Disco Totally Explained

Everything about Disco totally explained

Disco is a genre of dance-oriented music whose origins, like other genres of music, are hard to place at a single defining point. In what is considered a forerunner to disco style clubs in February 1970 New York City DJ David Mancuso opened The Loft, a members-only private dance club set in his own home. Most agree that the first disco songs were released in 1973, but some claim Manu Dibango's 1972 Soul Makossa to be the first disco record.(External Link

). The first article about disco was written in September 1973 by Vince Aletti for Rolling Stone Magazine.. In 1974 New York City's WPIX-FM premiered the first disco radio show.
Musical influences include funk, soul music, and salsa and the Latin or Hispanic musics which influenced salsa.(External Link

) The disco sound has a soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and prominent, syncopated electric bass line. Strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create a lush background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies, and unlike in rock, lead guitar is rarely used.
Well-known late 1970s disco performers included Evelyn "Champagne" King, Tavares, Chic, Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Grace Jones, Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, the Village People, Sylvester, and The Jacksons. While performers and singers garnered the lion's share of public attention, the behind-the-scenes producers played an equal, if not more important role in disco, since they often wrote the songs and created the innovative sounds and production techniques that were part of the "disco sound". Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of disco's popularity, and films such as Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity and ironically the beginning of its commercial decline. However, disco was very important in the development of Hip hop music (especially the subgenres of crunk, snap, and hyphy), British New Wave, and disco's direct descendants: the 1980s and 1990s dance music genres of house music and its harder-driving offshoot, techno.

Role of producers and DJs

Disco has its musical roots in late 1960s soul, especially the Philly and New York soul, both of which were evolutions of the Motown sound. The Philly Sound is typified by lavish percussion, which became a prominent part of mid-1970s disco songs. Music with proto-"disco" elements appeared in the late 1960s, with "Tighten Up" and "Mony, Mony," "Dance to the Music," and "Love Child" . Two early songs with disco elements include Jerry Butler’s 1969 "Only the Strong Survive"(External Link

) and Manu Dibango's 1972 "Soul Makossa" . The term disco was first used in print in an article by Vince Aletti in the September 13 1973 edition of Rolling Stone magazine titled "Discotheque Rock '72: Paaaaarty!"(External Link

)
The early "disco" sound was largely an urban American phenomenon with such legendary producers and labels such as SalSoul Records (Ken, Joe and Stanley Cayre), Westend Records (Mel Cheren), Casablanca (Neil Bogart), and Prelude (Marvin Schlachter) to name a few. They inspired and influenced such prolific European dance-track producers such as Giorgio Moroder and Jean-Marc Cerrone. Moroder was the Italian producer, keyboardist, and composer who produced many songs of the singer Donna Summer. These included the 1975 hit "Love to Love You Baby", a 17-minute-long song with "shimmering sound and sensual attitude". Allmusic.com calls Moroder "one of the principal architects of the disco sound".[ByJason Ankeny, from Allmusic.com. Available at:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jpfqxqw5ldte~T1]
The disco sound was also shaped by the legendary Tom Moulton who wanted to extend the enjoyment of the music — thus single-handedly creating the "Remix" which has influenced many other latter genres such as Rap, Hip-Hop, Techno, and Pop. DJs and remixers would often remix (for example, re-edit) existing songs using reel-to-reel tape machines. Their remixed versions would add in percussion breaks, new sections, and new sounds. Influential DJs and remixers who helped to establish what became known as the "disco sound" included David Mancuso, Tom Moulton, Nicky Siano, Shep Pettibone, the legendary and much-sought-after Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, and later, New York–born Chicago "Godfather of House" Frankie Knuckles. Disco was also shaped by nightclub DJ's such as Francis Grasso, who used multiple record players to seamlessly mix tracks from genres such as soul, funk and pop music at discoteques, and was the forerunner to later styles such as hip-hop and house.

