A discozene (discotheque music, disco music) vázlatos története:
A '60-as években Amerika-szerte népszerûvé váltak a "Whisky a go-go" elnevezésû kis klubok, ahova a munkából hazatérõk beugrottak egy italra, hogy beszélgessenek, kikapcsolódjanak és akár táncoljanak egyet.
Mindehhez készségesen szolgáltatta a kiválasztott zenét "dj" Jukebox, ha nyílásába bedobták a pénzt.
Ám a nagyobb, fõleg feketék lakta városokban nem érték be a gépzenével; disc jockey játszotta a tánchoz megfelelõ fekete zenét.
A Sly and the Family Stone volt a tipikus amerikai discozene, amit Manu DiBango "Soul Makossa", Shirley and Co. "Shame, Shame, Shame", a Hues Corporation "Rock the Boat", George McCrae "Rock Your Baby", majd a KC and the Sunshine Band tucatnyi száma követett.
A '70-es évek elejétõl Philadelphiában, a fekete homoszexuálisok klubjaiban a gospel, a soul, fúvósokkal és vonósokkal gazdagított hangzású zene sodró ritmusára táncoltak.
Ez az érzelem-gazdag és fantáziadús tiszta zene, sajátos hangszereléssel és új felvételi technikával a philly sound.
Ez a fajta zene New York klubjaira is óriási hatással volt, ahol a dj-k olyan soul- és funklemezeket forgattak, melyeknek állandó, erõs lüktetésük van; a jelszó itt is a strong, heavy groove, azaz a ritmus mindenekfelett. A discozene nem egy tiszta mûfaj, hanem keverék: nem "komponálják", hanem "keverik".
Egy jó producer vagy disc jockey gyakorlatilag bármely zenébõl tud discoszámot csinálni.
A legfontosabb a ritmus. Legyen jól táncolható, és ne legyen túl bonyolult. Az alaphangot az alig változó basszusmenetek adják, melyeket rafinált elektronikus hangeffektusok és állandóan ismétlõdõ refrének foglalnak keretbe.
A disco/zene robbanásszerû elterjedése, fejlõdése Európát is lázba hozta.
A discohullámot 1975-ben indította el a Münchenben letelepedett dél-tiroli producer: Giorgio Moroder. Az õ nevéhez fûzõdik a Munich Sound kialakulása, ami az euro-disco kibontakozását idézte elõ.
Az akkor stúdióénekesként mûködõ Donna Summer számára megírta a "Love To Love You Baby" (Szeretem, hogy szeretlek, baby) c. számot, egy szexuálisan izgató nyögésorgiát. A dal szövege alig állt többõl, mint a címe, de a hangeffektusok és az egész ritmikus és technikás dob-körítés a zeneileg egyszerû számból milliós sikert csinált.
Már a nagy lemezcégek is láttak üzletet a discóban; elkezdték nyomni a maxi-és remix-lemezeket, amiken a dj-k munkájának megkönnyítésére feltüntették a bpm-számot is.
1976-ban a disco már közel sem csak a szegény feketék melegedõhelye volt. Sorba nyíltak az elõkelõ, gazdagon berendezett és felszerelt nightclubok. Ezek közül talán a manhattani Studio 54 és a Paradise Garage lett a leghíresebb.
Ez utóbbi nevezetessége, hogy az itt dolgozó zseniális Larry Levan dj-nek köszönhetõen a garage stílus névadója lett.
A dj-k új mixelési technikákat fejlesztettek ki, a lemez hangszerré vált a scratchinggel, a zene tempójára mondott szövegükbõl kialakult a rap.
1977-ben kezdett dolgozni Frankie Knuckles a chicagói "Wharehous"-ban, amit a törzsközönség egyszerûen csak "House"-nak nevezett. Így az a zenei irányzat, amit Knuckles fejlesztett ki az évek során, kapta késõbb a house nevet.
A '70-es évek második felében discosztárok a "királynõ", Donna Summer mellett: Gloria Gaynor, Tina Charles, Billy Ocean, Van McCoy, Heatwave, Village People, Chic és a Bee Gees.
Különösen a Bee Gees ünnepelhette a disco révén nagy visszatérését a nemzetközi listákra. Õk írták a discokultuszfilm, a Saturday Night Fever (Szombat esti láz) filmzenéjét is, (melynek soundtrackje 24 millió példányban kelt el).
A discót, a csillogás és a zene birodalmát, már szinte az élet egyetlen céljaként és értelmeként ábrázolja. A film kiválóan fejezte ki a discogeneráció életérzését.
