What is Disco?

…Disco is not only music-it’s a lifestyle, a cult, a mood. The disco scene has set everyone dancing again, dancing in the old-new way, with a partner, following planned steps. Doing the hustle, doing the bus stop, doing the bump – As for disco music, it’s characterized by a steady rhythm, a driving beat reminiscent of the old Motown sound.

According to research by producer Carl Maults-By, all disco music fits into a metronomic range of 108 to 126 cycles per minute. It has its base in R&B, but it’s heightened by Latin and symphonic sounds as well. Probably the key element in disco sound is rhythm

The sound’s tinselly-strings, horns and cymbals are a vital part of it.

Disco, however, is much more than congas, strings and metronomic ranges. Van McCoy has described discomusic as a “flashback”. The sound’s a reflection of what was happening ten years ago in Detroit.

The costumes tend to be nostalgic; many of the songs are old songs, slightly altered. It is happy, lightweight sound.

What is disco? Disco is the sound of the Sixties, changed and adorned, to provide the escapism of the Seventies.*

Keepin’ Disco Alive!

Read: Hot Stuff and the Remaking of the American Culture

Listen: 70’s Disco Radio