Chart-topping songs

The Hues Corporation's 1974 "Rock The Boat," a U.S. #1 single and million-seller, was one of the early disco songs to hit #1. Other chart-topping songs included "Walking in Rhythm" by The Blackbyrds, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae, and "Love's Theme" by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. Also in 1975, Gloria Gaynor released the first side-long disco mix vinyl album, which included a remake of The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" and two other songs, "Honey Bee" and "Reach Out (I'll Be There)". Also significant during this early disco period was Miami's KC and the Sunshine Band. Formed by Harry Wayne Casey ("KC") and Richard Finch, KC and the Sunshine Band had a string of disco-definitive top-five hits between 1975-1976, including "Get Down Tonight," "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man"and "Keep It Comin' Love". The Bee Gees used Barry Gibb's falsetto to garner hits such as "You Should Be Dancing". In 1975, hits such as Van McCoy's "The Hustle", Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" and "Could It Be Magic", brought disco further into the mainstream. Other notable early disco hits include The Jackson 5’s "Dancing Machine" (1973), Barry White’s "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (1974), LaBelle’s "Lady Marmalade" (1974), The Four Seasons’ "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" (1975), Silver Convention’s "Fly Robin Fly" (1975), and The Bee Gees’ "Jive Talkin'" (1975). Chic's "Le Freak" (1978) became a classic and is heard almost everywhere disco is mentioned; other hits by Chic include the often-sampled "Good Times" (1979) and "Everybody Dance" (1977). Also noteworthy are Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" (1978) and Walter Murphy's various attempts to bring classical music to the mainstream, most notably his hit, "A Fifth of Beethoven" (1976).
Prominent European pop and disco groups were Luv' from the Netherlands and Boney M, a group of four West Indian singers and dancers masterminded by West German record producer Frank Farian. Boney M charted worldwide hits with such songs as "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker" and "Rivers of Babylon." All three charted in the U.S.. In France, Dalida released "J'attendrai", which became a big hit in Canada and Japan.

1978–1980: mainstream popularity

The release of the film and soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever in December of 1977, which became one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time, turned disco into a mainstream music genre. This in turn led many non-disco artists to record disco songs at the height of its popularity, most often due to demand from record companies who needed a surefire hit. Many of these songs were not "pure" disco, but were instead rock or pop songs with disco overtones. Notable examples include Helen Reddy’s "I Can't Hear You No More" (1976); Marvin Gaye’s "Got to Give It Up" (1977); Charo's "Dance a Little Bit Closer" (1977); Barry Manilow’s "Copacabana (At The Copa)" (1978); The Rolling Stones' Miss You (1978); Wings’ "Goodnight Tonight" (1979); Barbra Streisand's "The Main Event/Fight" (1979); Ann-Margret's "Love Rush" (1979); Kiss's "I Was Made for Lovin' You" (1979); Electric Light Orchestra’s "Shine a Little Love" (1979); Isaac Hayes's "Don't Let Go" (1980); The Spinners' "Working My Way Back To You" (1980); and Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" (1980);
Disco hit the airwaves with Marty Angelo's Disco Step-by-Step Television Show in 1975, Steve Marcus' Disco Magic/Disco 77, Eddie Rivera's Soap Factory, and Merv Griffin's, Dance Fever, hosted by Deney Terrio, who is credited with teaching actor John Travolta to dance for his upcoming role in the hit movie Saturday Night Fever. Several parodies of the disco style were created, most notably "Disco Duck" and "Dancin' Fool." Rick Dees, at the time a radio DJ in Memphis, Tennessee, recorded "Disco Duck", a popular parody. Frank Zappa famously parodied the lifestyles of disco dancers in "Dancin' Fool" on his Sheik Yerbouti album.

