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  1. I can definitely recommend the two compilations put out under David Mancuso’s name dedicated to The Loft, one of the first disco venues. Here’s a partial playlist:

    I’ve also got this playlist which I think was based on the Bill Brewster book, ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ :

  2. This Is Memorial Device twitter/Bluesky account out out their 60 Greatest Disco Tracks which has almost all of the big hitters* and some unexpected pleasures.

    * Although Baccara’s Yes Sir, I Can Boogie is notable by it’s absence.

  8. Disco is alive and well today in 2025.

    There’s the wonderful Jungle.

    Then there’s funky pastichist Bruno Mars

    And Rammstein of course…..

    If you want a modern floorfiller, you can’t beat Robyn. Her backing vocalist in this clip isn’t too bad either either.

    A floorfiller from Brazil.

  12. It’s your lucky day @Junior. I’ve found the perfect artist for an Aussie disco party, Avilo Longomba.

    Not only does he have a troupe of lively dancers, he also has a whacking great snake. Whip tht out on te dancefloor and things will get very interesting.

    Someone mentioned Tiggs.

    No dance thread is complete without him…

    Very sad to hear that he has left us.

    Roy Ayers definitely deserves a place on your playlist.

  14. Some disco is great pop music as well as dance music, some only works in a club. My favourite is funky disco. A few examples:

    T Connection – Do What You Wanna Do

    Hamilton Bohannon – Let’s Start The Dance

    Quincy Jones – Stuff Like That

  19. from the album Discosis (which is very funky throughout) it’s this brilliant track from Bran Van 3000 with vocals by the masterful Curtis Mayfield (If I remember correctly it was his final recorded vocals)

    time to get Astounded

  24. Very glad to see the magnificent Janelle Monae appearing on this thread. Thanks @exilepj.

    She is a quite stupendous live artist.

    And so are LCD Soundsystem..

    How did we get so far wíthout mentioning Daft Punk?

    The undisputed kings of the modern dance floor.

    Well, almost undisputed. Outkast were equally irresistible…

    as were Gnarls Barkeley…

  25. There you go @Junior Wells

    This should keep you and the rest of us pleasantly occupied…

    I’m hoping that this thread will chuggle along all weekend, unearthing gems of dancefloor fabulousness.

    I’d better mention Sophie or there’ll be murder on the dance floor…

      • Oh, I ‘m no expert – I’m not sure I Iike disco that much – too camp for me. But it’s a clear subgenre of dance music – “typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars” that emerged in the US in the seventies. There are elements of funk to it as well.

        Some of the music above – African, 80s pop, 90s dance – are great tunes, but just not disco. For example, I really like System 7 – Habibi, sometimes more than Screamadelica, which I bought on the same day, but there’s no way I would describe it as disco. Where are the horns, the brass, the strings of classic disco?

        • The classic, original disco sound, smeared in sickly strings, can be rather awful. The clean, pared down Chic approach is preferable. More synth driven is also better. Cerrone’s Supernature is among the best kind of disco I think.

        • I don’t think there is a correct definition of disco. Definitions that are used today, don’t always apply to records which were popular in New York discos (which is where it came from) in the early 70s.

          Manu Dibango’s Soul Makossa was considered by some as the first disco record. It was the first hit that got in the charts entirely through exposure in discos, rather than radio play. One of my sisters was very into “disco”. Her record collection consisted of stuff like James Brown, Fatback Band and War – funk as we know it today.

          An explanation which I like, is disco music is music which was made to be played in discos, not to be played live.

  29. There’s a definite distinction between “Disco” as a musical style, described pretty accurately above by @salwarpe, and records that were made for dancing to, which are well represented above in the thread but are not “Disco”.

    • You hit the nail on the head there, @Mike-H.

      I will happily confess to contributing to the tendency to posting songs here
      that are great dance records bur not Disco which Sal defined so well.

      I do enjoy it when everyone starts dusting off their floor-filling favourites, old and new.

      • Not being a Disco Boy, I’m just as guilty as you of straying into those areas of the dancefloor that aren’t Disco.
        I’m unrepentant. Anything that makes me jump up and wiggle (badly) is alright by me.

          • Great choice @fitterstoke. Go for it. Mike H is so right. Any music that makes us jump up and wiggle (badly) belongs on this thread.

