Crypto disco songs?

November 8, 2005 5:13 PM

What are some non-obvious disco songs? Or semi-obvious nods to disco?

I just heard for the first time in a long time Wings' "Silly Love Songs," and the bassline and the extended song structure reminded me a lot of disco, even though it would've been relatively early for that fad. This got me thinking of other disco (-esque) songs done by acts you don't typically associate with disco, like Kiss's "I Was Made For Loving You," Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust," and the Stones' "Miss You." But that's all I could remember. What others can you think of?

posted by kimota to Media & Arts (45 answers total)

that beck album? it was so ironic it was suspiciously not ironic at all.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:17 PM on November 8, 2005

oops - midnite vultures, sorry.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:18 PM on November 8, 2005

Electric Six's "Devil Nights", "Boy or Girl", "Future is the Future".
posted by holloway at 5:20 PM on November 8, 2005

"Heart of Glass" by Blondie.

Much newer: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" by the Arcade Fire.
posted by LionIndex at 5:31 PM on November 8, 2005

"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart is another one. Probably a couple Led Zep songs off In Through the Out Door would fit--"Carouselambra"?
posted by LionIndex at 5:34 PM on November 8, 2005

The Pet Shop Boys are very disco-influenced, to the extent that the lead vocalist/keyboardist has described the group as a disco band.

Check out Ishkur's excellent guide to electronic music. Disco is listed on the "House" page, as a major influence on Classic Chicago House, and a precursor to New Wave and Synthpop. Listen to the music samples, and try to find the disco influences. (In particular, listen for some disco in "It's a Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys.)
posted by CrunchyFrog at 5:40 PM on November 8, 2005

A lot of the Alan Parsons Project's early stuff has disco-type bass lines.
posted by kindall at 5:44 PM on November 8, 2005

Miss You by the Rolling Stones. Definately a late-70s disco-vibe.
posted by my sock puppet account at 5:55 PM on November 8, 2005

Define disco. Electronic drum machine in a droning 4/4 beat? - half of the late 80's pop stuff. The Rolling Stones' "Miss You" was a good example of not a total disco release which was nevertheless disco, although I would not term it "crypto disco" under any interpretation; everybody knew it was disco. If all the disco bands were as talented as the Stones perhaps the whole "disco sucks" theme would have never taken off.

[got distracted in composition and telephone and the sock puppet chimed in first]
posted by caddis at 6:02 PM on November 8, 2005

caddis, kimota actually beat you to it in the OP.

Greatful Dead - Shakedown Street
Chicago - Street Player (Although is anyone surprised that this band did a disco song?)

The Bee Gees' turn to disco might of been a big surprise to fans of their earlier stuff.
posted by hydrophonic at 6:20 PM on November 8, 2005

Don't know if you were around during the '70s disco days -- at least half the pop songs in the late '70s were discofied, even stuff from rock acts. It's hard to imagine today just how big disco was.
posted by Opposite George at 6:20 PM on November 8, 2005

*whips self repeatedly with the "READ THE F***ING POST WHIP"
posted by caddis at 6:26 PM on November 8, 2005

Discovery - Electric Light Orchestra

Canned Heat by Jamiroquai (previously rather jazzy band, turned disco with this one - now of Napoleon Dynamite fame)
posted by wackybrit at 6:27 PM on November 8, 2005

* and does it to a diso beat
posted by caddis at 6:27 PM on November 8, 2005

I remember watching the "Behind the Music: The Bee Gees" (yeah, I'll admit it) and after the Bee Gees and "disco" fell from grace (there was that disco record-burning event somewhere at a sports stadium?) the Bee Gees went on to produce many, many hit songs which were not "disco" but were heavily influenced. I'm sure there's a list out there of songs produced by the Gibb bros. That's a good place to start.
posted by gen at 6:32 PM on November 8, 2005

via the Bee Gees FAQ:

WORK WITH OTHER ARTISTS:

