1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,480 This programme contains some strong language 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,080 How would I define disco? 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,920 Erm... 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,400 Oof! 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,560 MUSIC: Disco Inferno by the Trammps 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,400 It means the happiest time in my life, 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,440 celebrated by the best music I ever loved. 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:37,040 Where you could be who you wanted to be. Good times, good feeling. 9 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:42,280 The disco era encouraged the diva to be brought out, guns blazing, 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,400 feathers blowing, sequins spinning. 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,080 It was release and it was fantasy. 12 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,400 It's like being out of yourself. 13 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:55,320 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:56,360 It brings people joy, 15 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,840 but people need to know where the joy comes from. 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,960 17 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:08,800 You had disco really starting from the underground 18 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,560 and marginalised people finding sort of solace and home 19 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:12,600 in the music. 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:19,880 Disco freed me, it saved me. 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,040 Everything. It meant everything to me. 22 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,640 These clubs were places for black and Latin and queer people to go 23 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,080 to feel safe, and they created art that has influenced the world 24 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:34,400 from nothing. 25 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:38,120 Disco is a phenomenon. 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,000 It's the hottest thing that has hit the music business. 27 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,880 It was something that became loved by everybody. 28 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,400 I think of the Village People. 29 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,160 ABBA. 30 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,240 Donna Summer. 31 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,560 John Travolta in a white suit on a lit dance floor, 32 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,480 the Bee Gees, 33 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,120 clubs like Studio 54. 34 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,440 There's no way anyone here's going to get in. Listen, just go home. 35 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,800 Disco was the greatest thing in the world. 36 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,440 But in every successful thing, it has the seeds 37 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:13,680 of its own destruction. 38 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,320 The Christian right or the Bible-thumping people were, like... 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,000 HE GROANS ..trying to press it down. 40 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,120 There was a great deal of resentment. 41 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:27,920 They damn near killed it. 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,040 Who has the last laugh today? 43 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,920 Disco. Cos disco is back! 44 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,320 In order to really understand the glitz and the glamour, 45 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:45,560 you have to go through the build of what happened. 46 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,320 Disco has a history. 47 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,960 48 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,280 49 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,160 MUSIC: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by The 5th Dimension 50 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,040 51 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,280 I'd just come out of military service in the Navy. 52 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,360 I was living a very straight life, straight-laced. 53 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,480 Married, had children, worked hard. 54 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,440 I was living the American Dream. 55 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,160 I was not aware that other people could not access the dream. 56 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,520 the Age of Aquarius... 57 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,800 THEY CHANT 58 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,560 NEWSREEL: We are living through one of the greatest revolutions 59 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,520 in history, the birth of a new civilisation. 60 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,440 Collective protests shatter the structure of the old. 61 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,600 62 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,680 The United States was a divided nation. 63 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,600 It was "power to the people", the Black Panther Party 64 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,240 and stuff like that. 65 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,480 And the mind's true liberation 66 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:15,920 67 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,680 All of us must stand up together and say, "No more." 68 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,160 NEWSREEL: No area of male-dominated American culture is spared. 69 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:28,240 It was fighting for women's rights, fighting for peace. 70 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,120 You know? HE LAUGHS 71 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,920 And the flower power, you know? 72 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,320 THEY CHANT 73 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,360 It was mostly back then about the anti-Vietnam War movement. 74 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,880 We were burning our draft cards and we were all getting arrested, 75 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,720 and there was an awful lot of energy. 76 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:55,280 of the Age of Aquarius... 77 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:58,560 There was a "Fuck you" attitude among a lot of people. 78 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:00,400 Younger people, generally. 79 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:10,040 The establishment was serious about squashing this level of dissent 80 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,840 because they knew it could bring about fundamental change. 81 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:17,600 And that was something that they didn't want to hear out of hippies, 82 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,600 and they didn't want to hear out of black people, 83 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,840 and they didn't want to hear out of gay people. 84 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:26,360 If any one of you have let yourself become involved 85 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,440 with an adult homosexual or with another boy, 86 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,520 and you're doing this on a regular basis, you better stop quick 87 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,480 because the rest of your life will be a living hell. 88 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,160 I realised I was gay, like, when I was 13. 