When Disco Ruled the World

Mmm, baby! Flare your nostrils AND your trousers.

We're heading back to the '70s,

a time of mirrorballs, medallions, magnificent music and polyester leisurewear!

Disco music became popular because it taught white people how to dance.

It was girly.

I got a picture of me that looks like a cowboy.

Dress code, smart-casual. No jeans, no trainers, just the hits and style of a more glamorous age.

We were the metal mouths!

I got better and better every week, cos I was living, eating, breathing disco.

Travolta was terrified. He was going to quit the movie.

So, sit back and let us take you to a time when disco ruled the world!

You know this shit is happening?

# Burn, baby burn, disco inferno! #

MUSIC: Rock The Boat by Hues Corporation

It's 1974, and strike-bound Britain squirms under the fist of the unions and platformed boots.

But in America...

a new sound is emerging from the gay, black and Latin clubs.

The new cocktail was a jigger of Motown, a finger of funk and R&B and a dash of the Caribbean from Miami.

Mr Big behind the Miami Sound was Harry Wayne Casey, he of the Sunshine Band.

MUSIC: That's The Way I Like It by KC And The Sunshine Band

The Miami Sound was a party sound.

A happy sound. A sound of having a good time.

# That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh I like it... #

-# That's the way, uh-huh, uh-uh

-I like it! Uh-huh! Uh-Uh!

# That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh I like it! #

KC had clocked that live bands were on the way out, while DJs were on the way UP.

You could feel in the United States that bars and lounges weren't doing too well.

# When you whisper Sweet in my ear... #

They were all, like, these discos or these clubs,

spinning records.

# That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh I like it! #

I felt that this was what was probably gonna become the new thing.

KC had many disco hits under his own name, but his first genuine classic was written for somebody else.

SINGS INTRO TO "Rock Your Baby"

The song didn't really sound

like what The Sunshine Band records sounded like, and I thought it needed a sweeter voice than mine.

# Sexy woman! #

Fortunately, George McCrae happened to be passing, perhaps hunting for the man who stole his shirt!

I said, "George, come here."

And I hummed him this melody. # Woman, take me in your arms Rock your baby. #

# Woman, take me in your arms

# Rock your baby. #

He sang it back to me and I knew that was the voice for this song.

When I recorded Rock Your Baby, I thought it was my last chance to make it. My first recording...

only two copies were sold! And I bought them!

And so...

I went in the studio and cut the track in one take.

# And let the lovin' start

# Woman...

# Take me in your arms Rock your baby... #

I remember this song... # Woman...

# Take me in your arms... # And this dance...

That was good!

# Woman...

# Take me in your arms Rock your baby... #

The record ended up costing 15 - that's what they paid the guitar player. I did all the other stuff.

# With all your might... #

He created a whole new phenomenon.

This song became the national anthem of disco!

# Woman, take me in your arms... #

The first real disco hit, although, looking back, it's quite soft, was Rock Your Baby by George McCrae,

quickly followed by Rock The Boat by Hues Corporation. Those two songs,

I think, kick-started disco in this country.

Rock Your Baby went to Number One in 51 countries. It was Number One everywhere!

United States, Japan, the Philippines...

Brazil...

Canada...Bangkok...

All of Africa, Australia, New Zealand.

Oh, yes. It was a huge success.

# Rock your baby

# Whoo-hoo-hoo

# Woman, take me in your arms

# Rock your baby... #

I could, kinda, sit at home,

and George had to do all the work.

Disc jockeys had their work cut out. Records only last three minutes

and mixing was still something you did with a Kenwood Chef.

We weren't allowed to mix.

The audience did not dance unless you spoke. You had to go, "Hi, that was George McCrae

"and Rock Your Baby!"

If you thought, "I'll just play two records together..."

If you did it three times in a row, you were in trouble. "You have to talk and entertain."

But everything's bigger in America,

and new US acts were pioneering extra-length disco records.

Gloria Gaynor plays a major role in the emergence of disco.

Her album, "Never Can Say Goodbye" was the first album to segue three tracks together.

# I never can say goodbye

# No, no, no, I... #

She was a disc jockey's dream. The audience wanted to hear the album.

It was the first album to be done with nonstop play.

So, with the songs segueing one into another,

all pretty much the same beat...

