1979! Best Year In Disco?

[needlefingers]

For myself, 1979 is the best year for disco. The sound is not only refined from its original roots, but is sharper, clearer, focused and even more fun than all the years before. The range of songs that are considered disco, is wider. It rules the charts and pop world (and the advertising world too). Fashion is important, except in the gay clubs, where the t-shirts come off. The fad is in full swing.


There is such a gluttony of releases that much gets lost, never played. Some of it re-discovered here on discomusic.com (thank God). Earlier artists releases, such as Donna Summer and Chic, are now guaranteed a seat at the number one position. For me, every night is Saturday night.


It’s the year I return home from 3 years in Germany/Europe (soldier by day, dj at night). I come home in the late summer and immediately come out to gay bars (The Copa). I exchange my ties and gold thread shirts for jeans and a t-shirt. I get to hear what the American dj’s are playing that’s European, and vice versa. And weekends are filled with catching Grace Jones, Evelyn “Champagne” King or France Joli at the club.


It is also the year of the backlash, The Knack, “disco sucks”….etc. But I can take the bad with the good. (I always have)


Here we are 30 years later and I am grateful that I survived to celebrate my love and passion. And to have you guys and gals to banter around with it.






Happy Anniversary 1979!


Here are the number one dance songs from 1979


Number-one dance hits of 1979 (USA)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


These are the Billboard magazineHot Dance Club Play number one hits of 1979.
Issue Date
Song
Artist
January 6
"Le Freak" / "I Want Your Love" / "Chic Cheer"
Chic


January 13
"Contact"
Edwin Starr


January 20
Fly Away (all cuts)
Voyage


January 27
"I Will Survive" / "Substitute" / "Anybody Wanna Party?" / "I Said Yes"
Gloria Gaynor


February 3
"I Will Survive" / "Substitute" / "Anybody Wanna Party?" / "I Said Yes"
Gloria Gaynor


February 10
"I Will Survive" / "Substitute" / "Anybody Wanna Party?" / "I Said Yes"
Gloria Gaynor


February 17
"Keep on Dancin'" / "Do It at the Disco" / "Let's Lovedance Tonight"
Gary's Gang


February 24
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Rod Stewart


March 3
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Rod Stewart


March 10
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Rod Stewart


March 17
"I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)"
Instant Funk


March 24
"He's the Greatest Dancer" / "We Are Family"
Sister Sledge


March 31
"He's the Greatest Dancer" / "We Are Family"
Sister Sledge


April 7
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


April 14
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


April 21
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


April 28
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


May 5
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


May 12
"Dancer" / "Dance to Dance"
Gino Soccio


May 19
"Ring My Bell"
Anita Ward


May 26
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


June 2
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


June 9
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


June 16
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


June 23
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


June 30
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


July 7
"Hot Stuff" / "Bad Girls"
Donna Summer


July 14
"Born to Be Alive"
Patrick Hernandez


July 21
"Born to Be Alive"
Patrick Hernandez


July 28
"Born to Be Alive"
Patrick Hernandez


August 4
"I've Got the Next Dance"
Deniece Williams


August 11
"This Time Baby"
Jackie Moore


August 18
"Here Comes That Sound Again"
Love De-Luxe


August 25
The Boss (all cuts)
Diana Ross


September 1
The Boss (all cuts)
Diana Ross


September 8
"Found a Cure" / "Stay Free" / "Nobody Knows"
Ashford & Simpson


September 15
"Found a Cure" / "Stay Free" / "Nobody Knows"
Ashford & Simpson


September 22
"Come to Me" / "Don't Stop Dancing" / "Playboy"
France Joli


September 29
"Come to Me" / "Don't Stop Dancing" / "Playboy"
France Joli


October 6
"Come to Me" / "Don't Stop Dancing" / "Playboy"
France Joli


October 13
"Move On Up" / "Up Up Up" / "Destination's Theme"
Destination


October 20
"Move On Up" / "Up Up Up" / "Destination's Theme"
Destination


October 27
"Move On Up" / "Up Up Up" / "Destination's Theme"
Destination


November 3
"Move On Up" / "Up Up Up" / "Destination's Theme"
Destination


November 10
"Harmony" / "Ooh, La La"
Suzi Lane


November 17
"Beat of the Night" / "Pump It Up"
Fever


November 24
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"
Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer


December 1
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"
Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer


December 8
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"
Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer


December 15
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"
Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer


December 22
"Deputy of Love"
Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band


December 29
"Deputy of Love"
Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

I'm gonna go with 1978 as the "Best Year In Disco" for me, personally.

The Euro influence was blending with the US styles. The genre had become refined in it's overall sound, but there were still variations going on. The formula wasn't completely in place...just yet.