            I hadn’t realised, until I began foraging around for this thread, that Roxy Music were a great inspiration to CHIC. Here’s Nile Rodgers explaining it all.

            As a great fan of both bands, I was delighted to learn about that connection.

  30. The Backbeats label had a compilation album out of independent New York Disco from the 70s out a while back. It’s called Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah and is on Apple Music apparently. Details below:

    https://www.allmusic.com/album/yowsah-yowsah-yowsah-70s-new-york-disco-mw0002041796

    It’s really good.

    I think you can divide Disco into two eras. The first was from about 1974-78 and includes things like Turn the Beat Around, Philadelphia International and Saturday Night Fever. Lots of strings. Kinda camp. The second was from 1979 to about 1982, and includes, well lots of things really, everybody went disco in 1979, but it’s characterised by a harder drum sound, synths and fewer strings. Not so camp. Think Giorgio Moroder or Funkytown.

    I like both, but prefer the former. I don’t think anyone has mentioned Native New Yorker by Odyssey yet, so I will.

  31. Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah. I knew that expression from Chic’s first single, @Hawkfall.

    But what does it mean? Where doe sit come from?

    wiki provided the answer

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance,_Dance,_Dance_(Yowsah,_Yowsah,_Yowsah)

    The “yowsah, yowsah, yowsah” part of the title, which appears as a spoken interjection in the middle of the song, originated with the American jazz violinist and radio personality Ben Bernie, who popularized it in the 1920s. The phrase was revived in 1969 by They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, a film about a Depression-era dance marathon.

    According to co-writer Nile Rodgers,

    Bernard came to my apartment one day and he had laid out the complete lyric, but we wanted to add a catch phrase, so we went through a few ideas like “23 skidoo” and “Oh, you kid” and all that stuff. We had in mind something like the old dance marathons, where the emcees made the people dance, and finally we thought of how Gig Young kept saying “Yowsah, yowsah, yowsah” in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?[6]

    Fascinating.

  32. A slight tangent, but I was delighted to read this article (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/10/everyone-knew-who-he-was-james-hamilton-the-eccentric-aristo-who-catalysed-british-club-culture) about one of my musical heroes growing up. I got the Record Mirror religiously from the late 70s on, mainly for two reasons – I was a chart music kid, and this had the UK charts in it, and for James Hamilton’s disco pages, which kept me extraordinarily well-informed on a weekly basis as to what was new in my favourite genre.

    I ordered a copy of the book, which arrived today (two days later) – it’s a history of disco/dance music through it’s key period that reprints Hamilton’s columns, including most importantly his fantastically idiosyncratic reviews, which were more interested in trying to describe the track than the reviewers opinion of it (though you get that too).

    One interesting bit not mentioned in the article – Hamilton used to compile a weekly disco chart based on chart submissions by DJs across the country. Suspecting dishonesty amongst the DJ returns by those trying to look cool, he reviewed a fictional record by a made-up artist, Kanu Sukalagwan, which low and behold, made the chart the following week, thus identifying several hipster charlatans in the process. I’m pleased to say that review is also in the book!

    Disco probably remains my favourite genre – a singles medium where perhaps most music afficianados are album focussed (there’s a good, if probably short, side post: “great disco albums”), one led by the beat and the melody, not the words, but one mostly focussed towards joy (though some of it’s best have an element of melancholy).

  34. Time for a little etymology and a little architecture.

    When did the word discoteque enter the English language?

    We can thank the French.

    discotheque | Etymology of discotheque by etymonline
    discotheque (n.)

    “club where recorded dance music is played,” 1954 as a French word in English; nativized by 1964, from French discothèque “nightclub with recorded music for dancing” (by 1951), also “record library,” borrowed 1932 from Italian discoteca “record collection, record library,” coined 1927 from disco “phonograph record” (see disc) + -teca “collection” (from Latinized combining form of Greek thēkē “case, receptacle;” see theco-), probably on model of biblioteca “library.”
    also from 1954

    Discothèque (disambiguation) – Wikipedia

    A discothèque, is an entertainment venue or club with recorded music rather than a live band. It may be part of a nightclub.

    Young people in the UK were doing out to dance at the weekend before the arrival of the disco.

