such as Put it in Your Peace Pipe, Do it till You're Satisfied, Here Comes the Express, etc.

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Reply #31 posted 11/22/10 4:44pm

Huggiebear

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mynameisnotsusan said:

Kevin McCormick, former president of production, Warner Bros. Pictures; former executive in charge of film development, RSO; executive producer, Saturday Night Fever: I was 26 years old and didn’t really know what I was doing, but Robert told me to find a director for the movie. I sent the article over to an agent who had a director I was interested in, and he said, “Kid, you know what? My clients do movies—they don’t do magazine articles.”

Giorgio Moroder poolside in Beverly Hills, 1979. From Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.

Bill Oakes: Nik’s original title was “The Return of Saturday Night,” but we couldn’t call the movie that—it would sound like a sequel. Of course, [New York editor] Clay Felker gave it a slightly more pretentious title: “The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night.”

Kevin McCormick: The movie had such intense verisimilitude. Because it’s all angled on the character. This guy worked all day to have that moment.…It’s a great dramatic story.

Vince Aletti: Despite the fact that they were these cheesy white guys, those Bee Gees songs still sound good today. The rest of the album had legitimate songs like “Disco Inferno”; it brought in a lot of people who hadn’t heard the more black side of disco.

Bill Oakes: I remember being under the El in Brooklyn, they’re shooting it, and I thought it all seemed a bit amateurish. It wasn’t a big Hollywood movie; it was done out of the back of a truck. My own feeling was that we were too late with the disco angle. I thought that disco had peaked.

Monti Rock III, singer, Disco Tex in Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes (“Get Dancin’,” “I Wanna Dance Wit Choo”); the D.J. in Saturday Night Fever: My lawyer got me this part in Saturday Night Fever, so in my mind I’m going to be in a movie. I arrive in Brooklyn with my Louis Vuitton luggage, not a dime in my pocket, and I say, “Where’s my trailer?” I had a bit part in the movie, and my name was supposed to be Bernie, but I wanted to be called Monti. So John Travolta, who is the nicest man I ever met in show business, said my name could be Monti. I didn’t think that movie would do shit.

Kevin McCormick: Travolta had been training for months to do the dance solo, but the way it was being shot was cutting his feet off, and it drove him crazy. So the whole picture shut down, because Travolta absolutely wouldn’t work anymore until [director] John Badham agreed to cover the dance solo the way Travolta wanted it covered. You couldn’t see just pieces of it and have the same emotional experience. It’s the high point of the movie, and Travolta was 100 percent right.

When we wrote the music, the only songs we thought were disco were “You Should Be Dancing” and maybe “Jive Talkin’.” We never thought of “Stayin’ Alive” as disco. —Barry Gibb, 1983.

Bill Oakes: We had two No. 1 [hits]—“Stayin’ Alive” and “How Deep Is Your Love?”—before the movie even came out. The movie opened in something like 600 theaters, which was unprecedented, and it went through the roof on the opening weekend. The record had sold the movie, and that had never happened before.

Vince Aletti: The disco community, whatever that was, felt very ambivalent about [Saturday Night Fever]. It brought a lot of attention to disco, it exploded, but once something becomes so big, it has to be over.

You couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing one of our songs. It became an albatross, image-wise. Rather than think of what success it brought to radio and to the record industry and [that it] made everybody a lot of money, the radio programmers made us feel like we inflicted it upon them. —Maurice Gibb, 1987.

Last dance, last chance for love Yes it’s my last chance for romance tonight. —“Last Dance,” Donna Summer.

When aids first hit the club scene, toward the end of the 70s, no one knew what it was or how you could get it. Some thought you could “catch” it from sweat; others were terrified of the amyl-nitrite “poppers” inhaled to get that extra high while dancing. But the backlash to disco as a contribution to moral decay was intense.

Felipe Rose: Our lives were not complicated, we were carefree. We didn’t know what was about to come.

Martha Wash: aids was scaring everybody. Everything was changing and people were passing on.