It had gone Global, but the floodgates hadn't opened...just yet. To those of us who'd been in the scene from the start (say...'73-74ish), there was still a feeling of it being ours. Does that sound imperious or a tad "elitist"? It should. It is. And I make no apologies for the truth. By '79, we'd become faces <gasp!> within the crowd. That was a big blow, to the collective Egos of a lot of people who were, just a couple years prior, considered on the cutting edge, or avant-garde. By late '78, the socio-economic conditions that compelled the need for the Disco scene, had all but disappeared. The trend was all that was left.

A good comparison would be how the "Punk" crowd of the late 70's felt, when the 80's came along and their sound broke-out, got watered-down and dissolved into New Wave. I believe it was Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, who summed this up perfectly in an interview: (forgive me for any paraphrasing) In the beginning, the kids in the UK-Punk scene were aggressive and rebellious, because they had serious socio-economic issues to rebel against. Their anger, or rage, was justified, but had nowhere to go, except into their music. But, by the time they got to touring the US, they found crowds of kids who were aggressive simply for aggression's sake. Their anger, or rage, was neither real, nor justified. The "angry youth" was, by then, merely fashionable.

[drlove]

Needlefingers, you're right when you say 1979 gave you a much wider choice, as by then, it was the most commercially successful genre of music out there. The # of disco tunes to top the pop charts (i.e. mainstream audience) peaked in that year, and Billboard even began a Top 100 positions listing on the disco charts (signifying --- as you well pointed out, needlefingers --- that there was MUCH product out there in '79).

My disco memories of '79 are pitiful in comparison with your buoyant description of nightlife, circa 1979. I got to do a modified "pretzel" disco dance with a good friend in our class talent show skit (Whoop-tee-doo !!!)Too bad I wasn't of legal drinking/bar-entering age in '79.

Musically, though, I did '76, when there was a more R&B vibe to disco music (Tavares, Trammps, Supremes, Sylvers, Lou Rawls, Four Below Zero, Whirlwind, etc.)

But as we get ready to enter the 30th anniversary of the start of '79, I definitely join ya in celebrating disco's greatest year in terms of product and commercial success!

[needlefingers]

Well then, let's get this party started right ....

Some other ‘79 hits…

Cher - Take Me Home


The Ring - Savage Lover


Festival - Don't Cry For Me Argentina


Ferrara - Love Attack


Stephanie Mills - You Can Get Over


George McCrae - Don’t You Feel My Love


Kat Mandu - The Break


Revanche - Music Man

[RetroRuss]

It is really scary to think that 1979 was 30 years ago!! Although my 'disco odyssey' began in 1976, 1979 was the year for me - precisely because it was mainstream genre of music that has always 'done it for me'.

I was 19 then, a student (ahem), more like a full time clubber!! Going out every Thursday, Friday & Saturday night to the 3 clubs that were the places to be in London (and a whole heap more to dance), meant I had the most amazing experiences, met the rich, famous, poor, odd, etc. I have stories that make people gasp in amazement - being a level headed person I didn't indulge in (too many) drugs or alcohol so just soaked it all up!

As I say on my website, Facebook etc. you can't recreate the period (or indeed that particular year) however its essence lives on in the music and having danced to it the first time round I try and share that feeling that vibe, the spirit, through my shows, and live gigs.

[needlefingers]

Here is the wikipedia entry describing 1979 in music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_in_music

And more memories….

Edwin Starr - H.A.P.P.Y. Radio


Pamala Stanley - This Is Hot


Shelia & B. Devotion - Spacer


Cory Daye - Pow Wow


Herb Alpert - Rise


Claudja Barry - Boogie Woogie Dancin’ Shoes


Peter Jaeques Band - Walking On Music


Debbie Jacobs - Don’t You Want My Love


McFadden & Whitehead - Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now


Freddie James - Get Up And Boogie

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Here is the wikipedia entry describing 1979 in music.

Great link. I love those timeline chart / list things. And in it, I stumbled across a fact that I never knew (or, never noticed...), regarding the soundtrack from "Saturday Night Fever"...

It was released in November of 1977, with the first single being "How Deep Is Your Love". In 1978, "How Deep Is Your Love" won a Grammy for Best Song of 1977. Then... in 1979, the soundtrack wins a Grammy for 1978's Album of The Year.

The same LP, with a shelf-life strong enough for it to win Awards in 2 consecutive years. (Which also, means it sustains a cultural and creative relevance, within the Recording Industry, spanning 3 years.)
I may not be much of a SNF fan, but that's an exceptional accomplishment!

[needlefingers]

It was released in November of 1977, with the first single being "How Deep Is Your Love". In 1978, "How Deep Is Your Love" won a Grammy for Best Song of 1977. Then... in 1979, the soundtrack wins a Grammy for 1978's Album of The Year.

