Comments on: Crypto disco songs?

Question: Crypto disco songs?

kimota — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:13:19 -0800

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?

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:17:57 -0800

that beck album? it was so ironic it was suspiciously not ironic at all.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:18:37 -0800

oops - midnite vultures, sorry.

By: holloway

holloway — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:20:00 -0800

Electric Six's "Devil Nights", "Boy or Girl", "Future is the Future".

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:31:59 -0800

"Heart of Glass" by Blondie.

Much newer: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" by the Arcade Fire.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:34:08 -0800

"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"?

By: CrunchyFrog

CrunchyFrog — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:40:32 -0800

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.)

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:44:20 -0800

A lot of the Alan Parsons Project's early stuff has disco-type bass lines.

By: my sock puppet account

my sock puppet account — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:55:51 -0800

Miss You by the Rolling Stones. Definately a late-70s disco-vibe.

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:02:39 -0800

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]

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:20:38 -0800

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.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:20:40 -0800

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.

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:26:49 -0800

*whips self repeatedly with the "READ THE F***ING POST WHIP"

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:27:22 -0800

Discovery - Electric Light Orchestra

Canned Heat by Jamiroquai (previously rather jazzy band, turned disco with this one - now of Napoleon Dynamite fame)

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:27:32 -0800

* and does it to a diso beat

By: gen

gen — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:32:45 -0800

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.

By: gen

gen — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:43:59 -0800

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

By: PantsOfSCIENCE

PantsOfSCIENCE — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:51:06 -0800

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.

By: captainscared

captainscared — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:54:56 -0800

The Stones "Emotional Rescue"

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:56:28 -0800

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.

By: signal

signal — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:34:59 -0800

…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.

By: brandz

brandz — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:39:56 -0800

rapture by blondie.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:40:02 -0800

Superman by The Kinks
Ivan vs. GI Joe by The Clash

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:47:07 -0800

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.

By: abcde

abcde — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:04:44 -0800

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.

By: box

box — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:09:21 -0800

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.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:12:50 -0800

Blondie's "Rapture" is also cited as an early example of rap influence.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:51:00 -0800

abcde, see also Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"

By: timeistight

timeistight — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:57:50 -0800

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

Aye.

By: parma

parma — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:27:34 -0800

I always thought Blur's "Girls and Boys" had a disco feel to it.

By: sharksandwich

sharksandwich — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:36:43 -0800

Another Brick in the Wall.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:58:03 -0800

"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?

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:34:16 -0800

Papa Was A Rolling Stone was apparently the first disco song

By: Rash

Rash — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:49:04 -0800

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.

By: Rash

Rash — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:57:35 -0800

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.

By: Joh

Joh — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:34:47 -0800

New Order's "Blue Monday" was inspired by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". You can hear it in the beginning of both tracks.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 03:24:50 -0800

A bit out of left field, but what about Matinee by Franz Ferdinand?

By: sluggo

sluggo — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 04:11:32 -0800

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!

By: dagnyscott

dagnyscott — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:03:40 -0800

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"

By: pazazygeek

pazazygeek — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:09:02 -0800

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.

By: hellbient

hellbient — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:44:02 -0800

"December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" by Franki Valli has a bit of a disco feel to it.

By: turbodog

turbodog — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 11:09:18 -0800

Another Brick in the Wall

And Run Like Hell, too.

By: kimota

kimota — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:52:48 -0800

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.

By: my sock puppet account

my sock puppet account — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:12:26 -0800

Also whips self repeatedly with the "READ THE F***ING POST WHIP" I third half of the songs from Pink Floyd's The Wall.

By: abcde

abcde — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 12:53:14 -0800

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.

By: Eothele

Eothele — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 19:32:42 -0800

"My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" by Karen Carpenter