Ironikus módon a discokultúra legnagyobb alakjának, John Travoltának (is) fehérnek kellett lennie (bár a filmben feketék és fehérek egyaránt szerepeltek, ledöntve a faji korlátokat és hangsúlyozva a diszkó egyesítõ társadalmi hatását).
Ezzel a disco (zene, tánc, életérzés és -stílus) hatása és népszerûsége elérte a csúcsát.
1978-ra a disco Magyarországon is olyan mértékben elterjedt, hogy már kultúrpolitikai szinten is figyelembe kellett venni. És csodák csodájára a vasfüggöny mögötti hazánkban is beköszöntött a disco aranykora.
1979-ben a világméretû fejlõdés megtorpant (nem nálunk és nem miattunk).
A bevételt hajszoló nagy kiadók és producerek azonban találékonyak voltak. Rájöttek, hogy egyszerûbb és olcsóbb dobgépet, szintetizátort és technikai trükköket alkalmazni, mint jó zenészeket.
Mivel a ritmus volt a lényeg, megkezdõdött a zeneművek "diszkósítása", amivel akár Mozart és Beethoven "társszerzõk" is lehettek.
Ezzel olyan folyamat indult el, melyben már nem a zene a fõszereplõ. Ennek káros hatását napjainkban is érezhetjük. Tánczenét jól játszani mindig nehéz volt, de túl könnyûvé vált pénzt keresni a silánnyal!
A klubélet azonban továbbra is pezseg. Juan Atkins és technika-õrült társai Detroitban új elektrohangzással kísérleteztek, aminek eredményét késõbb technónak, illetve electrónak nevezték.
A '80-as évek közepén Chicago clubjaiban egyre több dj készített magának mix ritmusalapot leértékelt szintetizátorok és dobkomputerek segítségével.
Az egyik legjobb dj Pierre volt. Így alakult ki az acid és a techno house.
1985-re az egyénileg készített ritmus- és basszusalapok már általánossá váltak. Az így készült mixeket független chicagói kiadók (pl. Dj International) Anglia és Európa discóiban is terjesztették. Angliában ez a fajta zene annyira eseményszámba ment, hogy nagy partikon ünnepelték, melyek során ismét egy sajátos kultúra, a rave formálódott.
A '90-es években az addig kialakult dance- és electroirányzatok tovább fejlõdtek, keveredtek és ágaztak.
Ez a folyamat napjainkban is folytatódik, és megállapítható, hogy a disco meghatározó szórakozási formája a fiatalok nagy tömegének, és teljes változatosságával uralja a szórakoztató- és zeneipart.
A discozene az évek során gyorsan fejlõdött, változott és egyre több ágra bomlott.
Másrészt folyamatosan olyan táncolható zenék kerültek be a clubokba, melyek máshonnan eredtek. Így olyan változatosság, sokrétűség alakult ki, ami szétfeszítette a "discozene" fogalmát.
Napjainkban a dance és az elektronikus tánczene különféle irányzatai egyaránt népszerûek, de rock és hip-hop, nosztalgia- vagy aktuális sláger is hallható és táncolható a különbözõ klubokban.
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| Noun | disco music - popular dance music (especially in the late 1970s); melodic with a regular bass beat; intended mainly for dancing at discotheques |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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Disco Savvy's Disco Classification System
Disco music developed in the early 1970s to cater to nightclub audiences. For this reason, there is a mostly consistent beat to keep people moving on the dancefloor. The basic tempo of disco is approximately 120 beats per minute (that's about 2 beats per second), with alternating bass and snare drumbeats, and often cymbals filling the gaps between the beats. While most disco falls into the range of 115-130 beats per minute, disco can be as fast as 135-140 beats per minute, or as slow as approximately 100 beats per minute. At a minimum, in addition to the beat (which must be sustained at about 2 beats per second through substantial portions of the song, usually for at least 30 seconds worth), disco usually features a bass guitar player, and often a rhythm guitar player as well. This bass playing usually must be in a disco/funk style rather than the kind of rock style heard in songs like "How Long" by Ace or most of "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard. In the absence of the bass guitar or a synthesized sound indistinguishable from live bass to still qualify as disco the overall sound must trend towards disco rather than electro and there usually must be one of the following combinations: (a) prominent rhythm or rock guitar combined with horns and/or real strings, or (b) prominent real strings combined with two or more other real instruments. If any lyrics can be heard in the song, at least some of those lyrics have to be sung rather than spoken, or else the song is generally classified as rap. Songs are not disco if they have the pattern 2 standard beats per second then 3 beats in the next second and 2 and 3 in succession in the beat pattern that continues; exceptions are hustle-disco songs where the extra beat does not break the consistency in the timing of the other beats and does not sound the same because it is played on a different type of drum.
