Disco is a genre of dance music. Its popularity peaked during the middle to late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Disco was a reaction by New York City's gays as well as black, and Hispanic or Latino and heterosexuals against both the domination of rock music and the demonisation of dance music by the counterculture during this period. Women embraced disco as well, and the music eventually expanded to several other popular groups of the time. In what is considered a forerunner to disco style clubs, in February 1970, the New York City DJ David Mancuso opened The Loft, a members-only private dance club set in his own home. Allmusic claims some have argued that Isaac Hayes and Barry White were playing what would be called disco music as early as 1971. According to the music guide there is disagreement as to what the first disco song was. Claims have been made for Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" (1972), Jerry Butler's "One Night Affair" (1972), the Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat" (1974) and George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" from 1974. In 1974 New York City's WPIX-FM premiered the first disco radio show.

Musical influences include funk, Latin and soul music. The disco sound has 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 a prominent, syncopated electric bass line sometimes consisting of octaves. The Fender Jazz Bass is often associated with disco bass lines, because the instrument itself has a very prominent 'voice' in the musical mix. In most disco tracks, 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 Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, and The Jacksons. Summer would become the first well-known and most popular disco artist, giving her the title 'The Queen of Disco', and also played a part in pioneering the electronic sound that later became a part of disco (see below). 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 usually 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.

According to music writer Piero Scaruffi the disco phenomenon spread quickly because the "collective ecstasy" of disco was cathartic and regenerative and led to freedom of expression. In addition, the positivity, lack of irony, and earnestness of the hippies informed proto-disco music like M.F.S.B.'s "Love Is the Message". "Soul Makossa" (Manu Dibango, 1972) and "The Love I Lost" (Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, 1973).

The early disco sound was largely an urban American phenomenon with 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.

The disco sound was also shaped by Tom Moulton who wanted to extend the enjoyment of the music — thus creating the extended mix or "Remix". This has influenced many other latter genres such as techno, and pop. DJs and remixers would often remix (i.e., re-edit) existing songs using reel-to-reel tape machines. Their remixed versions would add in percussion breaks, new sections, and new sounds. Other influential DJs and remixers who helped to establish what became known as the "disco sound" included David Mancuso, 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 DJs such as Francis Grasso, who used multiple record players to seamlessly mix tracks from genres such as soul, funk and pop music at discothèques, and was the forerunner to later styles such as house. Women also played important roles at the turntable. Karen Cook, the first female disco DJ in the United States, spun the vinyl hits from 1974 to 1977 at 'Elan, Houston, TX, and also programmed music for clubs throughout the US that were owned by McFaddin Ventures.

Disco hit the television airwaves with Soul Train in 1971 hosted by Don Cornelius, then 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.

1974–1978: Chart-topping songs

From 1974 through 1978, Disco music continued to increase in popularity as many disco songs topped the charts. 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 1974, 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 and 1977, 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", "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever" and "More Than A Woman". In 1975, hits such as Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and 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 Jacksons’s "Dancing Machine" (1974), Barry White’s "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (1974), LaBelle’s "Lady Marmalade" (1975) and Silver Convention’s "Fly Robin Fly" (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" (1978). Michael Jackson also scored his first chart-topping solo hit in the disco genre with "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (1979).

Diana Ross was one of the first Motown artists to embrace the disco sound with her hugely successful 1976 outing "Love Hangover" from her self-entitled album. Ross would continue to score disco hits for the rest of the Disco era, including the 1980 dance classics "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out", (the latter immediately becoming a favorite in the gay community). Ironically enough, the group Ross led to superstardom during the 1960s, The Supremes, scored a handful of hits in the disco clubs themselves, most notably 1976's "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking" and, their last charted single before disbanding, 1977's 'You're My Driving Wheel". Also noteworthy are Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" (1978), Evelyn "Champagne" King's "Shame", (also 1978), Cher's "Take Me Home" (1979), Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" (also 1979), Geraldine Hunt's "Can't Fake The Feeling" and Walter Murphy's various attempts to bring classical music to the mainstream, most notably his hit "A Fifth of Beethoven" (1976).

The rich orchestral accompaniment that became identified with the disco era conjured up the memories of the big band era which brought out several artists that recorded and disco-ized some Big Band Music including Perry Como, who re-recorded his 1929 and 1939 hit, Temptation, in 1975 as well as some unlikely Country artists such as Bill Anderson (Double S) and Ronnie Milsap (High Heel Sneakers). Even the I Love Lucy theme wasn't spared from being disco-ized.

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". In France, Claude Francois who re-invented himself as the king of French disco, released "La plus belle chose du monde" a French version of the Bee Gees hit record, "Massachusetts" which became a big hit in Canada and Europe and "Alexandrie Alexandra" was posthumously released on the day of his burial which became a worldwide hit; "Dalida released "J'attendrai", which became a big hit in Canada and Japan, and Cerrone's early hit songs - "Love In C Minor", "Give Me Love" and "Supernature" - became major hits in the U.S. and Europe.

As one of the first movies to be scored with disco music before Saturday Night Fever, the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me garnered great popularity from composer Marvin Hamlisch's score, especially the disco-flavored Bond 77 opening track.

Eurodisco

Eurodisco was not as funky, more pop oriented and less soul influenced than American styled disco. European acts Silver Convention, Love and Kisses, Munich Machine and American acts Donna Summer and the Village People were acts that defined the late 1970's Eurodisco sound. Producers Giorgio Moroder whom Allmusic described as "one of the principal architects of the disco sound" and Jean-Marc Cerrone were involved with Eurodisco. The highly influential German group Kraftwerk is regarded by some as the first Eurodisco act. Deee-Lite's Groove Is in the Heart (1990), 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), France Joli's "Touch" (1996), Spice Girls' "Who Do You Think You Are" (1997), Gloria Estefan's "Heaven's What I Feel" (1998) & "Don't Let This Moment End" (1999), George Michael's Outside (1998), 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) as well as her album "Light Years" (2000), Sheena Easton's "Givin' Up, Givin' In" (2001), Michael Jackson's "You Rock My World" (2001), Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Murder on the Dancefloor" (2001), RuPaul's "Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous", (2004) Janet Jackson's "R&B; Junkie", (2004) La Toya Jackson's "Just Wanna Dance" (2004) & "Free the World" (2005). 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)". Madonna continued doing disco music in her 2008 release, "Hard Candy", this time experimenting with the old days of funk- and soul-influenced disco in songs like "Beat Goes On" and "Dance 2nite".

In the early 2000s, the genre of music known as dance-punk enjoyed increased popularity. Dance-punk bands like The Rapture, !!!, and LCD Soundsystem fused elements of punk rock with different forms of dance music, especially disco. Many of these bands hailed from New York City.