Very much like the way that DJs mix today.

# Turn around, you fool

# You know you love him More and more Tell me why is it so... #

When I finished Never Can Say Goodbye, I went over to the office and there was Gloria

and she said, "Can I hear it?" I said, "Sure." So I played it...

and it was like 90 minutes long.

Everybody just looked at me and I said, "What do you think?"

# Hey! #

And she said, "I don't sing much."

I was probably too wrapped up in my ego, thinking,

"If you wanted an instrumental, why didn't you record a musician?" There was SO much music!

I said...

"You'll have to learn a few steps."

But when I thought like a dancer, I thought it was great.

DJs loved it. They'd never heard anything like it.

You could go for a pee! I was on for two hours at a time. That's a lot of records to get in.

But this was great! You could go and have sex!

Nice image, Pete(!)

# Whoo-hoo-hooo-hey! I never can say goodbye, boy! #

While Pete's knees were trembling,

Gloria was crowned Queen Of Disco.

But in Germany, there was a woman who had ways of making you dance!

Producer Giorgio Moroder

was the man behind the new sexy sound of Donna Summer's first hit.

There was a lot of people in the studio,

her husband, the technicians... and she just didn't feel

like she would have a good performance. So, basically...

I threw everybody out, dimmed the lights so she couldn't see me and I could barely see her...

# I...love to love you, baby

# I...love to love you, baby

# I...love to love you, baby

# I... #

# Love to love you, baby... #

I remember the song, I don't remember the panting.

PANTING ON RECORD Oh, yeah! It got very raunchy!

Yeah!

# Do it to me again and again

# You put me in such an awful spin In a spin... #

Love To Love You, Baby...

was a song that shaped part of my sexuality.

# I...love to love you, baby

MOANING # Oh...love to love you, baby

# Lay your head down Real close to me

# Soothe my mind And set me free, set me free. #

She starts groaning, getting into the tune.

# Oh, love to love you, baby. #

"What am I feeling? Dunno what is it, but I like it."

Filthy!

MOANING

# Love to love you, baby

# When you're laying so close to me

# There's no place I'd rather You'd be than with me. #

I thought, "What's the matter with her?!"

"She should see a doctor.

"Mum, why is she moaning so much?"

When you get that sort of innuendo so full in your face, you can't enjoy it.

It's like, "Donna! I'm coping with what you're doing. Just stand back!"

It's a song that you can have in private moments with your diary...

or your vibrator, depending on what kind of girl you are! Sorry!

There's a barrier that says, "Don't go there." And they went there!

I don't think I would have had the nerve to sing those songs

because, at some point, I'd have to sing them in public.

Donna's next hit also had a knob-twiddling element as Giorgio went back

to his electronic roots.

ELECTRONIC INTRO

Before Donna's success, I had several hits in the UK,

one was Son Of My Father with Chickory Tip.

# Son of my father

# Moulded, I was folded I was pre-form packed

# Son of my father! #

The electronic sound on Son Of My Father was the beginning

of a great friendship between synthesizers and me.

INTRO TO "I Feel Love"

It started with a baseline. # Dun-dun-dun-dun... #

THEY INTERPRET THE INTRO

It's absolutely monotic!

The only thing left human, kind of, is the voice.

It's in your brain the minute you hear it.

And then... # Ah...I feel love, I feel love I feel love, I feel love... #

Every kid used to run to the dance floor!

# I feel love

# I feel love. #

It was one of the most important records ever made. Other people had been electronic experimenters,

but the first record to use synthesizers in that way was Moroder.

He was like the German version of KC.

So there were two groundswells of new music.

KC's and Giorgio's had more soul to it, whereas Donna Summer's was very electronic.

# Fallin' free, fallin' free Fallin' free, fallin' free

# Oooooooh!

# You and me, you and me You and me, you and me You and me... #

We created a new style,

we created a new genre.

# Ooooooh...

# I feel love, I feel love I feel love, I feel love

# I feel love. #

Suddenly, disco was born.

# I feel love, I feel love. #

Donna Summer was marketed as the First Lady Of Lust in the '70s. It was very overt.

They were very conscious of the erotic aspect

of disco and of dance music,

and used that to sell records.

Disco and sex went hand in hand.

A big hit was More, More, More by Andrea True Connection.

