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Thump-thump-thump. '70s disco songs you actually liked


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Time to potentially embarrass yourself...and I'll go first.

Yes, this genre wasn't too guitar-oriented but I'd backed away from music anyway for a few years following a 1977 divorce. I started paying attention to disco on accounta it seemed popular with wimmen, and I was trying to get back into, er, circulation. And that's true for a lot of would-be players (even weekend warriors).

From '80-'83 I ran a portable disco system that was financially successful for a part-time/weekend effort, and being a deejay also got me laid on occasion, just like being a musician did.

So I was never a hardcore fan, but some of the sonic facets were somewhat interesting and fun to listen to (and I preferred instrumental stuff).  I get a bit nostalgic (it's only been about 45 years)  if I pull up the following online:

Santa Esmeralda: "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "House of the Rising Sun"--reworking old Animals songs was shrewd ploy by whoever produced this. 

Donna Summer: "I Feel Love"---on accounta the Giorgio Moroder electronics. Ditto the extended version of his theme to Midnight Express.

Meco: Encounters of Every Kind (Side One)---Lotta fun with the movie theme allusions (I was  particularly imbued with the play on the Magnficent Seven/Marlboro Country theme) This was Meco's second album ; the first (a huge hit) was based on Star Wars and was fun, as was Side One of the followup but it seemed to go downhill after that IMO.

Kebekelektrik---Canadian instrumental fare, apparently inspired by Moroder.

Seemed like things got back on track RE interpolating crunchy guitars with the them from The Warriors (1979).

One wonders how many HFCers would cop to listening to such music, even back in the day.

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Disco, Rap and Hip Hop all fall squarely in the 'stab-my-eardrums-with-a-screwdriver' category for me. No thank you.

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Top Ten Revealed on AXS-TV just did an episode on this topic.

For me, I was fond of several Donna Summer songs.  "More, More, More" by Andrea True Connection.  "Turn The Beat Around" by Vickie Sue Robinson.  Pretty much the whole Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

It's like any genre - there was some good stuff, and there was some crap.

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There aren't many straight-up disco hits that come to mind, but I do shamelessly enjoy More Than A Woman by The BeeGees.

But I love a lot of the disco-era offerings from primarily non-disco bands- Rapture by Blondie, Miss You by the Stones, parts of PF's The Wall, etc...

Four on the floor, baby.

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Lemme clarify something: For me, there was all the difference in the world between listening to this kind of music as personal entertainment vs. being compelled to play it at country clubs or wedding receptions (you'd grit your teeth while grinning during a performance). Note the aftermarket stick-on letters on one of my backup basses from that era., an '85 Peavey Foundation Custom,,.and the same expression appeared on other backup basses. 

Foundation Death B4 Disco.jpg

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I liked a lot of that stuff back in the day. I still like a wide variety of music, other people's opinions be damned.

Then I traded a disco album for Cheap Trick Heaven Tonight and I was off to the races for more guitar oriented music. 

Some of the guitar parts were pretty cool like Stayin' Alive... well, at least one! Actually, a lot of incredible discoish, funk parts from Nile Rodgers, especially with Chic, but so many more.

I liked Blondie which Incorporated some of that sound but in more of a rockish format. I liked Atomic by them.

Donna summer, Andrea true connection, sat night fever, TGIF soundtrack etc. 

 

I liked how Len sampled Andrea True connection more, more, more on their hit Steal My Sunshine.

 

The blocky keys chord part with the cool sonar sounding cowbell sound. At least that's what I call it! 

 

Plus the chick is real cute! Great Summer song!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The bass line from "Ring My Bell" is a slap-and-pop thumb classic to me. Never dug the disco genre. But that song is always a "dump the treble, boost the sub" song for me.

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2 hours ago, Willie G. Moseley said:

Lemme clarify something: For me, there was all the difference in the world between listening to this kind of music as personal entertainment vs. being compelled to play it at country clubs or wedding receptions (you'd grit your teeth while grinning during a performance). Note the aftermarket stick-on letters on one of my backup basses from that era., an '85 Peavey Foundation Custom,,.and the same expression appeared on other backup basses. 

Foundation Death B4 Disco.jpg

I was born in 1970 so I was too young have been part of the disco sucks crowd although as a teen in the 80s that was a hard rock guitar nerd I copped that attitude. Listening to it later in life though I can't imagine being a bassist playing disco covers and not having a good ass time.

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At the time, I hated it with a passion. Now I can hear a few select songs that I enjoy, both for the nostalgia and for the hooks... Boogie Shoes, and That's The way I Like It, come to mind. I can't believe I'm admitting this.

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 Almost anything with Bernard Edwards, & Nile Rogers made a pretty big footprint on pop music post-chic: the ripples spread out long after the splash.  Ever listen closely to a Verdine White bass line?

 I find quite a bit pretty listenable from that era&genre. Maybe I'll dig through some cds after work...    

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I pretended to hate it. I actually took disco dance lessons with my GF at the time..,,and completely  unbeknownst to me, my drummer at the time was doing the same! Lol our eyes locked and said “We tell no one”.

Disco-had the groove…,all about that kick drum. I confess, I dug it all and still do,but it doesn’t move me like rnr does.

Does that redeem me at all…?

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I really put a hard 15 seconds into this subject and came up blank... I hid in Texas and Southern Rock music during those years. 

No Disco... not even as sex music.....

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Back in the day, it was difficult to avoid Disco music on the radio, no matter how hard I tried.  And I wasn't gonna listen to Country tunes like 'Convoy', either. <_<

There are a few 'Disco' songs/earworms worthy of remembering, IMO:

With a title like 'Disco Inferno', it's kinda hard to tell if it's a pro-Disco song, or an anti-Disco song:

Can't forget this one either, with the Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter guitar solo on the original record:

 

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