What Preceded Disco?

Disco has a history that expands farther than the 50 states of America; it takes us back to the war-filled streets of France, Paris, to be more exact. When you think of disco, a lot of things come to mind, like dance, colors, lights, mirror balls but would you believe it if we said that the seeds of Disco was planted in defiance to the Nazi regime?  Yes, you did hear right. Disco rose as a form of defiance to the Nazi rule and regime in France.

“Imagine, amid the grey serge of wartime France, a tribe of youngsters with all the colourful decadence of punks or teddy boys. Wearing zoot suits cut off at the knee (the better to show off their brightly coloured socks), with hair sculpted into grand quiffs, and shoes with triple-height soles – looking like glam-rock footwear 30 years early – these were the kids who would lay the foundations of nightclubbing. Ladies and gentlemen, les Zazous.”– Frank Boughton for The Telegraph

The Zazous took to publicly defying the Nazi’s strict regime and its distaste for Jazz. The Zazous brought about the change for the French people and inspired many of the artists to set up record labels; thus came the ever-enduring culture of dance, music and Disco in Paris. Now we fast-forward to the 60s and 70s and we are in  New York City, where Disco has rose as a form of defiance over the Rock culture and the negative connotations placed on dance-able music. Disco took its musical influences from Latin, Funk and Soul music. For an in-depth understanding about the Disco Era, please click on the other tabs on the menu where specific Disco scenes, style and peoples are discussed.

What followed? Funk? Techno? Hip-Hop?

During the 80s and 90s, the transition from the original Disco style comes with the association of any music that is played in the Disco Clubs as ‘Disco’. Hence we see the change of the original Disco styles to dance music that took its influences from the blues and Jazz. Towards the end of the 70s, there was also an increase in the Rave culture, which explored the same themes of freedom that was a characteristic of the Disco Era. Disco also influenced the early Hip-Hop, Techno and Punk styles of music with its end in the 70s.