The "disco sound"

The "disco sound" while unique almost defies a unified description as it was an ultra-inclusive art form that drew on as many influences as it produced interpretations. Jazz, Classical, Latin, Soul, Funk, and new technologies just to name a few of the obvious were all mingled with aplomb. Vocals could be frivolous or serious love intrigues all the way to extremely serious social conscious commentary. The music tended to layer soaring, often reverberated vocals, which are often doubled by horns, over a background "pad" of electric pianos and wah-pedaled "chicken-scratch" (palm muted) guitars. Other backing keyboard instruments include the piano, string synth, and electroacoustic keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, and Hohner Clavinet. Synthesizers were also fairly common in disco, especially in the late 70's. The rhythm is laid down by prominent, syncopated basslines played on the bass guitar and by drummers using a drum kit, African/Latin percussion, and electronic drums such as Simmons and Roland drum modules). The sound was enriched with solo lines and harmony parts played by a variety of orchestral instruments, such as harp, violin, viola, cello, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, flugelhorn, French horn, tuba, English horn, oboe, flute, and piccolo.
Most disco songs have a steady four-on-the-floor beat, a quaver or semi-quaver hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a heavy, syncopated bass line. This basic beat would appear to be related to the Dominican merengue rhythm. Other Latin rhythms such as the rhumba, the samba and the cha-cha-cha are also found in disco recordings, and Latin polyrhythms, such as a rhumba beat layered over a merengue, are commonplace. The quaver pattern is often supported by other instruments such as the rhythm guitar and may be implied rather than explicitly present. It often involves syncopation, rarely occurring on the beat unless a synthesizer is used to replace the bass guitar.
In 1977, Giorgio Moroder again became responsible for a development in disco. Alongside Donna Summer and Pete Bellotte he wrote the song "I Feel Love" for Summer to perform. It became the first well-known disco hit to have a completely synthesised backing track. The song is still considered to have been well ahead of its time. Other disco producers, most famously Tom Moulton, grabbed ideas and techniques from dub music (which came with the increased Jamaican migration to NYC in the seventies) to provide alternatives to the four on the floor style that dominated. Larry Levan utilized style keys from dub and jazz and more as one of the most successful remixers of all time to create early versions of house music that sparked the genre .

Production and development

The "disco sound" was much more costly to produce than many of the other popular music genres from the 1970s. Unlike the simpler, four-piece band sound of the funk, soul of the late 1960s, or the small jazz organ trios, disco music often included a large pop band, with several chordal instruments (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer), several drum or percussion instruments (drumkit, Latin percussion, electronic drums), a horn section, a string orchestra, and a variety of "classical" solo instruments (for example, flute, piccolo, etc.).
Disco songs were arranged and composed by experienced arrangers and orchestrators, and producers added their creative touches to the overall sound. Recording complex arrangements with such a large number of instruments and sections required a team that included a conductor, copyists, record producers, and mixing engineers. Mixing engineers had an important role in the disco production process, because disco songs used as many as 64 tracks of vocals and instruments. Mixing engineers compiled these tracks into a fluid composition of verses, bridges, and refrains, complete with orchestral builds and breaks. Mixing engineers helped to develop the "disco sound" by creating a distinctive-sounding disco mix.
Early records were the "standard" 3 minute version until Tom Moulton, thought the "standard" 3 minute songs were just too short and he came up with a way to make songs longer. He wanted to take the crowd to another level. He had a hard time trying to get these longer versions put on vinyl, the problem was that the 7" single couldn't hold more than some maximum 4-5 minutes with good quality. He really wanted people to get to hear the longer version, especially on the dancefloors, so Tom and friend, José Rodriguez who did his remastering, pressed one single on 10" instead of 7". The next "single" they cut on 12", same format as an album, this was how they come to invent the 12" single - which fast became all DJ's tool and format.(External Link

) Because record sales were often dependent on floor play in clubs, DJs were also important to the development and popularization of disco music. Notable DJs include Rex Potts (Loft Lounge, Sarasota, FL), Jim Burgess, Walter Gibbons, John "Jellybean" Benitez, Richie Kaczar of Studio 54, Rick Gianatos, Francis Grasso of Sanctuary, Larry Levan, Ian Levine, Neil "Raz" Rasmussen & Mike Pace of L'amour Disco in Brooklyn, Preston Powell of Magique, Jennie Costa of Lemontrees, Tee Scott, John Luongo, Robert Ouimet of The Limelight, and David Mancuso.
The 12-inch single format also allowed longer dance time and format possibilities. In May, 1976, Salsoul Records released Walter Gibbons' remix of Double Exposure's "Ten Percent", the first commercially-available 12-inch single. [cititionneeded] Motown Records’ "Eye-Cue" label also marketed 12-inch singles; however, the play time remained the same length as the original 45s. In 1976, Scepter/Wand released the first 12-inch extended-version single, Jesse Green's "Nice and Slow." This single was packaged in a collectible picture sleeve, a relatively new concept at the time. Twelve-inch singles became commercially available after the first crossover, Tavares' "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel."

