Post-disco#Dance-rock

File:Moog Voyager, Yamaha CS-15D Dual Channel Synthesizer.jpg

Drum machines, synthesizers, sequencers were either partly or entirely dominant in a composition or mixed up with various acoustic instruments, depending on the artist and on the year. Electronic instruments became more and more prevalent for each year during the period and dominated the genre completely by the mid 1980s.

Darryl Payne argued about the minimal approach of post-disco, saying:

{{quote|Producers are using a lot more sounds and a lot less instruments: the "Forget Me Nots" and "Don't Make Me Wait" tracks are really empty, but there's a sophistication people can get into.}}

The main force in post-disco was mainly the 12" single format and short-lived collaborations (many of them one-hit wonders) while indie record producers were instrumental in the musical direction of what the scene was headed to. The music that mostly catered to dance and urban audiences later managed to influence more popular and mainstream acts like Madonna, New Order or Pet Shop Boys.

The music tended to be technology-centric, keyboard-laden, melodic, with funk-oriented bass lines (often performed on a Minimoog), synth riffs, dub music aesthetics, and background jazzy or blues-y piano layers.Kellman, Andy (review). [https://www.allmusic.com/album/anthology-1995-mw0000189609 Anthology (1995) - Aurra]. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2014-04-24.{{Cite book|title=The Death of Rhythm and Blues|last=Nelson|first=George|quote=Synthesizers of every description, drum machines, and plain old electric keyboards began making MFSB and other human rhythm sessions nonessential to the recording process. For producers, a control-oriented bunch, this was heaven. No more rehearsals. Low session fees. An artist who envisioned himself as a future Stevie Wonder—the first great one-man synthesizer band—could express his creativity in the basement or the bathroom.|isbn=1101160675|year=2003|publisher=Penguin}}{{cite web|url=http://thefourohfive.com/news/article/eumir-deodato-and-the-exploration-of-post-disco|title=Walsh, Fintan (June, 2012): Eumir Deodato and the exploration of Post-Disco|publisher=The 405 magazine (UK)|access-date=2012-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109010038/http://thefourohfive.com/news/article/eumir-deodato-and-the-exploration-of-post-disco|archive-date=2013-11-09|url-status=dead}} For strings and brass sections, synthesizer sounds were preferred to the lush orchestration heard on many disco tracks, although such arrangements would later resurface in some house music.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} Soulful female vocals, however, remained an essence of post-disco.

{{quote|Bridging the so-called death of disco and the birth of house, all this early-to-mid-'80s music lacks a name beyond drably functional and neutral terms like "dance" or "club music."|Simon Reynolds, SPIN magazineSimon Reynolds, Slate, p. May 29, 2009}}

The term "post-disco" was used as early as 1984 by Cadence magazine when defining post-disco soul as "disco without the loud bass-drum thump."{{cite journal|year=1984|journal=Cadence|volume=10|page=56}} New York Magazine used the word in an article appearing in the December 1985 issue; it was Gregory Hines's introduction of post-disco and electronic funk to Russian-American dance choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov "who has never heard this kind of music."{{cite journal|date=2 December 1985|journal=New York (New York Media, LLC)|volume=18|page=121|issn=0028-7369}} AllMusic states that the term denotes a music genre in the era between the indistinct "end" of disco music and the equally indistinct emergence of house music.

In other historical instances the term had been used in a derisive manner. Spy implicitly mocked the usage of both the terms "post-punk" and "post-disco" in their Spy's Rock Critic-o-Matic article, whereas spoofing various music reviews published by Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Spin.{{cite journal|publisher=Sussex Publishers, LLC|date=May 1992|journal=Spy|title= That's the Way (Uh-huh, Uh-huh) I Like It - introducing SPY'S ROCK-CRITIC-o-MATIC (by David Bourgeois)|quote= "In their first album since their eponymous effort of last year, Donald and the Vulgarians, without a doubt one of the best post-punk groups of the 1980s, return with their latest release, I Who Have Nothing and Other Songs for the Nineties. Filled with self-absorbed Trinidadian soca, the album screams post-punk/post-disco art-school pop with its use of guitar riff sawing".|page=33|issn=0890-1759}} Cuban-American writer Elías Miguel Muñoz in his 1989 novel Crazy Love, in a passage where musicians after moving to America discuss what their "style" may be, used the term in a satirical manner.{{quote

| text =

• Julian: "Now we're going American. What's the name they've given this new thing we're doing?
• Joe: "Post-punk-post-new-wave-post-disco ..."
• Roli: "post-country -post-rapping - post-post- post-Beatles."
• Lucho: "Post-Elvis-post-Simon-and-Garfunkel-post-Billy-Idol-post-British-Invasion-post-Cyndi-Lauper-post-Blues-post-Soul-post-Michael-Jackson-post-Hustle-post-Donna-Summer-post-Gloria-Gaynor-post-Prince-post-Madonna."

