#ootsoots

[michelle-miriam]

Ootz Ootz: Disco in a Nutshell

Disco emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the NYC and Philadelphia nightlife scene. Its sound includes four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars. Disco started as a mixture of music from venues popular with Italian Americans, Hispanic, Latino, and African Americans. This music scene itself produced popular groups such as ABBA, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Bee Gees, Chaka Khan, and Michael Jackson to name a few. Films such as Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It’s Friday have also contributed to the mainstream popularity of disco. The groups I, however, would like to highlight in this post are ABBA and The Bee Gees.

ABBA is a Swedish pop group from Stockholm made up by the members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (who were two married couples), with the name of the group being an acronym of the first letters of their first names. They have had forty-eight hit singles including “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo”, which won them the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. 

“Dancing Queen” is still a song that is widely listened to today. I mean shit, I remember singing along to it and recording it on the day of my seventeenth birthday, as was a popular trend to do back in high school. The song itself is beautifully produced as it gives off a catchy and euphoric vibe, perfect for describing the life of someone young and carefree. The record starts off with a bang, which catapults you straight into the middle of the chorus. This appears to show an explosive opening to draw in listeners to the rest of the song, a smart move I may add.This song narrates the story of a seventeen-year-old girl on a nightclub dance floor that is lost in the music and dancing due to her feeling of carefreeness and freedom to express herself. The song has stayed trendy through the musical Mamma Mia!, which even I’ll admit to binging a few times.

This brings me to The Bee Gees aka The Disco Kings. The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, who were especially successful in the late 1960s and early 1970s aka the disco era. The group sang in three-part tight harmonies with Robin's clear vibrato leading vocals being prominent in the early hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees have sold over 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time. 

My two favorite songs by The Bee Gees would have to be “Stayin’ Alive” and “You Should Be Dancing”. “Stayin’ Alive” wasn’t even meant to be a single until it appeared in the Saturday Night Fever trailer, but I’m so glad it was. The song itself represents the hardships in life and the struggle to survive in New York, which can be clearly demonstrated by the way Barry walks his walk. The vocals are an electric-shocked falsetto yip, with a squeal of pain, and becomes a terror-like screech after the second chorus. Coincidentally, this song wouldn’t have become structured the way it was without some things occurring by chance, such as the drummer not being able to record due to personal circumstances, which caused the band to use his old drum recordings. The looped-up drums, combined with that perfectly wormy bassline, help make “Stayin’ Alive” such a fundamental song in the disco era. 

Disco has cemented its legacy in music, inspiring hip-hop artists and even rave culture and house music, two popular sounds in recent years. Disco has been a huge part of my life, something you probably would not expect and it allowed me to explore different genres that originated from it. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco#Legacy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA#Greatest_Hits_and_Arrival

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/08/40-years-abba-dancing-queen-people-just-surrender-to-it

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

https://www.stereogum.com/2066359/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-stayin-alive/columns/the-number-ones/