“Hooked On You,” with its graphically brilliant refrain - “Don’t need no grass or cocaine, I’m hooked on you” - demonstrated what could be done with a great song and a kick-ass rhythm section.

As a song of the future, it is remarkably prescient.įrench drummer and producer Cerrone, one of the leaders of the Eurodisco sound, came over to New York and - utilizing the best of NYC and France’s session musicians (including a young Jocelyn Brown) - made one of the best albums of the late disco period. The rest of the song is entirely comprised of synthesizers and drum machines. The only organic element to the whole song, aside from Summer’s auto-erotic delivery, is Keith Forsey’s kick-drum. “I Feel Love” was conceived as a song for the future on Summer’s 1977 LP, “I Remember Yesterday,” in which different eras were evoked with varying elements of success. He explains, in his own words, how each one is a revolutionary time capsule of a genre that deserves more recognition:ĭonna Summer was discovered by producer Giorgio Moroder while working in a touring stage production of “Hair.” The pair’s breakthrough was the breathy and sensual 1974 hit “Love To Love You Baby” on a label that came to be synonymous with disco’s excesses, Casablanca. In that spirit, the arts desk asked Brewster to sift through his record collection to spotlight five disco tracks. And it was also the most fun you could have with your clothes on,” he added. Yet it was so much more than that,” he told the NewsHour in an email. “Disco’s legacy is frequently reduced to polyester pants, glittery eye-make up, cocaine at Studio 54 and a poor taste joke at the expense of the Village People. Music historian Bill Brewster, who co-wrote “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey,” said that everything we know about disco is “almost certainly wrong.” Hayden added that there have been many different genres - jazz, rap, disco, among others - that “at the time other people said, ‘Oh my goodness, this will never last.’ And here we are,” she said. “We thought what better way to … celebrate a certain period of time that is a uniter right now,” she said. This year, Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family,” another disco-era track, made the cut, but as “R&B.” It was Gaynor’s song that jump-started the library’s formal appreciation for disco, Carla Hayden told the NewsHour. When Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack were chosen by the library years ago, they were labeled as “pop” recordings. This weekend, the national library’s disco celebration will culminate with a performance from Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 anthem “I Will Survive” was inducted last year into the library’s National Recording Registry, a collection of sound recordings deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.” Hit play on these bangers and you’re guaranteed to get in the party mood wherever you are.Recognizing this, the Library of Congress launched “ Bibliodiscotheque” in March, a disco tribute to a genre that was - and is - still routinely derided. The beats are nonstop and the grooves are infectious. There are some pop favourites, a few karaoke classics, and some all-round happy songs. So, you get the snacks, we’ll bring the hot tracks: this playlist of classic party tunes is sure to get everyone moving in an explosion of joyful, fevered dancing.

Seriously, is there a better feeling in the entire world than dancing in a club – or your kitchen – with a load of people who are also ready to lose it when they hear ‘Like a Prayer’ or ’Wannabe’ or ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’? If you want everyone at your party to join in, you have to err on the side of familiarity: if none of your guests will know a song, it doesn’t make it onto the playlist. We didn’t realise quite how much we missed parties until we were able to have them again.

Disco songs