Nona Hendryx: You could see it in people’s faces, and as you lost friends, you didn’t have friends to go to the clubs with; the people who made the music started disappearing. The people who were anti-homosexual used that as a “See, I told you …” It was a way to segregate people.

Thelma Houston: The gay community started to come together and become more organized. And it just happened that my song “Don’t Leave Me This Way” was happening pretty big at that time. It became a kind of anthem.

In 1979 in Chicago, after rock station WDAI went all-disco, radio D.J. Steve Dahl rallied people around a “Disco Sucks” movement. On July 12, 1979, he blew up disco records at Comiskey Park between games at a Chicago White Sox doubleheader (the video lives to this day on YouTube).

Nile Rodgers: After the “Disco Sucks” period, in the summer of 1979, there were two No. 1 records: Chic’s “Good Times” and the Knack’s “My Sharona.” The Knack was going to be the savior of rock ‘n’ roll, and for the first time we were sort of ostracized. As great as “My Sharona” was, the Knack never had another hit record again, while “Good Times” got ripped off by Queen, the Clash, INXS, and SugarHill Gang.

Fran Lebowitz: There’s music I don’t like, but I don’t make a career of not liking it—I just don’t listen to it. “Disco Sucks” was a kind of panic on the part of straight white guys. Disco was basically black music, rock ‘n’ roll was basically white: those guys felt displaced.

Alicia Bridges: It was sort of the end of my career, because even though I’m an R&B and rock artist, they didn’t want to hear anything but disco from me.

Gloria Gaynor: If you don’t like disco music and you’re burning the records, why have you got them in the first place? This had to be a movement started by somebody who got a mob mentality going and whose livelihood was being affected by the popularity of disco music.

Dancing helps relieve the pain
Soothes your mind
Makes you happy again.
—“Everybody Dance,” Chic.

Robert “Kool” Bell: When times are bad, people want to dance their troubles away.

Fran Lebowitz: Everyone keeps saying how bad the economy was in the 70s. But people who were young were not going dancing to escape a bad economy. If you had asked me what the economy was, I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea. I knew I didn’t have any money, but I didn’t realize it was a citywide problem.

Ian Schrager: It wasn’t aids that made the nightclub business difficult. Government regulations did it in. Steve and I did our first nightclub [the Enchanted Garden, in Douglaston, Queens] for $27,000 and Studio 54 we did for $400,000. Now, with all the regulations, fire codes, sprinkler requirements, neighborhood issues, community planning boards … before you even put on the first coat of paint, you’re into it for over a million dollars. What it’s done is disenfranchise young people.

Nona Hendryx: Where did the dancers go? They went to the gym. It became the new club. That’s where people started meeting people, started hanging out. They were trying to make themselves look healthier and better, they were playing music, they had dance classes.

Winter 2009–10: The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” is played during televised N.B.A. games. A “Disco Ball,” with Gloria Gaynor, the Trammps, Peaches and Herb, Monti Rock III, and others, has been held in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Last fall, the Hollywood Bowl hosted a huge “Disco Fever 3” show with Chic, Kool & the Gang, the Village People, and Thelma Houston. D.J. “schools” all over the country teach how to mix MP3s for clubs. Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real” is the soundtrack to an Applebee’s television commercial. The Bee Gees, celebrating their 50th anniversary, appeared on both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. In December, Donna Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Norway. And despite government regulations and community issues and fire laws and neighborhood complaints, dance clubs are sprouting up again; whether they’re places that get closed down, like the Beatrice Inn or the Jane, in New York City, or private “parties” that pop up with regularity, drawing younger dancers by word of mouth to basement rooms, empty office spaces, or lofts—you can’t stop the music.

Gloria Gaynor: Disco music is alive and well and living in the hearts of music-lovers around the world. It simply changed its name to protect the innocent: Dance music. There’s no better music for a party—it helps you get rid of the stresses of the day.

Lisa Robinson is a Vanity Fair contributing editor and music writer.

