Pre-disco dance music

[Move2This]

I'm interested in what was considered dance music in the pre-disco era of 1968-73. What did people dance to at the trendy clubs of the day? Who were the favourite artists/styles of music?

[Paulo]

Hello Move2this:

I guess this is very generic...
In UK, in the rock'n'roll obssessed early 60's there were a lot of "improvised" places for kids to dance... The music played was pure early english rock and roll (beat-music): THE BEATLES, THE STONES, DAVE CLARK 5, THE HOLLIES, HERMAN HERMITS, SWINGING BLUE JEAS, GERRY & THE PACEMAKERS, FREDDY AND THE DREAMERS, etc...

As the 60's progressed and the USA soul gained attention in UK around 1966 (not enough to ban the english invasion groups) there were now better english clubs which played early american soul music (I think they call it northern soul, but I don't know why).

I have some of this music. It is really interesting and good, but extremely raw if compared to 70's soul. It is ages removed from 70's disco. Pre-historic I would say. But all great known 70's soul acts really began in the 60's (EDWINN STARR, GENE CHANDLER, HAROLD MELVIN, etc.)... even Meco Monardo.

[Blaxman]

This is a hard question, the music styles was very blended at that time. You could try:

- THE BAR-KAYS - "SOUL FINGER"

- ISAAC HAYES - "HOT BUTTERED SOUL"

- MANU DIBANGO - "SOUL MAKOSSA"

- BARRY WHITE's LOVE UNLIMITED ORCH.

- KOOL & THE GANG - Pre James Taylor years

- JAMES BROWN & JB's -

- JEAN KNIGHT - "Mr. BIG STUFF"

- DEODATO - 2001 (1971)

- JACKSON 5 - "ABC"

- STEVIE WONDER - "Superstition"

et cetera, et cetera......

Peace,

Blaxman

[Funky Dude]

I wasn't alive in the 60's and 70's era to know the full extent of what was dance music but watching video clips and listening to various early dance songs I can certainly pick some early disco from that era that I would call dance music some hits and some not hits.

From the late 60's 1967-1969:

Archie Bell & The Drells - I Can't Stop Dancing 1968 (I consider this song to be the first real disco song)
Archie Bell & The Drells - Tighten Up 1968
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back 1969
Steam - Na Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye 1969
Commodores - Rise Up/Keep On Dancing 1969
Sly & The Family Stone - Dance To The Music 1968
Bar-Kays - Soul Finger 1967
Bar-Kays - Don't Stop Dancing To The Music 1969
Temptations - Runaway Child/I Can't Get Next To You/Psychedelic Shack 1969
Rufus Thomas - Do The Funky Chicken 1969

and others

From the early 70's 1970-1973:

Curtis Mayfield - If There's Hell Below 1970
Curtis Mayfield - Get Down 1971
Curtis Mayfield - Superfly 1972
Curtis Mayfield - Junkie Chase 1972
First Choice - Newsy Neighbours 1973
First Choice - Armed & Extremely Dangerous 1973
Ultra High Frequency - We're On The Righ Track 1973 (One of my number one favourites)
Soul Searchers - We The People 1972
Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone 1972
Creative Source - Who Is He & What Is He To You 1973 (Goes for over 11 minutes, this should have been put on 12", fantastic groove)
Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft 1971
Isaac Hayes - Theme From Men 1972
Bar-Kays - Son Of Shaft 1972
Betty Wright - Baby Sitter 1972
Booker T & The MGs - Melting Pot 1971
Blackbyrds - Gut Level 1973
Delfonics - I Told You So 1972
Barbara Acklin - I'll Bake Me A Man 1973
David Ruffin - Blood Donors Needed 1972
Dennis Coffey - Scorpio 1971 (Wicked percussion, guitar bass solo)
Deodato - Skyscrapers/Super Strut 1973
Detroit Emeralds - Feel The Need In Me 1972
Eddie Kendricks - Date With The Rain 1972
Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin' 1973
Blenders LTD - When Ya Git Through With It Put It Back 1972
Executive Suite - When The Fuel Runs Out 1973
Edwin Starr - Time 1970
Fatback Band - Free Form/Street Dance/Street Walk 1972
Gil-Scott Heron - The Bottle 1973
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - The Love I Lost 1973
Hamilton Bohannon - The Stop & Go 1973
Barry White - Baby Please, Can't You See 1973
Kool & The Gang - Love The Life You Live 1971
Kool & The Gang - Electric Frog 1972
Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie/Hollywood Swinging/Funky Stuff 1973
Intruders - She's A Winner 1972
Intruders - I'll Always Love My Mama 1973
Independents - I Love You, Yes I Do 1972
Isley Brothers - That Lady 1973
Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine 1973
Jackson 5 - Hum Along & Dance 1973
Jackson Sisters - I Believe In Miracles 1973
Jerry Butler - One Night Affair 1972
Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun/Troglodyte Cavemen 1972
Lamont Dozier - Breaking Out All Over 1973
Little Royal - Soul Train 1972
Little Sister - You're The One 1970
Lyn Collins - Think 1972
Mandrill - Git It All 1972 (Great rock/funk track)
Mandrill - Hang Loose 1973
Max B - Bananaticoco 1971
MFSB - TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia) (Soul Train Theme) 1973
Modulations, The - Can't Fight Your Love 1972
New Birth - I Can Understand It/Got To Get A Knutt 1973
Nite-Liters, The - K-Jee 1971
Nite-Liters, The - Theme From Shaft 1972
O.C. Smith - Blowin' Your Mind (Theme From Shaft's Big Score) 1972
O'Jays - Love Train/Backstabbers 1972
Osibisa - Music For Gong Gong 1971
Osibisa - Fire 1973
Rappers, The - Krunchberry Beast 1973
Sisters Love - Give Me Your Love 1972
Spinners - I'll Be Around/Could It Be I'm Falling In Love 1972
Titanic - Rain 2000/Sultana 1973
Barrabas - Women 1972
Trammps - Zing Went The Stings Of My Heart 1972
Willie Hutch - Brother's Gonna Work It Out 1973
Wilson Pickett - Don't Knock My Love 1971
Yellow Sunshine - Yellow Sunshine 1973
Zulema - Giving Up 1973
Four Tops - Are You Man Enough 1973 (Theme from Shaft In Africa)