89 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,600 There were many things that were illegal on the books - 90 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,560 sodomy, cross-dressing... 91 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,640 ..two people of the same sex dancing together. 92 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,120 There were gay bars, all illegal. 93 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:09,760 Most were operated by the Mafia, which paid off the police. 94 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:14,720 Most gay bars did not allow dancing 95 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,560 because that was pushing the limit. 96 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:23,720 The Stonewall was one of the first dancing bars. 97 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:29,920 Even though it didn't have a disc jockey, it had a jukebox. 98 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:34,680 People were rabid, wanting to dance. 99 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,720 SIRENS WAIL 100 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,680 What did happen in Stonewall is that when the police came 101 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:53,160 to raid the bar, that night, people decided not to take it any more. 102 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,320 JEERING 103 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,840 The Stonewall riot broke out, 104 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:05,400 and there I was outside the raid on Stonewall. 105 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:10,640 They knocked out the windows and threw in Molotov cocktails 106 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,200 and then commenced three days of vigorous rioting, 107 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,680 and it took the police that long to control these homosexuals. 108 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:22,320 It's the first uprising of gay people showing any sort of pride 109 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,240 and power. 110 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,600 Everything that happened at the Stonewall that night 111 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,440 happened because people were dancing. 112 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:39,600 Stonewall and the whole dance music, disco movement 113 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,640 is entwined forever. 114 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,800 MUSIC: Surrender by Diana Ross 115 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,720 It's a really interesting thought, 116 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,880 gay liberation being born out of that desire for us to be able 117 00:07:57,880 --> 00:07:59,760 to dance with one another. 118 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,920 Being able to dance, and being able to dance together, 119 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:05,960 is part of what makes us human. 120 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,680 MUSIC: Yes We Can Can by the Pointer Sisters 121 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:14,080 Stonewall was a watershed moment for people 122 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,680 who were seeking freedom at that time, 123 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,400 and the following year was when David Mancuso gave his first party. 124 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,960 New York in the early '70s was kind of falling apart. 125 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:37,000 There were whole blocks that were completely devastated. 126 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,560 Manufacturing and factories were leaving the city, 127 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:47,960 whole neighbourhoods that were becoming empty, including Soho, 128 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:49,760 including the West Village. 129 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,240 There were these large, warehouse-sized buildings 130 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,760 that were empty. 131 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,280 MUSIC: Part Time Love by Ann Peebles 132 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,480 They became great opportunities. 133 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,560 134 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,840 a part-time love... 135 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,800 David Mancuso's loft was at 647 Broadway, 136 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,040 at the corner of Bleecker Street. 137 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,480 David was an orphan, he grew up in the orphanage. 138 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,240 Once you do that, you learn to make your own family. 139 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,800 There was Sister Alicia who ran parties on Sundays for the children. 140 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,760 She always had balloons and she always had music and records, 141 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,520 and he took a cue from that. 142 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,920 Disco started almost as an unintentional movement. 143 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:45,360 It started with parties, 144 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,560 it started with people dancing together. 145 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:52,400 he leaves me 146 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,920 147 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,800 David Mancuso opened his doors for the first time 148 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,360 on February 14th, 1970. 149 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,160 The significance of that date is it's also Valentine's Day! 150 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,840 SHE LAUGHS All about love! 151 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:13,760 Six feet in my grave... 152 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,720 It was his house, and you had to have an invitation. 153 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,840 asked him where'd he been 154 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:24,600 no questions..." 155 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,720 It was a private party and it couldn't get busted by the police, 156 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,520 and so anybody could dance. 157 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:36,200 The Loft was about building a community that kind of recognised 158 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,320 the civil rights movement, gay liberation, women's liberation, 159 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,200 and bringing all these people together 160 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,600 from different walks of life to dance together. 161 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,720 If you can mix the economical groups together, 162 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,480 that's where you have social progress. 163 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,720 That's very important to me. 164 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,360 the whole time he's gone... 165 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,920 The majority of the people at The Loft were people of colour. 166 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:08,360 I'd say 75, 80% were African-American 167 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,800 and Spanish-Hispanic, 168 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,720 and maybe 20% white. 