I’m a disco baby, suckled at the breasts of Evelyn “Champagne” King, Donna Summer, Sister Sledge, Thelma Houston, Gloria Gaynor, and Vicki Sue Robinson. I writhed in the throes of ecstasy with Chic, Trammps, Sylvester, the BeeGees, Kool and the Gang, Tavares, and Heatwave.
I’m a dancer, and life’s lucky break was living through the remarkable evolution of dance music. From the 50’s early rock ‘n roll of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, the 60’s of Motown soul of The Miracles and The Supremes, to the 70’s Disco, I was on the dance floor. I ignored Hard-Rock, the 80’s New Wave, the heavy metal, glam rock, and the hip-hop scene, as well as the 90’s Grunge – dance music, new and old, was still easy to find on modern radio and in dance clubs across the world.
Interestingly, in the 90’s, a rock/soul/disco sound called BritPop took the world (and music videos) by storm. The massively popular dance tunes by artists such as Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga put a lot of young people back on the dance floor with me.
The much ridiculed Disco sound is the grandmother of the 00’s electronic dance music, and is featured on the multiplatinum albums of many modern-day pop stars. Disco legends Chic and Giorgio Moroder, were responsible for the Daft Punk’s Grammy-winning smash “Random Access Memories” two years ago. Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s “Blurred Lines” and Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk”, were heavily borrowed from older classics. It seems current songwriters need disco producers to guarantee success!
Tweens and millennials are re-discovering that disco is musical, melodic and fun, but they are making a mistake if they only listen to today’s hipster produced “Nu Disco”. Show a little respect for the original and tune in to some of the original top 30 Disco songs, as voted on by readers of Soul Tracks.
Click above, or paste this link into your browser: http://www.soultracks.com/best-disco