Disco In The Dna - The Influence Of Disco

Disco was arguably the main influence on the earliest house music. The most obvious similarity between disco and house is the four to the floor beat, but disco laid the groundwork for house in many other areas. It created the 12" single and it created the club infrastructure that allowed house to become a worldwide success.

Philly Soul

Disco developed from the Philly sound, a.k.a. Philly Soul. Philadelphia International Records (P.I.R.) was launched in 1971 by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell. This label revolutionised music in the 1970s, and basically invented disco.

In the 1960s, Gamble, Huff and Bell were producing highly polished soul and funk tracks, and this was the sound that would be developed in the 1970s into the Philly sound. You can hear some characteristics of Philly soul in their early work prior to creating Philadelphia International Records.

Hey, Western Union Man By Jerry Butler (1968)

In 1971, everything fell into place to allow Gamble, Huff and Bell to launch Philadelphia International Records. They were elite veterans of the music industry, and had spent the 1960s working for major labels like Atlantic, Mercury and Motown. By 1971 they had perfected their craft of producing polished records.

Their industry experience didn't just give them the skill to produce great records. They had also developed their network and a knowledge of how the music business worked. They gained a "custom label" distribution deal with CBS records, which gave them access to global manufacturing, distribution and marketing, but also gave them complete creative control. They followed a Motown hit-factory formula, but with a significant upgrade in production standards.

P.I.R. assembled a permanent elite pool of over 30 musicians known as Mother Father Sister Brother (MFSB). This allowed every record on P.I.R. to have ultra high quality.

Material Changes That Helped P.I.R.

There were several technological changes in the 1970s that helped Philadelphia International Records. The introduction of FM radio meant that radio was now in stereo, with improved sound quality. Hi fidelity was also making its way into clubbing and home hi-fi. The sound of early P.I.R. featured layered orchestral arrangements with a funk groove. The high quality of their recordings suited the newer hi fidelity audio.

P.I.R. was founded in the wake of the Civil Rights movement in the USA, and P.I.R. followed a model of Black excellence, giving their mission purpose as well as economic success.

The original P.I.R. formula for Philly disco was invented between 1972 and 1975. There were a few elements in their formula. There was a four to the floor kick with a simple hi-hat pattern to lock in a danceable beat. This was combined with the P.I.R. signature orchestral arrangements which gave the music a feeling of luxury. In the early 1970s, P.I.R. released massive era-defining disco records by The O'Jays, The Three Degrees, The Spinners, The Trammps, MFSB and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

Love Epidemic By The Trammps (1973)

The New York Disco Scene

Innovations in New York clubbing in the 1960s and early 1970s would be highly influential on the disco scene in the 1970s. New York club DJs saw their role as creative entertainers instead of human jukeboxes. They focussed on keeping people dancing instead of just playing popular records. The concepts from New York clubbing spread across the USA and the world. This meant that disco wasn't just an aesthetic, but a social movement.

The Loft

David Mancuso hosted about a dozen parties between 1965 and 1969 as a way to pay his rent. In February 1970 he shifted to a regular weekly format and this became known as The Loft. The parties were welcoming for communities who were excluded from mainstream nightclubs.

David Mancuso used an audiophile sound system and played songs from beginning to end without mixing. The emphasis on hi fidelity audio was influential on The Warehouse and Paradise Garage.

The Loft had extralegal status because it was a private invitation-only party. This meant that the parties could run for much longer than an ordinary nightclub. This format would influence the juice bars of Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s. The Gallery, The Paradise Garage and The Warehouse were all founded by Loft regulars.

Soul Makossa By Manu Digango (1973)

The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary opened in 1969 in a converted church in Hell's Kitchen. The Sanctuary had the policy of welcoming gay people, which was highly unusual at the time.

Francis De Grasso pioneered slip-cueing and beat matching at The Sanctuary. These would become core techniques of disco deejaying. Nicky Siano later developed this further at The Gallery.