[1980] Jimmy Ruffin - Album: "Sunrise"
[1980] Barbra Streisand - Album: "Guilty"
[1982] Dionne Warwick - Album: "Heartbreaker"
[1983] Kenny Rogers - Album: "Eyes That See In The Dark"
("Islands in the Stream" :)
[1985] Diana Ross - Album: "Eaten Alive"

also wikipedia
posted by gen at 6:43 PM on November 8, 2005

The Clash - The Magnificent Seven. In fact, a whole bunch of Sandanista! was pretty discofied. Still, I can never get the bassline from The Magnificent Seven out of my head after I hear just a snippet.
posted by PantsOfSCIENCE at 6:51 PM on November 8, 2005

The Stones "Emotional Rescue"
posted by captainscared at 6:54 PM on November 8, 2005

Oh, some examples not yet mentioned: "Turn to Stone" by ELO and "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John (maybe they're too obvious?) Billy Joel's "The Stranger" uses a disco-ish beat once it gets rolling. And of course there are the Dead and Chicago songs mentioned previously.

Disco was wicked, scary big. Alicia Bridges, who sang the disco anthem "I Love the Night Life" was originally a country singer. I've heard (but can't confirm) that they originally tried it as a shitkicker number and reworked it to be a hit. And Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park" was a cover of a very un-disco Richard Harris festival of bombast several years previous. Try looking at the Billboard listings for the period 1977-1981 or so and I bet you can come up with quite a few.

A lot of the "Disco Sucks" sentiment was driven by ugly, wicked homophobia and racism. That doesn't mean that a good chunk of the genre didn't suck, particularly the opportunistic stuff. The fact that we survived that regrettable period gives me hope for the present.
posted by Opposite George at 6:56 PM on November 8, 2005

…acts you don't typically associate with disco, like Kiss's "I Was Made For Loving You,"

Actually, Kiss has always seemed pretty disco to me.
posted by signal at 7:34 PM on November 8, 2005

rapture by blondie.
posted by brandz at 7:39 PM on November 8, 2005

Superman by The Kinks
Ivan vs. GI Joe by The Clash
posted by octothorpe at 7:40 PM on November 8, 2005

Beach Boys - Here Comes the Night (from the 1979 L.A. album, not Wild Honey).
Herbie Hancock put out a quite a few disco releases around that time. Not too far a stretch from his poppy fusion stuff of the time, though.
Eartha Kitt did a few disco songs. I think there's one out there by Mamie Van Doren, even.

I love disco, but a lot of the attempts to cash in on the craze make me cringe. Props to the Rolling Stones for doing it right.

A lot of post-punk/dance stuff coming (mainly) out of England and New York in the late seventies/early eighties took a lot from disco. Some interesting compilations:

In The Beginning There Was Rhythm
Disco Not Disco
New York Noise
Mutant Disco

Here are a couple of reviews: 1 2

Arthur Russell really stands out from this era. He was a classically trained cellist who made a lot of great disco records, then stretched out into more experimental work. "In the Light of the Miracle" is a big favorite of mine.

And, of course, without disco there wouldn't have been (as many) funky samples for early hip hop. And disco morphed into house and then the whole electronic dance music scene of today.
posted by hydrophonic at 7:47 PM on November 8, 2005

The "Another One Bites the Dust" bassline is taken from Good Times by Chic, helps to explain it. I read somewhere that Queen's bassist was there at the sessions for that song.

Radiohead's A Punch-Up at a Wedding also sounds a little similar to the Chic song with the piano and the groove bassline.
posted by abcde at 8:04 PM on November 8, 2005

Diana Ross' Diana album is pretty disco, especially the original mix from Nile Rodgers of Chic fame. Quite a few soul artists recorded kinda discofied stuff during that era, for that matter, and quite a few early rap songs groove to a disco beat.

As for the disco influence in post-disco music, well, my experience is that once you start listening for it, you'll find it everywhere.

Now's a good time to recommend a book, Peter Shapiro's Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco, while I'm at it.
posted by box at 8:09 PM on November 8, 2005

Blondie's "Rapture" is also cited as an early example of rap influence.
posted by gimonca at 8:12 PM on November 8, 2005

abcde, see also Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"
posted by hydrophonic at 8:51 PM on November 8, 2005

A lot of the "Disco Sucks" sentiment was driven by ugly, wicked homophobia and racism.

