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It doesn't matter so much whether it is liked or hated: disco has had a far greater impact on present day music than most of the people who hate it realize.
In the October issue of <I>Stereophile</I>, Jon Iverson comments, "When disco hit, it sure sucked." So what do you think: was the music known as disco ever worth the vinyl it was pressed on? Has it aged well or not?
Sure I like it them and still now. It was an era that I can't forget since I was in my early 20's. I prefer it to the Rap music from these days but recognize that every genre has it's followers.Among my favorites are Donna Summer, Kool and the Gang, The Tramps and others.
Disco has provided various dance/party music with an invaluable number of samples that have been used many times by various D.J'.s. Moreover, disco influenced the hip hop and more contemporary electronic styles of music (i.e. stereolab, Fantastic Plastic Machine....)
Disco still sucks. When something is bad, it is still bad 25 years later. Either that, or people's standards are being lowered by MP3 or hip-hop. Those things are so rampant that people might think disco sounds good compared to what their kids are listening to. I listen to jazz, rock, blues and classical so, of course I still think, disco sucks.P.S.: Don't try to pass disco off as jazz or the jazz police will slap the taste out of your mouth.
I was a punk then. "DDT did a job on me/Now I'm a teenage lobotomy."The sheer over the top qualities of disco have sort of aged well. I even got some Village People used LPs for 50 cents. "YMCA, YMCA " However, I still prefer Rick James: "SuperFreak! The girl's so freaky!"
Although I was only about 8 years old I knew a good tune when I heard it. I was always too cool to actually buy the stuff and I have never danced a single step in my life and wish to keep it that way - dancing just looks plain stupid to me. Personally, I blame it on the boogie.
Once I learned to stop treating music as something that one had to suffer through if it was any good at all, I learned to love far more genres of musicand there's an appealing shallowness and good-time feel to disco that does (now I can admit it!) put a smile on my face.
It was simple, easy to follow, toe-tapping, sometimes even performed by good players. Sure, it never made me thoughtful, or moody, or sad. Yet, it made me smile: I still can't see what's wrong with it. Ah, one last thing: it was on vinyl.
Liked it then because I loved to dance with the ladies to 70's & 80's Disco. Graduated in 1975 (Heat of the Disco movement) it was. I for sure wore out my Donna Summer albums with "Love to Love You" on it. Now I enjoy it on occasion for that nostalgic memory.
Disco is no different than dance music of any other era. It's derided by lovers of more "serious" genres, but it serves its function well. I should also point out that, unlike much of today's dance music, it was frequently played by excellent musicians on real instruments (Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edrwards could rock with the best of them), and that's no small accomplishment.
I didn't really hate it then. It was just like every other style that comes along: some is great, some is awful, and most is somewhere between. Quite a bit of it has aged pretty darned well, actually. KC and the Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, and The Bee Gees still sound a lot fresher today than most of the '80s Euro-pop that came after them.