On the Way Down and on the Way Up
Dancehalls, Glitterballs and DJs - From the Pleasure Garden to the Discotheque - Bruce Lindsay
Bruce Lindsay [+]
Music Journalist and Social Historian
Description
Discos flourished for years before disco music arrived and even after disco music was on the scene other genres of music continued to be popular in the discos. It’s a confusing situation. Northern Soul’s adherents danced to a carefully-selected playlist of lost or obscure soul classics, but in the discotheques, soul, Motown, rhythm and blues and mainstream pop songs could all get people onto the dance floor. So, too, could the occasional glam rock track, novelty record and singalong song. A record that could fill the dancefloor of one club could empty the floor of another disco just a few miles away. DJs quickly learned how to ‘work the crowd’ to ensure that paying customers kept coming. Then the idea of “disco music” as a new genre of dance music began to appear.