Andrea was a porn actress!

I want more! More!

# More, more, more! How do you like it? How do you like it? #

-More, more, more!

-A porno star?

Wow! I didn't know that!

How do you like it?

# Ooooooh!

# How do you like your love? #

It never once dawned on me

what she was.

When I heard, "More, more, more",

I thought she was talking about the music!

# But if you want to know How I really feel

# Just get the cameras rolling Get the action going. #

The soft falsetto just seemed right.

It had that, "I'm next to your ear.

"Maybe I'm next to your ear on your pillow."

And I said, uh... "Andrea, I'm just really troubled by one of those verses."

She said, "What's that?" I said, "If you wanna know how I really feel..."

# Just get the cameras rolling Get the action going... #

I said, "What does THAT mean?"

And she said, "Don't you know what I do?" I said, "Sing, I thought."

She said, "No. I suck and fuck in the movies."

# How do you like it? How do you like it? #

That's true! I didn't know what to say!

Am I red? Because I was so red when she said that. I almost died!

# How do you like your love? #

# Oh, I love to love But, um, my baby Just loves to dance. #

No such shenanigans here, though!

The first lady of home-grown disco, Tina Charles, was more Laura Ashley than Linda Lovelace.

Maybe Donna had gone in too ham-fisted with her sex on legs,

and then we've got Tina Charles just swaying in a bit of gingham.

More respectable. So, well done, Tina.

The song was produced by Britain's answer to Giorgio Moroder, Biddu,

who bought it off a travelling song salesman!

He said, "I've got a tape of some music. Can I play it to you?"

He played me about six songs and they weren't very good. He said, "I've got one more, but you may not like it."

It was I Love To Love,

about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. "I love to love, but my baby loves to dance."

Because I'd been a session singer for so long, I suppose I thought, "This is another song

"that'll die without trace." How I was proved wrong!

Oh, Tina of little faith! I Love To Love shot straight to the top of the charts.

That was one of the songs that we sung all the time.

That bit, # But, um, my baby... # We used to say "button."

# Oh, I love to love

# But, um, My baby just loves to dance... #

They put me on a gantry and I hate heights.

I was petrified. I'd like to have mimed that day.

Top Of The Pops - a heady experience for a new band.

Hot on Tina's heels were Liverpool group, The Real Thing.

Their first Number One, You To Me Are Everything, The Real Thing!

'Bless The Real Thing!'

Did like The Real Thing.

"You to me are everything The sweetest song that I can sing

Oh, baby...

# Oh, baby, oh, baby

# To you, I guess I'm just a clown Who picks you up Each time you're down, oh, baby

# Oh, baby You give me just a taste of love... #

The Real Thing also have fond memories of the slick professionalism of Top Of The Pops.

Top Of The Pops was the chapel, you know.

You knew if you made that programme,

99.9% of what you've been trying to achieve was gonna be...

was going to be there for you to grab it.

The thing that I remember about performing the song

was that, in them days, you did it with the Top Of The Pops orchestra.

Great musicians, but prone to drinking in their break!

By the time you actually came to do the final shoot, it was really frenetic.

# You to me are everything The sweetest song that I can sing Oh, baby... #

They were playing different things.

Things were going wrong in the middle of the song. Strings coming in at the wrong place!

# The day you give your love to me Won't be a day too late

# Oh, you to me are everything

# The sweetest song that I can sing

# Oh, baby! #

I phoned up our manager. I was absolutely disgusted with the performance.

He said, "Don't worry. It was a selling performance."

He was right. It went to Number One.

They represented for the UK. Cos they had all the hallmarks

of smooth American soul singers.

I mean, you know, respect to The Real Thing.

# Boogie nights! #

KC, Gloria and Donna had taken disco from the underground to the mainstream.

But disco was about to go global.

Still to come - funky footwork, elemental magic from Earth, Wind and Fire, Village People

and Chic, the grooviest group on earth.

Disco was about to take over the world, thanks to a small budget movie, with some catchy tunes...

from '60s has-beens, the Bee Gees.

# I think I'm going back to Massachusetts

# Something's telling me I must go home... #

Who would have thought it? It's these ne'er-do-wells, I think they'd agree, who'd had a few hits in the mid '60s,

but couldn't get arrested by the time of Saturday Night Fever.