Disco club scene and dancing

By the late 1970s many major US cities had thriving disco club scenes which were centered around discotheques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the dancers. The DJs played "...a smooth mix of long single records to keep people 'dancing all night long'". Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.
Some cities had disco dance instructors or dance schools which taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", "the hustle" and "the cha cha." There were also disco fashions that discotheque-goers wore for nights out at their local disco, such as sheer, flowing Halston dresses for women and shiny polyester Qiana shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit suit jackets.
Some notable professional dance troupes of the 1970s include Pan's People and Hot Gossip. For many dancers, the primary influence of the 1970s disco age is still predominantly the film Saturday Night Fever. In the 1980s this developed into the music and dance style of such films as Fame, Flashdance, and the musical Chorus Line.

Drug subculture

In addition to the dance and fashion aspects of the disco club scene, there was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine (nicknamed "blow"), amyl nitrite "poppers", and the "...other quintessential 1970s club drug Quaalude, which suspended motor coordination and turned one’s arms and legs to Jell-O." According to Peter Braunstein, the "[m]assive quantities of drugs ingested in discotheques produced the next cultural phenomenon of the disco era: rampant promiscuity and public sex. While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction, actual sex usually took place in the nether regions of the disco: bathroom stalls, exit stairwells, and so on. In other cases the disco became a kind of 'main course' in a hedonist’s menu for a night out." Famous disco bars included the very important Paradise Garage as well as "...cocaine-filled celeb hangouts such as Manhattan's Studio 54", which was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Studio 54 was notorious for the hedonism that went on within; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with an image of the "Man in the Moon" that included an animated cocaine spoon.

Decline in popularity and backlash

The popularity of the film Saturday Night Fever prompted major record labels to mass-produce hits, a move which some perceived as turning the genre from something vital and edgy into a safe "product" homogenized for mainstream audiences. Though disco music had enjoyed several years of popularity, an anti-disco sentiment manifested in America. This sentiment proliferated at the time because of oversaturation and the big-business mainstreaming of disco. Worried about declining profits, rock radio stations and record producers encouraged this trend. According to Gloria Gaynor, the music industry supported the destruction of disco because rock music producers were losing money and rock musicians were losing the spotlight.(External Link

) Many hard rock fans expressed strong disapproval of disco throughout the height of its popularity. Among these fans, the slogan "Disco Sucks" was common by the late 1970s and appeared in written form in places ranging from tee shirts to grafitti.
Disco music and dancing fads began to be depicted by rock music fans as silly and effeminate, such as in Frank Zappa's satirical song "Dancin' Fool". Some listeners objected to the perceived sexual promiscuity and illegal drug use (for example, cocaine and Quaaludes) that had become associated with disco music. Others were put off by the exclusivity of the disco scene, especially in major clubs in large cities such as the Studio 54 discotheque, where bouncers only let in fashionably-dressed club-goers, celebrities, and their hangers-on. Rock fans objected to the idea of centering music around an electronic drum beat and synthesizers instead of live performers. Some have contended that there was also an element of bigotry to the anti-disco backlash; in his book A Change Is Gonna Come, Craig Werner wrote, "the attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, sexism and homophobia."
To further complicate matters, several prominent rock bands recorded songs with disco influences, such as Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1978), The Rolling Stones’ "Miss You" (1978), and Kiss's "I Was Made For Lovin' You" (1979). Though these fusions of rock and disco were initially met with critical and commercial acclaim, many of the bands were subsequently viewed as "sell-outs". Since the advent of disco and dance music, rock music has absorbed many of the rhythmic sensibilities of funk-influenced dance music, while nevertheless retaining a distinct sound and audience culture.
Some historians have referred to July 12, 1979, as the "day disco died" because of an anti-disco demonstration that was held in Chicago. Rock station DJs Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, along with Michael Veeck, son of Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, staged Disco Demolition Night, a promotional event with an anti-disco theme, between games at a White Sox doubleheader for disgruntled rock fans. During this event, which involved exploding disco records, the raucous crowd tore out seats and turf in the field and did other damage to Comiskey Park. It ended in a riot in which police made numerous arrests. The damage done to the field forced the Sox to forfeit the second game. The stadium suffered thousands of dollars in damage.(External Link