http://www.discosavvy.com/diversesounds.html
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A Diversity of Sounds in Disco Music
Many people claim "All disco sounds the same." This study will definitively disprove that argument using specific examples showing the incorporation of sounds and motifs from such musical traditions as jazz, reggae, soul, gospel, funk, rock, heavy metal, country, and the music of many cultures around the world (Indians, Brazilians, Cubans, Arabs, Balinese, Chinese, Greeks, etc.).http://www.discosavvy.com/diversesounds.html
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The Ultimate Guide to Disco
An in-depth look at classic Seventies disco music and its history
By Robert Fontenot , About.com Guide
The scope of disco music's influence arguably can't be overstated. After all, it gave rise to an entire area of electronic dance music (i.e., electronica) that exists separate from rock or pop as its own entire field, much in the same way that jazz or classical does. Yet disco was widely reviled during its initial inception by rock fans who perhaps saw just this sort of revolution coming. After disco, dance music and rock music were separated forever.
Before The Beat
Disco was born from two different impulses: the drive to reduce funk music to its simplest, most energetic groove possible, and the continued commercialization (and sentimentality) of post-soul R&B music. Its sleek contours and flashy style appealed to a new generation of upwardly mobile African-Americans immediately.- Funk Music1 The groove that inspired disco, dance music, and hip-hop began with James Brown, more or less... but as with other kinds of history, music history isn't always so simple.
- Philly Soul2 Sweet on top, funky on the bottom, socially aware and yet utopian, equally at home on AM radio or the dance floor, "Philly Soul" -- and Philadelphia International, the label that created it -- was an crucial element in disco's development.
- Oldies Music Playlist 111: The Story Of Disco3 When disco hit in 1977, many suburban fans had no idea that the music had already been a big part of black, Latino, and gay culture for a full half-decade. This more-or-less chronological playlist bears that out.
The Beginning
The disco phenomenon began in urban centers around the US, appealing therefore to several different subcultures at once -- black, Latino, and gay audiences most specifically. As it expanded, it became immediate enough for use in action movies, and, at the other extreme, glossy enough to revive ballroom dancing.- What is disco?4 Love it or hate it, disco was a cultural powerhouse, spawning modern dance music while providing an important signifier for the black, gay, female and Hispanic communities.
- Isaac Hayes5 The "Black Moses of Soul" and the genius behind the "Theme From Shaft," Hayes practically created disco before going on to star in action films and his recurring (and ultimately controversial) role as Chef on TV's South Park.
- Barry White6 R&B's first real (and, some say, still greatest) seducer... Barry brought romance back into soul and experimented with lush arrangements and danceable grooves without which disco would not have been possible.
The Explosion
Disco had become popular enough by 1975 that several white artists began experimenting with the style, but the fad seemed to have died off by the next year -- that is, until the Saturday Night Fever juggernaut gave bored suburbanites a reason to shine on the weekends. As a result, discotheques sprung up like arcades and video stores would for future generations, and several artists who'd already paid their dues took advantage of the new style.- The Bee Gees7 The band that made disco a national phenomenon had already enjoyed a stellar career as Australia's answer to the Beatles, proving themselves a group equally adept at blue-eyed soul, chamber pop, and psychedelia. The fact that they went on to another career as one of the top-selling acts of all time just proves their boundless talent.
- KC and the Sunshine Band8 Had it not been for the Bee Gees, this big-band disco mainstay might well have defined an era. As it was, America's greatest party band ensured their place in music history with their crafty blend of Latin funk, "junkanoo" and disco, not to mention their keen pop songcraft.
- Donna Summer9 The Queen of Disco started out as a novelty singer of sorts, creating "orgasm records" with a proto-electronic flair before barnstorming the pop charts with genre-defining divaesque classics, and ironically injecting a little rock into the genre, as well.
The Legacy
The impact of disco was monumental, coming as it did to a nation that mostly rejected glam and punk and who hadn't had a bonafide cultural phenomenon of such magnitude since Beatlemania. But the very size and scope of its popularity also doomed it to the same fad status it took decades to overcome, and its identification with American subcultures also inspired a major backlash in rock circles.- The Top 10 Biggest Disco Songs10 Disco has two histories -- one as a dance-club style which appealed to the fringes of society and only occasionally poked its head into the top 40, and another as a cultural movement that dominated pop radio so completely it hastened its own demise. This list of the biggest disco records of all time takes both audiences into account.
