Did a DJ really receive many disco records in the disco era?

[Marcio**]

From a Tim Lawrence interview"

"For the longest time America's record company executives, who were fundamentally white, straight guys who loved rock, didn't do anything to exploit the commercial potential of the music," Lawrence said.

But by 1977 two things changed their minds: "Saturday Night Fever" and a brutal economic recession.

"All of a sudden, companies decided that they had to promote disco, if only to keep the company afloat," Lawrence said. "And after 'Saturday Night Fever' they assumed that anything with a four-on-the-floor bass kick -- one of disco's most definable traits -- would sell millions."

Major labels churned out quickie records to feed a disco-starved middle America. Veteran artists (from Diana Ross to Ethel Merman) were forced to record disco to retain contracts.

"For the most part these records were awful. They flopped, they lost money and they provided anyone who needed a scapegoat with a perfect target," Lawrence said. "People could say that 'disco s----d' because in the second half of 1978 and the first half of 1979 a great deal of disco did s--k. All of the top underground DJs of the period pretty much agreed -- what they were receiving from the record companies was unplayable."


:)

[RetroRuss]

In the 80's I extended my personal collection by buying the collections of ex DJ's. There were loads of promos, white labels etc....and although they have a disco 'beat' I'd say that about 30% are quite unplayable as they are total rubbish & destined to remain in my cellar.

[Giovanni]

Headlamp is right. I made the bulk of my collection in the 80s buying records that nobody wanted almost for nothing. Everybody was thinking that the disco records were trash to be used once and destroy. In the early 80s I bought a lot of cut out new records and collections from other djs where you could find those rare promos that now sell for crazy prices

[Forrrce]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

I made the bulk of my collection in the 80s buying records that nobody wanted almost for nothing. Everybody was thinking that the disco records were trash to be used once and destroy. In the early 80s I bought a lot of cut out new records and collections from other djs where you could find those rare promos that now sell for crazy prices

Absolutely. A Hi-Nrg shop near Leicester Square (approx. '85-'88) bought many disco collections and all the non-nrg gear was £1.00 each. Most of the 12"s were US promos and there were literally hundreds of them at any one time (happy daze 8) ). Right in the centre of London's west end - and the same stuff would be there every week. If they opened with the same records now, they'd have to close within a week due to having no stock!

[originalbigm]

About 15 years ago I gave away about 300 promo 12" records I had acquired through the record pools that just didn't make the grade. I've never seen one of them mentioned here in the threads or the "artists". :roll:

[Anonymous]

Many years ago (1987) when I moved from Brooklyn to NJ I sold at least 500 disco albums and 12" singles for pennies each. Most of the disco stuff I unloaded was from 1973-75. Now I wonder how many rare records I sold. I hadn't played the stuff in years so I boxed it up and sold it to a used record stores in Sheepshead Bay and Park Slope.

[Anonymous]

12" ???

1973?????

[buckaroo]

Originally Posted by Forrrce

A Hi-Nrg shop near Leicester Square (approx. '85-'88) bought many disco collections and all the non-nrg gear was £1.00 each. Most of the 12"s were US promos and there were literally hundreds of them at any one time (happy daze 8) ). Right in the centre of London's west end - and the same stuff would be there every week. If they opened with the same records now, they'd have to close within a week due to having no stock!

Those shops Forrrce (Like a certain one which used to be in Shepherd's Bush) are getting harder to find. I can recall seeing a copy of Sylvia Striplin's "Can't Turn Me Away" in Reckless Records for £1.50... :-? ...I didn't buy it, because cheapo records were quite common in the second hand shops back in the late '80s. :roll: Silly me.

Even if I found a shop with cheap classics on sale now, I doubt if I could be arsed to spend a whole Saturday in some basement searching.

[DoctorDisco]

I too received hundreds of promo disco 12" singles and albums, and a few 45 RPMS (in the early beginning) during the time from about 1975 to 1980.

Most all of the promos were junk, and I got rid of the last record just last month.