As I have noted here before, How Deep Is Your Love was released before the movie and was the number one song when the movie came out. For those first two weeks, people went to see Saturday Night Fever to hear How Deep Is Your Love. They didn't know the other songs/music involved until they saw the picture.

And the producers thought they had missed the "disco craze" and feared they had a big flop on their hands.

[Rab]

"Beat of the Night" / "Pump It Up", This is interesting? Wasn't aware this was such a big hit back then.

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

"Beat of the Night" / "Pump It Up", This is interesting? Wasn't aware this was such a big hit back then.

I believe it was more of a regional thing. Crazy BIG in San Francisco, LA and New York. But not a lot of attention anywhere else.

I'm not surprised it topped the chart, if only for a week. It did flare-up fast, and burned mega-watt bright. Then (at least where I played, and in the clubs I danced at..) it dropped-off, just as quickly as it came.

[needlefingers]

So here it is, January 6, 2009. Thirty years ago, Chic is riding it’s 7th and final week at the top of the American Billboard Disco Charts. A holdover from 1978, the album C’est Chic has lots of promise to be enduring. And it holds true: all this time has passed and we still hear Le Freak and I Want Your Love along with the rest of the album sampled for other artists.

In 1979, I am stationed in Germany. I am a front line field medic attached to a mechanized infantry unit, which in turn is attached to an armored unit. What this means is I’m a medic stuck with some grunts who are stuck with some tanks. We play a lot of war games and sleep in the snow a lot. I am stationed in Friedberg, Germany at the Ray Barracks. It is best known for being the same place Elvis Presley served his army time at.Ray Barracks, Germany

Chic is just as big here as it is in America. They are big everywhere as I hear them on my European travels and on Radio Luxembourg. If you ever saw the VH1 show Behind The Music Studio 54, Nile Rodgers explains that the song was written in retaliation for not getting into Studio 54 on New Year’s Eve ‘77 (into 1978). Even though they already have dance hits like Everybody Dance and Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) and even though Grace Jones invited them, they don’t get into the club. So they went home and wrote the song Le Freak……although the original chant is “Aaaaaahhhhh, F*%k Off”, as this is what they were told when they were not allowed into Studio 54.

The Freak is a dance craze that oddly enough is still here today. In the beginning, you take open palm hands and rub them in opposite circles suggestively all over your body or somebody else’s body, while gyrating up and down. There are different variations, and today it’s bumping and grinding.

On my off time, I work in this club called The Red Balloon. It is a two story medium sized club. The balloon is the kind you ride in and the bottom half comes out of the ceiling, mostly red, with all kinds of strobes and disco lights built into it. The gondola hangs right over the dance floor and this is the DJ booth. You have to go up through the attic to climb down. You have complete 360 vision and sit in a wheeled chair that turns. It’s great.

It’s a Saturday night. I’m not working, although the other DJ, Timo (not Maas) will ask me to spin when he wants a break. So I’m just in there to party, dressed to the nines, tie and Italian shoes, just dancing the night away. A hustle to this, Foxtrot hustle with the younger girls to Boney M, some funk moves to Holy Ghost….when this group of about 30 young people comes in. They are different ethnicities and mostly wear black, but in a very chic(no pun intended) way. Unitards, sleeveless silk t-shirts or blouses or leotards with pants or skits…. all accented with glittery belts, bracelets and scarves.

They join the dance floor immediately upon their entrance and take over. I am attracted to their open behavior and join them. They speak in broken English and tell me they are a dance company on tour and that they are heading out to Frankfurt, but wanted to stop here first.

I tell the guy I’m talking to that I’m a soldier and also work at the club. He asks me if I could get the DJ to play “Freak Out”, as this is what most people call the song. I just look up at Timo (not Maas) who is looking down admiring them, and I mouth “Freak Out“, He pulls it right up and plays it next.

They went wild! They looked like one machine in motion, moving their hands in these sexually suggestive cirlcles, molesting the person either in front or in back of each other (or both). AND….while touching each other, gyrated and swirled, to different levels of height, while moving across the dance floor. Sort of like birds when they fly as a group and keep switching directions and shape. Only this was slower and funkier.

I eagerly join in and am welcomed into the “sexual mosh pit”. And I love it!
And I get a lot of applause from the regular gang at The Red Balloon. Practically all of them are too modest to do this move, but I’m a good dancer and pick up on it right away.

Chic - Le Freak (Live Midnight Special 1978)


They stay for just a little longer then head out for their adventure in Frankfurt. But I remember that group very well.

For my money though, I prefer I Want Your Love. And always the long version. Any dark Chic riff just hypnotizes me. And little did I know in January of 1979, just how many more “dark Chic riff”s were to come out before the year was over.

Chic - I Want Your Love



Check in next week, when Le Freak dances off the floor and a new Number One Song makes Contact with the disco scene.