In the mid-late part of the decade, many disco songs have been released, becoming hits, including (2005) Gorillaz's "Dare", 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)", the Freemasons "Rain Down Love" (2007), Claudja Barry's "I Will Stand" (2006), Pepper Mashay's "Lost Yo Mind" (2007), Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s "Me and My Imagination" (2007), Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" (2007) Justice’s "D.A.N.C.E.", "Phantom (Part II)" (2007), Dannii Minogue's "Touch Me Like That" (2007), Cerrone's "Misunderstanding" and "Tattoo Woman" (2008), Sean Ensign's "I Wanna Be With You" (2008), Donna Summer's "I'm a Fire" (2008), Jody Watley's "A Beautiful Life" (2008), Crystal Waters's "Dancefloor" (2008), Alcazar's comeback single "We Keep on Rockin'" (2008), RuPaul's "Jealous Of My Boogie" (2009)", Shakira's "She Wolf" (2009), Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill" (2009), Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" (2010), and Katy Perry's song "California Gurls" (2010). 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 the 2000s, artists such as Duck Sauce, DE SIGNER, Ali Love, Hercules and Love Affair and producer JMV have revived the disco sound helping bring further mainstream interest and success. Disco tributes continue to be popular draws. The World's Largest Disco, an annual celebration held over Thanksgiving weekend in Buffalo, New York, draws thousands of disco fans in 1970s-era attire. In addition to playing disco hits of the era, live performers from the 1970s make appearances. One surprising place disco arrived and then never went away is English Junior schools. By 1975 discos began for young children and are still an annual feature in many schools today.

Musical characteristics

of the beat, which is four-to-the-floor|thumb|250px]] The "disco sound", while unique, almost defies a unified description, as it is an ultra-inclusive art form that draws on as many influences as it produces interpretations. Jazz, classical, calypso, rock, Latin, soul, funk, and new technologies — just to name a few of the obvious — were all mingled with aplomb. Vocals can be frivolous or serious love intrigues — all the way to extremely serious socially-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" guitars. Other backing keyboard instruments include the piano, organ (during early years), string synth, and electroacoustic keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, and Hohner Clavinet. Synthesizers are also fairly common in disco, especially in the late 1970s. The rhythm is laid down by prominent, syncopated basslines (with heavy use of octaves) 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 is 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 (sometimes especially the alto flute and occasionally bass flute), piccolo, timpani and synth strings or a full-blown string orchestra.

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 general, the difference between a disco, or any dance song, and a rock or popular song is that in dance music the bass hits four to the floor, at least once a beat (which in 4/4 time is 4 beats per measure), whereas in rock the bass hits on one and three and lets the snare take the lead on two and four. Disco is further characterized by a sixteenth note division of the quarter notes established by the bass as shown in the second drum pattern below, after a typical rock drum pattern.

The orchestral sound usually known as "disco sound" relies heavily on strings and horns playing linear phrases, in unison with the soaring, often reverberated vocals or playing instrumental fills, while electric pianos and chicken-scratch guitars create the background "pad" sound defining the harmony progression. Typically, a rich "wall of sound" results. There are, however, more minimalistic flavors of disco with reduced, transparent instrumentation, pioneered by Chic.

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 New York City 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

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 (e.g., 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 came up with a way to make songs longer, wanting to take a crowd to another level that was impossible with 45-RPM vinyl discs of the time (which could usually hold no more than 5 minutes of good-quality music). With the help of José Rodriguez, his remasterer, he pressed a single on a 10" disc instead of 7". They cut the next single on a 12" disc, the same format as a standard album. This method fast became the standard format for all DJs of the genre.

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, Florida), Karen Cook, 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, Tony Smith of Xenon, John Luongo, Robert Ouimet of The Limelight, and David Mancuso.

Disco clubs and culture

In October 1975 notable discos included "Studio One" in Los Angeles, "Leviticus" in New York and "The Library" in Atlanta. Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.

At the height of the disco era, McFaddin Ventures were operating many successful and profitable nightclubs. In an effort to maximize profit, McFaddin Ventures in Houston, Texas commissioned a study on the stimulation of males and females during the playing of music. They accordingly custom tuned their speakers to make their numerous clubs more exciting. Their programmer/disc jockey, Karen Cook, was the first female disco DJ in the states and trained other McFaddin Ventures discjockeys to work their music format (6 up, 3 down) which was designed to sell more drinks.

In the late 1970s, Studio 54 was arguably the most well known nightclub in the world. This club played a major formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general.

Disco dancing

In the early years dancers in discos danced in a "hang loose" style. Popular dances included "Bump", "Penguin", "Boogaloo, "Watergate" and the "Robot". By October 1975 The Hustle reigned. It was highly stylized, sophisticated and sexy. Variations included the Brooklyn Hustle, New York Hustle and Latin Hustle.

During the disco era, many nightclubs would commonly host disco dance competitions or offer free instructional lessons. 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". The pioneer of disco dance instruction was Karen Lustgarten in San Francisco in 1973. Her book The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing (Warner Books, 1978) was the first to name, break down and codify popular disco dances as a dance form and distinguish between disco freestyle, partner and line dances. The book hit the New York Times Best Seller List for 13 weeks and was translated into Chinese, German and French.

Some notable professional dance troupes of the 1970s included 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 (1977). This developed into the music and dance style of such films as Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983),"The Last Days of Disco"(1998). It also helped spawn dance competition tv shows such as Dance Fever (1979).

Disco fashion

Disco fashions were very trendy in the late 1970s. Discothèque-goers often wore expensive and extravagant fashions 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 polyester shirt jackets with matching trousers known as the leisure suit. Necklaces and medallions were a common fashion accessory.

Hedonism: drug subculture and sexual promiscuity

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 gave the sensation that one’s arms and legs had turned to Jell-O." According to Peter Braunstein, the "massive 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 and Crisco Disco 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.

Backlash and decline

Though disco music had enjoyed several years of popularity, an anti-disco sentiment manifested itself, particularly in America. Many musicians and fans of a variety of rock music styles expressed strong disapproval of disco throughout the height of its popularity. Radio DJs organized mass burnings of Bee Gees albums and posters. Rock artists such as Rod Stewart and David Bowie who added disco elements to their music were accused of being sell outs. was often very critical of disco, even to the point of being downright hostile. Jello Biafra of 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". Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo has said that Disco was "like a beautiful woman with a great body and no brains" and a product of political apathy of that era. Aside from Mothersbaugh's and Biafra's criticism, punk fans shared the "disco sucks" sentiment of other rock fans. New Jersey rock critic Jim Testa wrote "Put a Bullet Through The Jukebox", a vitriolic screed attacking disco that was a punk call to arms. Many punk rock songs had anto-disco lyrics, examples includes "Diskofnask" by Incest Brothers, "Discofreak" by Rabies GBG, "På Stockholms alla diskotek" by Watabout, "Diskotönt" by Nervös Reaktion, "Discoäckel" by GLO, "Discoglin" by Skäms, "Diskotek" by Bitch Boys, "Disco" by Cathy & The Heat, "Discodivor" by Massmedia, "Anti-disco" by Snobbslakt, "Anti-disco" by WAX, "Discoråtta" by Kalle Bollträ and "Discosvin" by Kvalster.

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 to the Detroit Tigers who won the first game. The stadium suffered thousands of dollars in damage.

