Discotheque

In 1957, Regine Zylberberg (known simply as Regine) opened up the Chez Regine club in Paris, which was widely regarded as the world’s first discotheque.  She could not afford live music, so her patrons danced to a jukebox, and this became an empire of glittering playgrounds for the Beautiful People in Paris, New York and beyond.  The basement nightclub was located on a backstreet in Paris, and she decided to replace the jukebox with two turntables so there was no gap in the music making her the first-ever club disc jockey.  What are now usually called “disco balls” were patented in 1917 and widely used in nightclubs in the 1920s, being originally called a mirror ball.  Disco mirror balls are reflective spheres that rotate to produce disco effects and having one makes it an instant party.  It does not spin to the music, as it rotates of its own accord in both directions, and it can even come to a full stop.  Disco balls played a critical role in this culture, but Disco was not actually a music genre, it was more about the infectious up-tempo dancing that saw its heyday in the 1970s.

Disco originated in underground clubs in the late 1960s and became the hottest music in the world for the following decade.  In April 1977, the disco scene reached its peak as Studio 54 opened up in midtown Manhattan.  NYC had several Disco nightclubs and many of them catered to gays like the Paradise Garage also known as the “Gay rage”, or the Cock Ring, GG’s Barnum Room, Crisco Disco, The Anvil, and the Mudd Club.  The club scene prior to disco was primarily for heterosexual couples and dancing, but disco was more than the dance hall, it was also a drug den, a bar that was used for hookups and a pickup joint.  Disco music was introduced to the nightlife scene as a way to escape the rising social and economic issues of the era, such as war, political scandal, gang violence, unemployment, and soaring crime rates.  The increasing race riots and homophobia of the 1960s led to unsafe spaces for people of color and members of the gay community.  Disco music became popular in 1977 because of the success of the film Saturday Night Fever which starred John Travolta.  Popular disco acts included Donna Summer, The Village People, Gloria Gaynor, Kool & the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band, the Bee Gees, Rick James, and Sister Sledge.  Systemic racism and homophobia led to the decline of and eventual downfall of disco, as people began to rebel against the disco culture and what it represented, turning on something that they once enjoyed by declaring that disco sucks.

Last week we had Decades of Female Music where the theme was to find music by girl groups.  This week the theme is to find disco music.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the John Paul Young song ‘Love is in the Air’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Sunshine’ by Atmosphere.  The upcoming prompts will be:
May 28, 2023 – Hip-Hop Rap
June 4, 2023 – Blues
June 11, 2023 – British Music suggested by Barbara from teleportingweena ghostmmnc
June 18, 2023 – Songs from the British Invasion suggested by Clive from Take It Easy