    There were dance halls, jazz clubs, working men’s clubs and Top Rank Suites.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Rank_Suite

    Which brings us to the wonderful Althea and Donna.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptown_Top_Ranking

    I did not know until this evening that their mega-hit was an answer song to this tune by Trinity.

    Here they are….

    One YT comment hits the nail on the head.–

    If this doesn’t make you smile and feel happy you may not be human.

    You shoulda see me and de rankin’ dread, oh
    Check ‘ow we jammin’ and ting
    Love is all I bring
    Inna m’khaki suit and ting

    My point being that long before US disco music arrived in the UK, the youth were out bopping and hopping at the weekend.

  35. Chic have been mentioned several times on this thread. Alexis Petridis has just produced an excellent list of 20 tracks in which they were involved.

    Daft Punk, Johny Mathis, Carly Simon, Sister Sledge, Bowie, Madonna, Sheila B Devotion ….many artists have benefited from the Yowsah Hitmakers.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/13/everybody-dance-nile-rodgers-20-greatest-tracks-ranked

    Back to disco architecture for a moment. Here’s another excellent piece from Alexis about the radical Italian architects of the 1970s who designed discos which were in a class of their own.

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/22/radical-disco-architects-italy-nightclub-design-60s-70s-ica?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    -Worth a read…

    “To be honest, I think the discos were the only places that would have their designs. They were a new kind of neutral space where there were no boundaries between disciplines like architecture, art and music.”

    Even 45 years on, the results look astonishing. Some of the discos – or “pipers” as they were locally known, in homage to Rome’s legendary Piper nightspot – were visibly influenced by Andy Warhol’s multimedia experiments at the Dom nightclub in Manhattan, home to the Exploding Plastic Inevitable events, where the Velvet Underground would play amid lightshows, dancers and projections of Warhol’s films.

    Here’s another , well-illustrated, article about the architecture of discos.

    https://thespaces.com/architects-throw-shapes-the-experimental-pleasures-of-disco-design/

    A quote…

    The book and exhibition Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs sees the one-time Village Voice photographer surveilling the golden days of disco-era New York, capturing regulars at Studio 54, Paradise Garage, Mudd Club, Hurrah and GG’s Barnum Room in the late 1970s. In repurposed warehouse spaces, politicians, artists, trans people and other fabulous creatures rubbed shoulders on the dancefloor until the AIDS crisis and the IRS brought the disco scene tumbling down at the end of the decade.

    The ICA in London had an exhibition about those Italian radicals. The curator, Catherine Rossi made this comment..

    As nightclubs close by the dozen in the UK and beyond, Rossi questions what is being lost in the wider culture. ‘Discos haven’t really featured much in architecture history in general, they’re not seen as serious as other spaces,’ says Rossi. ‘We’re maybe under appreciating the cultural importance of clubbing – clubs are portrayed as important in terms of music, performance and dress, but what other cultural experimentation are we losing concomitant with that?’

  36. Well this humble thread has danced along (SWIDT). Apologies for not responding to referecnes. I was phone only for a while and being so youtube heavy it crashed on the phone.

  37. 88 comments @junior-wells.

    This was a topic that many of us were interested in.

    How have we go this far without mentioning Donna?

    Googling around, I discovered a YT Channel from a classic German TV show, ZDF DISCO.

    I believe in miracles.

  38. This thread is so full of interesting rabbit holes to explore.

    Not least Alan Jones’s list of favourite disco movies from The Quietus. Thanks a lot for that @Salwarpe.

    That led me to this Guardian article about Jones. What a fascinating chap.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/12/johnny-rotten-tore-my-record-off-the-deck-the-superfan-at-the-centre-of-disco-and-punk

    The article mentions the connection between the heyday of disco and the release of STAR WARS….

    For Jones, the high point of his disco experience came in late 1977, when he attended the Star Wars preview – “followed by the celebrity afterparty, and then dancing all night to the Meco disco version of the soundtrack on the day my first features were published in Cinefantastique magazine. The confluence of all my lives merging was just so incredible and thrilling. I can remember every second of that night!”

    And of course I have to post Sheila’s SPACER. Chic, a French pop singer, some light sabres and a lot of Bacofoil proved to be an irresistible recipe for success

    • Alexis really dId a great job there, didn’t he @Tiggerlion?

