Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pianos, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.

Discothèques, mostly a French invention, were imported to the United States with the opening of Le Club, a members-only restaurant and nightclub at 416 East 55th Street in Manhattan, by French expatriate Olivier Coquelin, on New Year's Eve 1960.

Disco music originated from music popular with African Americans, Latino Americans, and Italian Americans in New York City (especially Brooklyn) and Philadelphia from the late 1960s to the mid-to-late 1970s. Disco can be seen as a reaction by the 1960s counterculture to both the dominance of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music. Several dance styles developed during '70s disco's popularity in the United States, including "the Bump", "the Hustle", "the Watergate", "the Continental", and "the Busstop".

During the 1970s, disco music developed, mainly by artists from the United States and Europe. Well-known artists included the Bee Gees, ABBA, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Giorgio Moroder, Baccara, George Michael, The Jacksons, George Benson, Michael Jackson, The O’Jays, Prince, Boney M, Earth Wind & Fire, Irene Cara, Rick James, ELO, Average White Band, Chaka Khan, Chic, KC and the Sunshine Band, Lionel Richie, The Commodores, Parliament-Funkadelic, Thelma Houston, Sister Sledge, Sylvester, The Trammps, Barry White, Diana Ross, Kool & the Gang, and Village People. While performers gained public attention, record producers played an important behind-the-scenes role in developing the genre. By the late 1970s, most major U.S. cities had thriving disco scenes, and DJs would mix dance records at clubs like Studio 54 in Manhattan, popular among celebrities. Nightclub-goers often wore expensive, extravagant outfits, mainly loose, flowing pants or dresses for ease of movement while dancing. The disco scene also had a thriving drug subculture, particularly drugs that enhanced the experience of dancing to loud music and flashing lights, such as cocaine and quaaludes, so common in the disco subculture that they were nicknamed "disco biscuits". Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity, reflecting the sexual revolution of the era. Films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Thank God It's Friday (1978) contributed to disco's mainstream popularity.

Disco declined as a major popular music trend in the United States after the infamous Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and continued its sharp decline in the U.S. during the early 1980s. However, it remained popular in Italy and some European countries throughout the 1980s, also gaining popularity elsewhere, including India and the Middle East, where disco aspects blended with regional folk styles like ghazals and belly dancing. Disco eventually became a key influence in the development of electronic dance music, house music, hip hop, new wave, dance-punk, and post-disco. The style has seen several revivals since the 1990s, with its influence remaining strong across American and European pop music. A revival, underway since the early 2010s, gained great popularity in the early 2020s. Albums contributing to this revival include Confessions on a Dance Floor, Random Access Memories, Future Nostalgia, and Kylie Minogue's Disco. Modern artists like Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Sabrina Carpenter, Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic continue the genre's popularity, introducing it to a younger generation.