- Rock Goes Disco11 "Disco Sucks" was the rallying cry of rock and roll fans in the late Seventies, fans who thought that guitar bands were dead on AM radio, during disco's heady 18-month rule. And some rock artists who badly needed to stay afloat on top of the charts -- including many who loved the new sound -- risked alienating their core audience by flirting with the style.
- The Top 10 Worst Disco Songs12 Sure, there are some folks out there who think all disco sucks. But what of the really horrible 45s (and worse, 12" singles) unleashed by the me generation's most monumental fad? The ones that even disco lovers hate? Can you stand to make it through the worst disco had to offer?
- American Idol 2009: Disco Night13 American Idol's disco night was a perfect theme for the struggling hopefuls of the show, most of whom were groomed for pop divadom. Wondering what the originals were like, who performed them first, and where you can buy them? Wonder no more... this list will tell you all you need to know.
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Oldies Music Glossary: "Disco"
By Robert Fontenot , About.com Guide
Definition: Growing out of the late-Sixties funk scene, but also heavily influenced by the soaring, orchestral pop of "Philly Soul," disco often split the difference between the two, packing New York dance clubs, then known as "discotheques," with a relentless, pounding beat. Disco reduced funk to a hard 2/4 stomp, with the bass drum prominent above all else and a syncopated hi-hat pulling the beat back to it on every other beat. In between, rhythmic funk guitars and a walking, almost bouncing bass line kept the groove moving, while the romantic pop of early-Seventies soul riding over the top.While disco had already come and gone as a movement by 1977, the pulse remained to inspire pop, and the sleeper 1978 film Saturday Night Fever ignited a resurgence that took the glitzy glam of disco to the heartland of America. What had been a phenomenon limited to the gay, black, and Hispanic urban centers of the country became ubiquitous among bored whites desperately looking for a cultural movement in late-Seventies America. Disco's popularity exploded to insane lengths from January 1978 through October 1979, dominating pop culture to such a degree that it threatened to kill off rock and r&b completely -- or, at the very least, remove it from Top 40 radio.
The resulting disco backlash was also partially motivated by the fact that disco was a music heavily favored and influenced by the margins of society -- blacks, gays, Hispanics, and women. The explosion of New Wave in the summer of 1979 helped kill the phenomenon off, but disco's immense popularity was truly the source of its own demise. The style, however, essentially laid the foundations of what we today consider "dance music" and "electronica," and the earliest hip-hop clubs and artists began forming in the late Seventies as a direct reaction and homage to the simple, powerful disco beat.
The resulting disco backlash was also partially motivated by the fact that disco was a music heavily favored and influenced by the margins of society -- blacks, gays, Hispanics, and women. The explosion of New Wave in the summer of 1979 helped kill the phenomenon off, but disco's immense popularity was truly the source of its own demise. The style, however, essentially laid the foundations of what we today consider "dance music" and "electronica," and the earliest hip-hop clubs and artists began forming in the late Seventies as a direct reaction and homage to the simple, powerful disco beat.
Also Known As: Dance music, R&B
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The Top 10 Biggest Disco Songs
The most popular dance club hits of '70s disco
By Robert Fontenot , About.com Guide
Disco music started as an urban phenomenon in the middle of the decade, died off, then (thanks to the movie Saturday Night Fever suddenly exploded into an exponentially more popular suburban phenomenon. As a result, the genre has two histories -- one as a dance-club style which appealed to the fringes of society and only occasionally poked its head into the top 40, and another as a cultural movement that dominated pop radio so completely it created its own monumental backlash. This list of the biggest disco records of all time takes both audiences into account.
1. "Bad Luck," Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes1
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With a groove just complicated enough to be funky, yet simple enough for anyone to follow, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' high-energy, propulsive brand of Philly Soul -- always present in extended versions -- was a crucial building block for disco. This hard-times polemic could have only made it onto the dance floor in disco's original era, before it became weekend diversion for suburbanites and the beautiful people at Studio 54. But that's also a large source of its appeal: the post-Watergate anger it taps into perfectly dovetails into the black self-determination groove at the heart of the genre's origins. And it worked, ruling the dance charts so hard that it took Michael Jackson's Thriller to match the record of weeks at #1.
