
I started my journey into disco via my love for house music of the 90’s. There were so many great house records that provided an influence on me and at the time I didn’t know that nearly all of them were originally disco records. It was only as the years wore on I realised so much of what I was listening to was actually a little sample or a loop or a resung vocal from the Disco of the late seventies and early eighties. This began a long and ongoing love affair discovering and buying disco records packed with amazing melody, basslines and vocal hooks. I can’t say how many times I would be listening to a record and be like ‘I know that sound or bassline’, I still do that today just demonstrating the depth and quality of the original disco and its absolute wealth of influence and ideas. It was the inspiration in many ways for Future Disco, the idea that disco lives on in the future in many reincarnated forms. The spirit of disco as well as the music itself, built on the pioneers of that era.
It also started me thinking that anyone listening to the radio show or current disco inspired hits may not know the history of those records and so I’ve picked out 10 key tracks in house music that came from Disco. It may be this could inspire another music lover to dig deeper and discover the rich, nearly always black history of the genre. Understanding that Disco and House music is black music.
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
Chaka Khan – Fate
Mojo – Lady
Chic – Soup for One
Bobby Dambrozio – Moment of my life
Inner Life – Moment Of My Life
DJ Koze – Pick Up
Melba Moore – Pick Me Up I’ll Dance
David Morales – Needin U
The Chi-Lites – My First Mistake
Black Box – Ride On Time
Lolleta Holoway – Love Sensation
Strike – You Sure do
Donna Allen – Serious
The Bucketheads – The Bomb
Chicago – Street Player
Mighty Mouse – The Spirit
Patti LaBelle – The Spirit’s In It
Daft Punk – One More Time
Eddie Johns – More Spell on You