Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we’re spotlighting the year 1979, which was the height of disco! The week of July 21, 1979 was the peak of disco’s popularity, with the top 6 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart being disco tunes.
In the 70s, the hippie movement was fading away. The economic prosperity of the previous decade had declined and there were a lot of political issues like the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal that left a lot of people feeling disillusioned and hopeless. Disco provided an escape from these negative social and economic issues.
Discotheques were a French invention that was brought to the U.S. in 1960 with the opening of Le Club, a members-only restaurant and nightclub in Manhattan. By the late 70s, most major U.S. cities had booming disco club scenes, with 15,000-20,000 discos in the U.S. by 1979. Many dance styles were created during the disco era, like the bump, the hustle, the Watergate, and the busstop. No disco is complete without a disco ball! They were patented in 1917 and first used in nightclubs in the 1920s.
Disco’s popularity soared with the release of Saturday Night Fever in 1977. The movie and its soundtrack were huge hits, and many music historians think this success extended the disco era by several years. Around this time, artists like Rod Steward, Queen, and even Dolly Parton started incorporating disco elements into their music.
After the infamous Disco Demolition Night in July 1979, disco really started declining, which continued into the 1980s. However, it’s had several resurgences since the 90s. Learn more here.