Then they relocate to America, hook up with producer Arif Mardin, who, in an inspired move, said,

"Why don't you sing in falsetto?"

# I'm a woman's man, no time to talk

# Music loud and women warm Been kicked around since I was born

# But it's all right, that's OK You can look the other way

# And we can try to understand... #

The Bee Gees said, "Are you mad?!" And he said, "No. Try it."

83 million records later, presumably they go, "Cheers, Arif."

# Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

# Stayin' alive, stayin' alive Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

# Stayin' alive! #

When they told me the Bee Gees were doing the soundtrack,

I was going, "I want Aretha Franklin! James Brown!"

Then I heard the soundtrack. Marvellous.

# You know, it's all right, It's OK... #

From Manchester to Massachusetts, the world agreed.

Saturday Night Fever became the best-selling soundtrack of all time.

# Stayin' alive! #

I still listen to that music.

You can't knock it.

For better or worse, it IS the linchpin of the Bee Gees' career.

Saturday Night Fever still comes on,

and the hardest gangsta sits down and sings Bee Gees records.

The film resurrected the career of the Brothers Gibb

and launched that of a young man named Travolta.

Disco was Saturday Night Fever,

and Saturday Night Fever was disco.

It was the first time that a man

had openly groomed himself.

And the walk, of course, the walk.

OK. Ready?

Little bounce to your walk.

Every young man wanted to be in Travolta's shoes. Only ONE was.

I heard about the casting of the stand-in through a friend.

She said, "They're looking for a Travolta stand-in. You should submit yourself for that."

As it happened, I was the right height, hair colour, weight, so I got the job.

Two or three?

Gimme two.

The opening shot, where you see the feet, and the shoes are almost kicking the lens,

those are my feet. The shot of him swinging the paint can,

that's me! When you see him holding his boot up to compare it to the ones in the window, those are my feet!

And then it pans up... and you see him, full figure, and, of course, that's HIM!

I've heard that John has looked at this

and said, "He didn't get it right."

I'm not John Travolta. Never claimed to be!

I love John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

# You should be dancing, yeah!

# Dancing! Yeah! #

You just watch him, and as he moves his hips...

he's saying, "Are you looking at my hips now? I KNOW you are!"

Travolta's dancing was the key to the movie's success,

but it was up to disco dancer Deney Terrio to teach him the moves.

I said, "Can I see how you dance?" He goes, "I already know how to dance."

I said, "Sit down." I went over to the radio and turned it on.

I was doing all the splits...

..and the knee drops... and the points and all that stuff.

Travolta was terrified by this.

He said, "I'll never be able to do that.

"How can I leap in the air

"and touch my toes? How can I do those Russian squats?"

-He was going to quit.

-We went five months in training, pre-production.

I took him to nightclubs. I said, "You'll see girls standing around, and when you dance,

"up to par... they'll come and ask you to dance."

By the end of the five months, the girls were lining up!

Are you as good in bed?

He was sex on legs in that film. He was the mover to end them all.

Could have been a brother!

What he did, he did well.

But in the black community,

there were kids dancing ten times better.

Any one of them could have taught John Travolta how to dance.

All that.. Do that in Doncaster with your jacket, it's gone!

But the trademark suit wasn't always going to be white.

John originally wanted to wear black suits.

I said, "That'll make Karen Lynn Gorney very happy."

She was the leading lady. He said, "Why is that?" I said, "Well, because you won't be able to see you,

"and she's wearing a red dress, so all you'll see is Karen." He glowered and went out.

He came back with two white suits.

Before you knew it, Britain was getting out the medallions and man-made fibres.

# Burn, baby, burn!

# Burn, baby, burn! #

One movie can dictate clothing trends, music trends...

dance trends, how you talk, how you wear your hair, jewellery...

That's an incredible thing for a small movie.

# I heard somebody say Burn, baby, burn, disco inferno

# Burn, baby, burn! #

What Saturday Night Fever did for disco was precisely

what Elvis did for rock'n'roll. Black musicians

were making rock'n'roll for years, and then you put a white face on it and it's the hottest thing.

The same thing happened with disco.

When Saturday night fever took off, I was doing 1,800 people a night,

then suddenly I was doing 3,000. That's what it did.

