The Joy of Disco
Disco was one of the most important musical and social movements in the last century in the late 1960's through to early 1970's which occurred just after the sexual revolution in 1969. Disco started with a community consisting of black people, latinos and homosexuals finding a place to socialise, enjoy and express themselves to music while being hidden from the rest of a society that would discriminate them because of their sexuality or race.
In the 1940s, two small basement nightclubs called La Discotheque and Whiskey A-Go-Go opened up in Paris, which made them forerunners for European night life and future nightclubs in the disco era.
In 1965, the trendy Arthur (one of Manhattan's most popular celebrity nightclubs) opened and it was there that DJ Terry Noel became the first DJ (disc jockey) to mix records.
From then on, many nightclubs started opening up in larger numbers with DJs to the point where DJs playing their records became a normal and it was mainly to just encourage the black, Latino and homosexual community to enjoy themselves and socialise.
Further down the line, a Jamaican-born American DJ named Kool Herc was a disc jockey at a party in the recreation room in Sedgwick Avenue and that's where the Hip Hop genre was born.
Like the homosexual community, black people are attracted to the disco scene as well because they were also the social outcasts of society because of their skin colour.
Music of the disco era is heavily influenced by Funk and R&B which both derive from black origin. Even though black people were seen as the underdogs of society, not being successful in their music careers because of their race, the disco scene said otherwise as black artists started to see more success in their careers and even making some songs that are well-known today such as:
Disco was on the front line leading up to the sexual revolution. Now that the discrimination against black people and latinos had finally calmed down enough for them to actually have the same equal rights as the white community, it was now the homosexual community that was being discriminated against.
During the 1960's and 1970's, if someone was a homosexual, they would be looked upon as though they had a mental illness or a disease and as America's most common religion is Christianity, being a homosexual would be committing a sin.
'Boys Beware' is a good example of how homosexuals were perceived in the 1960s, coming to the conclusion that homosexuality was a mental illness as well as being mistaken for being a child molester.
Beyond the sexual revolution, homosexuality has been accepted in some communities to the point where they are seen as just normal people now. In comparison to 'Boys Beware', an advert that was released by Channel 4 protests against anti-homosexuality, showing that people should be proud to be homosexual. There is a big contrast between the two.
Disco changed the world, not just musically but fashion wise, different styles of dancing and the way women were seen at that time.
As well as homosexuals, women were also victimised and discriminated because of the sexuality of their gender. Before the disco era, female artists were never seen as sex symbols, in fact, female artists were expected to stand up by the microphone singing about love and relationships (i.e. Andrea True) and would never think of acting the way artists of today would act on stage.
Artists like; Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Madonna sing and perform their songs while wearing revealing outfits, performing sexually provocative dances to the audience and overall their songs being lyrically inappropriate.
Here are some examples of the way female artists are perceived nowadays in contrast to female artists in the disco era;
Andrea True - More More More
Compared to;
Rihanna - Rude Boy
The videos above show the contrast in explicit behaviour during the two songs. Although most female artists of the disco era weren't as sexually 'open' during their performances as the ones of today, there were a few artists such as Donna Summer who sexually expressed themselves on stage.
Donna Summer was one of the first women in disco to sing about sex and dance on stage.
At this point in the disco era, Women started to become sexually objectified. Putting half naked women or fully nude women on album covers was normal when trying to make money selling music because women were just seen as sexual objects used to show off or take pride in but at the same time there was also misogyny.
The Ring's Savage Lover album cover is an example of the sexual objectification on women at the time of the disco era.
In 1965, the trendy Arthur (one of Manhattan's most popular celebrity nightclubs) opened and it was there that DJ Terry Noel became the first DJ (disc jockey) to mix records.
From then on, many nightclubs started opening up in larger numbers with DJs to the point where DJs playing their records became a normal and it was mainly to just encourage the black, Latino and homosexual community to enjoy themselves and socialise.
Further down the line, a Jamaican-born American DJ named Kool Herc was a disc jockey at a party in the recreation room in Sedgwick Avenue and that's where the Hip Hop genre was born.
