She’s A Dancin’ Machine! – A Disco Review

Disco is a musical genre that emerged in underground dance venues in New York City in the 1970s. It was pioneered by disc jockeys (DJs) who initially entertained primarily

Africna American, Latino, and gay dancers. The roots of disco can be located at the intersection between underground dance venues and gay sensibilities in New York City,

beginning in the late 1960s. Radcliffe Joe, Billboard’s dance editor during the emergence of disco, contends that “in 1974-75, the disco music scene was literally controlled

by a handful of Black artists affiliated with a small group of specialized record labels led by Motown and Philadelphia International.” Between the early and mid-1970s,

with the help of radio and television exposure across the United States and Europe, disco became one of the most popular sounds of the decade. Drawing on up-tempo

rhythm and blues-based funk and soul music and popular Latin repertoire, disco’s development in terms of both style and commerce increasingly involved electronic

instruments and European producers.