| title = "Crazy Love" (Elías Miguel Muñoz, 1989)

}}

File:Rich Carey, 1977.jpg

{{quote|Midwesterners didn't want that intimidating [disco] style shoved down their throats[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks Why 'Disco sucks!' sucked]. The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-02-21|Steve Dahl }}

Shortly after the "Disco Sucks" movement of disco bashing throughout the United States, American radio stations began to pay attention to other popular formats of music such as reggae, punk rock or new wave while top mainstream labels and record companies like Casablanca, TK Records or RSO went bankrupt. Since disco music had been on the way of [its] electronic progression, it split itself into subscenes and styles like Hi-NRG, freestyle, Italo disco and boogie.{{cite magazine|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|date=18 Jul 1980|magazine=Billboard|quote=Disco Business > An Art Unto Itself: Programming of Mobiles - Chicago|issue=92|issn=0006-2510}} The last one is closely associated with post-disco more than any other offshoots of post-disco.Serwer, Jesse (2009) [http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2009/05/dam-funk-galaxy-quest XLR8R]: Jesse Serwer in an interview with Dam-Funk. Retrieved on 2-2-2010.{{Cite book|last=Webber|first=Stephen|year=2007|title=DJ Skills: The Essential Guide to Mixing and Scratching|publisher=Focal Press, 2007|page=25|isbn=978-0-240-52069-8}}

Brazilian record producer and fusion jazz pioneer Eumir Deodato, well aware of current trends in American underground music, turned around the career of a failing funk music group Kool & the Gang by adopting and pursuing a light pop–post-disco sound that not only revitalized the band's image but also turned out to be the most successful hits in their entire career. B. B. & Q. Band (Capitol) and Change (Atlantic) acts' creator Jacques Fred Petrus, a French-Italian hi-NRG Italo disco music record producer, reflects on his decision to shift from conventional disco music to post-disco "[our] sound changed to more of a funky dance/R&B style to reflect the times." French-born songwriting duo Henri Belolo and Jacques Morali, creators of the successful Village People act, moved their former disco act Ritchie Family to RCA Victor to release their next album co-produced by funk musician Fonzi Thornton and Petrus, I'll Do My Best, which mirrors their radical musical shift. On the West Coast, especially in California, a different approach lead to a different sound. Dick Griffey and Leon Sylvers III of SOLAR Records, who pioneered their own signature sound, produced Ohio-based group Lakeside's album Rough Riders which already displayed these new trends and, "instrumentally demonstrates economic arrangements (featuring brass, keyboards and guitar)," as noted by Billboard, praising the album.{{cite magazine|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|date=Oct 13, 1979|magazine=Billboard|title=Billboard's Top Album Picks (1979). Billboard SPECIAL SURVEY For Week Ending 10/13/79|issue=91|issn=0006-2510}} A watershed album of post-disco was Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, produced by Quincy Jones, which helped establish a direction of R&B/dance music and influenced many young producers who were interested in this kind of new music.[http://www.danceclassics.net/80-s-producers.html The '80s Producers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413085734/http://www.danceclassics.net/80-s-producers.html |date=2016-04-13 }}. Danceclassics.net.

Other examples of early American artists drawing from post-disco are Rick James, Change and Teena Marie.

Disco in Europe remained relatively untouched by the events in the U.S., decreasing only in Britain, but this was mostly because of the emergence of the new wave and new romantic movements around 1981,{{Cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Nick|last2=Schedel|first2=Margaret|last3=Wilson|first3=Scott|year=2013|title= Electronic Music |publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=104|isbn=978-1107244542}} and continued to flourish within the Italo disco scene although the interest for electronic music in general was indeed growing.

Unlike in the United States, where anti-disco backlash generated prominent effect on general perception of disco music, in Britain, the new wave movement initially drew heavily from disco music (although this association would be airbrushed out by the end of 1979) and took many elements from American post-disco and other genres, thus creating a characteristic scene.{{cite magazine|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc|date=19 Jun 1982|magazine=Billboard|title=The Music Steps Beyond Disco: Where The Beat Meets The Street/Danceable Rock Generates First Bevy of Crossover Stars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT36|page=36|issue=94|issn=0006-2510}} According to Billboard, American post-disco was merely a crossover of different genres, while focusing on the electronic and R&B overtones, whereas jazz-funk was a crucial element of the British post-disco scene that generated musicians like Chaz Jankel, Central Line or Imagination.