169 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,160 The Loft welcomed everyone - 170 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,240 young, old, doctors, cooks, 171 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,080 white, black, gay, straight. 172 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:30,120 It didn't matter. 173 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,120 The first party was called Love Saves the Day - LSD. 174 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,000 It's perfect, isn't it? 175 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,520 David had, I guess what you would say, 176 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,720 a love-love relationship with LSD. 177 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:51,160 There was a coffee urn that they used to fill with spiked punch. 178 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,360 LAUGHS: And everybody drank the punch! 179 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:57,800 I'm starting to hallucinate a little bit, 180 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,560 and suddenly this bubble machine goes on. 181 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:05,480 I felt like Pac-Man, like those bubbles were going to eat me. 182 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,360 HE LAUGHS 183 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,240 And that's when I said, "I think I love acid." 184 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:20,160 David said, "Music is wonderful. Let's play all kinds." 185 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:22,720 No-one called it disco. 186 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,480 It was called danceable RandB. 187 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,080 One track that captures the essence - 188 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:38,280 Girl You Need a Change of Mind by Eddie Kendricks. 189 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:45,360 190 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,640 Let me tell you 191 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,000 of mind... 192 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:55,120 Eddie Kendricks going, "Girl, you need a change of mind," 193 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,200 that will always be the song for me. 194 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:01,920 You would hear the first few notes and the room would just go crazy! 195 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:03,640 THEY CHEER 196 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,800 197 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,320 198 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,920 Baby... 199 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,880 It moves like a roller-coaster, goes down, up, down, up 200 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,160 to that final peak. 201 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:28,240 There's a break where there's nothing but a little tambourine. 202 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:30,560 But you couldn't hear it. 203 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:38,360 It was the catalyst for David creating a smashing sound system! 204 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,720 205 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,760 The technology wasn't there. 206 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,200 You know, necessity's the mother of invention. 207 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:49,320 It was a necessity. 208 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:56,560 209 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,200 Before David Mancuso, 210 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,920 the sound systems in clubs were mostly 211 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,760 mid-range speakers that looked sort of like this, 212 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,120 and they contained bass, mid-range and highs. 213 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,320 In the club, and the background noise that's there, 214 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,320 it masks the high frequencies. 215 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:19,920 David Mancuso wanted high-frequency tweeters which could 216 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,920 shoot the sound in all directions - north, south, east and west. 217 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,880 And I thought it was not such a terrific idea. 218 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,120 I thought that it would be too much. 219 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:29,880 He said, "Never mind, just do it." 220 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,400 So I had built this kind of configuration 221 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,200 and it turned out wonderful. 222 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,040 TRACK PLAYS AT MID-RANGE FREQUENCY 223 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:44,640 Now there's no tweeters at all. 224 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,560 HIGH FREQUENCIES INCREASE 225 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,400 Everybody copied it, from... 226 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,000 In every club, they copied it, all over the world. 227 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,880 When the sound is better, you want to dance harder, 228 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,960 you want to dance more. 229 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:17,560 It was as if that entire dance floor had become this living organism 230 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,120 and everybody kind of had a commonality of purpose, 231 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:22,560 which was to dance. 232 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,640 And then the mirrored ball just turns on. 233 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:30,920 Boom! Like that. 234 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:32,920 And everyone screams! 235 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:35,120 SCREAMING 236 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,240 Dance floors unite people through sound in a way 237 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,040 that our governments and religions try to separate us. 238 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,520 It's the great equaliser. 239 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,240 No-one cares, you know, who you are, what you are, 240 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,560 and everyone just is about celebrating life 241 00:15:57,560 --> 00:15:59,320 and celebrating music. 242 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:04,840 This kind of environment offered hope. 243 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,000 And it was wonderful. It was... 244 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:09,880 ..freedom. 245 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,440 My going to The Loft and being associated with David 246 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,280 definitely transformed my life for the better. 247 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:27,000 I would consider David Mancuso the father of clubbing... 248 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:32,600 ..because he created an atmosphere 249 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:38,600 within an environment that would blow your mind while dancing. 250 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,560 And I said, "I want to do what he's doing." 251 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,760 People started going to David Mancuso's Loft parties every week 252 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:57,000 and word got around New York City, and other places started popping up. 253 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,560 Nicky Siano famously started The Gallery. 