As disco fever spread like a rash,

every dance hall in the land reinvented itself for the new disco generation.

The nightclubs had always been there. But overnight they became

Spangles Disco or something like that!

Fantastic amounts of violence, I recall.

I went to this place called Rotters in Doncaster.

It was really just a place to go and vomit.

# I said, shame, shame, shame, shame Shame, shame, shame, shame on you! #

It was the first time you had trouble getting into a club, not cos of how old or drunk you were,

but by what you were wearing.

Standing in the queue - black shoes white socks, 'tash, one of me dad's jackets on. I looked...19.

This big oaf of a doorman would say, "You're not coming in."

# Shame, shame, shame

# Shame on you! #

I'd go out at half eight and be back by quarter past nine!

I didn't get in!

That went on for years, and then one day the guy just went, "Go on in."

# Ain't no stopping us now We're on the move. #

You'd walk in and there would be some amazing lights going on.

I'm a big fan of strobe lighting. Talk about being a sucker! I'd just move my arms...

No attempt to dance.

"We're strobing! Look!"

# Don't you let nothing, nothing

# Stand in your way... #

If you heard your song, three of you could get up

and go into the whole dance routine and people would go, "They're really cool. They've a real dance routine."

The girls would start dancing about 8 o'clock, the boys would stand around,

looking for a weak one!

We would try and dance, but unless you could dance like John Travolta, it was...

very difficult to pull it off.

But there WERE people who could dance like John Travolta. They even had their own TV shows!

Welcome to Romeo and Juliet's here in Doncaster for the EMI Yorkshire television final...

They became addictive viewing. Everything was so fast.

They had to outdo each other - how many somersaults could you do?

Their face never moved from staring at the camera, but their body would spin 360 degrees!

Like that! And they'd have spun round four times!

I remember a guy called Grant Santino -

he just used to stand there and shake.

He was the World Disco Dancing Champion for wiggling his legs really quickly.

I was living, eating, breathing disco.

I was lucky enough to win my area heat at Watford.

And I went through to the big final in London. It was broadcast on the Bruce Forsyth Show every week.

It's time for the final of the UK Disco Championships.

These are the three finalists, and tonight we declare the winner. They are...

Grant Santino...

Maria Eldridge...and Tony Evans.

Who's won? Well, that's the difficult decision facing the judges, who are Arlene Phillips...

Grant Santino was phenomenal.

Not only could he dance,

but he could throw in all kinds of gymnastics.

In the middle of doing a dance step, he'd suddenly throw in a back-flip, then, cool as can be, go on moving.

If you're in a disco, you just go like that.

No way are you gonna win a disco dancing competition.

I should have given it a go.

"Sorry! You've not won." Who's won? The guy flik-flakking across the stage!

They say, "And in first place..." It doesn't sink in. It's something I'll never forget.

The winner is...Grant Santino!

I remember I was doing a gig in Peterborough...

and they had a huge poster up which said, "Move over Travolta, Santino has arrived!"

I thought that was amusing.

# Are you ready? Are you ready for this? #

The place where any self-respecting disco dancing champion wanted to go was New York's Studio 54.

I went to Studio 54 once. I had the most incredible, fabulous time.

It was thrilling. Absolutely thrilling.

I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

It was the first time I'd seen

men kissing each other, seen joints smoked and seen coke taken.

Studio was where the beautiful people came. If you were lucky, you might spill Liza Minnelli's drink!

You could see, in any given night, people like

Travolta...

Al Pacino...Andy Warhol... Bianca Jagger...

Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, Cher, Diana Ross, you name it.

It's difficult to know what it is

that attracts people here.

All that one can be sure of is that it ISN'T the conversation!

Hmmm! Strangely, conversation WAS the last thing on people's minds!

-We were drinking, doing drugs, making love...

-And there was no limits.

If you wanted to take your clothes off, OK!

If you wanted to go upstairs and have sex, OK!

I went up there by accident, and it was literally an orgy scene.

Downstairs, people were taking drugs.

It was unbelievable.

Sex in the toilets... Actually, not in the toilets, on the dance floor. Coke sniffing everywhere.

Then, coke wasn't addictive(!)

Everyone swore that it wasn't addictive, so you could take as much of it as possible. And we did.

