THE first "100% DISCO" song was : ...

[remicks]

*****


--- Tracing the roots of disco is so fascinating .... reviewing the particular songs that included certain elements in their musical arrangements that would one day all gel together into something to be called disco. By the early seventies it was clear something was up. Certain things like bongos and whistles and electric organs and sexily cooing females were spicing up the current musical stew. It was a period bursting with creative activity . There was something universally appealing about this developing new music that was sexy, uplifting, and energetic. Soon it was almost like a mad race to the finish line the way artists and producers from all angles were getting involved . Funk performance bands like Kool & The Gang and Gary Toms ; MOR arrangers like Paul Marriott and Henry Mancini ... rock based folks like Bob Crewe and The Bee Gees, all participating.
To a large extent, when looking at the early charters, it looked like the jazz crowd may take command of the genre...Herbie Mann , Donald Byrd, Grover Washington and many other were all integrating a dance vibe into their sound .
When it was said and done though , I think no one was the clear winner .... they all fit in . Disco embraced a wide swath of musical influences which is why on Marky's current chart you'll see big band sounding Dr Buzzard alongside Motown's Stevie Wonder alongside British artists Gary Glitter and The Bay City Rollers and so on and so on.

So disco originates from a diverse conglomerate of musical styles and sounds and continued to maintain a rich diversity of sound within itself once it arrived. That there is no "one" disco sound makes it hard to decide what earlier songs were the most disco ....depends on which disco sound you're referring to .

Still ... all said , there must be that one point in the evolving disco story ....that one point where the disco "ON" switch gets officially clicked on ..... that one point where disco makes its arrival known.

Is there one song that flicks the disco switch ? I think a big factor in deciding that is not only by how completely the song's music sounded like disco.... but also what was the original intent of its composition ? Was the song intentionally created to be "disco" ?

In other words this isn't a song that is a continuation of the funk, or of Motown , or Philly soul or R&B in general ... or jazz, nor any other musical genre it could be ascribed to .

Instead this song goes into it's own little box and only that box ... a brand new box ...
the box labeled "DISCO" :icon_cool:

What all this is leading to then is : :icon_confused::icon_rolleyes:
rather than asking , "What was the first disco song? " ...
I'm asking, "What was The FIRST 100% , no doubt about it : "disco and nothing else" song???

I'll be most curous what song you think that is .



For me , I've given it a lot of thought and there's no doubt about it.

THE first song to say "I am disco , hear me roar" was :

....wait .... :icon_mrgreen::icon_rolleyes:

........ I'd rather hear your choice first !


******

[VINYLLIFE]

Please tell me it's something Philly.:icon_cool:

Or something HOT

[remicks]

Please tell me it's something Philly.:icon_cool:

Or something HOT

Vinyllife ... you tell me !! :icon_biggrin:


*****

[SandraDee]

'More More More' by Andrea True Connection is IMHO one of if not THE first pure 'disco' record. It doesn't really fall into soul, r'n'b, philly, funk, pop, jazz, eurodisco or any other bags that were popularly used, it's just disco isn't it? It's a bit unusual too because it came out in '76 so it preceded the trend for pure disco becoming faster & faster towards the end of the 70s. There are exceptions from later in the 70s though such as Melba Moore's 'You Stepped Into My Life' which is pure disco but at a slower tempo like 'M M M'.
I'm really pleased you brought this up Remmy as, though I like all types of disco/funk, I've always been fascinated with this 'pure' disco that could've only come out in that disco era & could never be solely categorized as anthing other than disco.

[garrybcoston]

I'd say that Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye" album was the first real, for real, pure disco album (I think Honeybee, How High the Moon, etc. were also on that album); the other songs were also, in my mind, the first real disco songs to "rev it up" so to speak to introduce and start the wheels rolling for the disco era.

Garry:icon_lol:

[Simon White]

Surely this subject has been covered before but with different wording ?? :icon_rolleyes:

Or is it another remix? :icon_cool:

[remicks]

'More More More' by Andrea True Connection is IMHO one of if not THE first pure 'disco' record. It doesn't really fall into soul, r'n'b, philly, funk, pop, jazz, eurodisco or any other bags that were popularly used, it's just disco isn't it?

MORE MORE MORE certainly deserves to be placed in that same "disco only" box I'm referring to. Pure disco ....breathy vocals sighing sexy lyrics , cow bell/ wood block .... long disco version ... 12" pressing .... 100% disco on many levels --- (and yet ......no strings !!!!)