254 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:02,920 A lot of DJs went to The Loft. 255 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,680 They became inspired and started their own nights 256 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,320 because of what David was doing in his own home week after week. 257 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,520 He was really the foundation, building block 258 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,000 for the disco movement as we knew it. 259 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:31,160 There are marginalised cultures that find a home at clubs. 260 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,640 Once they stepped foot in the club, they were safe 261 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,040 and it was their place. 262 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,600 I think they took their lives in their hands 263 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,520 getting from their apartments to the club, you know? 264 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:44,680 REPORTER: Is there a concerted effort 265 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,960 to get gay people off the streets? 266 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:48,480 Oh, there certainly is. 267 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,280 At least 300 people have been arrested by the police 268 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,560 in the New York area during the last three weeks. 269 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,120 Why? 270 00:17:55,120 --> 00:18:00,120 Apparently, it's part of an overall nationwide programme 271 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:01,960 to drive homosexuals back underground 272 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:03,440 now that we're coming out. 273 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,480 These are men, and for men in this society to hold hands in public 274 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,920 is at least shameful and more often offensive. 275 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:19,600 I was one of the people that was oppressed by all that was going on. 276 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,640 There were so few of us at that point 277 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,240 that were willing to be public. 278 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,640 ARCHIVE: I was teaching at a private school in Manhattan, 279 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,920 and I went out on a Friday night. 280 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,880 I was holding hands with another man, we went to see a movie, 281 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,000 and one of the assistant principals from the school saw us. 282 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,440 And the following Monday, the principal fired me. 283 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,800 You gave up a lot - 284 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:47,120 career-wise, family-wise, friend-wise - 285 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:50,800 by coming out of the closet and being known as a homosexual. 286 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,120 And it was terrifying. 287 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,680 GARBLED POLICE CHATTER 288 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,160 There were always murders. 289 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,240 Sometimes they made it to the news, and most of the times they didn't. 290 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,440 It would be like, "Next!" 291 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,000 It was horrible. 292 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,840 We can't depend on the police to protect us. 293 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,400 So there was this, at the same time, 294 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,720 a sense with gay men looking out for each other. 295 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:31,040 I went to a meeting of the Gay Activists Alliance. 296 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,440 It was at an old firehouse, and as soon as I got in there, 297 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,360 my whole world opened up. 298 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:38,880 If you've been here for a while, 299 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,880 you've heard me talking incessantly about this directive thing, 300 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:44,160 a directive that would prevent the police 301 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,720 from using pejorative slang against gay people. 302 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:55,680 The Gay Activist Alliance kept gay rights in the news constantly. 303 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,320 We had demonstrations, we disrupted people's offices, 304 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,600 we disrupted institutions. 305 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,480 With security precautions heavier than those provided, 306 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,720 President Nixon, Secretary of State Kissinger... 307 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,480 Gay people are protesting CBS's policy! 308 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:16,120 Now, how did the Gay Activists Alliance fund its operation? 309 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,640 Back in the day, nobody in the gay community would write a cheque, 310 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:27,240 because a cheque is a paper trail that can lead to your being outed. 311 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:28,920 MUSIC: Popcorn by Hot Butter 312 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,680 The firehouse was this great, big open space. 313 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,600 perfect for discotheque. 314 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,400 And so Saturday nights at the firehouse 315 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,360 was turned into a discotheque. 316 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,720 I think, of course, $2 to get in on a Saturday night - phenomenal. 317 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,480 I mean, it was the best dancing in New York, because it was ours. 318 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:04,240 There was a sense of joy and celebration there 319 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,720 that did not exist other places. 320 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,840 In the very early days of the Gay Activists Alliance, 321 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:20,640 we were trying to find examples of, you know, 322 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,680 of discrimination, which was hard to do, 323 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,960 because since people were so closeted, they wouldn't report it. 324 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:34,440 In 1971, New York City made it legal for same-sex couples, 325 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,200 male and female, to dance together in a public space. 326 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,240 But it was not accepted by wider society. 327 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,280 Well, that's the way it was. 328 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,040 They didn't want guys dancing with other guys. 329 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,880 They didn't want that back then. 330 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:59,520 The Rainbow Room was a dance venue that did not allow two men dancing. 331 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,000 It was not a discotheque. 332 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,280 It was a very fancy dance establishment with an orchestra. 