Oldies Music Playlist and Mixtape 111: The Story Of Disco

The Story Of Disco

When the movie Saturday Night Fever hit a desperately bored pop world like a polyester bomb in late 1977, disco had already died -- John Travolta has said that he had to search in a NYC clothing store's old pile of castoffs to find that iconic white suit. But the ensuing 18 months, in which disco became so ubiquitous it choked on its own backlash, clouded the minds or many suburban fans who had no idea that the music had already been a big part of black, Latino, and gay culture for a half-decade. This more-or-less chronological playlist, featuring mp3s you can download right here (just click on the title!) bears that out.

1. Isaac Hayes, "Theme From Shaft"
   With a hi-hat beat borrowed from the break in Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" (and played by the same drummer), not to mention movie orchestration and funky chicken-grease guitar, this deathless smash from 1971 set the sound for the entire decade.
2. Manu Dibango, "Soul Makossa"
   A little funkier, but with a strong African beat (and a little Latin thrown in), this 1972 near-instrumental not only gave Michael Jackson some nonsense to use on "Wanna Be Startin' Something," it also hit the public consciousness so hard that nine versions hit the charts when the obscure original could not be found.
3. First Choice, "Armed And Extremely Dangerous"
   More propulsive than most Philly Soul, and making good use of horns and strings, this quick little number from 1973 could be considered another important step forward.
4. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, "The Love I Lost"
   Teddy Pendergrass' penchant for extended vocal improvisation meant that Blue Notes' tracks were often extended to six and seven minutes, presaging the dominance of the 12" dance single.
5. Love Unlimited Orchestra, "Love's Theme"
   The next great mutation of the "Shaft" template, from early 1974, but with the street cred vacuumed out and replaced with a lush ballroom-dance romanticism that would come to define the genre.
6. MFSB, "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)"
   The Philly International label's house band managed to combine romantic flourishes with pure funk, adding the element of anonymous female vocals (actually the Three Degrees, reminding you that it's time to get down).
7. Gloria Gaynor, "Never Can Say Goodbye"
   A full four years before she defined the diva with "I Will Survive," and with disco already flourishing as a inner-city trend, Gaynor delivered the ultimate dramatic version of this Jackson 5 hit.
8. Donna Summer, "Love To Love You Baby"
   An attempt by electronic pioneer Giorgio Moroder to catch on to a growing trend, this side-long epic also took the "orgasm record" to the 12-inch bin.
9. Bohannon, "Foot Stompin' Music"
   Foot stompin' indeed: this Motown vet and drummer reduced the funk to disco's signature 2/4 beat with this number.
10. Van McCoy, "The Hustle"
    Representing a major inroad into the pop charts, this light disco instrumental and perennial line-dance favorite was the genre's first #1 hit.
11. KC and the Sunshine Band, "Get Down Tonight"
    Disco's greatest band arrived on the scene with a Latin funk groove that hammered the hi-hat-laden "16 beat" into the nation's consciousness.
12. Silver Convention, "Fly, Robin, Fly"
    Another disco instrumental with anonymous female backup, slowed down and sweetened up for maximum pop effect.
13. Salsoul Orchestra, "Nice N' Naasty"
    Disco's other great band perfected the 2/4 stomp and also pioneered the in-house disco orchestra while also, as the title suggested, played up the genre's sexually liberated side.
14. Candi Staton, "Young Hearts Run Free"
    One of the first real original pop songs to be written in the disco style, and to likewise storm the charts.
15. The Trammps, "Disco Inferno"
    Before it was made famous in Saturday Night Fever, this wild stomper raised the bar for excitement on the dance floor -- though Johnnie Taylor's noveltyish "Disco Lady" was actually the first hit to mention the fad by name.
16. Diana Ross, "Love Hangover"
    Another major milestone occurred when Miss Ross, the original pop diva, overcame her dislike for disco to take this cult Sylvester recording to the very top of the charts.
17. The Bee Gees, "You Should Be Dancing"
    Before Travolta entered the picture, the Bee Gees had already turned to funk with "Jive Talkin'," but this 1976 smoker upped the ante on stomp while establishing the falsetto funk that would come to define pop disco.
18. Walter Murphy, "A Fifth Of Beethoven"
    The future Family Guy composer demonstrated how almost anything could be transformed into the style with this 1976 novelty, paving the way for endless discofied retreads.
19. Sylvester, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"
    Disco's first and biggest gay icon foreshadowed the entire gay disco and NRG era with this flamboyant club smash.
20. The Bee Gees, "Stayin' Alive"
    Disco, a fad that had died away in black clubs, suddenly roared into mainstream America with this epic hit.
21. Frankie Valli, "Grease"
    By 1978, anyone who was remotely interested in the pop charts had to take disco on its own terms -- hence, this disco song, an inexplicable soundtrack to a Fifties musical, sung by a Sixties icon and featuring Peter Frampton's guitar.
22. Village People, "YMCA"
    What started out as a cartoonish depiction of the gay disco scene somehow morphed into a family-friendly pop act with double-entendres Middle America never seemed to catch on to.
23. Chic, "Good Times"
    Slowing the beat down and emphasizing the bass, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards provided the perfect bridge between the era of Studio 54 and the street beat to come: later this same year, the Sugarhill Gang rapped over it, and the rest is history.
24. Donna Summer, "Hot Stuff"
    The trend had become so pervasive by 1979 that the Queen of Disco (and lots of other folks) were adding rock guitars in order to capture the pop audience's last few holdouts.
25. KC and the Sunshine Band, "Please Don't Go"
    The era came to a close with, of all things, a ballad -- but a remarkably effective one that managed to turn a tender moment into a dance-floor pas de deux before anyone knew what was happening.
26. Lipps, Inc., "Funkytown"
    The "song that saved disco" was instead its last gasp, a 1980 hit that pointed the way towards the electrofunk to come.