On July 21 - six days after the riot - the top six records on the U.S. charts were of the disco genre. By September 22, there were no disco records in the top 10. The media, in celebratory tones, declared disco dead and rock revived.

The anti-disco backlash, combined with other societal and radio industry factors, changed the face of pop radio in the years following disco-demolition night. Top 40 radio stations avoided playing music by black artists in an effort to prevent their stations from being labeled with the dreaded "disco" tag. These stations converted to a variety of niche formats. One of the more popular of these formats, Country Music, rose into favor when Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta had a hit with the film Urban Cowboy, a movie that has been perceived as a rejection of disco.

Factors

Anti-disco sentiment proliferated at the time because of over-saturation and the big-business mainstreaming of disco. The popular 1977 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. A bad economy, political chaos that would lead to the election of Ronald Reagan, and burnout brought on by the hedonistic lifestyles led by participants (along with the emergence of AIDS) also have been cited as factors leading to the decline of the genre . Disco was criticized for being elitist. Songs such as Frank Zappa's satirical song "Dancin' Fool" and Steve Dahl's "Do Ya Think I'm Disco?" described patrons of exclusive discos as being overdressed and vapid. Steve Dahl has denied the charges, saying "It's really easy to look at it historically, from this perspective, and attach all those things to it. But we weren't thinking like that." It has been noted that United Kingdom punk rock critics of disco were very supportive of the pro black/anti racist reggae genre.

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. In this music scene there are rooted sub-genres, such as italo-disco, techno, house, dance-pop, boogie, and early alternative dance.

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), Laura Branigan's "Gloria" (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), Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" (1983), Cerrone's "Back Track" (1984), Jocelyn Brown's "Somebody Else's Guy" (1984), and Klymaxx's "Meeting in the Ladies Room" (1984).

TV themes

During the 1970s, many TV theme songs were produced (or older themes updated) with disco influenced music. Examples include S.W.A.T. (1975), Charlie's Angels (1976), NBC Saturday Night At The Movies (1976), The Love Boat (1977), The Donahue Show (1977), CHiPs (1977), The Professionals (1977), Dallas (1978), Kojak (1978), and 20/20 or Mike Post & Pete Carpenter's Showtime (1983) from The A-Team, which kept the disco sound throughout the 1980s. The British Science Fiction program '' (1975) also featured a soundtrack strongly influenced by disco. This was especially evident in the show's second season.

DJ culture

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.

Rave culture

As the Disco era came to a close in the late 70's, Rave culture began to see significant growth. Rave culture incorporated Disco culture's same love of dance music, drug exploration, sexual promiscuity, and hedonism. Although disco culture had thrived in the mainsteam, the rave culture would make an effort to stay underground to avoid the animosity that was still surrounding disco and dance music.

Hip hop and electro

The disco sound had a strong influence on early hip hop. Most of the early rap/hip-hop songs were created by isolating existing disco bass-guitar lines and dubbing over them with MC rhymes. The Sugarhill Gang used Chic's "Good Times" as the foundation for their 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight", generally considered to be the song that first popularized Rap music in the United States and around the world. 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 (electro music), which included such songs as Planet Patrol's "Play At Your Own Risk" (1982), C Bank's "One More Shot" (1982), Cerrone's "Club Underworld" (1984), Shannon's "Let the Music Play" (1983), Freeez's "I.O.U." (1983), Midnight Star's "Freak-A-Zoid" (1983), Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (1984).

Post Punk

The Post Punk movement that originated in the late 1970s both supported Punk Rock's rule breaking while rejecting its back to raw rock music element.

Nu Disco

Nu-disco is a 21st century dance music genre associated with the renewed interest in 1970s and early 1980s disco, mid-1980s Italo disco, and the synthesizer-heavy Eurodisco aesthetics. The moniker appeared in print as early as 2002, and by mid-2008 was used by record shops such as the online retailers Juno and Beatport. These vendors often associate it with re-edits of original-era disco music, as well as with music from European producers who make dance music inspired by original-era American disco, electro and other genres popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is also used to describe the music on several American labels that were previously associated with the genres electroclash and deep house.

See also

Number-one dance hits of 1978 (USA)

Number-one dance hits of 1979 (USA)

Philadelphia International Records

Stealth disco

References and notes

Michaels, Mark (1990). The Billboard Book of Rock Arranging. ISBN 978-0-8230-7537-9.

Jones, Alan and Kantonen, Jussi (1999). Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco. Chicago, Illinois: A Cappella Books. ISBN 978-1-55652-411-0.

Article on the 30th Annversary of Saturday Night Fever DVD, re-mastered by writer John Reed.

Further reading

Brewster, Bill and Broughton, Frank (1999) Last Night a DJ Saved my Life: the History of the Disc Jockey Headline Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7472-6230-5

Lawrence, Tim (2004) Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3198-8.

Angelo, Marty (2006) Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. Impact Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9618954-4-0.

Shapiro, Peter (2005) Turn The Beat Around - The Secret History of Disco. Faber And Faber. ISBN 978-0-86547-952-4 ISBN 978-0-86547-952-4

Echols, Alice (Professor of American studies and history Rutgers University) (2010) Hot Stuff - Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-393-06675-3

Gillian, Frank (2007) Discophobia: Antigay Prejudice and the 1979 Backlash against Disco Journal of the History of Sexuality - Volume 15, Number 2, May 2007, pp. 276–306 E-ISSN: 1535-3605 Print ISSN: 1043-4070

Disco Inferno 2.0: A Slightly Less Hedonistic Comeback Charting the DJs, labels, and edits fueling an old new craze article by Andy Beta for The Village Voice (November 2008)

Can you feel the force? by Paul Lester for The Guardian February 23, 2007

When ‘Disco Sucks!’ echoed around the world by Tony Sclafani for MSNBC July 10, 2009

Aletti, Vince (2009) THE DISCO FILES 1973-78: New York's underground week by week DJhistory.com ISBN 978-0-9561896-0-8

External links

disco music.com - large disco information repository, and message boards

Disco Savvy - chronological lists of disco songs

Sexy Days of Disco - slideshow by Life magazine

Category:Disco Category:LGBT culture Category:Women and the arts Category:Crossover (music) Category:African American music Category:1970s in music

Name	Greater Than One
Alias	Tricky Disco, GTO, John + Julie, Church of Extacy, Signs of Chaos, T.D.5, Salami Brothers, Killout Squad, Technohead L.E.D..
Background	group_or_band
Origin	London, England
Genre	Industrial (early period) House Techno Psychedelic Hardcore techno
Years active	1985–1995–1996-2000
Label	Kunst = Kapital (1987) Wax Trax! Records (1988-89) Go Bang! Records (1990) Warp Records (1990-91) Mokum Records (1995)
Past members	Michael Wells (1985-2000) Lee Newman (1985-1995)

Greater Than One is an English Electronic music band founded by husband and wife Lee Newman and Michael Wells in 1985. They released many albums under this name, and also under the names Tricky Disco, GTO, John + Julie, Church of Extacy, Signs of Chaos, T.D.5, Salami Brothers, Killout Squad, Technohead and L.E.D.. Only a few of their singles were commercially successful. Since Newman’s death on August 4, 1995 from cancer, Wells continues to release music under some of these names, and also as The Man and S.O.L.O.

