This document discusses the characteristics and history of disco music from the 1970s. It describes disco as embracing escapism, romanticism, eroticism, and camp through exaggerated performances. Disco valued artifice over authenticity and was seen as inauthentic by critics. The document also examines the performer's persona and the tension between a performer's true self and their on-stage identity through the example of Donna Summer.

1. love to love you baby
disco and the mechanization of music
by alisonmccarthy

2. characteristics
 Escapism: Glitter, fantasy and celebration – had little to do
with everyday life.
 Romanticism:Flourishing instrumentation, harmonies,
effeminate and overacted vocals. Emphasized feminine
pleasure and desire vs. rock's phallocentrism.
 Eroticism: Yearning from the body vs. yearning from the
heart and soul.
 Camp: self-aware artificiality; ironic and absurd; deliberately
manufactured.
 Rooted in and extremely popular with black and gay culture,
who were already suspicious of authenticity.
 Performers and audiences often created identities through
the hyper-real.

3. (1974-1977)
two histories
(1977-1979)
 Influenced by positive ideals  Major labels now involved;
rooted in the 1960’s. Saturday Night Fever
 A coming together as a cathartic  Mass market appeal:accessible,
process. fun, upbeat
 Mixture of democracy and  Increasingly hedonistic; toned
exclusivity (intimate, in-the- down homosexuality
know).
 Grew out of various subcultures  Studio 54 and celebrity disco
(gay/black/working-class) (celebrating individual
fabulousness)
“Downtown”  “Uptown”
Disco’s own version of  The way we remember disco?

6. disco & authenticity
 Disco vs. Rock (1970s):
 Theatrical, universal, manufactured, tongue in cheek, urban,
aspirational, multicultural, gay and female sexuality, versus…
 Natural, spontaneous, personal, creative and earnest, rural,
white working class male values.
 Looked at as shallow, plastic, fake, and politically unsound.
 But disco deliberately avoided authenticity;
embracedartifice and the synthetic.
 “Anti-Disco” Movements
 Aesthetic Reaction: Disco reduced the dance beat to simple
basics, pandering to the lowest common denominator.
 Cultural Reaction: Often due to homophobia and racism, and
fear of sexuality and urbanity (Disco Demolition Derby)
 Does more feminized = more pop? Less legit?

7. love to love you baby
“Love to Love You Baby” (1975)
Performed, marketed and perceived
by the public as a sultry sex symbol.
The problem: Who she really was vs.
who she was perceived to be.
- This one sexualized side of her
was accepted as “the real” by her
audiences.
- She was literally acting this role.
“I do not sing; I act. When I sing, I
- Because she’s best known as a
sing with the voice of the
disco performer, she’s often been character in the song.”
considered “inauthentic.”

9. mechanization of music
 Music reflected the urban,
mechanized environment
around them.
 Subject matter was mundane
and repetitive.
 Vocals were ironic and
detached.
 On stage, turned knobs and
pressed buttons on machines in
front of them.
 Totally at odds with rock’s
music quest for authenticity of Kraftwerk: “Music made by
the 1970s. computers and performed by robots.”
What’s real and what’s
prerecorded? Does it matter?
 The human becomes
irrelevant.

10. the performer & persona
 Musicians must always think about how they
project themselves onto their audiences.
 Two main responses to this gap:
1) Glorify the degree to which you are faking it. Real or
fake is irrelevant; celebrate theatrics, take on a
persona, and perform a role. (Madonna, Divine,
Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Lady Gaga)
2) The performer minimizes the gap between
the person and persona.He/she must project an
authentic persona and live up to that persona. An
ongoing quest for authenticity, integrity and sincerity.
Performance is a window directly to the soul.
(John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young)
 Barker and Taylor believe this gap remains
constantly uncloseable.
 The human personality is too complex to be
projected in full.