Aye.
posted by timeistight at 8:57 PM on November 8, 2005

I always thought Blur's "Girls and Boys" had a disco feel to it.
posted by parma at 9:27 PM on November 8, 2005

Another Brick in the Wall.
posted by sharksandwich at 9:36 PM on November 8, 2005

"silly love songs" was actually fairly late ... disco started to show up on the radio in the early 70s ... at first not a lot ... and not bad at all ... i still think kc and the sunshine band were good

but then it started to get very repetitive and went downhill ... i think some people disliked disco because of racism ... honestly, i don't think people in my neck of the woods knew it was associated with gay people ... but others disliked it because of the mind numbing repetitiveness and stupidity of some of the songs ... "fly robin fly" being a prime example

it sounded great in a good club system, though ...

there's this song by the doors where jim morrison sings about whipping the eyes of the horse ... and for part of that song, jim densmore is playing a disco beat ... years before disco

strange, eh?
posted by pyramid termite at 9:58 PM on November 8, 2005

Papa Was A Rolling Stone was apparently the first disco song
posted by seawallrunner at 10:34 PM on November 8, 2005

The Bee Gees' turn to disco might've been a big surprise to fans of their earlier stuff.

Indeed it was -- but most of their disco fans were unfamiliar with their late-60s hits.

"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart

... on the other hand, torpedoed his career. Due to his British-blues roots, it was an obvious sell-out, and fans of his previous work never forgave him.
posted by Rash at 10:49 PM on November 8, 2005

But to answer the question, two non-obvious disco songs were "I'm Not In Love" by 10CC and Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express"-- huge hits, on the disco charts also, but too slow for dancing.
posted by Rash at 10:57 PM on November 8, 2005

New Order's "Blue Monday" was inspired by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". You can hear it in the beginning of both tracks.
posted by Joh at 11:34 PM on November 8, 2005

A bit out of left field, but what about Matinee by Franz Ferdinand?
posted by wackybrit at 3:24 AM on November 9, 2005

seconded, wackybrit - a lot of Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Modest Mouse, Pulp, (and more!) uses that disco beat (lots of open, then closed hi hat in the drums).

And, what's more, I'm glad they do - I love that sweet disco hi hat!
posted by sluggo at 4:11 AM on November 9, 2005

You can make some folks head explode by pointing out that there's a disco beat to the guitar in "Another Brick in the Wall"
posted by dagnyscott at 6:03 AM on November 9, 2005

Another modern song that is super disco-esque (to me at least) is "Still In Love" by The Stills. Matinee by Franz Ferdinand is an interesting offering, wackybrit, I agree that it's got some disco flava.
posted by pazazygeek at 7:09 AM on November 9, 2005

"December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" by Franki Valli has a bit of a disco feel to it.
posted by hellbient at 10:44 AM on November 9, 2005

Another Brick in the Wall

And Run Like Hell, too.
posted by turbodog at 11:09 AM on November 9, 2005

Response by poster: There's lots of good stuff here, and stuff I didn't know about-- thanks, everybody!

Box, you've got me curious: what makes that book the 'secret' history of disco?

About the disco backlash: the homophobia angle I can see, sure, but why the claims of racism? Are we assuming many of the people who hated disco only wanted white boy arena rock?

Oh, and I thought of one more after posting: "Sky High" by Jigsaw, with its overwrought production, repetitive chorus, etc.
posted by kimota at 4:52 PM on November 9, 2005

Also whips self repeatedly with the "READ THE F***ING POST WHIP" I third half of the songs from Pink Floyd's The Wall.
posted by my sock puppet account at 8:12 PM on November 9, 2005

hydrophonic: See also *deep breath* "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," which samples both the Queen and Chic songs plus a different Sugarhill Gang track.
posted by abcde at 12:53 PM on November 11, 2005

"My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" by Karen Carpenter
posted by Eothele at 7:32 PM on November 11, 2005