1985: Greater Than One

In 1985, Newman and Wells met at the Royal College of Art in London, formed Greater Than One, and released their first album Kill the pedagogue on cassette. During the late 1980s they organised art installations and exhibitions accompanied by their own music: "When the whole audience were in, we started a soundtrack ... war sirens and searchlights. This was designed to disorientate the audience, throwing them into an unexpected nightmare. After the shock, Islamic chanting began which then changed to Song For England, during which we came onstage wearing illuminous skull masks...". They formed their own label Kunst=Kapital and released four further albums under this alias between 1987 and 1990.

1990: First hits

Their first hit single was the trance record Pure as GTO on Chrisalis Records, a club hit around Europe, closely followed by Tricky Disco as Tricky Disco on Warp records, which peaked at number 14 in the UK charts in July 1990.

They used many aliases because, releasing so much material, they feared the press wouldn’t write about it all, if they knew it all came from the same band. As Newman said, “if you give them a Tricky Disco one week and then a John and Julie two weeks later and GTO a month later they’ll write about all of it”. Their aliases also allowed them to release different types of material on different record labels. The single Double Happiness as John and Julie appeared on XL Recordings; the 1993 Tip of the Iceberg album as GTO appeared on REACT, and the 1995 album Headsex as Technohead appeared on Mokum Records.

1995: Technohead

Headsex contained their biggest hit, I Wanna Be a Hippy. It was accompanied by a video featuring three Gabbers, wearing "Party Animal" t-shirts and carrying inflatable hammers, chasing a hippy on a bicycle around a park. It reached number 1 in 12 different countries including Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, and number 6 in the UK in February 1996. Two Technohead follow-up singles, less intense than the material on Headsex, followed in 1996; Happy Birthday reached number 18 in April and the next single Banana-na-na reached number 64 in October.

Wells has recorded many singles and three more albums since, including two new Tricky Disco singles in February 2007.

Discography (albums)

Greater Than One

Lay Your Penis Down (CS) (1985)

Kill the Pedagogue (CS) (1985)

All the Masters Licked Me (LP) (1987)

Trust (LP) (recorded 1987 as the first attempt of All the Masters Licked Me)

Dance of the Cowards (1988)

London (1989)

G-Force (1989)

Index EP (1991)

Duty + Trust (CS) (1991 - recorded 1987/1988)

GTO

Tip of the Iceberg (1993)

Church of Extacy

Technohead (1993)

Technohead

Headsex (1995)

Wanna be a Hippy (1996)

Banana-na-na - DumB DiddY DumB (1996)

Signs Ov Chaos

Frankenscience (Urban Cyberpunk) (1996)

The Man

Phunk Box (1997)

Signs of Chaos

Departure (1998)

S.O.L.O.

Out Is In (1999)

External links

Official site

References

Category:British techno music groups Category:Hardcore music groups

Name	Lee "Scratch" Perry
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Rainford Hugh Perry
Alias	Pipecock JackxonThe Upsetter
Born	March 20, 1936Kendal, Jamaica
Genre	Reggae, dub, ska, rocksteady, drum and bass
Years active	1960s–present

Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry, 20 March 1936, Kendal, Jamaica) is a musician, who has been influential in the development and acceptance of reggae and dub music in Jamaica and overseas. He employs numerous pseudonyms, such as Pipecock Jackxon and The Upsetter.

Biography

Perry's musical career began in the late 1950s as a record seller for Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system. As his sometimes turbulent relationship with Dodd developed, he found himself performing a variety of important tasks at Dodd's Studio One hit factory, going on to record nearly thirty songs for the label.

In 1998 Perry reached a wider global audience as vocalist on the track "Dr. Lee, PhD" from the Beastie Boys' album Hello Nasty.

Perry now lives in Switzerland with his wife Mireille and two children. Although he celebrated his 70th birthday in 2006, he continues recording and performing to enthusiastic audiences in Europe and North America. His modern music is a far cry from his reggae days in Jamaica; many now see Perry as more of a performance artist in several respects. In 2003, Perry won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album with the album Jamaican E.T.. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Perry #100 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. More recently, he teamed up with a group of Swiss musicians and performed under the name Lee Perry and the White Belly Rats, and made a brief visit to the United States using the New York City based group Dub Is A Weapon as his backing band. Currently there are two feature length movies made about his life and work: Volker Schaner's Vision Of Paradise and The Upsetter by filmmakers Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough.

After meeting Andrew W.K. at SXSW in 2006, Perry invited him to co-produce his album, Repentance. The album, released on the 19th of August 2008, on Narnack Records, features several guest artists including Moby, Ari Up of The Slits, producer Don Fleming, drummer Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt, bassist Josh Werner of Matisyahu, and porn star Sasha Grey.

In 2008, Perry reunited with producer Adrian Sherwood on an album called The Mighty Upsetter. Unlike the dancehall/pop oriented Repentance, The Mighty Upsetter returned to the dub/reggae styles for which Perry is known. In 2009 he collaborated with Dubblestandart on their Return from Planet Dub album. Perry has been chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they will curate in May 2011.

Discography

Albums

The Upsetter (1969)

Return of Django (1969)

Clint Eastwood (1970)

Many Moods of the Upsetters (1970)

Scratch the Upsetter Again (1970)

The Good, the Bad and the Upsetters (1970)

Eastwood Rides Again (1970)

Africa's Blood (1972)

Cloak and Dagger (1973)

''Rhythm Shower (1973)

Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle aka Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973)

Black Ark era

* Double Seven (1974)

* DIP Presents the Upsetter (1975)

* Musical Bones (1975)

* Return of Wax (1975)

* Kung Fu Meets the Dragon aka Heart of the Dragon (1975)

* Revolution Dub (1975)

* Super Ape aka Scratch the Super Ape (1976)

* Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread (1978)

* Return of the Super Ape (1978)

The Return of Pipecock Jackxon (1980)

Mystic Miracle Star (with the Majestics) (1982)

History, Mystery & Prophecy (1984)

Battle Of Armagideon (Millionaire Liquidator) (1986)

Time Boom X De Devil Dead (with Dub Syndicate) (1987)

On the Wire (1988)

Satan Kicked the Bucket (with Bullwackie) (1988)

Chicken Scratch (1989)

Mystic Warrior (1989)

Mystic Warrior Dub (with Mad Professor) (1989)

From The Secret Laboratory (with Dub Syndicate) (1990)

Message From Yard (with Bullwackie) (1990)

Satan's Dub (with Bullwackie) (1990)

Lord God Muzik (1991)

Sounds From The Hotline (1991)

The Upsetter and The Beat (1992)

Excaliburman (1992)

Spiritual Healing (1994)

Black Ark Experryments (with Mad Professor) (1995)

Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub (with Mad Professor) (1995)