So, I get back that evening

and scribble home to my mother, "This is what I've done!" My mother phones, "Get back home!"

In one respect, Studio was just like Cinderella's back home, if your name wasn't down, you weren't coming in.

You're not shaved.

But... Listen, just go home.

They would do anything to get in. They'd offer us money,

drugs... girls would offer sexual favours.

"We'll do anything." "What do you mean by anything?" They'd then give you an interpretation of "anything"!

Even disco's rising stars couldn't be sure of getting in to Studio.

Our names weren't on the list.

So we went back to my place and had a couple of bottles of champagne,

and next thing, we start playing this riff...

INTERPRETS RIFF

And we just go, "Fuck off!"

RESUMES RIFF Fuck off!

-# Freak out!

-Le freak, c'est chic!

-Freak out! #

My partner goes, "You know this shit is happening?"

# Have you heard About the new dance craze? #

Re-christened Freak Out, it became one of many anthems from the Beatles of disco, the mighty Chic.

# Big fun to be had by everyone It's up to you, surely it can be done

# Young and old are doing it I'm told

# Just one try... #

People who don't play instruments often sneer at disco music.

I've been trying to teach myself the riffs to most of the Chic records

for the best part of 20 years now. They're phenomenally complicated.

These guys are two of the hottest musicians imaginable,

but they carry their learning really lightly.

Chic just wanted to get on with the idea of, you know, getting down, yowza, in the groove!

# Yowza! Yowza! Yowza! I wanna boogie with you

# Bab-bab-bab-bab-ba! #

Forget the others, they're all pretenders to the Chic throne.

Chic were not just a disco band, they were the funkiest disco band.

# Rumba...and tango Latin hustle too...

# Yowza! Yowza! Yowza! I wanna boogie with you. #

He's a genius, Nile Rodgers. He created a whole new sound.

# Dance

# Dance, dance, dance... #

We used disco as a tool to peddle our brand of R&B, jazz, dance music.

You put Chic records on today, and they're still timeless.

The nucleus of Chic were Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers.

Everybody Dance is the first record that I ever wrote for Chic. I wrote that without Bernard, to an extent.

He walked in and said, "That sounds great. How does the hook go?" I said, "Check this out."

# Everybody dance, doo-doo-doo-do Clap your hands, clap your hands. #

Bernard looked at me and went, "Doo-doo-doo-do? What does that mean?"

I went, "Just doo-doo-doo-do." "Doo-doo-doo-do?!"

# Doo-doo-doo-do Clap your hands, clap your hands

# Everybody dance, doo-doo-doo-do

# Clap your hands, clap your hands

# Spinning all around the floor... #

They didn't conform to what white rock critics and audiences wanted from a black act.

They basically want black musicians to say how downtrodden they are.

Chic were the opposite. Chic were fabulously aspirational.

"We're gonna drink martinis and go to Studio 54 and dress like James Bond and drive BMWs."

# Everybody dance, doo-doo-doo-do Clap your hands, clap your hands. #

They were dressed cool...

You look back now and say, "No. They weren't." But they were at the time.

They were laid-back. They weren't shouting about it.

# Doo-doo-doo-do

# Clap your hands, clap your hands

# Everybody dance Doo-doo-doo-do... #

Chic weren't just hitmakers in their own right. They also became

the most in demand record producers in the world. Record labels wanted the Chic sound for their big acts.

Instead of somebody at the top, we asked for somebody at the bottom so we could show them what we could do.

The president started talking about this group

and he was basically writing the song,

cos he was saying, "This group of girls are like family. If one's happy, all four are happy."

We're taking notes, and there's the essence of We Are Family. It's right there.

# We are family

# I got all my sisters with me

# We are family

# Get up, everybody, and sing! #

They felt so confident that it would be a hit.

They said, "Don't worry."

Sister Sledge, We Are Family.

Brilliant record. Absolutely brilliant.

# Get up, everybody, and sing!

# Everyone can see we're together

# As we walk on by

# And...

# And we fly Just like birds of a feather... #

My first female crush was Kathy Sledge, the one with the braces.

Metal mouth! That's what we were.

Years later, I met her and I said to her,

"You were my first female crush. With your braces IN, not out."

# We are family... #

I put the microphone here to block the braces.

-One of them wore braces.