And so many more.

[Blaxman]

This Funky Dude's list is my "et cetera" list. Perfect!!!

Blaxman

[jack]

growing up where i did in a lily white suburb you would never have played curtis mayfield or anything that "black" .."whiter" artists like the supremes, stones, beatles, jefferson airplane { just try to dance to someobody to love.. i dare u } grassroots, guess who, etc were what we played at school dances, kids parties etc..plus top 40 like Hues corporation, sweet,andy kim, paper lace,carpenters, bay city rollers...god, i'm going to gag now. but this was the truth...

[markydefad]

Jack is dead on with his recollections. Coming from rural Wisconsin, we danced mostly to white Pop groups: The Beach Boys, The Grass Roots, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, The Turtles, etc.

I preferred Motown and the Atlantic/Stax stuff and occasionally some of that stuff was played also.

When I got to college, the cover bands were playing stuff like Joe Tex's "Show Me" and Sam & Dave stuff and "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. But The 5th Dimension played at the first Homecoming Dance I attended. And I loved them. So it was eclectic.

It would be interesting to compile a list of danceable pop/rock from the sixties groups. I wonder who will be scouring their Billboard books tonight for titles of "music that you can dance to" from that era. Hmmm????



_________________
Make My Feet Wanna Dance!

Markydefad

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-05-16 15:43 ]</font>

[nrgbeat]

You're from rural Wisconsin? Cheese country?

Must have been quite a culture shock when you moved to San Francisco.

[markydefad]

Hey, I always felt like I shoulda been a city boy; like by some cruel twist of fate the love child of Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn was farmed out to some folks in Wisconsin for safe-keeping. I couldn't wait to get the hell outta there, believe me. But, though I talk tough, I'm still a sorta shy boy from Wisconsin at heart. (aw, ain't that sweet)

Now, what about you? I EVEN asked you where the hell you live now and you never replied. "Eve, it's me Addison----- sometimes I think you keep things from me".

Fess up. You know about morning music so I would guess you spent some time in a city larger than Dubuque. I'm STILL JUST ASKIN'

[markydefad]

Oh, I just thought of another group that was great to dance to in that era: The Honey Cone with great tracks like "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" and "While You Were Out Looking For Sugar" and "Girls It Ain't Easy" and "Want Ads" and "Stick Up".

Anyone remember?

[jazz_pilgrim]

Paulo wrote:

As the 60's progressed and the USA soul gained attention in UK around 1966 (not enough to ban the english invasion groups) there were now better english clubs which played early american soul music (I think they call it northern soul, but I don't know why).

I think the Northern Soul thing took off around '68 / '69 after the Mod thing. Northern Soul got its name, simply because it was popular in Northern England, ie outside of London. The two legendary clubs were the Torch in Stoke and, of course, Wigan Casino. The scene was into rare soul music (rather than early soul music), and I am happy to say, it is still going strong. I got into Northern Soul around '86 / '87.

