{
  "slug": "disco",
  "name": "Disco",
  "aliases": [
    "four on the floor",
    "philly soul",
    "garage disco"
  ],
  "description": "Funk rebuilt for a room where the record never stops. A four-on-the-floor kick, strings, and an extended arrangement designed for a DJ rather than for radio — the first popular music written for the mix.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "New York City",
    "year": 1974
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "funk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/",
      "inherited": "The same rhythm section, straightened out. Disco takes funk's interlocking parts and puts a kick on every beat so a DJ can join two records together, which trades the syncopation for something a room can move to for hours."
    },
    {
      "genre": "soul",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/",
      "inherited": "The arrangements and the voices. Philadelphia's disco records are Philly soul records with the tempo fixed and the running time doubled, cut by the same string sections and the same singers."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 110,
    "max": 130
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/",
  "trackCount": 10,
  "curatedBy": [
    {
      "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/",
      "pickCount": 5
    }
  ],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "donna-summer--i-feel-love",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/",
      "title": "I Feel Love",
      "artist": "Donna Summer",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/",
      "year": 1977,
      "label": "Casablanca",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Giorgio Moroder replaces the band with a Moog sequencer and Summer sings over the top as though nothing unusual is happening. Brian Eno called it the future, correctly, and it is still arriving.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-roots",
          "name": "Roots",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "mfsb--love-is-the-message",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/",
      "title": "Love Is the Message",
      "artist": "MFSB",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/",
      "year": 1973,
      "label": "Philadelphia International",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The house band of Philadelphia soul cut the record that became the closing ritual of the Paradise Garage. Not a song so much as a structure DJs spent a decade learning to use.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "chic--good-times",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/",
      "title": "Good Times",
      "artist": "Chic",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/",
      "year": 1979,
      "label": "Atlantic",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Bernard Edwards plays the bassline that hip-hop, post-punk and pop all borrowed within eighteen months. Nile Rodgers leaves so much space in the guitar part that other people's records fit inside it.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "diana-ross--love-hangover",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/diana-ross--love-hangover/",
      "title": "Love Hangover",
      "artist": "Diana Ross",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/diana-ross/",
      "year": 1976,
      "label": "Motown",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Starts as a slow burn and doubles its tempo halfway through, which no pop single had any business doing. A Motown legend audibly enjoying the fact that the rules had changed.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Diana%20Ross%20Love%20Hangover",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9-7rcKxIc8",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "double-exposure--ten-percent",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/",
      "title": "Ten Percent",
      "artist": "Double Exposure",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/",
      "year": 1976,
      "label": "Salsoul",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Walter Gibbons's remix was the first commercially released twelve-inch single, and it invented the job. Everything a remixer does — extend, strip, delay the payoff — is already fully formed here.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "first-choice--doctor-love",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/first-choice--doctor-love/",
      "title": "Doctor Love",
      "artist": "First Choice",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/first-choice/",
      "year": 1977,
      "label": "Gold Mind",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Philadelphia grandeur with an unusually mean bassline. Chicago producers sampled it so relentlessly through the eighties that it functions as a founding text for house as much as for disco.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/First%20Choice%20Doctor%20Love",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=q2RSniyYNSc",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/",
      "title": "Is It All Over My Face",
      "artist": "Loose Joints",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/",
      "year": 1980,
      "label": "West End",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Arthur Russell's downtown art project, rescued by a Larry Levan mix that turns a shambles into a groove. The record where disco stops being glossy and starts being strange, which is exactly where house picks it up.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "love-unlimited-orchestra--loves-theme",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/love-unlimited-orchestra--loves-theme/",
      "title": "Love's Theme",
      "artist": "Love Unlimited Orchestra",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/love-unlimited-orchestra/",
      "year": 1973,
      "label": "20th Century",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "An instrumental of wah-wah guitar and forty strings that went to number one in America. Barry White proved a dance record needed no vocal, no hook and no chorus — only an arrangement.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Love%20Unlimited%20Orchestra%20Love's%20Theme",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5blygUa_Uxg",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 9,
      "trackKey": "thelma-houston--dont-leave-me-this-way",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/thelma-houston--dont-leave-me-this-way/",
      "title": "Don't Leave Me This Way",
      "artist": "Thelma Houston",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/thelma-houston/",
      "year": 1976,
      "label": "Tamla",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The greatest vocal performance in the genre, delivered against an arrangement that keeps withholding the release. Houston sounds like she is negotiating rather than pleading.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Thelma%20Houston%20Don't%20Leave%20Me%20This%20Way",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rUdw7V-FC_Q",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 10,
      "trackKey": "labelle--lady-marmalade",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/labelle--lady-marmalade/",
      "title": "Lady Marmalade",
      "artist": "Labelle",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/labelle/",
      "year": 1974,
      "label": "Epic",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "New Orleans funk, a Broadway-scale vocal and a lyric that got it banned in several places. Disco at its most confrontational, and a reminder that the genre's politics were never incidental to it.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Labelle%20Lady%20Marmalade",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ku7W0BZcxdw",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}