-And it was OK.

-It was OK.

We got letters from people saying,

"I'm not ashamed of my braces cos you're out there all over television with them."

# I got all my sisters with me. #

The female Jackson Five.

# We are family

# Get up, everybody, and sing. #

Hot band.

# I wonder why He's the greatest dancer... #

# That I've ever seen

# I wonder why He's the greatest dancer

# I wonder why

# One night in a disco On the outskirts of 'Frisco... #

We created their world. The stuff that they sing about was our vision of what Sister Sledge was like.

We wanted them to reflect disco. To talk about designers, you know, Halston, Gucci...

# Fiorucci

# He looks like a still That man is dressed to kill! #

When we first met Sister Sledge, they were the most innocent, religious...

I mean, NICE girls. I don't mean anything bad, but we didn't KNOW nice girls!

The first song we gave to them was He's The Greatest Dancer.

-The lyric went, "My creme de la creme, please take me home."

-# ..Please take me home. #

They had a big problem with that. "Nile, we don't want to say that we can go to a club and meet a man

"and he would take us home."

That was the impression, the one-night-stand type of thing.

Kinda depicted that whole Studio 54. We were coming out of church!

To this day, when they sing it live, they say, "My creme de la creme, please don't go home."

One group who'd have no problem singing, well, pretty much anything,

were the mad emperors of disco, Earth, Wind & Fire.

# Let's groove tonight Share the spice of life. #

Every song they wrote was a masterpiece.

The characteristics of the Earth, Wind & Fire sound is the horns

and harmonies.

# Let this groove get you to move! It's all right! All right! #

They were fantastic vocalists, fantastic musicians,

they were fantastic writers.

The only thing they couldn't do well was dance!

Earth, Wind & Fire was probably the reason I started collecting records.

I fell in love with this group of unlikely blokes.

Maurice White has got the strangest haircut.

It looks like he's left a pair of giant headphones on.

# If you want my love We can boogie on down...

# Down! #

He dressed like Tutankhamen would dress

if he had Alcan foil to hand!

Big shoulder pads. Shoulder pads with wings, man!

And, like, rocket launchers at the back.

And big platforms...

They were just a joy. It was like, "Wow. This is brilliant. You're all dressed up like nutters!"

Had the music been bad, it would've been sad. But the music was great.

# All right! All right! #

Earth, Wind & Fire ruled the earth as mighty titans in the late '70s,

and wrote some tremendous songs, including Boogie Wonderland.

# Dance!

# Boogie wonderland

# Huh!

# Huh!

# Dance!

# Boogie wonderland!

# Midnight creeps so slowly Into hearts of men

# Who need more than they get... #

Big Earth, Wind & Fire fan.

They were great live.

Massive laser show. EARTH!

WIND! AND FIRE! And all these Egyptian symbols appeared.

I loved their whole pseudo-mystical, scorpio, signs of the horoscope thing.

Before we'd go on stage, we would have a circle

and we'd hold hands and meditate for about five minutes.

# Dance!

# Boogie wonderland! #

A spaceship landed on stage and they came out in outrageous outfits.

# I find romance When I start to dance

# In boogie wonderland! I find romance When I start to dance... #

-Lots of fireworks, lights...

-Magic.

I think the bass player disappeared at one point!

Levitating off the stage floor... and we had disappearing pyramids.

# All the records are playing And my heart keeps saying

# Boogie wonderland! #

I thought I was a magician!

But Earth, Wind & Fire were underdressed compared to the act who turned disco into panto.

The writing was on the wall, and it spelt YMCA.

# Young man! There's no need to feel down

# I said, young man!

# Pick yourself off the ground I said, young man!

# Cos you're in a new town There's no need...to... Be...unhappy! #

-There was a construction worker...

-There was...

-A red Indian.

Policeman.

Cowboy.

An astronaut?

Homosexual and another homosexual.

-Fantastic.

-SO loved them!

# It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A!

# It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A!

# They have everything For young men to enjoy

# You can hang out with all the boys It's fun to stay... #

It's all began when two French producers, Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo spotted a red Indian

-walking the streets of New York.

-The guy went into a bar.

We followed him, and we discovered he was a bartender who was serving up drinks

and every 15 minutes, he was dancing on the bar.

# But you've got to know This one thing... #

Suddenly...