This section summary shows 1980s commercially successful records from the post-disco movement.

Compare "Jungle Boogie" (1974) with "Celebration" (1980) by Kool & The Gang; "Boogie Wonderland" (1979) with "Let's Groove" (1981) by Earth, Wind & Fire; "Shame" (1978) with "Love Come Down" (1982) by Evelyn "Champagne" King; "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" (1976) with "Give It Up" (1982) by KC & the Sunshine Band; and "Machine Gun" (1974) with "Lady (You Bring Me Up)" by Commodores (1981).[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/commodores-mn0000766094 Commodores] allmusic.com Retrieved 20 January 2024

During the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, electronic and, especially, house musicians were influenced by post-disco. Some of these musicians are: Daft Punk, a French house music group, adopted elements of post-disco, disco and synth-pop into Discovery.(2001) CMJ New Music Monthly - Best New Music - Daft Punk (Discovery): "Although it's only fair to credit Chicago with the post-disco dance style's paternal rights, the French [Daft Punk] have (at the very least) earned covered weekend privilegies." Publisher: CMJ Network, Inc. No. 93. p. 71. ISSN 1074-6978 Another artist, Les Rythmes Digitales, released a post-disco/electro-influenced album, Darkdancer.Paoletta, Michael (1999). Billboard Magazine: Reviews & Previews: Spotlight (Les Rythmes Digitales - Darkdancer): "[about funky and British synth-pop] two musical styles steeped in the post-disco/electro scene of New York in the early '80s". p. 30. ISSN 0006-2510 Canadian music group Chromeo debuted in 2004 with the album She's in Control.{{cite journal|journal=CMJ New Music Monthly|last=Juzwiak|first=Rich|year=2004|title=Reviews >>> Chromeo - She's In Control|issue=120|volume=64|page=50|issn=1074-6978}} Similar Los Angeles-based musician Dâm-Funk recorded Toeachizown, a boogie- and electro-influenced album released in 2009.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/nov/26/dam-funk-toeachizown|title=Dam Funk - Toeachizown (review)|publisher=Guardian|access-date=2011-08-30|location=London|first=Alex|last=MacPherson|date=2009-11-26}}

Another band called Escort, who hails from New York City, surfaced on the post-disco and post-punk revival scenes around 2006. The story about Escort appeared on New York Times in November 2011.New York Times (November 2011) Jessica Reedy's Album, 'From the Heart' / Escort. "Escort has been hovering around New York City's postpunk and post-disco revival scenes for years, and always felt a bit out of place." Retrieved on 2012-16-01.

Sampling disco and post-disco songs became a distinctive feature of R&B music at the turn of the century. Artists such as Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson incorporated strong post-disco elements in their work, with post-disco-influenced songs such as Heartbreaker, Honey, Fantasy and All For You peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Contemporary compilation albums featuring post-disco and electro artists (e.g. Imagination, Level 42, Afrika Bambaataa) include The Perfect Beats series (volume 1–4).[{{Allmusic|class=album|id=r373921|pure_url=no}} The Perfect Beats, Vol. 1] by Allmusic. Retrieved on 1-28-2010 Another compilation series are Nighttime Lovers (volume 1-10) and the mixed-up album titled The Boogie Back: Post Disco Club Jams.

{{quote|"Thanks To You" and "Don't Make Me Wait" came out and started the whole dub thing in disco.Tech Noir - Disco > [http://www.tech-noir.com/disco/shep.html Shep Pettibone]: Shep Pettibone in an interview with Steven Harvey. Retrieved on 12 26 2009|Shep Pettibone }}