I'll only take exception with its choice, SandraBee, as being "first" because by then Billboard had had a disco chart for well over a year which contained an ongoing list of songs all getting identified as "disco" ...so the concept of disco music had by then been birthed , spanked and well into doing the hustle .
So, I suggest we need to go back earlier if trying to pinpoint the one song that triggered a universal awareness of "Aha! ...this song, this is a new music ... a new music to be christened "disco".

I'm really pleased you brought this up Remmy as, though I like all types of disco/funk, I've always been fascinated with this 'pure' disco that could've only come out in that disco era & could never be solely categorized as anything other than disco.

Thanks Dee. Me too concerning pure disco.
I've been thinking about this topic for some time and it's one I don't think has ever been quite addressed. ( if so, I can't find it ) I think Garry has submitted a reasonable choice ... so for now I'll sit back with interest and see what other members consider the answer to be. :icon_cool:



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[SandraDee]

I'd say that Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye" album was the first real, for real, pure disco album (I think Honeybee, How High the Moon, etc. were also on that album); the other songs were also, in my mind, the first real disco songs to "rev it up" so to speak to introduce and start the wheels rolling for the disco era.

Garry:icon_lol:

I know what you mean as Gloria's LP has that zingy orchestrated 'disco' sound that became the norm for the rest of the 70s & also has the tracks segueing into each other which was also to become a standard feature but I just think that it had elements of philly & motown that had already been done whereas More More More had a completely new style which wasn't that much like anything that had gone before. Certain records like this came along that had a completely original unidentifiable disco sound such as Donna's I Feel Love & Dance Dance Dance by Chic. Just my opinion.

[Disco Funk]

Remicks, are you referring to songs or records that had the word 'disco version' labeled on them? Or if they were consciously making a record that was disco in nature?

I don't know about the former (I think they started putting out 'disco versions' in '75 on 45s), but I'd have to say with the latter, the nod would have to go to the Philly guys. Once they started putting more thump on top of the snare beat with either the tom drum or the four-on-the-floor, that was when disco really came to be. The first track to use this was I'll Be Around, which I wrote in another thread was Earl Young using the Al Green / Al Jackson Jr style of drumming. It's really hard to put my finger on what was it about I'll Be Around that made it way more disco than, say, Let's Stay Together. It wasn't just the better sound quality, and the heavier sound of the drums. They both featured the tom drum beat, and strings, plus all the regular instruments (guitars, bass, keyboards?). But there is one thing that set I'll Be Around apart: it definitely was unlike anything that came before.

Anyway, that's when I feel disco music was truly born, when they decided to boost the sound of the drum to emphasize the beat for club play.

Let's Stay Together performance

I'll Be Around performance

Disco Funk

[remicks]

Remicks, are you referring to songs or records that had the word 'disco version' labeled on them? Or if they were consciously making a record that was disco in nature?

The latter

I don't know about the former (I think they started putting out 'disco versions' in '75 on 45s), but I'd have to say with the latter, the nod would have to go to the Philly guys. Once they started putting more thump on top of the snare beat with either the tom drum or the four-on-the-floor, that was when disco really came to be. The first track to use this was I'll Be Around, which I wrote in another thread was Earl Young using the Al Green / Al Jackson Jr style of drumming. It's really hard to put my finger on what was it about I'll Be Around that made it way more disco than, say, Let's Stay Together. It wasn't just the better sound quality, and the heavier sound of the drums. They both featured the tom drum beat, and strings, plus all the regular instruments (guitars, bass, keyboards?). But there is one thing that set I'll Be Around apart: it definitely was unlike anything that came before.

Anyway, that's when I feel disco music was truly born, when they decided to boost the sound of the drum to emphasize the beat for club play.

Let's Stay Together performance

I'll Be Around performance

Disco Funk

Well the thing is , when I'LL BE AROUND was released, did people say: "aha ! --- I'LL BE AROUND = disco !!!! " .......?

That's the song I'm looking for .

*****

[Disco Funk]

The latter




Well the thing is , when I'LL BE AROUND was released, did people say: "aha ! --- I'LL BE AROUND = disco !!!! " .......?

That's the song I'm looking for .

*****

I wasn't around at the time, so I can't when people decided that disco music was called 'disco'. But to the people making that record (i.e. baker, harris, young, thom bell, etc...) I think they knew they were making a new type of dance music because they repeated that same sound with Could It Be I'm Falling In Love in the same session, and kept going on with it for years to come.