Beat matching was initially used to extend the length of tracks, which were very short in the late 1960s. This was because record decks at that time didn't have a pitch control to change the tempo of a track by speeding it up or slowing it down.

Gin-Go-Lo-Ba (Drums Of Passion) By Olatunji! (1960)

Salsoul

Salsoul is probably the single biggest stylistic influence on house music. Salsoul Records was formed in 1974 by Joseph Cayre, Kenneth Cayre, Stanley Cayre and Joe Bataan. Salsoul is a portmanteau of "salsa" and "soul", and the label is named after Joe Bataan's album of the same name. Salsoul Records was originally created to release tracks in the crossover salsa/soul/funk sound of Spanish Harlem.

At the same time as Salsoul was being created, key members of MFSB were becoming unhappy at P.I.R. due to disagreements over money. The Cayre brothers saw an opportunity to pivot Salsoul towards the new disco sound that P.I.R. had created. Salsoul Records offered Vince Montana Jr. from MFSB a lucrative contract to form The Salsoul Orchestra. Salsoul Records poached key disaffected members of MFSB to work for them, and these musicians formed the basis of The Salsoul Orchestra.

Salsoul is one of the most important labels that was played in the early days of The Warehouse. Frankie Knuckles was a fan of the high quality disco music from Salsoul Records, and their tracks were a staple of the early Warehouse.

Salsoul's position as a key influence on the culture of house music is not the only reason it's a fundamental influence on house music. Salsoul Records took the disco sound of P.I.R. and added important innovations that are fundamental for the creation of house music as a genre. Salsoul released the first commercially available 12" singles, and the first commercially available extended club mixes. Salsoul also started the practice of releasing DJ tools on the B sides of 12" singles. Salsoul released various new types of DJ tool and standardised this as a format for dance music. These are innovations that house music developed further.

Salsoul was highly reactive to the way that disco and club music was evolving. After pivoting from latin funk to Philly disco, they pivoted again to make DJs central to their productions. Salsoul worked with Shep Pettibone, Tom Moulton and Larry Levan to produce club friendly mixes with DJs at the centre of their strategy. The conductor of the orchestra was central to Philly disco, but Salsoul made DJs the centre of their sound.

Let No Man Put Asunder (Album Version) By First Choice (1977)

Disco Around The World

The custom label distribution deal of P.I.R. meant that Philly Soul was widely available immediately. Disco quickly became an international craze, and Disco's roots evolved into distinct genres around the world.

Canada

Canada made its mark on the disco scene in 1975 with the release of Kebekelektrik's War Dance. Pat Deserio and Gino Soccio from Kebekelektrik went on to produce classic disco records under several aliases. Other producers were also joining the Canadian disco scene. THP Orchestra (Three Hat Productions) formed in 1976. Montreal was designated as Disco's second city by Billboard magazine in 1979 (New York being the first).

The Canadian disco scene was producer led by studio nerds, and Canadian disco was one of the most high-tech futuristic styles of the 1970s. Tracks like Dancer by Gino Soccio were exported back to Chicago to become staples of house music's early culture, as well as being highly influential on Garage, Hi-NRG, Boogie and Post Disco.

Two Hot For Love By T.H.P. Orchestra (1977)

Europe

Europe started to copy Philly disco around 1974, and the initial results were incredibly mediocre. The first Euro disco was made to cash in on the success of Philly Soul, but it was made by session musicians who were paid by the hour to fulfil corporate directives. The end result sounded like lounge music.

Although the first attempts at European disco did have some commercial success, it was widely considered unappealing. In 1975, a few European producers wanted to do something more European instead of just trying to copy Philly. The first attempts were basically soft porn, i.e. Love In C Minor by Cerrone and Love To Love You Baby by Donna Summer (with Giorgio Moroder).