These articles are great, thanks for posting

So what are u going 2 do? R u just gonna sit there and watch? I'm not gonna stop until the war is over. Its gonna take a long time
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Reply #32 posted 11/22/10 4:57pm

robinhood

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biggrin

this too shall pass
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Reply #33 posted 11/23/10 1:58pm

vainandy

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Get Off - Foxy

Andy is a four letter word.
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Reply #34 posted 11/23/10 2:08pm

SoulAlive

vainandy said:

Get Off - Foxy

that's it? lol

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Reply #35 posted 11/23/10 2:18pm

Cinnie

SoulAlive said:



vainandy said:


Get Off - Foxy



that's it? lol


lol
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Reply #36 posted 11/23/10 2:23pm

vainandy

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vainandy said:

Get Off - Foxy

Waaaaaaay too many to name. That one's my alltime favorite though.

Andy is a four letter word.
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Reply #37 posted 11/23/10 2:25pm

vainandy

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SoulAlive said:

vainandy said:

Get Off - Foxy

that's it? lol

Well hell, I just quoted my own damn self in the post above this one. Lord, it's been a rough day and I'm ready to go home. lol

Anyway, waaaaaay too many to name. That one's my alltime favorite though.

Andy is a four letter word.
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Reply #38 posted 11/23/10 4:00pm

robinhood

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this too shall pass
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Reply #39 posted 11/23/10 11:57pm

mjwifey4l

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wooow cant believe nobody named:

Dancing Machine- jackson 5

Get On The Floor- Michael Jackson

Burn this disco Out- Michael Jackson

Everybody- the Jacksons

Walk Right now- The Jacksons

Enjoy Yourself- The Jacksons

“The only male singer who I’ve seen besides myself and who’s better than me – that is Michael Jackson.” – Frank Sinatra
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Reply #40 posted 11/24/10 12:29am

purplethunder3
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Just heard tonight on the radio two of my prime disco awakening songs: Bad Girls and Hot Stuff! Doesn't get any better than that! cool

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #41 posted 11/24/10 7:11pm

Huggiebear

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DakutiusMaximus said:

Man, kinda hard to come up with any more after those lists but I did think of a few:

The Power by Snap Dates from 1989/ 1990, too late to be disco, its early Hip hop

Ain't Too Proud to Beg by TLC Dates from 1991/ 1992, too late to be disco, early girl style commercial rap/R and B

The rest were good though.

So what are u going 2 do? R u just gonna sit there and watch? I'm not gonna stop until the war is over. Its gonna take a long time
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Reply #42 posted 11/24/10 10:55pm

MickyDolenz

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Huggiebear said:

DakutiusMaximus said:

Man, kinda hard to come up with any more after those lists but I did think of a few:

The Power by Snap Dates from 1989/ 1990, too late to be disco, its early Hip hop

Ain't Too Proud to Beg by TLC Dates from 1991/ 1992, too late to be disco, early girl style commercial rap/R and B

The rest were good though.

The Power is some dance pop rap, like C&C Music Factory, Betty Boo, and Technotronic. Early rap was late 1970's - early 80's and is disco and funk based like these songs.

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #43 posted 11/25/10 9:21am

SoulAlive

vainandy said:

SoulAlive said:

that's it? lol

Well hell, I just quoted my own damn self in the post above this one. Lord, it's been a rough day and I'm ready to go home. lol

Anyway, waaaaaay too many to name. That one's my alltime favorite though.

lol I love the 12" version of "Get Off",with the breakdown that occurs when the lady says "Look at that thang over there" .

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Reply #44 posted 12/06/10 4:11pm

MickyDolenz

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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #45 posted 12/08/10 5:26am

SoulAlive

purplethunder3121 said:

Just heard tonight on the radio two of my prime disco awakening songs: Bad Girls and Hot Stuff! Doesn't get any better than that! cool

For anyone who loves disco,Donna's 'Bad Girls' album is essential.A disco masterpiece!