Super Ape Inna Jungle (with Mad Professor) (1995)

Who Put The Voodoo Pon Reggae (with Mad Professor) (1996)

Dub Take the Voodoo Out of Reggae (Mad Professor with Lee Perry) (1996)

Dub Fire (with Mad Professor) (1998)

The Original Super Ape (1998)

Son of Thunder (2000)

''Songs to Bring Back the Ark (2000)

Techno Party (2000)

Jamaican E.T. (2002)

Earthman Skanking (2003)

Encore (2003)

Alien Starman (2003)

Panic in Babylon (2004)

Alive, more than ever (2006)

End of an American Dream (2007)

The Mighty Upsetter (2008)

Repentance (2008)

Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered (2008)

Dub Setter (with Adrian Sherwood) (2009)

Mad Alien Dub (2010)

'The Unfinished Masterpiece' (2010)

Revelation (2010)

Compilation albums

Chicken Scratch (produced by Coxsone Dodd) (1963–1966)

(1984)

Open The Gate (1989)

Upsetter Collection (1994)

Upsetters A Go Go (1995)

Introducing Lee Perry (1996)

Words Of My Mouth Vol.1 (The Producer Series) (1996)

Voodooism (Pressure Sounds) (1996)

Arkology (1997)

The Upsetter Shop Vol.1: Upsetter In Dub (1997)

Dry Acid (1998)

Lee Perry Arkive (1998)

Produced and Directed By The Upsetter (Pressure Sounds) (1998)

Lost Treasures of The Ark (1999)

Upsetter Shop Vol.2 1969-1973 (1999)

Words Of My Mouth Vol.2 (The Producer Series) (1999)

Words Of My Mouth Vol.3 (Live As One/The Producer Series) (2000)

Scratch Walking (2001)

Black Ark In Dub (2002)

Divine Madness ... Definitely (Pressure Sounds) (2002)

Dub Triptych (2000)

Trojan Upsetter Box Set (2002)

This is Ska and Reggae Roots (2005)

The Upsetter Selection - A Lee Perry Jukebox (2007)

Appearances

Co-wrote "Police and Thieves" with Junior Murvin. It was later covered by The Clash on their 1977 debut album, some versions of which include their Perry-produced single "Complete Control".

"The Only Alternative" on the compilation Roots Of Innovation - 15 And X Years On-U Sound (1994) by Dub Syndicate on On-U Sound label.

"Dr. Lee, PhD" on the album Hello Nasty (1998) by Beastie Boys

Appears on two tracks on the album Whaa! (2005) by Zuco 103

Starred in a series of Guinness advertisements (2008)

Films

Lee Perry: Return Of The Super Ape (BA BA ZEE) - Rick Elgood and Don Letts (UK)

Visions of Paradise - director Volkner Schaner

Scratch in Deutschland (1992)(10mins)

Ich sende aus dem All (1995)(30mins) 16mm, director Peter Braatz

The Upsetter: The Music & Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry (90mins) (2008) directed by Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough Official website

Tracks: Lee Perry (2005) (ARTE) (France)

Videos

Lee Scratch Perry: The Unlimited Destruction, 2002, US

Lee Scratch Perry: In Concert - The Ultimate Alien, 2003, US

Lee Scratch Perry With Mad Professor, 2004, US

Roots Rock Reggae - Inside the Jamaican Music Scene, 1977. Directed by Jeremy Marre.

''Carrying The Swing;; - Dir. Howard Johnson (1998)

Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music (Part.2 - Rebel Music) 2002. Mike Connolly

Rock & Roll - Punk (10 part series) (PBS) (US) (1995)(Episode 9 only) aka Dancing in the Street: A Rock and Roll History (Episode 8 only) (UK)

Tribute To Sister D - The Forum, London 1995 (One Drop - Crazy Baldheads - Roastfish and Cornbread)

Portraits Of Jamaican Music - Dir.Pierre Marc Simonin (2003)Video Clip

Jools in Jamaica - Dir.Geoff Wonfor, Presenter Jools Holland

References

Further reading

Collingwood, Jeremy (2010) Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Kiss Me Neck - The Scratch Story in Words, Pictures and Records, Cherry Red Books, ISBN 978-1-901447-96-5

David Katz and Jeremy Collingwood, Give Me Power: A Complete Discography, Trax On Wax

Gary Simons, Super Scratch: The Almost Complete Lee Perry Discography, 1999, Secret History Books

External links

Good Always Conquers Evil:The Musical Genius of Lee Perry

Wire Interview

Eternal Thunder

The Black Ark

Perry fanatix

Prefix Interview

Article by Adam Horovitz

Roots Discography

August 2008 Interview with L.A. Record

For research on Reggae films & footage contact Reggae Films UK

Category:Jamaican reggae musicians Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican record producers Category:Dub musicians Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:Grammy Award winners

Name	Kylie Minogue
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kylie Ann Minogue
Birth date	May 28, 1968
Birth place	Melbourne, Australia
Genre	Pop, synthpoprock, dance, electronic
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, fashion designer, author, entrepreneur, philanthropist
Years active	1979–present
Label	PWL (1987-1993) Deconstruction (1993-1998) Parlophone (1999-present) Mushroom (Australia)
Url

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE ( ; born 28 May 1968), is an Australian pop singer, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a recording artist in 1987. Her first single, "Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest selling single of the decade. This led to a contract with songwriters and producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Her debut album, Kylie (1988), and the single "I Should Be So Lucky", each reached number one in the United Kingdom, and over the next two years, her first 13 singles reached the British top ten. Her debut film, The Delinquents (1989) was a box-office hit in Australia and the UK despite negative reviews.

Initially presented as a "girl next door", Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and she left Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia and Israel where it reached the number 1 position.

Minogue returned to prominence in 2000 with the single "Spinning Around" and the dance-oriented album Light Years, and she performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her music videos showed a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality and several hit singles followed. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in more than 40 countries, and the album Fever (2001) was a hit throughout the world, including the United States, a market in which Minogue had previously received little recognition. Minogue embarked on a concert tour but cancelled it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. After surgery and chemotherapy treatment, she resumed her career in 2006 with . Her tenth studio album X was released in 2007 and was followed by the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, she embarked upon her For You, For Me Tour, her first concert tour of the US and Canada.

Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 60 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. She has mounted several successful concert tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire "for services to music", and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008.

Life and career

1968–86: Early life and career beginnings

Kylie Ann Minogue was born 28 May 1968 in Melbourne, Australia, the first child of Ronald Charles Minogue, an accountant of Irish ancestry and Carol Ann (née Jones), a former dancer from Maesteg, Wales. Her sister, Dannii Minogue, is also a pop singer The Minogue children were raised in Surrey Hills, Melbourne, and educated at Camberwell High School.

The Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian television. Interested in following a career in music, she made a demo tape for the producers of the weekly music programme Young Talent Time, which featured Dannii as a regular performer. Kylie gave her first television singing performance on the show in 1985 but was not invited to join the cast. Dannii's success overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements,

Her popularity in Australia was demonstrated when she became the first person to win four Logie Awards in one event, and the youngest recipient of the "Gold Logie" as the country's "Most Popular Television Performer", with the result determined by public vote.

