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It’s Disco Friday :)

#1,389
As a '70s funk fanatic, I just want to address the funk vs. disco debate real quick:

There was danceable funk before disco - James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, the Isley Brothers, the Ohio Players, Kool & the Gang, etc. When disco got big, it all got lumped together, and people began putting the cast before the horse, even to the point where there was a disco compilation that included EWF's "Shining Star" and the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," and neither song is "disco." The 4/4 dance beat predates disco; disco was born of funk, and later, disco influenced some funk acts and even some rock acts. Basically, disco took elements of funk, sped it up and took a lot of the down-home soul and gritty urban feel out of it so as to make it more palatable for a wider audience.

I like a lot of disco, even though I'm much more of a funk guy, and there is some obvious crossover, e.g., KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, Peter Brown and Foxy. I also have no problem with funk jams being included in this thread (I'd submitted a few myself!), but I just wanted to point out that the kinds of drum beats, bass lines, horn riffs and tight rhythm guitar riffs associated with disco started with songs like James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine) and Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," songs that preceded disco by a few years.

Sorry for the derail, and thank you for indulging my unsolicited lecture!:) We now resume your regularly scheduled broadcasting...
 
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#1,391
FilterFunk said:
As a '70s funk fanatic, I just want to address the funk vs. disco debate real quick:

There was danceable funk before disco - James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, the Isley Brothers, the Ohio Players, Kool & the Gang, etc. When disco got big, it all got lumped together, and people began putting the cast before the horse, even to the point where there was a disco compilation that included EWF's "Shining Star" and the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," and neither song is "disco." The 4/4 dance beat predates disco; disco was born of funk, and later, disco influenced some funk acts and even some rock acts. Basically, disco took elements of funk, sped it up and took a lot of the down-home soul and gritty urban feel out of it so as to make it more palatable for a wider audience.

I like a lot of disco, even though I'm much more of a funk guy, and there is some obvious crossover, e.g., KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, Peter Brown and Foxy. I also have no problem with funk jams being included in this thread (I'd submitted a few myself!), but I just wanted to point out that the kinds of drum beats, bass lines, horn riffs and tight rhythm guitar riffs associated with disco started with songs like James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine) and Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," songs that preceded disco by a few years.

Sorry for the derail, and thank you for indulging my unsolicited lecture!:) We now resume your regularly scheduled broadcasting...
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I saw Sylvester and the Hot Band on April 14, 1973, pre-Disco. :bassist:
 
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#1,392
Genesis-Adelbert Gym 04-14-1973 Ad.jpg
 
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#1,394
FilterFunk said:
As a '70s funk fanatic, I just want to address the funk vs. disco debate real quick:

There was danceable funk before disco - James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, the Isley Brothers, the Ohio Players, Kool & the Gang, etc. When disco got big, it all got lumped together, and people began putting the cast before the horse, even to the point where there was a disco compilation that included EWF's "Shining Star" and the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," and neither song is "disco." The 4/4 dance beat predates disco; disco was born of funk, and later, disco influenced some funk acts and even some rock acts. Basically, disco took elements of funk, sped it up and took a lot of the down-home soul and gritty urban feel out of it so as to make it more palatable for a wider audience.

I like a lot of disco, even though I'm much more of a funk guy, and there is some obvious crossover, e.g., KC and the Sunshine Band, Chic, Peter Brown and Foxy. I also have no problem with funk jams being included in this thread (I'd submitted a few myself!), but I just wanted to point out that the kinds of drum beats, bass lines, horn riffs and tight rhythm guitar riffs associated with disco started with songs like James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine) and Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," songs that preceded disco by a few years.

Sorry for the derail, and thank you for indulging my unsolicited lecture!:) We now resume your regularly scheduled broadcasting...
Click to expand...
To that I would add that a major tributary or transition to disco was the Philadelphia/MFSB/TSOP sound…slick, sophisticated, breezy, very confident. Heavily orchestrated, it left behind a lot of the southern grit that was a major part of Atlantic type soul, it was very uptown. It certainly took its cues from Motown, but the vibe/rhythm was different(how, I couldn’t tell you, I was just a spectator). Funk brought back some grit, but it was a different kind, different time. This was, of course, before the Euro electronica came in. Does that make any sense?
 
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#1,395
Michedelic said:
To that I would add that a major tributary or transition to disco was the Philadelphia/MFSB/TSOP sound…slick, sophisticated, breezy, very confident. Heavily orchestrated, it left behind a lot of the southern grit that was a major part of Atlantic type soul, it was very uptown. It certainly took its cues from Motown, but the vibe/rhythm was different(how, I couldn’t tell you, I was just a spectator). Funk brought back some grit, but it was a different kind, different time. This was, of course, before the Euro electronica came in. Does that make any sense?
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It makes a lot of sense! That "Philadelphia/MFSB/TSOP" sound was certainly a precursor to disco.

And it's funny that you should mention "southern grit." In 1971, James Brown released a song titled, "Make It Funky." During the bridge of that song, Brown starts naming different kinds of soul food, including neckbones, candied yams, and grits and gravy. Now, some people would be confused by this. They might think to themselves, "First he's talking about making it funky, then he's talking about food. I don't get it!" Basically, what Brown was saying in his own imitable way is that real, deep funk takes soul...down home, gritty soul. Even urban, inner-city soul started with people migrating from the South.
 
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#1,396
FilterFunk said:
It makes a lot of sense! That "Philadelphia/MFSB/TSOP" sound was certainly a precursor to disco.

And it's funny that you should mention "southern grit." In 1971, James Brown released a song titled, "Make It Funky." During the bridge of that song, Brown starts naming different kinds of soul food, including neckbones, candied yams, and grits and gravy. Now, some people would be confused by this. They might think to themselves, "First he's talking about making it funky, then he's talking about food. I don't get it!" Basically, what Brown was saying in his own imitable way is that real, deep funk takes soul...down home, gritty soul. Even urban, inner-city soul started with people migrating from the South.
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Well…
 
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