I never saw any of those titles on a playlist or Billboard list, and they were about 99% unplayable....what a waste of vinyl.

And that's back when vinyl records got so thin you could make them flop in your hand....so thin due to the high oil prices for the petroleum derivatives used to make vinyl records

[Anonymous]

I never saw any of those titles on a playlist or Billboard

Are you the kind of person who judged the quality of a record based on whether it was listed on a chart or not? Isn't the purpose of a promo record to report feedback on the audience's reaction to the song?

[JohnnyEckhardt]

I had over 125 milkcrates packed with records and I'd say that about 80% of them were absolute garbage.

[Anonymous]

The purpose of the major record labels is to make money. Promos were pressed in an attempt judge from the audience reaction if the label should continue with the financial promotion of a record which received a favorable response from the crowds. From a label stand point these promos were not a waste. I am sure they even received some credit for them during tax time. I am sure none of you were complaining as these promos kept coming in the mail back then. I am even willing to bet some of you would have switched your position on several of the records if you had heard them on regular rotation on the radio or if some big name NYC DJ had decided to add a few of them to their playlist.

[QUINNY]

Yesterday's garbage is today's ultra rare, must have, rare groove eBay fodder. makes you think, doesn't it?

We didn't know diddly squat in them thar days. :oops: :oops:

I remember NickNack mentioning that at the height of Disco he was receiving something like 80 records a week. Nicky, where are you?

A colleague of mine was on most of the promotion lists in the UK and he used to get at least 30 each and every week. He was never satisfied though and complained bitterly about the lists he didn't get onto. :roll:

[QUINNY]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Are you the kind of person who judged the quality of a record based on whether it was listed on a chart or not? Isn't the purpose of a promo record to report feedback on the audience's reaction to the song?

Truth be known, most record companies needed a response within 2 weeks, sometimes only a week and so it could be very difficult to give any kind of reaction based only on audience response. Unless it was a certified huge hit in the making, any new record took a little time to break and unless you were working 5 nights a week or more, it would have been difficult to pick the winners AND grade them, except by gut reaction and/or by looking at what others might have been saying. If a DJ was on the lists, he wouldn't want to be booted off just because he personally didn't like a record and went against the flow.

All these observations are second hand and refer to a colleague of mine who worked 1 or 2 nights a week, but became expert at writing reactions that said what the record companies wanted to hear. The only guy he could be brutally honest with was Fred Dove of WEA and Fred expected no less from him.

[remicks]

---- Once record pools were created DJs got tons of records ---

---- In a nutshell: --- It was radio stations and record stores who were traditionally the big recepients of promo records . When labels realized certain songs were breaking through another route--- from club play --- they began supplying clubs with promos too. That got to be problematic with dozens of labels mailing out product all over the place as the number of clubs rapidly increased while spinners jumped from club to club. . Then some smart DJs realized that a more efficient method would be to create a central delivery point for these promos to be received and dispersed to DJs. By joining this record pool, the number of promos a DJ received really escalated.

-------- I belonged to two pools at different times and the amount of product we received was phenomenal ... you had to clear your slot almost daily as these records rapidly came in....( in fact you were in trouble if you didn't keep it cleared ) carting home a box at a time .... and I was not a top rung DJ .... not one of the big club spinners who got at least one copy , preferably two, of all the promos sent . ( not every record received was in enough quantity to distribute to all pool members )

------- It was an ongoing thrill to sort through these records to determine which should get a trial club play. Many were rushed pressings with hand written label info , and others were totally blank ... not even an artist's name...just an ID number . The companies intentionally blind tested some records this way .
------- All the DJs enjoyed this challenge of trying to spot the hidden jewels , the next big crowd pleasers.....randomly included within each new pile. It was a big part of the fun of it all. Most of these promos would get no club play. But, you didn't immediatly throw out what seemed to be the duds because there were always the sleepers that would break in other clubs . After a few weeks though you had to clear them out to make room for this continuous flow of new records :D