Jacques and I got struck by the idea why we don't try to put together a group of male American stereotypes.

# I'm sure they can Help you today!

# It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A! #

I find it extraordinary when YMCA became Number One worldwide,

nobody twigged that they were a bunch of gay stereotypes.

# It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A! #

Millions of people had no idea these were men in gay outfits,

being very openly gay.

# You can do whatever you feel!

# Young man! I was once in your shoes

# I was Down and out with the blues. #

How could a native American guy...? How could a builder...? How could a traffic cop be camp?

If you go to any hard-core sex shop,

they sell police uniforms, especially highway patrol, cos they wear tight pants.

Oh, I see. I didn't know. But I love them!

# They can start you back On your way!

# It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A! #

The YMCA membership

grew 300% after that song came out.

And yet that song had one meaning and one meaning alone, but everybody took it another way.

It's fun to stay where you can get a good meal and work out. Right(!)

The theme of the song - hilarious!

That cheap sex is available at the Young Men's Christian Association

is a tremendous message for America.

# In the Navy You can sail the seven seas

# In the Navy Yes, you can put your mind at ease. #

Then they go and do In The Navy,

borrow an American submarine, and still nobody twigs

until the record's out and the video's been made!

# Come on and join your fellow man In the Navy! In the Navy! #

The American Navy, perhaps naively, thought that The Village People would be perfect

for their recruitment drive, and were happy to lend them a ship.

-They brought out a book with all the ships...

-They painted it!

Jacques and Henri picked the ship which they thought most kids would identify with, a bathtub battleship.

But then the Navy... well, got to the bottom of it.

The newspaper called New York Post had front page,

"The Navy is using tax dollars money to contribute to the video clip of the group with ambiguity."

So the Navy immediately stopped the campaign

and they said officially it was for budget reasons.

But when they stopped the campaign, all the papers wrote about it, so it was good publicity.

Discharged, and back on dry land, The Village People headed for Hollywood.

It was to prove a low point for disco...and the movies!

I quit my job and you got me working the beat again!

-I told you I had a surprise for you.

-I hope so!

-Hey, don't forget, I quit MY job, too!

-I got faith in you.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I got a place to rehearse.

And it's free!

# You can't stop the music

# Nobody can stop the music Tell the sun, don't shine

# Cos that's easier to do.

# You can't stop the music... #

Mercifully, someone DID stop the music.

The movie Can't Stop The Music was shot in 1979. In the middle of 1980,

we knew that definitely the movie was a flop.

And disco was starting to fade away.

When kids see things happening that obviously aren't hip, they move on to something else fast.

This is now officially the world's largest

anti-disco rally!

By 1979, the inevitable disco backlash had arrived.

Rock fans converged on a baseball stadium in Chicago and, under the banner of "Disco Sucks"

blew up effigies and burned records.

Yes!

Holy cow!

That felt real good!

The thing that was really heartbreaking to me

is that I looked upon disco music as some of the most politically-powerful music

that had ever happened to American culture. Because, even though,

in the '60s we could talk about women's liberation and the gay movement...

in the '70s, it played itself out in pop culture.

To me, it looks like a Nazi book burning. You could say that's being too serious,

but I think there was homophobia, racism and sexism in the Disc Sucks movement.

# At first I was afraid I was petrified... #

I think the people who started

Disco Sucks and all that craziness were people who were making their money in other genres of music

and wanted disco to die. But it hasn't died.

# I just walked in to find you here With that sad look upon your face. #

Disco never really went away. I think only the name went.

You will always have dance music.

# Go on, now, go Walk out the door... #

Disco just transformed into different areas. Every musical cycle has to end.

Disco now is house, it's garage, it's jungle, techno.

# You think I'd lay down and die? Oh, no, not I! I will survive! #

I say disco has not died. It simply changed its name to protect the innocent.

# I've got all my life to live And I've got all my love to give And I'll survive! I will survive!

# Hey! Hey! #

Next week, When Rock Ruled The World.

# Since you been gone! #

Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

Learn him how to give blow jobs at school.

I thought that was a good idea!

-So rock'n'roll!

-Try that if you're man enough.

-Kill him!

-Turn that shit down.

Subtitles by Janice Hamilton BBC Scotland, 2002

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