My guess, though, is that many artists at the time were making songs geared towards dancing and clubs, but the sound that would later become the true disco form, was just one of many competing styles in '72/'73. These tracks are probably considered Northern Soul classics nowadays, borne out of the 60s dance numbers by Motown and artists like The Four Season, etc... Tom Moulton dug up some of these tracks on his Disco Gold series of LPs, because to him, those were the roots of disco, but when you listen to those tracks, they sound out of place on a 'disco' record from '75. Anyway, I'd say it wasn't until '74 that disco as a unique genre really became 'mainstream', in that it was recognized as the definitive new sound by the music industry.

Back to Philadelphia: Those philly guys must have known they were onto something, because had I'll Be Around been a fluke, they wouldn't have continued to make records with that same groove and drum pattern. The competing dance music style within the philly circles, as far as I can tell, was the Love Train type groove, which was kind of a shuffling or a kind of march. Earl Young was playing the drums with the hi-hat emphasizing the quarter beats (bassdrum,snare,bassdrum,snare), and overall feel was a shuffle. The disco template could have gone that route, but instead, it started first as the snare-tom drum combination, then the snare/kick drum AKA four on the floor combination (which I think started in '72 with The Futures' 'Stay With Me'). It must have been the flying/bouncing hi-hat pattern that also pushed it forward, because you couldn't use that on the Love Train shuffle groove.

So, I still have to stick with I'll Be Around being the one song that really made the philly guys first go 'ah ha!', and then as they moved further into '73, other producers heard these new sounds, if not on the radio, then by watching Soul Train, and tried to emulate that philly dance sound.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

*****

Ok I very much agree that BHY and gang knew they were creating a new approach under which to groove ( much removed from say ..............James Brown :icon_razz:....) but I don't think they had any idea their music at this point would some day be identified with anything called "disco" . And agreed they knew they had tapped into a sound that only got better by their exploring further...

The caveat to this challenge is in naming the first song that goes into the "disco box" and only the disco box. 100% ... no argument .... disco.
I'LL BE AROUND was released as a soul song and only now in retrospect do we hear its strong disco leanings . At the time there was no disco box ....but there still didn't need to be one either because I don't think anyone categorizing I'LL BE AROUND had any trouble placing in the ongoing "SOUL" box.

Meaning at the time i don't think people were running around and questioning, "That record, " I'LL BE AROUND by The Spinners ... what do you call that music ?" .... and even if they were, I don't think anyone was answering : "Its 'disco'."

This is why I believe the song we're looking for can't be anything that has an evolutionary process behind it ....i.e. records that had been built off their former selves such as thru the Motown machine or the ongoing Philly Sound at Sigma ...those early 70's records coming out of both camps could have gone on to be identified as such and only as such and I think no one would've been the wiser .

I'm seeking the song that gets released and the resulting buzz word on the tips of wagging tongues is DISCO .... the song that when asked at the time "What box does this song go in anyway?" ...

The answer : "the disco box" ...

Disco Funk : Anyway, I'd say it wasn't until '74 that disco as a unique genre really became 'mainstream', in that it was recognized as the definitive new sound by the music industry.

Agree !! And so now its time to name that tune !! :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen:

******

[Simon White]

*****


Agree !! And so now its time to name that tune !! :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen:

******

Haven't people already named what they think tune is in this thread already and in fact elsewhere? :icon_question:

Like here -

http://www.discomusic.com/forums/sho...rst-disco-song

We've had 'More More More' 'Never Can Say Goodbye' and 'I'll Be Around' cited here in this thread, all good candidates as far as I can see.. how many answers do you want Remix, or hasn't anyone mentioned the one that agrees with you yet ... or is this another attemp at a There's something about WE ARE FAMILY thread? :icon_biggrin:

[Disco Funk]

Maybe what you're looking for can be found in this old thread from 2004:

Disco Chart

Somebody's already mentioned Never Can Say Goodbye. I guess that was the song that told everybody 'hey, disco is here'. Whether that song was called 'disco' by the public or was just a song played in disco, it's hard to say. It's all semantics and probably lost in the sands of time.

I still stick to my guns and think it was that switch in the philly sound in '72 that made people take notice and realize a new dance sound was on the way, hence all explosion of philly-esque dance numbers in 73. A prime example, which I discovered recently, is a track called Bet You If You Ask Around by Velvet from 1973 on Perception, which featured an instrumental B side for, I'm guessing, extended DJ mixing.

Bet You...

Disco Funk

[QUINNY]

Remmy...you're a NASTY man for drawing people into yet another "how long is a piece of string" thread.:icon_lol::icon_rolleyes:

ONE record (admittedly waaay after the Gloria Gaynor album) that really had my ears pricked was Helplessly by Moment Of Truth. The sound, production,style and the fact that it was an extended mix really made it stand out.