Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Eynstyn · Feb 19, 2007, 07:22 AM

Which FIVE Performers Best Represent The Disco Era?

I say, Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Kool & the Gang, Olivia Newton John and KC & the Sunshine Band.

What say you?

Eug · Feb 19, 2007, 09:43 AM

x 5

analogika · Feb 19, 2007, 10:47 AM

This list is not complete without Abba and Boney M.

keekeeree · Feb 19, 2007, 11:22 AM

paul w · Feb 19, 2007, 11:24 AM

Don't forget Chic.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Feb 19, 2007, 12:34 PM

Abba, BeeGee's and Boney M pretty much sum it up for me.

Oh and Sesame Street Disco.

starman · Feb 19, 2007, 02:28 PM

Top 5? That's hard.

Donna Summer for sure
Barry White
KC and the Sunshine Band
Gloria Gaynor
Village People

Eynstyn · 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

x 5

Actually, I was thinking of musical performers so he wouldn't really count, unless you are thinking of Travolta's album:

Actually that reminds me of the legendary critique of Fred Astaire by a Hollywood studio talent or casting person.

One studio screened him, and sent this "glowing" report to the Talent Department head:

Can't sing. Can't act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.

Eynstyn · Feb 19, 2007, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by starman

Top 5? That's hard.

Donna Summer for sure
Barry White
KC and the Sunshine Band
Gloria Gaynor
Village People

I KNEW I was forgetting some good ones!

Ok, my list is now amended.

Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Barry White, the Village People and KC & the Sunshine Band.

But Chic had more disco hits than Barry White.

Ok. Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Chic, the Village People and KC & the Sunshine Band.

And even though Gloria Gaynor's one big disco hit is HUGE and it alone might be the one song that is singularly the MOST
representative of the disco era, I think there would have to be a different category for her. Because who should I remove from the current list?

Donna Summer is a lock. As are the Bee Gees, KC & the Sunshine Band and the Village People. Chic had at least two and maybe more disco hits that were really big and really DISCO. And that, by the way, leaves a great group, Earth, Wind and Fire, off the list. They produced some ab fab hits during the Disco era and some of them were disco but they weren't representative of the genre. I LOVE ABBA and think they are one of my Top 10 favorite groups. But they recorded during the disco era rather than being representative of the DISCO era.

So the list is really pretty strong (unbeatable?) as comprised here:

Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Chic, the Village People and KC & the Sunshine Band.

starman · Feb 19, 2007, 03:52 PM

Chic might have had more hits but Barry White represented disco on the male side as much as Donna Summer did on the female side.

Eynstyn · Feb 19, 2007, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by starman

Chic might have had more hits but Barry White represented disco on the male side as much as Donna Summer did on the female side.

Donna Summer was the QUEEN of Disco.

Barry White was great, absolutely great, I tell you! But he wasn't the male representation of Disco like Donna Summer was the QUEEN.

starman · Feb 19, 2007, 06:09 PM

Did you live during the 70's? I did. Every woman LOVED him.

faragbre967 · Feb 20, 2007, 12:08 AM

I'm so glad I was born after the 70's were already over. So glad.

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by starman

Did you live during the 70's? I did. Every woman LOVED him.

Every woman also loved Christopher Reeve and Robert Redford but that didn't make them representative of the DISCO era.

The one Barry White DISCO song that comes to mind for me is, "You're My First, My Last, My Everything," a GREAT GREAT SONG! But in fairness to Barry and to the strength of my Top 5 list here, I wanted to put aside my own recollections of Barry as primarily a smooth sexy singer and use Google to help research BW's DISCO qualifications.

And while I found this passage backed up my initial impression:

Amazon.com
The most hot-buttered of all soul singers, Barry White is an artist whose CDs come with a purpose. To say what that purpose is, is not for a family Web site--but it involves that thing that Mommy and Daddy do at night with the bedroom door closed. All-Time Greatest Hits collects the essential White and Love Unlimited Orchestra tracks onto a packed CD. Are 20 cuts too much? Not with Viagra. That's a kind of medicine that grownups take. --Gavin McNett

This one made me sit back and think harder.

Amazon.com essential recording
For those music buyers who have enjoyed Barry White's music since the early 1970s but may not be devoted enough for the three-CD box set Just for You, this 20-track compilation brings together all of White's major chart hits between 1973 and 1979, along with a couple of entries from his Love Unlimited Orchestra. White's distinctive vocal style--a deep, resonant baritone-bass that oozes sex appeal--was the icing on the cake for those hits; superlative string arrangements (courtesy of the late Gene Page) encased White in a lush setting, while White's hand-picked rhythm section (which included many of Los Angeles's top session players) created a groove that was hard to beat. The combination was lethal: hits like "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up," "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," and "You're My First, My Last, My Everything" made White a chart staple and an early king of disco; his skill as a vocal interpreter was fully evident on a 1979 reading of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are," another standout on this collection. On the evidence of that track alone, it's hard to believe that, according to legend, White never planned to be a recording artist in his own right and would have been happy to remain in the background as producer and songwriter! --David Nathan

And if David Nathan calls White an "early king of disco," what other disco kings might be out there who I may not have yet considered?

I'm researching, but so far, no one appears able to stand up as KING of DISCO. George McRea had a MONSTER HIT with, "Rock Your Baby." But the KING? Hmm, no.

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by faragbre967

I'm so glad I was born after the 70's were already over. So glad.

Who knows? You may have been the RESULT of Barry White's magical influences.

Dakar² · Feb 20, 2007, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by faragbre967

I'm so glad I was born after the 70's were already over. So glad.

The 80s weren't much better.

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

The 80s weren't much better.

It seems every decade has it's distinctive sound and vibe. I would be interested in reading how history judges this decade's music 100 years from now. The ghetto, welfare, one parent family, thug life, drug & pimp influenced music kinda leaves me unimpressed.

Dakar² · Feb 20, 2007, 11:31 AM

Sounds a lot like the 70s.

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

Sounds a lot like the 70s.

Stop trolling.

Anyone who thinks that today's music sounds like the 1970's music should then just give up listening to the current crop of crap and get down with the real deal. 1970's Disco.

Dakar² · Feb 20, 2007, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Eynstyn

Stop trolling.

Anyone who thinks that today's music sounds like the 1970's music should then just give up listening to the current crop of crap and get down with the real deal. 1970's Disco.

Originally Posted by Eynstyn

The ghetto, welfare, one parent family, thug life, drug & pimp influenced music kinda leaves me unimpressed.

Originally Posted by Dakar²

Sounds a lot like the 70s.

Clearer?

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

Clearer?

It was clear the first time. I just disagree with your statement.

1970's disco wasn't ghetto, welfare, one parent family, thug life, drug & pimp influenced music.

Dakar² · Feb 20, 2007, 11:46 AM

The music? Not so much. The 70s itself? Yeah.

(70s music was rife with sex anyway, and drugs has been influencing music for the past 50 years)

analogika · Feb 20, 2007, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Eynstyn

It was clear the first time. I just disagree with your statement.

1970's disco wasn't ghetto, welfare, one parent family, thug life, drug & pimp influenced music.

True to a degree - if you exclude the influence of cocaine.

Disco != Funk.

starman · Feb 20, 2007, 12:10 PM

BTW: the ringtone I use for my wife's calls:

http://homepage.mac.com/starman/.Music/Love's Theme.m4a

Dakar² · Feb 20, 2007, 12:13 PM

Yeah, I absolutely love Love's Theme.

Mostly for the chika-wow guitar.

analogika · Feb 20, 2007, 12:37 PM

That was used as background music on a Cathay Pacific commercial in the late 70's in Hong Kong, and I fell in love with the song then. Took me fifteen years to rediscover it and find out who wrote it.

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by starman

BTW: the ringtone I use for my wife's calls:

http://homepage.mac.com/starman/.Music/Love's Theme.m4a

Very romantic!

Does it give you a little PavLOVian thrill whenever you hear it?

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

True to a degree - if you exclude the influence of cocaine.

Disco != Funk.

Not clear if you are having me exclude cocaine from disco or rap/hip hop. I think disco. If you were referring to today you'd say, Crack. Right?

Eynstyn · Feb 20, 2007, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

That was used as background music on a Cathay Pacific commercial in the late 70's in Hong Kong, and I fell in love with the song then. Took me fifteen years to rediscover it and find out who wrote it.

Good things are worth the wait.

And you found out thanks to the internet, I'd guess.

And they said computers would only be good for organizing and storing recipes. HA! See how little THEY know?