The rarest tune of them all at the Casino was Frankie Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" (2 and a half minutes long). One of the 2 copies in existence changed hands in 1998 for around £15,000!! That's rare!!

[jazz_pilgrim]

I've been looking through your list, Funky Dude. Comprehensive as always. I definitely agree with your comments on Creative Source - still an absolute blinder!! (every second of it). Loads of good tunes in there!

Seeing your reference to the O'Jays (Backstabbers / Love Train) reminded me to mention that their 1967 track, "I'll Never Forget You", became a Northern Soul monster. In fact, it has become personal all-time fave Northern Soul tune. I know for certain that the O'Jays had other Northern Soul successes.

It would be interesting to see how many of the successful disco/funk artists of the Seventies had success with their Sixties output on the Northern Soul scene ... One other good example I can think of was Gene Chandler.

[Boodikka]

As for late 60's MUSIC, as this is supposed to be a MUSIC thread, these are the soul and pop things I can remember being danced to from the time period:
1) The Horse - Archie Bell and the Drells
2) Reach Out In The Darkness - Friend and Lover
3) Expressway (To Your Heart) - Soul Survivors.....who were White, but I'm not sure if they grew up in perfect, crime-free White neighborhoods
4) Twenty Five Miles - Edwin Starr
5) Gimmee, Gimmee Good Lovin' - The Crazy Elephant
6) Scorpio - Dennis Coffey
7) Aquarius - The Fifth Dimension.....the bass-heavy second part of the song, a.k.a "The Flesh Failures"
Hey Leroy (Your Mama's Calling You) - Jimmy Castor
9) Jungle Fever - The Chacachas (sp)
10) Na Na Na Na (Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye) - Steam
11) Rock and Roll Part 2 - Gary "Short Eyes" Glitter
12) Me and Baby Brother - War
13) Spill The Wine - War
14) The Love You Save - Jackson 5
15) One Bad Apple - The Osmonds.....yes, I'm ashamed to say it. However, I'm pretty sure THEY grew up in perfect White neighborhoods.




_________________
I'm a goddess, I'm a hooker....I'm a blue movie....

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Boodikka on 2002-05-17 07:57 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Bernie on 2002-05-17 15:42 ]</font>

[Blaxman]

Back in the 70's. I was a 12 y.o. brazilian white boy and I spend my days listening to the radio, at the weekend I run to the record stores and buy the records.Surprise!!!
Every LP that I bought were from black artists, and I did know that!! And I dont care about that!!!I like them and respect them!!! As simple as that. Respect!!

Peace and respect,

Blaxman








_________________
SENHORES DO GROOVE - BRAZIL

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Bernie on 2002-05-17 15:43 ]</font>

[jack]

wow..lots of feathers flying here..the only reason i mentioned that i grew up in a white town was as barometer to how backwards things were just a short time ago / how far the world has come. we may all be "united" here by the "love of the groove" but here there are some young disco lovers / some old disco lovers. When i was a kid girls were not allowed to wear pants to school, nobody was gay, etc etc. The original posting was what did people dance to b/4 the dawn of disco.the only reason I mentioned the "white thing" was to put into perspective for the gen x'ers etc how music was not played / listened to with the universatility it is today. Some of the funkier tunes out at that time were accessible to the masses, because they were considered "soul" and for that audience. I recently saw a documentary about Richard Rogers and how in a 1967 ABC tv special Petula Clark sang a duet with Johnny Mathias and touched his arm...Ford motor company pulled it's sponsorship of the speacial, and stations around the country refused to air it because a white woman touched a black man..
THIS is the kind world some of us grew up in..let's bury the hatchet and be glad the world has improved

[Funky Dude]

Here are some more great pre-1974 disco tracks to mention:

Ohio Players - You & Me 1973
Stevie Wonder - Keep On Running 1972
Billy Preston - Outta Space 1973
Blackbyrds - Do It Fluid/Blackbyrd's Theme 1973
First Choice - This Is The House Where Love Died 1972
Sir Joe Quaterman & Free Soul - (I've Got) So Much Trouble In My Mind 1973
Temptations - Plastic Man/Masterpiece 1973
Jackson 5 - The Love You Save/Mammas Pear 1970 (Recently watched a 1971 Top Of The Pops episode and "Mammas Pearl" was played with the Pans People dancing to it)
Jackson 5 - Looking Through The Window 1972
Jackson 5 - Skywriter 1973
Van McCoy - Soul Improvisations 1972
Friends Of Distinction - Grazing In The Grass 1970
Sly & The Family Stone - Thankyou Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again 1970
Sly & The Family Stone - Family Affair 1971
G.C. Cameron - Act Like A Shotgun 1971
Bobby Womack - Communication 1971
Bobby Womack - I Can Understand It 1972
Bobby Womack - 110th Street 1973
Jackson 5 - Get It Together 1973
Midnight Movers - Follow The Wind 1973

And the list still goes on.