) The television industry — taking a cue from the music industry — responded with an anti-disco agenda as well. A recurring theme on the television show, WKRP in Cincinnati contained a hateful attitude towards disco music. The anti-disco backlash may have helped to cause changes to the landscape of Top 40 radio. Negative responses from the listenerships of many Top 40 stations encouraged these stations to drop all disco songs from rotation, filling the holes in their playlists with New Wave, punk rock, and album-oriented rock cuts.. Indeed, Jello Biafra of anarcho-punk band The Dead Kennedys likened disco to the cabaret culture of Weimar Germany for its apathy towards government policy and its escapism (which Biafra saw as delusional). He sang about this in the song Saturday Night Holocaust, the B-side of the song Halloween.
It should be noted that, unlike in the U.S., there was never a focused backlash against disco in Europe, and discotheques and club culture continued longer in Europe than in the US.

From "disco sound" to "dance sound"

The transition from the late-1970s disco styles to the early-1980s dance styles was marked primarily by the change from complex arrangements performed by large ensembles of studio session musicians (including a horn section and an orchestral string section), to a leaner sound, in which one or two singers would perform to the accompaniment of synthesizer keyboards and drum machines.
   In addition, dance music during the 1981-83 period borrowed elements from blues and jazz, creating a style different from the disco of the 1970s. This emerging music was still known as disco for a short time, as the word had become associated with any kind of dance music played in discothèques. Examples of early 1980s dance sound performers include D. Train, Kashif, and Patrice Rushen.
   During the first years of the 1980s, the "disco sound" began to be phased out, and faster tempos and synthesized effects, accompanied by guitar and simplified backgrounds, moved dance music toward the funk and pop genres. This trend can be seen in singer Billy Ocean's recordings between 1979 and 1981. Whereas Ocean's 1979 song American Hearts was backed with an orchestral arrangement played by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, his 1981 song One of Those Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down) had a more bare, stripped-down sound, with no orchestration or symphonic arrangements. This drift from the original disco sound is called post-disco.
   During the early 1980s, dance music dropped the complicated melodic structure and orchestration which typified the "disco sound." Examples of well-known songs which illustrate this difference include Kool & the Gang’s "Celebration" (1980), Rick James’ "Super Freak" (1981), Grace Jones's "Pull Up to the Bumper" (1981), Carol Jiani's "Hit N' Run Lover" (1981), The Weather Girls’ "It's Raining Men" (1982), The Pointer Sisters’ "I'm So Excited" (1982), Prince’s "1999" (1982), The Weather Girls's "It's Raining Men" (1982), Madonna’s "Holiday" (1983), Irene Cara’s "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" (1983), Angela Bofill's "Too Tough" (1983), Miquel Brown's "So Many Men, So Little Time" (1983), Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" (1983), Jocelyn Brown's "Somebody Else's Guy" (1984), and Klymaxx's "Meeting in the Ladies Room" (1984).

DJ sets/mixes

The rising popularity of disco came in tandem with developments in turntablism and the use of records to create a continuous mix of songs. The resulting DJ mix differed from previous forms of dance music, which were oriented towards live performances by musicians. This in turn affected the arrangement of dance music, with songs since the disco era typically containing beginnings and endings marked by a simple beat or riff that can be easily slipped into the mix.