2. "I Love Music," O'Jays4
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A bit more in keeping with the emerging style's themes of carefree hedonism, this extended track jettisoned most of the funk and protest from their usual groove and made with the romance: this disco giant proves its point about music being the "healing force of all the world" with a sumptuous feast of swooping strings and majestic horns that would become staples of the genre, and throws in a tasty, rockish guitar solo to boot.
3. "Le Freak," Chic7
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Famously composed by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards after being denied entrance to Studio 54, despite being very nearly rich and famous, this song finally made the duo both. It also, not coincidentally, introduced a funkier, sleeker style of disco, built around heavier percussive effects and slicker guitar runs, that would come to define dance music in the early part of the next decade. Returning home after being snubbed, the two originally wrote a song called "f*** off!" then sanitized the f-bomb to "freak." Finally, Nile hit upon the simple idea of freaking out, and the country did just that.
4. "You Should Be Dancing," Bee Gees10
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It's forgotten now, but the Bee Gees had begun their march towards disco three full years before Saturday Night Fever with "Jive Talkin'" and this super hot number. In fact, the Brothers Gibb (along with producer Arif Mardin, a man who knew his groove) proved themselves quite prescient with the 2/4 punch of this smash; it helped write many of the rhythmic rules that transformed slick romantic R&B into a national phenomenon with its hot mix of Latin percussion, modern keys, and galloping horns. Travolta practiced all his SNF moves to this.
5. "Hot Stuff," Donna Summer13
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By 1979, disco had begun to weary the mainstream, who saw it as a threat to rock and roll. So disco, as American pop music always does, merely appropriated the offended audience by adding wailing guitars and a harder beat; this huge smash by disco's forever-reigning diva is a perfect example of how it worked. It also didn't hurt that Summer was very explicit (for the time) about her hormonal urges, which, while a great career move, troubled her so deeply she eventually became a born-again Christian. Or maybe it was being dubbed "The First Lady of Love."
6. "Brazil," The Ritchie Family16
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The Ritchie Family weren't a family at all, or even a group at first, just a collection of studio musicians (and occasional singers) put together by Jacques Morali, the later brainchild behind the Village People. At this point, however, he was cannily retooling old '30s swing melodies for the dance floor, adding a trick or two shamelessly borrowed from recent proto-disco hits. Ironically, the followup "The Best Disco In Town," a straight-up unapologetic medley of disco favorites, didn't sell quite as well.
7. "Village People," (EP) Village People19
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Billboard often listened entire albums on their dance charts in the early days, since the distinctions between an EP and a 12-inch single and a dance album were often blurry. This debut, for example, features just four songs in under twenty minutes, most of which have the same general beats and BPM, making it eligible for inclusion. No "YMCA" or "Macho Man" hits here -- producer Jacques Morali was, at this point, still aiming directly at his gay audience with titles that shouted out Fire Island, San Francisco, and Hollywood. It's also the group's best album, or single, or what have you, lacking the cartoonishness that would come to categorize some of their later work.
8. "Don't Leave Me This Way," Thelma Houston22
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Although many regard "I Will Survive" as the ultimate disco diva move, this song actually moved more units, hopefully not because there were still more females begging for their lovers not to leave than those ready to change the locks. Originally another Gamble/Huff creation for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the era-defining bass line on this one may be the true star, even as Thelma soars gloriously over it. And despite the lyrics, she certainly sounds confident enough, which may mean that sexual liberation may be the real reason this one has even more cover versions than "Survive."
9. "Disco Inferno," The Trammps25
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The monster disco anthem of them all, both in length (a nearly 11-minute finale on the Saturday Night Fever double album) and in presentation: Sousa himself couldn't have asked for a more majestic horn/string section than this one. Or maybe, as some versions of the mythology have it, the mixers were set incorrectly, resulting in a volume and presence that should have been rejected by the RIAA but weren't. Tasteless for referencing the 1974 disaster movie The Towering Inferno? Maybe. But it's hard to argue with that, or with the way these guys deftly reclaim "burn, baby, burn" from the Black Power movement, when the groove is this hot.
10. "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," Sylvester28
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Classic-era disco's most popular gay artist made his biggest impression on his core audience with this song, which nevertheless failed to struggle up from the depths of the pop charts. No matter: the glitzy, glittery, synth-arpeggiated beat helped set the stage for electrofunk and the dance music to come, while Sly's unabashedly diva-esque vocal set the stage for decades of gay male disco falsettoes. And we have none other to thank for some of this than co-producer Harvey Fuqua. That's right, of the Moonglows.
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