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Reply #46 posted 12/08/10 5:43am

SoulAlive

robinhood said:

biggrin

This is one of the most explosive,relentless disco songs.The beat demands that you get up and dance.A very powerful groove!!

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Reply #47 posted 12/15/10 9:16am

MickyDolenz

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SoulAlive said:

robinhood said:

biggrin

This is one of the most explosive,relentless disco songs.The beat demands that you get up and dance.A very powerful groove!!

Yeah, but the single edit is no good. lol I only listen to the full version.

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #48 posted 12/15/10 10:31pm

mltijchr

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nice informative article posted, mynameisnotsusan..!

my favorite disco jams (right off the top of my head, many already mentioned) :

dance (disco heat) - Sylvester

you should be dancing - Bee Gees

open sesame - Kool & the Gang

ladie's night - Kool & the Gang

boogie oogie oogie - Taste of Honey

bad girls - Donna Summer

LET'S START THE DANCE - Hamilton Bohanon

forever came today - the Jacksons

disco nights - GQ

boogie nights - Heatwave

I was 9 years old when disco was "at its peak" in 1977. I was "only a kid" then, but I remember how BIG disco was - it was everywhere. I remember Chic's "le freak" came out then.. once they started playing it on the radio.. it was on the radio ALL THE TIME. it got played SO MUCH then, I ended up not liking the song & not wanting to dance to it (I do like the "aww.. FUCK OFF" story about how they wrote the song.. I remember hearing Nile Rogers talk about that in the "Studio 54" episode of VH-1's "behind the music"..

I know that had I been an adult then, I would have been at a disco like Studio 54 every weekend. I would have been into all those women too. I would have totally been digging that whole disco vibe & lifestyle. probably better for me that I wasn't an adult then..!

then, I also remembered the "disco backlash".. & when those people burned those disco records at that baseball game in Chicago. yeah - those insecure caucasian rockers didn't like disco at all - it took the focus off them, they were "too cool" to really dance & yeah, there was probably a lot of homophobia behind a lot of that backlash. disco did.. "get out of control" though : when Ethel Merman made a disco record, when there was that song "disco duck".. the end wasn't too far away.

I liked listening to the "disco music" of that era.. but to me, it was simply VERY GOOD DANCE MUSIC. disco was my "bridge" between the FUNK of Bootsy, P-Funk & the Ohio Players

&

Prince/The Time/Cameo - the last of the real singers & musicians.

I didn't listen to disco music for about 7 years. then, an oldies station played K&tG's "ladie's night" & that got me really back into the (disco) music of the mid- to late 70s.

I'll see you tonight..
in ALL MY DREAMS..
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Reply #49 posted 12/16/10 12:37am

SoulAlive

MickyDolenz said:

SoulAlive said:

This is one of the most explosive,relentless disco songs.The beat demands that you get up and dance.A very powerful groove!!

Yeah, but the single edit is no good. lol I only listen to the full version.

nod I agree.This song must be heard in its full-length version.

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Reply #50 posted 12/16/10 12:14pm

MickyDolenz

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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #51 posted 01/05/11 11:08am

thedance

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SoulAlive said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Just heard tonight on the radio two of my prime disco awakening songs: Bad Girls and Hot Stuff! Doesn't get any better than that! cool

For anyone who loves disco,Donna's 'Bad Girls' album is essential.A disco masterpiece!

yeahthat

"Bad Girls", music

every disco lover should own this album in Special edition 2 CD version!!

Btw... noone has mentioned Boney M,

was Boney M an european phenomenon only?

Imo:

Daddy Cool,

Sunny,

Rasputin,

Ma Baker

I love these - essential disco songs imo.

Boney M dancer Bobby Farrell..... RIP.

Prince 4Ever. heart
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Reply #52 posted 01/05/11 11:37am

MickyDolenz

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thedance said:

was Boney M an european phenomenon only?

Probably, if it's Eurodisco. Eurodisco wasn't as popular in the US mainstream as discofunk or R&B dance.

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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