The first disco clubs

[Nano]

I think this issue has been covered long time ago but maybe it's time to talk about it again. I like to define "disco" as the music created to be spinned and danced to in the disco clubs or "discotheques", i.e. clubs that played records instead of live acts. My question is: when this type of clubs started to exist? Where? How? Who went there? Etc.
I don't have any of the books on disco (too rare down here), maybe you can cite some chapter here. Or talk about it from personal memory. When was the first time you went to a club and there was no band, only a DJ?
Did these clubs really surge around the birth of disco, or maybe they always existed? I dunno. :roll:
Did you use the term "discotheque" on those days?

[hoellihozb]

hi!

The question is, whether you would like to know, what the first discotheque was, or what the first disco-discotheque was.

disco in "discotheque", means record, and not disco music.
But of course you will know that... 8)

from "last night a dj saved my life" by bill brewster:

"the origins of the discotheque lie in the mediterranean post of marseilles /france" there was a bar where sailors left there record collections, and when they came back they listened to the records.

"the first place to employ the word discotheque was a bar in paris" there they played jazz records, because there were no bands during war...

But of course this happened in times before Disco music., during world war 2.

I am sure, other users will tell the story of the first disco-clubs... But of course you will find answers on this site, Disco101, Night Clubs, etc.

Check out the above mentioned book, by bill brewster, its great, and really cheap! for around 8 pounds you get 472pages full of infos! :lol:

greetings!

[originalbigm]

I love it when members raise questions which in turn causes us to research and learn new interesting things about the disco culture.Nano is on the right track as to it's origin.

Quote
"New clubs and bars began to pop up literally underground. These late-night basement parties were run like the American speakeasy and included the use of passwords, memberships and rotating locations. The new form of nightclub was called "discotheque", the French word meaning "record library". Live acts and known venues were too dangerous to chance, as today's trespassing ticket was a one-way trip to the camps in 1941. The latest jazz records from the United States were awaited with bated breath by this new underground. It was a long and dangerous journey into Paris, dodging bullets and Nazi checkpoints (and you thought your bag was heavy!)"


This is from a website that provides an informative essay on discotheque origins which I found quite fascinating.

http://www.jahsonic.com/Discotheque.html

[DiscoMan]

Hmmmm??

Nano,

We covered this topic in several threads earlier this year but since I enjoy talking about my memories of Disco I’ll do it again. To give you a little background on myself; I was born in January of ’52 in a broken down, depressed shit New England mill town in South Central Massachusetts (Worcester) 150 miles North of NYC in the good old US of A.

In my memory and experience it wasn’t so much clubs and music created to support one another but a gradual evolution of music and then the change over of old and opening of new dance clubs to play that music. And since New York City is only 150 miles away and many people in Worcester have family and friends in NYC what happens there shortly arrives in Worcester.

The rock ‘n roll music of the early ‘70’s was cause and issue driven and many people grew tired of the political bullshit that much of it contained (I certainly did). At this time Black music from NYC, Philadelphia and Detroit was evolving a new, upbeat sound (R&B, Funk, Soul). This “new Black music” began getting a lot of radio airplay beginning in ’72 (?). Artists like Barry White, Hues Corp., Ohio Players, Salsoul Orch. (I’m working from memory so please forgive minor errors) brought a new sound to pop music. And a new sound which many people preferred over rock ‘n roll.

Here in Central Massachusetts in those days night clubs were live rock ‘n roll band venues. As the ‘70s developed this new sound became increasingly widespread and popular and some of the live band venues began hiring DJs, as a lower cost alternative, to spin vinyl during slow week nights. As time went on the DJs and this new music grew in popularity and eventually came to dominate the clubs so that by summer ’75 the practice was well established.

I remember the term Disco being widely used that summer and perhaps as far back as spring ’74. It was considered by us in Massachusetts to be a New York thing. Of course discotheque/disco are European in origin but considering Massachusetts is only 5 or 6 hours by air from London European trends showed here fairly early.

By spring '76 Disco was (as we know and love it) fully evolved and was the dominant force on radio and in the dance clubs. I was taught the Hustle by a girl I was dating in the spring of '75 and she was so good at it by that time that she must have started dancing the Hustle very early '74.