1987–92: Stock, Aitken and Waterman and Kylie

During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "I Got You Babe" as a duet with the actor John Waters, and "The Loco-Motion" as an encore, and was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987. Her first single, "The Loco-Motion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian music charts. It sold 200,000 copies, and Minogue received the ARIA Award for the year's highest selling single. Its success resulted in Minogue travelling to England with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" while she waited outside the studio. The song reached number one in the UK, Australia, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Israel and Hong Kong. Minogue won her second consecutive ARIA Award for the year's highest selling single, and received a "Special Achievement Award". Her debut album, Kylie, a collection of dance-oriented pop tunes spent more than a year on the British album charts, including several weeks at number one. The album went gold in the United States, and the single, "The Loco-Motion", reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. "It's No Secret", released only in the U.S., peaked at number 37 in early 1989, and later in the year she left Neighbours to focus on her music career. Jason Donovan commented "When viewers watched her on screen they no longer saw Charlene the local mechanic, they saw Kylie the pop star." She was sometimes referred to as "the Singing Budgie" by her detractors over the coming years, however Chris True's comment about the album Kylie for Allmusic suggests that Minogue's appeal transcended the limitations of her music, by noting that "her cuteness makes these rather vapid tracks bearable".

Her follow-up album Enjoy Yourself (1989) was a success in the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Asia and Australia, and contained several successful singles, including the British number one "Hand on Your Heart", In December 1989, Minogue was one of the featured vocalists on the remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas", and her debut film, The Delinquents, premiered in London. It was poorly received by critics, but it proved popular with audiences; in the UK it grossed more than £200,000, and in Australia it was the fourth-highest grossing local film of 1989 and the highest grossing local film of 1990.

Rhythm of Love (1990) presented a more sophisticated and adult style of dance music and also marked the first signs of Minogue's rebellion against her production team and the "girl-next-door" image. Determined to be accepted by a more mature audience, Minogue took control of her music videos, starting with "Better the Devil You Know", and presented herself as a sexually aware adult. Her relationship with Michael Hutchence was also seen as part of Minogue's departure from her earlier persona; Hutchence was quoted as saying that his hobby was "corrupting Kylie", and that the INXS song "Suicide Blonde" had been inspired by her. The singles from Rhythm of Love sold well in Europe and Australia and were popular in British nightclubs. Pete Waterman later reflected that "Better the Devil You Know" was a milestone in her career and said that it made her "the hottest, hippest dance act on the scene and nobody could knock it as it was the best dance record around at the time". Her fourth album, Let's Get to It (1991), reached number 15 on the British album charts and was the first of her albums to fail to reach the Top 10;

A Greatest Hits album was released in 1992. It reached number one in the UK and the singles "What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before)" and her cover version of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" each reached the UK Top 20. She performed a striptease in the video for her next single, "Put Yourself in My Place", inspired by Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella. This single and her next, "Where Is the Feeling?" each reached the British top 20, During this period she made a guest appearance as herself, in an episode of the comedy The Vicar of Dibley. The director Steven E. de Souza was intrigued by Minogue's cover photo in Australia's Who Magazine as one of "The 30 Most Beautiful People in the World", and offered her a role opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter (1994). The film was a moderate success, earning USD$70 million in the U.S., She co-starred with Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin in Bio-Dome (1996), but it was a failure, dismissed by Movie Magazine International as the "biggest waste of celluloid space".

Australian artist Nick Cave had been interested in working with Minogue since hearing "Better the Devil You Know", saying it contained "one of pop music's most violent and distressing lyrics" and "when Kylie Minogue sings these words, there is an innocence to her that makes the horror of this chilling lyric all the more compelling". They collaborated on "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1995), a brooding ballad whose lyrics narrated a murder from the points of view of both the murderer (Cave), and his victim (Minogue). The video was inspired by John Everett Millais's painting Ophelia (1851–1852), and showed Minogue as the murdered woman, floating in a pond as a serpent swam over her body. The single received widespread attention in Europe, where it reached the top 10 in several countries, and acclaim in Australia where it reached number two on the singles chart, and won ARIA Awards for "Song of the Year" and "Best Pop Release". Following concert appearances with Cave, Minogue recited the lyrics to "I Should Be So Lucky" as poetry in London's Royal Albert Hall "Poetry Jam", at the suggestion of Cave, and later described it as a "most cathartic moment". She credited Cave with giving her the confidence to express herself artistically, saying: "He taught me to never veer too far from who I am, but to go further, try different things, and never lose sight of myself at the core. For me, the hard part was unleashing the core of myself and being totally truthful in my music." By 1997, Minogue was in a relationship with the French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui, who encouraged her to develop her creativity. Inspired by a mutual appreciation of Japanese culture, they created a visual combination of "geisha and manga superheroine" for the photographs taken for the album Impossible Princess and the video for "German Bold Italic", Minogue's collaboration with Towa Tei. Minogue drew inspiration from the music of artists such as Shirley Manson and Garbage, Björk, Tricky and U2, and Japanese pop musicians such as Pizzicato Five and Towa Tei.

Impossible Princess featured collaborations with musicians such as James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore of the Manic Street Preachers. Mostly a dance album, its style was not represented by its first single "Some Kind of Bliss", and Minogue countered suggestions that she was trying to become an indie artist. She told Music Week, "I have to keep telling people that this isn't an indie-guitar album. I'm not about to pick up a guitar and rock." Acknowledging that she had attempted to escape the perceptions of her that had developed during her early career, Minogue commented that she was ready to "forget the painful criticism" and "accept the past, embrace it, use it". Billboard described the album as "stunning" and concluded that "it's a golden commercial opportunity for a major [record company] with vision and energy [to release it in the United States]. A sharp ear will detect a kinship between Impossible Princess and Madonna's hugely successful album, Ray of Light". Retitled Kylie Minogue in the UK following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, it became the lowest-selling album of her career. At the end of the year a campaign by Virgin Radio stated, "We've done something to improve Kylie's records: we've banned them." to become her most successful album since Kylie in 1988, and her Intimate and Live tour was extended due to demand. The Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, hosted a civic reception for Minogue in Melbourne, and she maintained her high profile in Australia with live performances, including the 1998 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and Sydney's Fox Studios in 1999, where she performed Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", and a Christmas concert in Dili, East Timor in association with the United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces. Returning to Australia, she appeared in the film Sample People and recorded a cover version of Russell Morris's "The Real Thing" for the soundtrack. Her album Light Years (2000) was a collection of dance songs, influenced by disco music. Minogue said that her intention was to present dance-pop music in a "more exaggerated form" and to make it "fun". The single "Spinning Around" became her first British number one in ten years, and its accompanying video featured Minogue in revealing gold hot pants, which came to be regarded as a "trademark". The single was described by a 2009 The Times article as heralding a new era in synthpop that was continuing. and number two in the UK. She then embarked upon a concert tour, On A Night like This Tour, which played to sell-out crowds in Australia and the United Kingdom. Minogue was inspired by Madonna's 1993 world tour The Girlie Show which incorporated Burlesque and theatre, William Baker also cited the style of Broadway shows such as 42nd Street, films such as Anchors Aweigh, South Pacific, the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930s and the live performances of Bette Midler. Minogue was praised for her new material and her reinterpretations of some of her greatest successes, turning "I Should Be So Lucky" into a torch song and "Better the Devil You Know" into a 1940s big band number. She won a "Mo Award" for Australian live entertainment as "Performer of the Year". Following the tour she was asked by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer journalist what she thought was her greatest strength, and replied, "[That] I am an all-rounder. If I was to choose any one element of what I do, I don't know if I would excel at any one of them. But put all of them together, and I know what I'm doing."

