The Waxonia Desk on Disco
Five records whose lives were decided in a booth rather than on radio — a closing ritual, a flop rescued by a mix, the first commercial twelve-inch, and a record a London sound system took its name from.
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Chic / Good Times
The bassline that financed hip-hop's first hit, and the record a Ladbroke Grove sound system named itself after in 1980. Few records have been repurposed this many times and survived all of it.
MFSB / Love Is the Message
The closing ritual of the Paradise Garage, played to the same room often enough to become liturgy. Some records are made by DJs years after they are recorded, and this is the clearest case.
Loose Joints / Is It All Over My Face
Disco at its strangest and least commercial, rescued by a mix. The rare groove tradition was never about obscurity for its own sake; it was about records that were better than their sales.
Double Exposure / Ten Percent
The first commercially released twelve-inch, which is a format question as much as a musical one. The extended mix changed what a DJ could build over the course of an hour.
Funkadelic / One Nation Under a Groove
The border case, and here as one. Funkadelic on a disco list is arguable, and a list nobody could argue with is a list nobody chose.