Donna Summer was living in Europe when she teamed up with Giorgio Moroder to make Love To Love You Baby. They continued to work together with a rapid schedule of releases, including "Try Me... I know... We Can Make It" and "Spring Affair". In 1977, the Philly strings were dropped completely on a game changing futuristic track.

I Feel Love By Donna Summer (1977)

In the same year Cerrone released Supernature and Space released Magic Fly. The era of Space Disco had begun. European producers removed the expensive Philly string sections and replaced them with synthesized futuristic sounds. Eurodisco's pivot to electronics laid the foundations of modern electronic dance music via producers like Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone. The Space Disco era lasted from 1977 to 1980.

When the disco backlash hit most of Europe, Italy doubled down on futuristic synth disco. The Italo Disco era lasted from 1980 to 1985, and directly influenced the early years of house.

Japan

In Japan, City Pop incorporated disco along with other Western influences, which in turn influenced Japanese Techno Pop in the late 1970s. Yellow Magic Orchestra then influenced the rest of the world with their hi-tech sound.

Fire Cracker By Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)

The Disco Capex Bubble

The gold rush to cash in on the disco craze caused a wave of commercial property investments in nightclubs. Entrepreneurs around the world used a massive amount of capital to open thousands of nightclubs. When the disco bubble collapsed, a large number of investors were left holding worthless assets. This infrastructure became the medium to spread house music worldwide in the 1980s, hitting first in the UK and spreading rapidly throughout the world.

The spread of disco infrastructure had multiple stages. In the USA, zoning laws and suburban flight left cheap warehouse spaces in many major cities. In Chicago, venues like The Warehouse and The Playground capitalised on these low-overhead spaces. In New York, high-end elite nightclubs for the rich and famous were opened with high investment and high overheads.

In the UK, former cinemas were unused and ripe for commercial exploitation by the 1970s disco boom. The rise of television had devastated British cinema attendance, and cinemas had been in decline for decades. Legacy cinemas located in the centre of towns and cities were in prime locations and big enough to convert into high capacity venues. Cavernous, multi-tiered cinema buildings across the UK were converted into multi-room nightclubs.

In the late 1970s, European entrepreneurs built massive, high-capacity clubs across the Mediterranean to cash in on jet-set disco tourism. In Belgium, large commercial mega-dancings were built at highway intersections.

These investments all crashed when disco crashed. A massive worldwide network of clubs needed a new sound. That new sound became house music.

The Impact Of Disco On House

The Warehouse in Chicago was opened at the height of the disco boom. Disco survived the backlash in Chicago but mutated into a unique Chicago form. Chicago combined the curatorial sensibility that Frankie Knuckles had learned from The Loft, with Herb Kent's New Wave Punk Outs and futuristic Italo Disco from the early 1980s.

The Chicago producers took their aesthetic and translated it with a DIY ethos. This raw sound was strikingly unique and appealing to the post-punk era of the UK that lasted from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. Unlike European futurism, UK electronic music was based on a DIY attitude from the punk era, and there was nothing more DIY than the first few years of house music.

Beat The Box By Terrence Woodard (1985)

Gimme The Bass By The Force (1986)

The club infrastructure in the UK is an often ignored aspect of the rise of house music in 1985. It became the norm to play house music in the second room of high capacity regional clubs, with the main room playing pop. By 1986 those second rooms were packed out, while the main room playing chart sounds was leaving people cold. In 1986, Love Can't Turn Around was the first house record to chart in the UK national charts. In 1987, Jack Your Body went to number one in the UK national charts without any prior radio exposure.

House music used the UK as a springboard into Europe and the world. The requirement for capital utilisation across Europe was the medium by which house music spread like wildfire to the Euroean working class between 1985 and 1987. This craze leapfrogged the cultural elites who scrambled to catch up in the next few years that followed.

Disco didn't just influence house aesthetics. Disco also created the infrastructure that house music needed to spread worldwide. It created 12" records, a massive network of clubs, and the human network of distribution via club DJs and dancers.