Like the homosexual community, black people are attracted to the disco scene as well because they were also the social outcasts of society because of their skin colour.
Music of the disco era is heavily influenced by Funk and R&B which both derive from black origin. Even though black people were seen as the underdogs of society, not being successful in their music careers because of their race, the disco scene said otherwise as black artists started to see more success in their careers and even making some songs that are well-known today such as:
Disco was on the front line leading up to the sexual revolution. Now that the discrimination against black people and latinos had finally calmed down enough for them to actually have the same equal rights as the white community, it was now the homosexual community that was being discriminated against.
During the 1960's and 1970's, if someone was a homosexual, they would be looked upon as though they had a mental illness or a disease and as America's most common religion is Christianity, being a homosexual would be committing a sin.
'Boys Beware' is a good example of how homosexuals were perceived in the 1960s, coming to the conclusion that homosexuality was a mental illness as well as being mistaken for being a child molester.
Beyond the sexual revolution, homosexuality has been accepted in some communities to the point where they are seen as just normal people now. In comparison to 'Boys Beware', an advert that was released by Channel 4 protests against anti-homosexuality, showing that people should be proud to be homosexual. There is a big contrast between the two.
Disco changed the world, not just musically but fashion wise, different styles of dancing and the way women were seen at that time.
As well as homosexuals, women were also victimised and discriminated because of the sexuality of their gender. Before the disco era, female artists were never seen as sex symbols, in fact, female artists were expected to stand up by the microphone singing about love and relationships (i.e. Andrea True) and would never think of acting the way artists of today would act on stage.
Artists like; Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Madonna sing and perform their songs while wearing revealing outfits, performing sexually provocative dances to the audience and overall their songs being lyrically inappropriate.
Here are some examples of the way female artists are perceived nowadays in contrast to female artists in the disco era;
Andrea True - More More More
Compared to;
Rihanna - Rude Boy
The videos above show the contrast in explicit behaviour during the two songs. Although most female artists of the disco era weren't as sexually 'open' during their performances as the ones of today, there were a few artists such as Donna Summer who sexually expressed themselves on stage.
Donna Summer was one of the first women in disco to sing about sex and dance on stage.
At this point in the disco era, Women started to become sexually objectified. Putting half naked women or fully nude women on album covers was normal when trying to make money selling music because women were just seen as sexual objects used to show off or take pride in but at the same time there was also misogyny.
The Ring's Savage Lover album cover is an example of the sexual objectification on women at the time of the disco era.
Up to this day, nothing much has changed, female artists are still being sexually objectified, although now some female artists actually objectify themselves or allow themselves to be objectified.
Lady Gaga is one of the biggest examples of sexual objectification, to the point where she actually allowed an artist to drink paint and regurgitate it all over Gaga on stage for pleasure for the audience.
Before the fame, Lady Gaga looked like the most average person in the world, but as soon as she got used to the lifestyle of being famous, she changed her persona as well as her appearance completely.
Before After
Here are some examples of Lady Gaga's music, you'll notice the various outfits and sexually provocative dances included.
Disco in the US was happening at the same time as Punk was in the UK. Although they are quite similar in the sense that the 'outcasts of society' were drawn to these genres of music in order to make a statement or to make a stand against the government. However, the differences between the two is that Disco music at the time was made for homosexuals, black people and latinos for a way to express themselves, socialise and to evade the harsh treatment from society.
Punk however, was seen to be for lower class or 'ruffians', which not a lot of people really liked. Also, the lyrical content used in Punk is very coarse compared to Disco music which normally lacks lyrical content but is mainly used for dancing. Whereas in disco music where people actually need to have knowledge of their instrument, Punk music encourages having no music training. In Sniffin' Glue (a magazine focusing on punk or punk zine), there is a line that says 'this is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band'[1], this gives most people the impression that anyone can start a punk band just from buying a guitar and learning a few chords. The Sex Pistols are a prime example of what Punk is made out to be, even off-stage they were a very rude bunch of people who didn't have a care in the world about what people thought of them.
[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniffin'_Glue
