Hell.

Somebody made a new song from a sample of "Lowdown"?!? Geez, that takes me back. When I worked for an L.A. Radio Guy in the late '70s (mid-disco era), I made 'loops' of the instrumental intros/bridges of then-popular songs (mostly disco because they had the longest non-vocal parts) for use as background music for live commercials and scripted comedy bits. "Lowdown" was his fave, and he used it as often as the next half-dozen combined. It pretty much became his theme song, and everybody (but him) at the station was SICK of it. But I digress.

Don't you mean "late 70s rock & soul"? I'm not in any position to give you too much of a low-down, as I've never cared much for disco, but my understanding of its evolution goes something like this:

R&B => Soul => Funk => Disco

And James Brown (RIP) figures in there, I'd wager.

Heh, I said "low-down". Totally unintentional, I swear.

No way -- late 60s, bmarkey. By the time it was as popular as it was in the late 70s, the origin phase was over.

And I guess my inquistiveness centers on this: artistic styles don't evolve of their own accord; they move forward via the influence of innovators. Who were the innovators of disco? Who was listening to 60s R & B, soul, Latin, and pop, and thought of a new way to combine them, creating a new sound?

Can you give me an example of 60s disco? Not challenging your assertion or anything, I'm just genuinely curious.

No, I don't think there is any 60s disco. I'm just saying that disco's earliest iterations, appearing in 1971-73, grew out of musical ideas available in the late 60s.

I (who was there) feel that Disco music wasn't so much created by musical creators as it literally evolved at the discotheques, where the DJs put together long blocks of continuous dance music with consistent beats (mostly R&B). They loved it when somebody did a 7-8 minute long version of a 3 minute radio hit, and record companies realized they were good promotion tools, so everybody with a beat started issuing "disco versions". Again, the DJs were looking for a constant, heavy beat and the music was more and more built for that, and thusly, got more monotonous and more monotonous. The "Philly Sound" (Spinners, O'Jays) was considered more disco than Motown, "Funk" was considered "TOO funky" (contributing to "disco's" well deserved reputation for blandness), Barry White's 'seduction music' also worked as vertical dancing music, Georgio Moroder did euro-techno-disco but hit it big with Donna Summer's moaning vocals, and the Bee Gees made a massive comeback by switching from ballads to disco-beat songs, then got the plum job of doing the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever", which defined disco dancing and disco music after that. Am I missing anything?

History of the discotheque
Disco music
Eeeeexcellent VH1 site with good links and some analysis

During WW2 some clubs in Paris could not find bands to play and so someone would spin records to entertain the clientele. These places came to be called Discotheques, roughly translated as disc libraries. In the early 50's Regine Zylberberg started the Whisky a Go Go in Paris. More clubs followed in Paris. In the 60's she opened high profile clubs in London and NY. With the release of Saturday Night Fever disco took off. Regine opened clubs all over the world. Copy cat clubs opened on every corner.

As the bloom wore of the rose DJs began to do more scratchin and mixin and just messing with mixes. i think that is why I so hate mp3 mash-ups and mixes. Been there done that kinda thing.

I was a Regine DJ and met the great women in 1978.

And what wendell said.
Regine's site.

See, this is why the intertubes are so great: I can actually learn something while screwing around at work.

Wow... I went into another thread for a moment, and look at all the answers!

When I said Hell, I must admit that was my contemporary answer. When disco was current, I hated it. Absolutely.

Now, when I hear an old Donna Summer song or something in that vain, I love it.

wendell? arse? you rock.

when I hear an old Donna Summer song ...I love it.

Yeah; in retrospect, you realize what a cool, smooth, easy-to-get-into, focused sound it is.

"wendell? arse? you rock."
OK I am rocking.

Now what?

Yeah, I'm kinda in the Doohickie camp, I guess. I still tend to give the genre as a whole a wide berth, but over time I've come to appreciate how great Chic were, definitely. I dig "I Feel Love" to a certain extent (although I haven't heard it in ages so I'm just going on memory). After that, I can't really think of much.

#bunny nonmyopicdave found this cool oral history.

Yay! I has a camp!

My attraction to the Disco darkside came from being a radio DJ and my love of Parliament, Funkadelic, George Clinton, P.Funk All-Stars, and Bootsy Collins. Also, I was under age and got to drink, toke and party with hot older women.

Yay! I has a camp!

That reminds me: I've been meaning to talk to you about the porcupine in my tent. He's been getting kinda testy since I ran out of Cliff bars.

"... Yeah; in retrospect, you realize what a cool, smooth, easy-to-get-into, focused sound it is."
posted by Miko 06 January

Nah, you're talkin' about the pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers there, kid.

My pet theory derives from Newton's "equal and opposite reaction". Disco was as much a rebellion to dinosaur rock as punk was, just in the other direction.

The late 70s was an explosion of music; even rap was working its way up out of NYC's gay clubs. I think that right now we are in the second or third year of another explosion that will peak in another three or four years.

This thread is worthless without snide comments from jonmc.

The definitive answer is: Manu Dibango's Soul Makossa

Previously

Where did disco come from?!?

Hell.

the pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers there, kid.

Agreed, sorta.

the pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers there, kid.

Agreed, sorta.

If I had to pick one starting point, and I'm glad I don't, it might be James Brown's trip to Nigeria, where the JB camp met up with the Fela camp.

Just like when Bob Dylan got the Beatles zooted, this cross-cultural meeting is critically important, even though it's probably exaggerated and possibly borderline-apocryphal.

Also, have you disco-likers heard the deluxe reissue version of Diana Ross' Diana album (y'know, the one with 'Upside Down' and 'I'm Coming Out')? As you may know, it was produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, and so it's basically a Chic album with Diana Ross singing. But Motown didn't like the Rodgers/Edwards mix, so they gave it to one of their house producers and asked him to, y'know, tone things down a little. But the original Chic mix is included, in full, on the reissue, and it's much, much better--more raw and alive. If you're into that kind of thing (disco, Diana Ross solo albums), I'd highly recommend it.