Disco facts for kids

The reflective light disco ball was a fixture on the ceilings of many discothèques.

Disco is a style of music that was most popular from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. People usually dance to disco music at bars called disco clubs. The word "disco" is also used to refer to the style of dancing that people do to disco music, or to the style of clothes that people wear to go disco dancing. Disco music was an up-tempo form of music which included elements of soul, funk and Latin music. It had a strong beat meant for dancing, a steady four-on-the-floor rhythm, and a big bass line, and orchestral instrumentation often included string sections. Disco is dance music too.

Disco was at its most popular in the United States and Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Disco was brought into the mainstream by the hit movie Saturday Night Fever, which was released in 1977. This movie, which starred John Travolta, showed people doing disco dancing. Many radio stations played disco in the late 1970s. By the early 1980s, disco had started to fall out of popularity, and other genres, such as dance, Hi-NRG and post-disco grew in popularity. Nevertheless, disco still exerts an influence on modern day dance music, and still has occasional moments of popularity. Additionally, a different form of disco arose in Europe, known as Euro disco, which obtained some popularity.

Disco music

Disco music blends R&B with funk, soul and dance music. Disco music usually consists of a singer, electric guitars, synthesizer keyboards, electric bass guitar, and a drummer or electronic drum machine. Disco music is often very simple music, with a strong beat and a strong "bass line". Disco music often has many electronic effects.

Disco dancing

Blue disco quad roller skates.

When people go disco dancing, they usually wear tight trousers, leather shoes or boots, and glittery clothes. Women going disco dancing often wore tight clothes that revealed body parts such as their thighs or the upper part of their chest. Men going disco dancing often opened up the buttons of their shirts to show the upper part of their chest.

Disco clubs

Disco music is played at disco clubs. In the late 1970s, there were famous disco clubs such as Studio 54 in New York City. Disco clubs have a large dance floor and a large pa system. A Disk Jockey (or "DJ") plays records of disco music through powerful amplifiers with a number of high wattage speakers. Disco music was usually played very loud, with lots of low bass frequencies. Disco clubs usually had coloured lights that flashed with the music called scanners, and mirror balls with hundreds of small mirrors, that reflect light onto the dancers and all corners of the room.

Notable musicians

• Bee Gees
• Donna Summer
• Village People
• Sylvester
• Amanda Lear
• Amii Stewart
• Andrea True Connection
• Anita Ward

Related pages

• Funk
• R&B
• Soul music

Images for kids

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  Disco bass pattern.

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  Rock & disco drum patterns: disco features greater subdivision of the beat, which is four-to-the-floor

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  Major disco clubs had lighted dance floors, with the lights flashing to complement the beat.

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  Disco dancers typically wore loose slacks for men and flowing dresses for women, which enabled ease of movement on the dance floor.

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  Dancers at an East German discothèque in 1977

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  Gloria Gaynor in 1976

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  Diana Ross in 1976

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  ABBA in 1974.

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  Italian composer Giorgio Moroder is known as the "Father of Disco".

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  Donna Summer in 1977

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  Dalida in 1967.

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  The Bee Gees had several disco hits on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever in 1977.

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  The a cappella jazz group the Manhattan Transfer had a disco hit with the 1979 "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" theme.

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  A man wearing a "disco sucks" T-shirt.

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  Classic DJ Station. A DJ mixer is placed between two Technics SL-1200 MK 2 turntables.

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  Disco dance performance at the 30th anniversary of Kontula in Helsinki, Finland, in 1994

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  Like disco, house music was based around DJs creating mixes for dancers in clubs. Pictured is DJ Miguel Migs, mixing using CDJ players.

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  Strobing lights flash at a rave dance event in Vienna, 2005

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  Students from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City dancing to disco during a cultural event on campus

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  British singer Dua Lipa has been credited by music critics with leading the revival of disco following the widespread international success of her single "Don't Start Now" and her album Future Nostalgia.

See also

In Spanish: Música disco para niños