Particular psychedelic soul artists like Sly and the Family Stone liked to push the boundaries of conventional music by employing what was to be a precursor to synthesizer, electronic organ. Multi-instrumentalist Stevie Wonder was one of the early artists venturing into the realms of analog synthesizer after being impressed by the work of T.O.N.T.O. Expanding Head Band, an influential multinational electronic music duo of sound designers. Wonder remarked, "How great it is at a time when technology and the science of music is at its highest point of evolution ... A toast to greatness, a toast to Zero Time, forever." With an increasing growth of personalized synthesizers on the market they were becoming more commercially available and easy-to-use, especially those produced by Roland Corporation. One of their first users was cutting-edge artist George Clinton and his Parliament-Funkadelic collective project. Funk rhythms, psychedelic guitars, synthetic bass-rich lines, the particularly melodic endeavor and music minimalism of P-Funk. Brooklyn Transit Express member Kashif, noted for his use of bass synthesizer{{Cite web |url=http://www.nabfeme.org/?page_id=688 |title=Kashif | NABFEME |access-date=2014-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326031247/http://www.nabfeme.org/?page_id=688 |archive-date=2014-03-26 |url-status=dead}} during the group's tour, later went solo as a record producer and began crafting funk-influenced songs for Evelyn "Champagne" King that showed a minimalism-akin approach, the disregard of disco music arrangements, and affiliation to the method of "one-man band" previously paved through by Wonder. Other spheres of influence include the move by pioneering DJs and record producers to release alternative mixes of the same single, so-called dub mixes. DJ Larry Levan implemented elements of dub music in his productions and mixes for various post-disco artists, including his own group The Peech Boys. Musically, there was a search for out-of-mainstream music to derive new ideas from, most commonly blues, and other styles like reggae and so on, were also incorporated.

Sinnamon's "Thanks to You", D-Train's "You're the One for Me",{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/youre-the-one-for-me-mw0000617263 |title=D Train song |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=22 August 2020}} The Peech Boys' "Don't Make Me Wait"—all these songs and its attributes and trends of post-disco later influenced a new "never-before-heard" music style which would become house music.http://www.fantazia.org.uk/Scene/themusic85.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601105140/http://www.fantazia.org.uk/Scene/themusic85.htm |date=2010-06-01 }} fantazia.org.uk{{Cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|date=Jul 16, 1999 |title=Generation ecstasy: into the world of techno and rave culture|quote="The band's -Peech Boys- ambient-tinged post-disco epics like "Don't Make Me Wait" and "Life is Something Special" are notable for their cavernous reverberance and dub-deep bass. Peech Boys were on the cutting edge of the early-eighties New York electro-funk sound like D-Train, Vicky D, Rocker's Revenge, Frances {{sic}} Joli, and Sharon Redd, labels like West End and Prelude, and producers like Arthur Baker, Francois Kevorkian, and John "Jellybean" Benitez.|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=35|isbn=0-415-92373-5}}

The new post-disco sound was flourishing among predominately New York City record companies, including West End Records, Prelude Records, Tommy Boy Records, SAM Records, and others.{{cite web|url=http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/the_building_blocks_of_boogie.html|title=Electro Funk Roots: The Building Blocks of Boogie (history)|publisher=electrofunkroots.co.uk|access-date=August 11, 2009}} Most of them were independently owned and had their own distribution{{Cite book|last=Charnas|first=Dan|year=2011|title=The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop |publisher=Penguin|page=??|isbn=978-1101568118}} but some particular mainstream labels, notably RCA Records,{{Cite book|last=Aerna|first=James|year=2013|title=First Ladies of Disco: 32 Stars Discuss the Era and Their Singing Careers|publisher=Penguin|pages=186–87|isbn=978-1476603322}} were too, responsible for popularizing and capitalizing on the new sound.

Although there is no exact point when post-disco started, many synthpop and electronic musicians of that time continued to enhance the raw minimalist sound, while focusing on synthesizers, and keyboard instruments. As noted by Payne, drum machines also played an important part in the urban-oriented music in general.

{{multiple image

| footer = Michael Jackson and Madonna are the most successful artists of post-disco.

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| image1 = Michael Jackson, 1988 (46845017052).jpg

| alt1 = Michael Jackson 1988

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The 1980s post-disco sounds also inspired many Norwegian dance music producers.Ham, Anthony & Roddis, Miles and Lundgren, Kari (2008). Norway: Discover Norway - (The Culture) Interview with Bernt Erik Pedersen, music editor, Dagsavisen: "A lot of current dance music producers are influenced by the post-disco sound of the early 80s". Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications. p. 53. {{ISBN|1-74104-579-7}}. Some rappers such as Ice Cube or EPMD built their careers on funk-oriented post-disco music (they were inspired for example by dance-floor favorites like Zapp and Cameo).Light, Alan (November 1993). V I B E - Funk Masters article: "It's no wonder that rappers such as EPMD and Ice Cube, striving for that perfect mind-body fusion, have built careers out of fragments from these fathers of funk (as well as the post-disco wave they inspired - dance-floor favourites like Zapp and Cameo)". p. 51?, ISSN 1070-4701 Also Sean "Puffy" Combs has been influenced by R&B-oriented post-disco music in an indirect way.Schoonmaker, Trevor (2003). Fela: from West Africa to West Broadway: "Puffy's consistent pilfering of pop coffers from a certain time period shows undoubtedly that he is influenced by the post-disco R&B bounce of the late 1970s and early 1980s". Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 4. {{ISBN|1-4039-6210-3}}.