      It’s amazing how many artists Chic worked with. I think that the first single of theirs that I bought was We are family which I heard blaring out at the Porta Portese flea market in Rome and bought on the spot.´

      Thinking about the connection between Disco and Star Wars, my thoughts turned to your great favourites, Earth, Wind and Fire. They formed in 1969 and thus were well established by 1977. Not strictly a disco band but they certainly embraced that intergalactic SW vibe.

      Same goes for the wonderful George Clinton.
      One nation under a groove is one of the great dance tracks of the 70s but funk rather than disco.

      George was well into orbit long before Luke Skywalker discovered the Force. Here he is in 1973.

      What to make of Parliament Funkadelic? Were they ahead of their time or simply from a different dimension than the rest of us?

      Here they are in 1978 with a magnificent, rambling 25 minute version of One Nation. They make the Grateful Dead look like The Ramones.

      • @kaisfatdad I went to see Parliament/Funkadelic All-Stars in the Clapham Grand some time in the mid 90s. They came on stage at around 9pm and did their usual tag-team thing with musicians coming and going all night. I cannot remember exactly what time they finished but when we left the gig, it was daylight and my friend and I walked from Clapham Junction to Victoria to catch a 52 bus back to the top end of Ladbroke Grove leaving us around 15 minutes walk home at the other end. I remember talking him into sticking with the gig convincing him that Prince, who was in London at the time, would inevitably come on stage for a jam ar some stage. He didn’t – or maybe he did and I was so delirious with lack of sleep that I didn’t notice. I hope I didn’t have work the next day.

        I was hooked on the P-Funk experience and have seen them live whenever I’ve had the chance. “There Ain’t No Party Like A P-Funk Party ‘cos A P-Funk Party Don’t Stop!”

        • I saw Primal Scream at the Brixton Academy when George Clinton was in the band. They came onstage at about 1am. I remember taking a night bus at 5am and getting home in time for breakfast.

          • Thanks for that wonderful story of your Clapham Grand funky all-nighter @Bamber. What luck you had to experience that.

            I’ve seen Parliament Funkadelic live once at the Stockholm Jazz Festival. A wonderful open air gig on the island of Skeppsholmen. There was a strict curfew as to when they had to finish playing. But there was a small army of them on stage with all kinds of craziness going on and long, rambling, very funky songs.

            I haven’t been to an all-nighter for years. If they do happen in Stockholm in 2025, then it’s techno-raves deep in the forest. On some summer evenings, from our balcony you can hear DUNKA DUNKA DUNKA. Only the initiated know where in Nacka Nature Reserve these events take place.

            The poor forest mice and the poor moose must get very confused.

            Your story did remind me of a memorable African gig I went to on March 28 1997 at Alviks Medborgarhus. I vividly remembered the gig but had to ask my pal, Ian, who I went with, to remind me who the artist was and where the venue was.

            Shame on me.

            It was Congolese singer Koffi Olomide. And the venue was a community centre, a church hall-like place, in the wilds of the West Stockholm suburbs. It all kicked off rather late in the evening and 90 per cent of the audience were Africans who were dressed up for a big night.

            The atmosphere was very friendly and all Koffi’s fans were very keen to see him.

            What was very striking was the way that the structure of the evening was so different from the gigs I was used to. Instead of the usual Support band- Break -Main band- Encores pattern we got a very different experience.

            Koffi did two sets and his band continued playing long after he had left the stage. If I remember correctly, fans were throwing bank notes onto the stage when he was playing.

            The sun had come up when staggered to the Metro station at 5.00 am. A remarkable evening.

            It sounded something like this…

            I love his Tiger Trousers in this clip. It certainly captures the splendidly anarchic atmosphere at these gigs

  40. Hope you like this @junior-wells

    I just stumbled across an interview with Hot Dub Time Machine aka Tom Lowndes, an Aussie DJ who has become a big festival favourite.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/15/hot-dub-time-machine-australia-tour-interview

    The Hot Dub Time Machine concept is simple: over two hours, Lowndes takes his audience from 1954 to the present day, skipping across decades and genres with childlike glee.

    I can see why the crowds love him. He puts on one hell of a party.

    There’s a link to a YT clip which is a complete show so you can see for yourself.

    I am reminded of mash up maestros like DJ Cummerbund and GOHOME PRODUCTIONS who I once saw very late at night at the end of a Roskilde Festival.

    It was ridiculously good fun.

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