Early 1980s hip-hop and dance music

The disco sound had a gigantic influence on early 1980s hip-hop and rap. Most of the early rap/hip-hop songs were created by isolating existing Disco bass-guitar lines and dubbing over them with MC rhymes. In 1982, Afrika Bambataa released the single "Planet Rock," which incorporated electronica elements from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers." The "Planet Rock" sound also spawned a hip-hop electronic dance trend, which included such songs as Planet Patrol's "Play At Your Own Risk" (1982), C Bank’s "One More Shot" (1982), Shannon's "Let the Music Play" (1983), Freeez's "I.O.U." (1983), Midnight Star's "Freak-A-Zoid" (1983), and Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (1984).

House music

House music is the direct heir apparent of Disco. A large number of disco performers and musicians have stated it was the same thing with a different name. Some might agree that record producers and synthesizer pioneers such as the American Patrick Cowley and Italian Giorgio Moroder, who both had a number of hit disco singles such as Moroder's "From Here to Eternity" (1977) and Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" (1978) and "Hills of Katmandu" (1978) influenced to some degree the development of the later electric dance music genres such as house and its offshoot techno. Both early/proto House music and its stripped down offshoot techno rely on the repetitive bass drum rhythm and hi-hat rhythm patterns introduced by disco. However, as House music evolved over time, the productions became more lush with productions maintaining soulful vocals while re-introducing live instrumentation and live complex percussion mixed with the electronic drums and synthesizers — basically coming full circle back to the Disco musical ideals with a contemporary edge to them. Techno became more mechanical and devoid of organic flourishes, relying more on instrumental compositions or with minimal synthesized vocals.
Early house music, which was developed by innovative DJs such as Larry Levan in New York and Frankie Knuckles in Chicago, consisted of various disco loops overlapped by strong bass beats. House music was usually computer-driven, and longer segments were used for mixing. Clubs associated with the birth of house music include New York's Paradise Garage and Chicago's Warehouse and The Music Box.

1990s and 2000s "disco revival"

In the 1990s, a revival of the original disco style began to emerge. The disco influence can be heard in songs as Gloria Estefan's "Get On Your Feet" (1991), Paula Abdul's "Vibeology" (1992), Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman" (1993), U2’s "Lemon" (1993), Diana Ross's "Take Me Higher" (1995), The Spice Girls’ "Who Do You Think You Are" (1997) and "Never Give up on the Good Times" (1997), Gloria Estefan's "Heaven's What I Feel" (1998) & "Don't Let This Moment End" (1999), Cher’s "Strong Enough" (1998), and Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" (1999).
   The trend continued in the 2000s with hit songs such as Kylie Minogue’s "Spinning Around" (2000) and "Love at First Sight" (2002), Sheena Easton's "Givin' Up, Givin' In" (2001), Sophie Ellis-Bextor's smash single Murder On The Dance Floor (2002), S Club 7's singles Don't Stop Movin' (2001), Alive (2002) and Love Ain't Gonna Wait For You (2003), The Shapeshifters' "Lola's Theme" (2003),Janet Jackson's "R&B Junkie" (2004), La Toya Jackson's "Just Wanna Dance" (2004), and Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor echoes traditional disco themes, particularly in the single "Hung Up," which samples ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)."
   In the mid-late 2000s, many disco-influenced songs have been released, becoming hits, including Ultra Nate's "Love's The Only Drug" (2006), Gina G’s "Tonight's The Night" (2006), The Shapeshifters' "Back To Basics" (2006), Michael Gray's "Borderline" (2006), Irene Cara's "Forever My Love" (2006), Bananarama's "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)", Dannii Minogue's "Perfection" (2006), Akcent's "Kings of Disco" (2007), the Freemasons "Rain Down Love" (2007), Claudja Barry's "I Will Stand" (2006), Suzanne Palmer's "Free My Love" (2007), Pepper Mashay's "Lost Yo Mind" (2007) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s "Me and My Imagination" (2007) Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" (2007) Justice’s "D.A.N.C.E." (2007). Music producer, Ian Levine has also produced many new songs with such singers as George Daniel Long, Hazell Dean, Sheila Ferguson, Steve Brookstein and Tina Charles among others for the compilation album titled, Disco 2008, a tribute to Disco music using original material.
   In recent years, artists such as Ali Love and Hercules and Love Affair have revived the disco sound. However, these artists have only achieved moderate success.

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