I’ll be looking for you….:icon_eek:

Will you be looking for me?

[KBallenger53]

'79 was a GREAT YEAR for Disco. But it was also it's last hurrah....:icon_cry: To me, '78 was Disco's peak year. But '80 brought about the emergence of "Rap" music, & it was the beginning of the end for Disco, although it was disguised as "Dance" music by then.

But everybodies got their favorite year. Even I must admit that my favorite Disco record of all time came out in '79: "Disco Circus" by Martin Circus!!!:icon_mrgreen: But '78 is definately the best year to me.

'NUFF SAID

[PierreConstantin]

Well then, let's get this party started right

The Ring - Savage Lover

I agree, 1979 was an excellent year and it's my favourite too -even if sometimes I prefer 1976 because the productions seem more authentic to me.

Speaking of "Savage lover", this song had a strange destiny because it was a very big hit in Mexico, and only in Mexico! I remember it vividly because I lived there. On the lp the producers even thank their Mexican friends.

[andyy]

I shall have to agree yes 1979 was the big and best year in Disco over here in the UK . i cannot speak for you guys and gals in America. I remember so many fantastic records coming out week by week month by month and you most certainly rember the big hits they are with you for life.
Maybe 1979 was the year to cram in as much disco because it was slowly declining in popularity i believe in America Thank goodness we never had the backlash disco Sucks i feel it was so pathetic when i first heard of it yes Disco was still highly popular in the UK and seemed to slightly change more in 1981 this is when i say Disco disappeared here in the UK
I have to agree about CHIC it seemed to be their best year and they never did manage to repeat the 1979 success same with Donna Summer and many more great Disco artits and groups.
I would like to say the years 1977 -1981 seemed popular in Disco in the UK i guess other countries around the globe differed and maybe 1979 might come out the most popular year so please keep this thread going.

[needlefingers]

January 13, 1979 and disco has a new Number One Song: Contact by Edwin Starr.

Edwin Starr, whose real name is Charles Hatcher, is already well known in the music business. His protest anthem War was a number one pop-hit and he had many other popular songs both before and after that recording. Here’s a link to his bio at allmusic.com

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difwxqr5ldae~T1

But Contact brings him full-fledged out onto the dance floor. And not just for America, but the rest of the world too. I remember this song being a big hit in Europe, including Germany. And at The Red Balloon, it always filled the floor. Introduced in the waning months of 1978, it has a slow and steady climb to the top and is played throughout the year.

And why not? This delicious tale of spotting, cruising and making “contact” with someone at the disco was half of what disco was to a lot of people, myself included. One of the great things about disco was that you really didn’t have to ask someone to dance, just get out there and meet them by dancing.

And Edwin Starr gave us good reason to do just that.

From the building opening intro of congas, double claps and deep bass, to the somewhat spacey and jabbing synth, leading into the story of spotting his desire, making “eye to eye” contact and finally playing out the cruising game of “I was looking at you….You were looking at me…”

Contact was the first record I doubled up on and played one of them at two beats behind so I could make it sound like an echo effect. I had heard it on Radio Luxembourg and taught myself to recreate it for the club.

Edwin Starr - Contact


Later in the year, Edwin returns with another club hit….H.A.P.P.Y. Radio…..making 1979 Edwin Starr’s best year in disco.


If you look and listen to older Edwin Starr stuff(and I hope you do), you will see he had an affinity for good dance music. I was a child of the times of desegregation…that is, when they stopped separating blacks and whites for school.

In the 7th grade, I attended middle school with black people for the first time. Being a dancer, mover and heavy into soul and r&b, I actually fit in right away.

When it rained, we would go to the girls locker room and play records. But it was always all the black girls and me, one skinny white-trash boy. I remember dancing to Rockin’Robin, and Down By The Lazy River among others. But I always liked 25 Miles by Edwin Starr and would bring it to school on days that I knew we were going to be dancing, carrying it in my 45‘s box. It was a popular hit a year or two before, but was well worth getting down to anytime.

Edwin Starr - 25 Miles




I have fond memories of Edwin Starr from my youth and my days as a DJ. Contact is number 3 on my all-time top ten list of disco songs and I play it at disco parties all the time. And it never fails. If you have the chance, listen to the mash-up of Donna Summer vs. Edwin Starr

I was lying in bed with Good Morning America on when they announced his death. While it saddened me, I was grateful that it was a national story, and not just some back page obituary. It was because of his hit War that he was memorialized, but along with his other music, and there is a lot, Contact really does touch me and sends me on a memory bliss.

I salute Edwin Starr on this, the 30th anniversary of Contact.

Check back again next week when Mr. Starr slides off the dance floor and we “Fly Away” to a new Number One Song.

Bring your camera...you might want some Souvenirs.:icon_lol: