In light of the history of the rise & downfall of disco music, it must be said that The Funk was the genre that was born a couple of years BEFORE disco, or sooner if you research your local vinyl record shop.

It's common knowledge that the rock community (especially the rock radio DJs of America) HATED the disco culture for influencing some rock bands (KISS, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, etc.) to make a disco song of their own. But the bitter racism & anti-gay overtones definitely could not be overlook on the grass root level or within the music industry itself at the time. And it can't be overlook that rap was also the "new" genre on the uprising from hip-hop culture's earlier years in New York City.

But what about The Funk community? Did the true funk soldiers see disco as a bitter enemies as well? Or did they see disco as a misunderstood art form to an extent?

Fellow orgers, which side of the debate were you during disco's peak in popularity? And in retrospect, what do you think of the genre today? Do you figure that funk & disco needed each other, OR should both genres have stay apart?

Discuss!
[Edited 10/6/08 15:04pm]

Back then, it was funk

Today, still funk


Some disco stuff, I dug also

But funk was the thang

Is there any difference, really?

Shit, disco is just another child of Lady funk.

Disco was like funk's light-skinned cousin to me, much lighter and less angst and less confrontational than what funk was.

As for personal choice, I'll always go with the funk.

We want the funk! Gotta have that funk!
Funk rules!

Disco was like givin a sweet babe the same stroke over and over

While funk would let you go in and out and all about in every angles (and not looking for a nut)


[Edited 10/6/08 18:58pm]

funkpill said:

funkpill said:

Timmy84 said:

yeah....very popular and much recognition

funk was very underground...even J.B.'s stuff

Funk.

Was watchin Tom Joyner with Larry last night...reminded me of this...

Cameo had it right BITD. (From "Energy", "Ain't nothing wrong with DISCO, it goes along the the FUNK...if you don't like it, don't get mad at US.")

Highlight on the "along with" part;).

Back then...or now.....in a streetfight? Funk wins....ri-goddamn-diculous.

I was born in 1979 so I guess I can still participate on this thread!

Let me really tune my memory back to those days... yes, I'm sitting on the floor, wearing a diaper, my legs are feeling strangely short and it feels like my head is actually connected to my tummy with maybe just several inches of skin and flesh inbetween... the radio is on, the carpet is green by the way - see that's how it was back in the days when disco music was still popular and being played on the radio, people had green everything. Anyway, I don't think disco...

No, sorry. Kind of hazy, can't get quite reminiscence which branch of music I preferred back in the day. My first memories of music in such vein were by Stevie Wonder, I remember "I Just Called To Say I Love You", but that thing had synths that sounded like a handheld arcade game, it sure wasn't funk or even disco. Now that you mention it, during those days when I was sitting on the floor and taking a look at my mother dressing up she looked strangely alluring in her pantyho...

Wait, this isn't the psychoanalysis forum.
[Edited 10/7/08 3:22am]

Donna Summer and EWF reigned in my home, disco, mom used to blast it ALL the time.
I actually would sleep as a young child with Boogie Wonderland blaring in my ears, yes we are Latino and the music was always on blast. Especially the salsa, disco's older prettier cousin.

Disco was nothing but a more polished, speeded up version of funk. It's because of disco's death that I got into funk in the first place. It was the closest sounding thing to disco.

Disco.

Timmy84 said:

he can pass for black ha?

paisleypark4 said:

Because initially the leader of "disco" was Barry White.

Then the Bee Gees added some vanilla...

And that damn John Travolta...

Timmy84 said:

interesting analogy

funk will always b number 1 in my heart and feet. but disco has it's place 2 ..but if i truly had 2 choose, then it will always b p funk ..uncut funk ..the bomb!!!


p.s. funk never crapped out shit like glora gaynor's i will survive

Flowers2 said:

You know it's true though.

In some circles, jazz is also considered a light-skinned version of blues.

Flowers2 said:

U gotta give it to mini-Nelson George and his wording

I like both combined though I think I'm leaning more towards the disco side.

Harlepolis said:

As a kid, I could tell the difference between funk and disco. It was MAJOR differences between the two. Musically, lyrically and conceptually. I know many don't hear the differences and plus many listen with their eyes and NOT their ears. For me, as a little kid, who grew up listening to everything, disco had it's place just like funk, i.e. Parliament, rock, i.e. Zeppelin, pop, i.e. Olivia Newton John did. And although disco borrowed heavily from the funk, they to me are two entirely different animals. Funk, unlike any other genre, can be and is anything. Funk is the "beginning" and deeper still, musically, funk is the Alpha and Omega.

Do I prefer disco over early 70s funk? Yes. Do I prefer disco over early 80s funk? No.

To me, it has always seemed like disco borrowed from early 70s funk, did away with a lot of the horns and jazz elements, sped up the tempo even more, and modernized and prepared it for the 1980s. If you notice, a lot of early 80s funk is less jazzy and faster than early 70s funk. I've always associated this with disco's influence which came before it. I can never imagine a song like The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip" or Midnight Star's "Electricity" occurring if disco had never existed before it. If disco had never existed, I picture early 80s funk sounding much more primitive and jazzy like James Brown. James Brown's stuff was good but I would have gotten bored with it real quick if funk had never progressed and moved on to the next level.
.
.
.
[Edited 10/7/08 14:24pm]

blackguitaristz said:

Been sayin this for years

Funk can do airthang....

funkpill said:

I KNOW it...Cuz that shit is true too.

Harlepolis said:

The drum patterns of disco tracks were a bass drum on a 1-2-3-4 (like house music today). The drum patterns on most funk tracks always have syncopation.

funkpill said: