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Disco Memories

We all know that the disco phenomen affected all of our life styles, social habits, as well as fashion and of course music. The John Travolta movie, Saturday Night Fever was such a gigantic hit, that several more theme-wise are now in production .

The Disco music industry is now a mutli billion dollar industry with about 10,000 clubs in existence and another 5,000 more in the planning stage. No one ever expected this would happen.

I happened to meet two great guys at West End Records and who gave this writer sensitive insights into the origin of Disco as it is today: Mel Cheren, president of West End and Barry Lederer, one of the very first djs and presently a partner in Graebar Productions.

They talked about the birth of the Disco industry by reliving some of their own personal expereinces. We can always present an argument as to how far back clubs go. We have all been dancing in them for decades says Cheren. Juke boxes had kids dancing since the days of Allen Freed. Rock music bands have been pounding out live sets since the early Sixties. But there is one major differnce with disco: This is the club DJ.

The author quotes me as saying: "DJs are like actors on a stage, trying to turn on a crowd with their own performance. Good DJs make a good night as actors make a play." Both Mel and Barry recalled the early days of Disco when the music being played was anything with a heavy up beat sound such as Santana, Ross Temptations, Wilson Picket as well as the Rolling Stones. Yet it was the persistence of the early DJs who spent days looking for new records on a horrible buget sometimes as low as $20.00. (* I know this to be true, for when I played at Le Club, one of the early posh posh places, my salary was $35 a night.) However with the persistence of myself, Francis Grasso, Alfie Davidson and Tom Moulton (yes he made tapes only-but they were perfect!), the situation got much better.

Although the early clubs lacked a decent lighting and sound system, places like The Firehouse, The Sanctuary, The 10Th Floor and the famous Loft, these places were founded by gays and catered to them. Mel Cheren continues with this point by saying that this group must be registered as the fore fathers of disco. Cheren also says that New York City has always been more liberal and progressive toward the unknown. These gay clubs eventually influenced all others and everyone, whether straight or gay, was disco dancing. However Lederer and Cheren (then with Scepter Records), convinced Tom Moulton that a good instrumental mix would be a great asset to the Disco DJ. The rest is Disco history!!

Scepter Records came out with "We're On The Right Track" with Tom Moulton doing the mix. The public did not take notice until
"Rock Your Baby" made heavy radio crossover. Both Lederer and Cheren added this helped start N.Y.C. to become "the disco capitol of the world."

*** Author unfortunately unknown but Mel, Tom and I thank him.
Barry Lederer

About the author:
Barry Lederer is a former writer for Billboard's "Disco Mix" column during the 1970s as well as being a principal owner in Graebar Sound, which outfitted many top clubs in the 70s and 80s with critically acclaimed sound systems. He is still involved in dance music by way of the Dance Music Hall of Fame and regularly contributes articles and various commentary for DiscoMusic.com. You can find out more about him by reading this interview.

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