{{Main|Boogie (genre)}}

Boogie (or electro-funk){{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/118560-dj-spinna-the-boogie-back-post-disco-club-jams|title=DJ Spinna: The Boogie Back: Post Disco Club Jams (by Andrew Martin)|publisher=Popmatters|access-date=2011-12-18}} is a post-disco subgenre with funk and new wave influences that had a minor exposure in the early to mid-1980s. Sean P. described it as "largely been ignored, or regarded as disco's poor cousin – too slow, too electronic, too R&B ... too black, even."{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/destination-boogie-r826864/review|title=VA - Destination: Boogie (2006) review|publisher=AMG|access-date=2011-08-10}}

{{Main|Dance-rock}}

Another post-disco movement is merely connected with post-punk/no wave genres with fewer R&B/funk influences. An example of this "post-disco" is Gina X's "No G.D.M."{{cite journal|publisher=University of Michigan|year=2002|journal=The Fader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2-fAAAAMAAJ&q=No+GDM+gina+X++post-disco+++The+Fader|title=[the] classic post-disco track "No GDM" by Gina X|page=38}} and artists like Liquid Liquid, Polyrock,{{Cite book|last=Fink|first=Robert|year=2005|title=Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music As Cultural Practice|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/repeatingourselv0054fink/page/26 26]|isbn=0-520-24550-4|url=https://archive.org/details/repeatingourselv0054fink/page/26}} Dinosaur L, and the Disco Not Disco (2000) compilation album.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/disco-not-disco-mw0000423165|title=Disco Not Disco [2000]|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=2009-08-10}}{{cite web|last=Battaglia|first=Andy|year=2008|publisher=Pitchfork Media|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11055-disco-not-disco-post-punk-electro-leftfield-disco-classics-1974-1986|title=Album Reviews: VA - Disco Not Disco (Post-Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics)|access-date=2009-08-13}} This movement also connects with dance-oriented rock; Michael Campbell, in his book Popular Music in America defines that genre as "post-punk/post-disco fusion."{{Cite book|last=Campbell|first=Michael|year=2008|title=Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=359|isbn=978-0-495-50530-3}} Campbell also cited Robert Christgau, who described dance-oriented rock (or DOR) as umbrella term used by various DJs in the 1980s.{{cite web|url={{Allmusic|class=explore|id=style/d13748|pure_url=yes}}|title=Explore music ... Genre: Dance-Rock|publisher=Allmusic|access-date=2009-08-12}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Main|Dance-pop}}

Dance-pop is a dance-oriented pop music that appeared slightly after the demise of disco and the first appearance of "stripped-down" post-disco. One of the first dance-pop songs were "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life" by Indeep and "Love Come Down" by Evelyn "Champagne" King, whereas the latter crossed over to Billboard charts including Adult Contemporary, while peaking at number 17 on the pop chart in 1982.[{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=evelyn "champagne" king|chart=all}} Evelyn Champagne King - Chart History] at Billboard. Nielsen Co. Retrieved 2012-09-01. Another crossover post-disco song was "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume, peaking at number 45 on the Hot 100 in 1983.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/sugar-free-t3294561|title="Sugar Free" review by Ed Hogan|publisher=Allmusic|access-date=2011-08-31}} Same year also saw the release of Madonna's eponymous album that incorporated post-disco, urban and club sounds. British variation of dance-pop, pioneered by Stock Aitken Waterman, was more influenced by house and hi-NRG and sometimes was labeled as "eurobeat."[http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb09/articles/classictracks_0209.htm Classic Tracks: Rick Astley ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’] – Sound On Sound. Retrieved on 2 July 2010.

{{Main|Italo disco}}

Italo disco is a disco subgenre, influenced by post-disco, hi-NRG, electronic rock, and European music. Originally music mostly played by Italian musicians, but it soon made its way to Canada and United States. One of the earliest post–disco-oriented groups were Klein + M.B.O. and Kano, while New York-based Bobby Orlando was located abroad.

{{col-begin}}

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;Primary

• Salsoul Records
• Prelude Records
• West End Records
• SOLAR Records
• Total Experience Records
• Tabu Records
• Mercury Records
• Emergency Records(Shannon)
• SAM Records(Gary's Gang)

{{col-2}}

;Secondary

• Sugar Hill Records
• Def Jam Records
• Enjoy Records
• Profile Records
• Tommy Boy
• Jive Records
• Cold Chillin' Records

{{col-end}}

• List of post-disco artists

{{reflist}}

{{Boogierock}}

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