The Rough Guide to Bollywood Disco
DISCO FOR CHILDREN
The "Mousercise" children's album was released in 1982 by Disney. These tracks are disco:
Disco songs featured on the American television show "American Bandstand"
in 1982 included: "Steppin' Out" by Kool and the Gang (February 6
program), "She's a Bad Mama Jama" by Carl Carlton (February 13 program),
"Circles" by Atlantic Starr (May 8 program), and "Forget Me Nots" by
Patrice Rushen (May 29 program).
Disco songs featured on the American television show "Soul Train" in 1982
included: "It's a Love Thing" by the Whispers (March 20 program) and
"Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen (May 29 program).
"Hold Me
Tighter in the Rain" by Billy Griffin is an electro-soul song
which reached #17 Pop in the U.K. in February 1983.
One of the year's best soul songs was "Looking Up to
You" by Michael Wycoff.
The classic "A
Night to Remember" by Shalamar was also released. All three songs are
backed by strings, but the tempo is a little slower than most disco songs.
Songs like these are called "downtempo disco" by some people.
"Give It Up"
by K.C. and the Sunshine Band is an electro-disco-flavored pop song with a 2-3-2-3 beat pattern and it reached #18 Pop in the
USA in March 1984 and #1 Pop in the U.K. in August 1983.
"The Look of Love" by ABC is a hit dance song (#18 Pop in the USA in
January 1983) that is heavily electronic but does incorporate
prominent violins and some horn moments, giving it a disco feel. The other
dance-pop songs on ABC's Lexicon of Love album are notable for
their frequent injections of trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar, and piano
- for instance, the heavy bass in "Date Stamp".
David Christie's "Saddle Up" (#9 Pop in the U.K. in 1982) has real horns
but otherwise
electronic instrumentation, including (apparently) fake bass and keyboard
backings, bringing it into the broad category of electro-dance.
Electro-dance had become the dominant style of popular dance music by 1982.
Michael Jackson's "Baby Be Mine", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'",
"Thriller" (reached #1 Pop in the USA in March 1984),
"Billie Jean" (#1 Pop in both the U.K. and USA in March 1983),
and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" are dance tracks that are heavy on
synths - i.e. synth-pop. Here are
some other non-disco dance songs from 1982: "Love Is In Control (Finger On
The Trigger)" by Donna Summer (electro-dance), "It's Right" by Michelle
Wallace, "You Can't Hurry Love" by Phil Collins, "It's Raining Men" by
the Weather Girls (electro-dance), the extraordinary "Love Come Down" by
Evelyn "Champagne" King (#17
Pop in the USA in November 1982, #1 R&B in the USA for 5 weeks), "Music
and Lights" by Imagination, "You are a Danger" by Gary Low,
"Why" by Carly Simon, "Dancing Tight" by Phil Fearon and Galaxy, "Knock Me
Out" by Gary's Gang, "Don't Let Go of Me" by Mike and Brenda Sutton,
"Die Hard Lover" by Loverde (Hi-NRG),
"She's Got to be
(a Dancer)" by Jerry Knight,
"Rock Shock" by B.B.C.S. & A.,
"Voodoo Man" by Roni Griffith,
"Tease Me" and "Stop! In the
Name of Love" by Gloria Gaynor, "Hold On" by Kreamcicle, and "I Surrender"
by Voyage,
"Mama Used to Say" by Junior (electro-R&B),
"Over Like a Fat Rat" by Fonda Rae (garage),
"Rock Your Baby" by Disco Connection (1982 remix of George McCrae's 1974 original),
"Keep in Touch (Body to Body)" by Shades of Love (garage),
"You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it Too" by Brenda Taylor,
"Too Hot" by Pure Energy, "Dance Fever" by Gwen Guthrie,
"All Night Long (She's Got the Moves I Like)" by the B.B. and Q. Band (The
Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens Band) (electro-dance),
"Take Me Up" by Matrix (electro-dance),
"Disco Tango" by Salomon (electro-dance),
"Disco Chopper" by Ten (electro-dance),
"Space-Disco" by Cosmic Hoffmann (electro-dance),
"Best Love" by Rose Royce (electro-dance-soul),
"Inside Out" by Odyssey, "Passion" by the Flirts,
"I'm Specialized in Love" by Sharon Brown (electro-dance),
"Love Reaction" and "Shoot Your Shot" by Divine (Hi-NRG),
"Music Turns Me On" by Sparque, "Walk On By" and "Keep
On" by D-Train (a pioneer of electro-funk),
"Do It" by Herley Johnson Jr. (electro-funk),
"Detour" by Karen Young (electro-funk),
"Standing on the Top" by the Temptations featuring Rick James (electro-funk),
"Free and Easy" by Plush (an electro-funk cover of the 1980 Rene and
Angela disco song),
"Reach Up" by Toney Lee, "Moment of My Life" by
Inner Life, "Donnez Moi (Give It to Me)" by Dusty Springfield,
and "Holiday" and "Everybody" and "Borderline"
by Madonna.
"Hooked on Swing" by Larry Elgart and His Manhattan Swing Orchestra,
a #31 Pop (USA) June 1982 release, is a jazz number.
This was also the year for the hit "Do I Do" by Stevie Wonder (#13 Pop in
the USA in July 1982, #2 R&B in the USA for 4 weeks, #1 Dance in the USA
in 1982, #10 Pop in the U.K. in June 1982), which is
very jazzy dance music.
"Baby Don't You Know" by Bobbi Humphrey is another
1982 jazzy dance song and it includes flute playing, violins, and both a
real bass guitar and an electronic bassline.
The Clash merged funk-dance and rock in their hit "Rock the Casbah".
"Dance Like Fred Astaire" by Delegation
and "Call Me Up" by Blue Feather
are funk-dance.
"Disco Gate (Keep on Dancing)" by Mandingo Griot Society is African-styled
dance.
Forrest Thomas recorded a electronic remake of the classic disco song
"Rock the Boat" and it reached #4 Pop in the U.K. in March 1983.
El Coco came out with their last album in 1982, including the funk song
"Shake It Down".
The group Change released the cool electro-R&B-dance song "The
Very Best in You".
Aretha Franklin's amazing "Jump To It" is another electro-R&B-dance track
that's well known from 1982.
Caviar's "Never Stop Lovin' You" is disco-influenced R&B.
"Le misunderstanding" by Idris Cheba is disco-backed rap in French.
"Let's Disco Dance" by Peter Micioni is pop.
In 1982, the Indian film "Disco Dancer" was released. Bappi Lahiri
composed and Nandu Bhende produced the film's disco songs: "I am a Ɗisƈo
ƊanƈƐr", "Auva Auva Koi Yahan Nache", "Ae Oh Aa Zara Mudke", "Jimmy Jimmy
Jimmy Aaja", "Yaad Aa Raha Hai", and "Krishna Dharti Pe Aaja Too". "I am a Ɗisƈo
ƊanƈƐr" got played in discotheques in many different countries.
The 1982 soundtrack to the American film "Soup for One" included the disco
song "I Want Your Love" by Chic.
Jane Fonda's Workout Record from 1982 included the disco songs "Stomp"
by the Brothers Johnson and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Linda Clifford.
Billboard Magazine's "Disco Top 80" chart (the name it went by as late as
1981) was renamed "Dance/Disco Top 80" in 1982, and the word "Disco" was
dropped entirely in 1983.
Disco Music released before 1982:
Disco Music released after 1982:
