Disco Charts and Chat
Dancehalls, Glitterballs and DJs - From the Pleasure Garden to the Discotheque - Bruce Lindsay
Bruce Lindsay [+]
Music Journalist and Social Historian
Description
Once the disco scene became popular, music publications started to publish disco music charts and columns aimed at fans of the new craze. Specialist trade publications appeared, targeting DJs and other disco professionals with news of the latest equipment, techniques and business deals. Often, the general Top 40 and the disco charts looked similar, at other times songs making it big on the disco charts failed to make the Top 40. There could be regional variations, too, with some songs proving to be smash hits in parts of the country, even in individual clubs, but making little impact elsewhere. The specialist press, and the disco columns of the more general interest music papers aimed at fans, show how varied the disco scene was across Britain, where Jimmy Shand and His Band or the Hokey Cokey could be disco hits, an experience at odds with the image of the disco scene in London and other big cities. Disc jockeys took inspiration from the American scene, as Beats Per Minute and complex segues became part and parcel of the DJ’s techniques.