[Move2This]

Thank you all for your suggestions and lists of music. As a matter of fact I was expecting to draw a bit of a blank on this topic since the time period in question seems to qualify these days as "ancient history", but how wrong I was!

The reason for my interest is that me and my flatmate are planning to compile a "history of dance music". Yeah, I know it's been done many times before, but I suppose what makes it interesting is that everyone has their own ideas about what should be included!

I think my flatmate originally thought of making up one CD, but I now think it would be fairer to make up one CD for each "generation" of dance music as for some of those periods the amount of material to choose from is just too great for one or two tracks to be representative.

I should say that the whole project will be done from a UK perspective only. There is no judgement being implied here - it would just be impossible to try and represent the whole world and we simply don't have the time or resources to make the attempt.

We have started to define the dance music generations as follows - bear in mind these are approximate dates:

1968-73: Pre-disco
1973-76: Early disco
1976-80: When disco ruled the world
1980-83: The bubble bursts - new styles
1983-88: Golden age of HiNRG

That's the story so far. My flatmate, who is less than half my age, will largely take over the post-88 stuff.

Obviously people have always danced to *something* but I chose 1968 as a starting point because that seemed about the time when different strands of music started to become distinguishable - each serving their different scenes.

The resulting compilations will be purely for our own interest, and not for commercial gain, but I will post the running orders here once they have been decided.

Thanks again for your helpful contributions on the pre-disco years. It's been a big help.

[Funky Dude]

Here's a couple more I forgot to mention:

Oliver - Good Morning Starshine 1970 (I think he's more of a country artist, but this song sound kinda disco)
Cornelius Brothers - Treat Her Like A Lady 1971 (Love the funky guitar sound)

[SandraDee]

[quote]
On 2002-05-16 05:36, Move2This wrote:
I'm interested in what was considered dance music in the pre-disco era of 1968-73. What did people dance to at the trendy clubs of the day? Who were the favourite artists/styles of music?
-------------------------------

As I mentioned in the 'What youve been listening to this week' part of the Forum, there is a 3 video set all about Northern Soul/ pre-disco by Ian Levine which will be very helpful to your research.

[LavishDisco]

funkey Dude, You AMAZE ME!! What a Wonderfull List Of Classics!!
i wish i had some of them to listin to.

[jazz_pilgrim]

A final word.

I recently read a book called "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life - The Story Of the DJ."

I think you would find this book helpful for your research.

Looking forward to the results ...

[ladyboygrimsby]

Sorry to revive an old topic, but I only just realised there was message board on this site and I saw a mention of my book on here and thought I'd say hello.

Oddly, I'm in the middle of putting together a compilation for Gut Records called Disco Roots, which will contain pre-disco 12-inch era music, several of which have made it on to your (very good) lists. It isn't due to come out for a while, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Bill

[paul]

On 2002-05-16 16:20, markydefad wrote:
Oh, I just thought of another group that was great to dance to in that era: The Honey Cone with great tracks like "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" and "While You Were Out Looking For Sugar" and "Girls It Ain't Easy" and "Want Ads" and "Stick Up".

Anyone remember?

Well, I was much too young to be in clubs but the music mentioned by everyone here is what I heard on the radio as well as the party my mom would throw. Anyway, I loved the Honey Cones then and now. Especially Want Ads and Stck Up.
Hey Boodi, I hate to admit it but I like "One Bad Apple" by The Osmonds. I lived in NYC when this was out and I would hear it often on WABC.

[NickNack]

On 2002-08-08 07:12, ladyboygrimsby wrote:
Sorry to revive an old topic, but I only just realised there was message board on this site and I saw a mention of my book on here and thought I'd say hello.

Oddly, I'm in the middle of putting together a compilation for Gut Records called Disco Roots, which will contain pre-disco 12-inch era music, several of which have made it on to your (very good) lists. It isn't due to come out for a while, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Bill

Bill Brewster? A warm "Hello and Welcome" to the board from all of us. I've got your book on my shelf... two false starts. (Trying to read too many things at once.) NOW I've got incentive.

Please elaborate on that handle you've chosen. It's GREAT!

[ladyboygrimsby]

Er, I come from Grimsby in the North of England and ladyboy is a... joke. I sort of used it a few years ago and it kind of stuck. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not really a ladyboy