She appeared as "The Green Fairy" in Moulin Rouge! (2001), shortly before the release of Fever, an album containing disco elements combined with 1980s electropop and synthpop. Fever reached number one in Australia, the UK, and throughout Europe, eventually achieving worldwide sales in excess of eight million. Its lead single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" became the biggest success of her career, reaching number one in more than 40 countries. She won four ARIA Awards including a "Most Outstanding Achievement" award, and two Brit Awards, for "Best international female solo artist" and "Best international album". Rolling Stone states that "Can't Get You out of My Head" "was easily the best and most omnipresent dance track of the new century", and following extensive airplay by American radio, Capitol Records released it and the album Fever in the U.S. in 2002. Fever debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart at number three, and "Can't Get You out of My Head" reached number seven on the Hot 100. and the following year won the same award for "Come into My World".

Minogue's stylist and creative director William Baker explained that the music videos for the Fever album were inspired by science fiction films—specifically those by Stanley Kubrick—and accentuated the electropop elements of the music by using dancers in the style of Kraftwerk. Alan MacDonald, the designer of the 2002 KylieFever tour, brought those elements into the stage show which drew inspiration from Minogue's past incarnations. The show opened with Minogue as a space age vamp, which she described as "Queen of Metropolis with her drones", through to scenes inspired by Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, followed by the various personas of Minogue's career. and 2006 in the U.S.; she voiced one of the principal characters, Florence.

Minogue began a relationship with the French actor, Olivier Martinez, after meeting him at the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony. Her next album, Body Language (2003), was released following an invitation-only concert, titled Money Can't Buy, at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The event marked the presentation of a new visual style, designed by Minogue and Baker, inspired in part by Brigitte Bardot, about whom Minogue commented: "I just tended to think of BB [Bardot] as, well, she's a sexpot, isn't she? She's one of the greatest pinups. But she was fairly radical in her own way at that time. And we chose to reference the period, which was ... a perfect blend of coquette and rock and roll." The album downplayed the disco style and Minogue said she was inspired by 1980s artists such as Scritti Politti, The Human League, Adam and the Ants and Prince, blending their styles with elements of hip hop. It received positive reviews with Billboard Magazine writing of "Minogue's knack for picking great songs and producers". Allmusic described it as "a near perfect pop record... Body Language is what happens when a dance-pop diva takes the high road and focuses on what's important instead of trying to shock herself into continued relevance". Sales of Body Language were lower than anticipated after the success of Fever, After reaching number one on the US club chart, "Slow" received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Dance Recording category. The Wall Street Journal described Minogue as "an international superstar who seems perpetually unable to conquer the U.S. market".

Minogue played a guest role in the season finale of the comedy series Kath & Kim, in which she referenced her earlier role as Charlene in Neighbours, during a wedding sequence. The episode achieved the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's highest ratings of the year.

She released her second official greatest hits album in November 2004, entitled Ultimate Kylie, along with her music videos on a DVD compilation of the same title. The album introduced her singles "I Believe in You", co-written with Jake Shears and Babydaddy from the Scissor Sisters, and "Giving You Up". "I Believe in You" reached the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play top three, and was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in February 2007. Minogue commenced her , and after performing in Europe, travelled to Melbourne, where she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

2006–09: Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour, X, KylieX2008 and For You, for Me Tour

In November 2006, Minogue resumed her with a performance in Sydney. She had told journalists before the concert that she would be highly emotional, and she cried before dedicating the song "Especially for You" to her father, a survivor of prostate cancer. Her dance routines had been reworked to accommodate her medical condition, and slower costume changes and longer breaks were introduced between sections of the show to conserve her strength. The media reported that Minogue performed energetically, with the Sydney Morning Herald describing the show as an "extravaganza" and "nothing less than a triumph". Minogue's shows throughout Australia continued to draw positive reviews, and after spending Christmas with her family, she resumed the European leg of her tour with six sold-out shows in Wembley Arena, before taking her tour to Manchester for a further six shows.

In February 2007, Minogue and Olivier Martinez announced that they had ended their relationship, but remained on friendly terms. Minogue was reported to have been "saddened by false [media] accusations of [Martinez's] disloyalty". in November 2007. The electro-styled album included contributions from Guy Chambers, Cathy Dennis, Bloodshy & Avant and Calvin Harris. The album received some criticism for the triviality of its subject matter in light of Minogue's experiences with breast cancer; she responded by explaining the personal nature of some of the album's songs, and said "My conclusion is that if I'd done an album of personal songs it'd be seen as 'Impossible Princess 2' and be equally critiqued." and said of her breast cancer, "thankfully, the experience hasn't made her music discernibly deeper". X and "2 Hearts" entered at number one on the Australian albums and singles charts respectively. In the UK, X initially attracted lukewarm sales, and Minogue won a Brit Award for "International solo female". X was released in the U.S. in April 2008, and debuted outside the top 100 on the albums chart despite some promotion. X was nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album, Minogue's fifth Grammy Award nomination.

In December 2007, Minogue participated in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, and later performed in the final of the UK talent show The X Factor with the eventual winner, Leon Jackson, whose mentor was Dannii Minogue. From May 2008, Minogue promoted X with a European tour, KylieX2008, which is her most expensive tour to date with production costs of £10 million. Although she described the rehearsals as "grim" and the set list went through several overhauls, She appeared in The Kylie Show, which featured highly stylised set-piece song performances from Minogue as well as comedy sketches with Mathew Horne, Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan and Simon Cowell. She co-starred in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special episode, "Voyage of the Damned", as Astrid Peth, a waitress on a spaceship Titanic. The episode aired on 25 December 2007, with 13.31 million viewers, the show's highest viewing figures since 1979.

It was announced in late December 2007 that Minogue was to be among those honoured in Queen Elizabeth II's 2008 New Years Honours list, with an OBE for services to music. Minogue commented "I am almost as surprised as I am honoured. I feel deeply touched to be acknowledged by the UK, my adopted home, in this way." She received the OBE officially from The Prince of Wales in July 2008. In May, 2008 Minogue was awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest cultural honour. Culture Minister Christine Albanel described Minogue as a "midas of the international music scene who turns everything she touches into gold", and saluted her for publicly discussing her breast cancer. and won the "Best International Female Solo Artist" award at the 2008 BRIT Awards.

In late September 2008, Minogue made her Middle East debut as the headline act at the opening of Atlantis, The Palm, an exclusive hotel resort in Dubai, and from November, she continued with her KylieX2008 tour, taking the show to cities across South America, Asia and Australia. The tour visited 21 countries, and was considered a success, with ticket sales estimated at $70,000,000. She hosted the 2009 BRIT Awards on 18 February 2009 with James Corden and Mathew Horne.

In September and October 2009, Minogue embarked on the For You, For Me Tour, her first North American concert tour, which included shows in the U.S. and Canada. On 14 December 2009, Minogue released a download-only concert album entitled . The album was recorded at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom and contains 25 live version songs.

2010–present: Aphrodite

Minogue's eleventh studio album, Aphrodite, was released in Japan on 30 June 2010 and worldwide in July 2010. The lead single, "All the Lovers", premiered on radio in May 2010 and was made available for purchase in June 2010. The album debuted at number one in the UK charts, exactly twenty two years after her first UK number one hit. On 3 June 2010, she hosted the inaugural AmfAR "Inspiration Gala" at the New York Public Library honouring Jean Paul Gaultier for his lifelong contribution to men's fashion and the fight against AIDS. Minogue appeared on BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on 25 June 2010, during which she confirmed she is a UK resident, and announced that she will tour in 2011.

In July 2010, Minogue filmed a cameo performance as a rock star in the American independent film Jack and Diane. The movie stars Juno Temple, Riley Keough and Jena Malone. She also recorded a duet titled "Devotion" with British synthpop duo Hurts for their debut album Happiness, released on 6 September 2010. The second single from Aphrodite, titled "Get Outta My Way" was released on 27 September 2010. In October 2010, Minogue performed in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza, Eygpt to celebrate the anniversary of "Enigma" magazine, with profits going to the We Owe It To Egypt Foundation. A third single, Better Than Today, was released on 6 December 2010. It peaked at number thirty-two in the UK and became her lowest charting single to have a proper physical release.

On 1 December 2010, Minogue and Parlophone records released A Kylie Christmas (EP) on iTunes, which included a cover of the 1945 song Let It Snow as well as Santa Baby which was previously available as a b-side to her 2000 single Please Stay.

Image and celebrity status

|alt=A bronze statue of Kylie, on a star-shaped pedestal, portrays her in a dancing pose. Her legs are crossed and she bends at the waist, with both arms stretched above her head. The statue stands in a public square in front of a modern glass building, and several people are walking.]] Minogue's efforts to be taken seriously as a recording artist were initially hindered by the perception that she had not "paid her dues" and was no more than a manufactured pop star exploiting the image she had created during her stint on Neighbours. During her career Minogue has chosen photographers who attempt to create a new "look" for her, and the resulting photographs have appeared in a variety of magazines, from the cutting edge The Face to the more traditionally sophisticated Vogue and Vanity Fair, making the Minogue face and name known to a broad group of people. Stylist William Baker has suggested that this is part of the reason she has entered in the mainstream pop culture of Europe more successfully than many other pop singers who concentrate solely on selling records.

By 2000, when Minogue returned to prominence, she was considered to be have achieved a degree of musical credibility for having maintained her career longer than her critics had expected. That same year, Birmingham Post noted "[o]nce upon a time, long before anybody had even heard of Britney, Christina, Jessica or Mandy, Australian singer Kylie Minogue ruled the charts as princess of pop. Back in 1988 her first single, I Should Be So Lucky, spent five weeks at number one, making her the most successful female artist in the UK charts with 13 successive Top 10 entries." Her progression from the wholesome "girl next door" to a more sophisticated performer with a flirtatious and playful persona attracted new fans to her. After 20 years as a performer, Minogue was described as a fashion "trend-setter" and a "style icon who constantly reinvents herself". She has been acknowledged for mounting successful tours, and for worldwide record sales of more than 60 million.

Minogue is regarded as a gay icon, which she encourages with comments such as "I am not a traditional gay icon. There's been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits..." and "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me." Minogue has been inspired by and compared to Madonna throughout her career. Kathy McCabe for The Telegraph notes that Minogue and Madonna follow similar styles in music and fashion, and concludes, "Where they truly diverge on the pop-culture scale is in shock value. Minogue's clips might draw a gasp from some but Madonna's ignite religious and political debate unlike any other artist on the planet... Simply, Madonna is the dark force; Kylie is the light force." During the same week a bronze cast of her hands was added to Wembley Arena's "Square of Fame".

In March 2010, Minogue was declared by researchers as the "most powerful celebrity in Britain". The study examined how marketers identify celebrity and brand partnerships. Mark Husak, head of Millward Brown's UK media practice, said: "Kylie is widely accepted as an adopted Brit. People know her, like her and she is surrounded by positive buzz". In June 2010, after a performance at Glastonbury with the Scissor Sisters on their track "Any Which Way", Minogue started filming a cameo role in the film Jack and Diane, in New York.

Cancer

Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer on 17 May 2005, leading to the postponement of the remainder of her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour and her withdrawal from the Glastonbury Festival. Her hospitalisation and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement supporting Minogue. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, the Victorian Premier Steve Bracks warned the international media that any disruption of the Minogue family's rights under Australian privacy laws would not be tolerated. His comments became part of a wider criticism of the media's overall reaction, with particular criticism directed towards paparazzi. Minogue underwent surgery on 21 May 2005 at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, and commenced chemotherapy treatment soon after. In December 2005, Minogue released a digital-only single, "Over the Rainbow", a live recording from her Showgirl tour. Her children's book, The Showgirl Princess, written during her period of convalescence, was published in October 2006, and her perfume, "Darling", was launched in November. On her return to Australia for her concert tour, she discussed her illness, and said that her chemotherapy treatment had been like "experiencing a nuclear bomb". but she later spoke of her respect for the medical profession.

Minogue was acknowledged for the impact she had made by publicly discussing her cancer diagnosis and treatment; in May 2008, the French Cultural Minister Christine Albanel said, "Doctors now even go as far as saying there is a 'Kylie effect' that encourages young women to have regular checks."

Discography

Kylie (1988)

Enjoy Yourself (1989)

Rhythm of Love (1990)

Let's Get to It (1991)

Kylie Minogue (1994)

Impossible Princess (1997)

Light Years (2000)

Fever (2001)

Body Language (2003)

X (2007)

Aphrodite (2010)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Kylie Minogue

List of Kylie Minogue concert tours

Kylie Minogue filmography

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

– owned and maintained by EMI and represents Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue Collection at the Performing Arts Collection

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from Melbourne Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian child actors Category:Australian dance musicians Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian film actors Category:Australian pop singers Category:Australian television actors Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian people of Welsh descent Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Disco musicians Category:Freestyle musicians Category:Gold Logie winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:LGBT rights activists from Australia Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Parlophone artists Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal Category:Singers from Melbourne Category:The X Factor judges Category:The X Factor (UK)