333 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,760 It's on the top of Rockefeller Center, 334 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,040 and I put together a group of us to go down there. 335 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,680 We were going to challenge the regulations 336 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,640 and see what happens when the management sees us dancing. 337 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:27,040 One of them was my partner at the time, Lew Todd. 338 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,480 And this was a challenge to see if they would be stopped. 339 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:39,720 I arranged for Earl Wilson, who was a very prominent journalist, 340 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:44,240 to be there when we did our "same-sex" dancing. 341 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,800 I'm wearing a suit and tie, the women wore dresses. 342 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,680 And they got up on the floor and just started dancing. 343 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,840 In the middle of a song, we switched partners - 344 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,960 and it was male-male, woman-woman - 345 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:05,920 and we danced. 346 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,760 The other people on the floor were, like, stopping and staring at us. 347 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,640 Management came over. 348 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,400 They came to stop us, but we had the press there. 349 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,120 They didn't know what the hell to do. 350 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,440 But they did not throw us out. 351 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,000 Earl Wilson was a very important newspaper columnist. 352 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,520 It got a lot of publicity. 353 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:43,080 The newspaper had a column saying, "Gays win in a waltz." 354 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,520 Dancing brought gay people together as a community. 355 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,880 We knew we were making history. 356 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,440 "Is disco political?" is the question. 357 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,840 Life is political. 358 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,200 So, yeah, disco is political. 359 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,400 MUSIC: What's Going On by Marvin Gaye 360 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:14,320 I always had the sense that New York was a dance culture. 361 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,360 Aside from the fact that I knew gay people were always looking 362 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,200 for a place to dance, I knew that there were all these 363 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:25,880 other cultures where dancing was key to their entertainment. 364 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,400 There were all these Latin clubs. 365 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,760 And, you know, it was also a black thing. 366 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:38,320 here today, yeah... 367 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:43,480 Equal rights of everybody 368 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,040 was basically just a statement. It wasn't for real. 369 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,680 370 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,520 HE SINGS ALONG: 371 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,960 372 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,880 373 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,680 Marvin Gaye, What's Going On. 374 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,520 I call it the truth. 375 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,160 They sending a message and they telling the truth. 376 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,800 Segregation, by law, was over. 377 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,080 But that doesn't mean segregation was over. 378 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,720 REPORTER: In our first special report on America's Cities, 379 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,160 we observed that their crisis was no overnight thing. 380 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,520 Part symptom, part cause is a swirling movement of populations 381 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,880 around the inner core of the cities, 382 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:33,920 whites moving out toward the suburbs. 383 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,960 The result is that the make-up of the inner cities 384 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,240 has become increasingly poor, 385 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,920 increasingly black, increasingly explosive. 386 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,000 A black family would move into a home, 387 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,840 and all the white people on the block would leave. 388 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,200 There was white flight at that point, 389 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,480 moving out to the suburbs, moving away from the city. 390 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,520 They didn't want us on an equal measure. 391 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,800 And I understood that. 392 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,560 But we didn't let that stop us from doing what we do. 393 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,320 MUSIC: I'm Doin' Fine Now by New York City 394 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,760 People gave private parties, and we were playing music with beats 395 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,280 that made people just want to dance. 396 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,800 The party could be up on Tremont, in the Bronx. 397 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,560 The party could be out in Bed-Stuy, in Brooklyn. 398 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,040 Just not in Manhattan. 399 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,640 Party is jumping crazy. 400 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,680 People having a good time. 401 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,200 What was happening in the country, though? 402 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,000 The money was slowing down. 403 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,120 REPORTER: Right now, everything you buy costs more - 404 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,480 not just food, not just fuel, 405 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,120 but most things. 406 00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,280 REPORTER: The manager of this spaghetti restaurant 407 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,040 says he's down to his last meatball. 408 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:03,920 At a restaurant called the Whopper Burger, 409 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,560 you can't even get a mini burger. 410 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:13,000 A lot of the people that cooked were black people in these restaurants. 411 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,680 And the beef crisis, it meant they didn't have anything left to cook. 412 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:22,400 And the venues were paying decent rents at that time, 413 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,240 so they needed to make some money. 414 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,440 Restaurants weren't popping, they weren't getting that crowd, 415 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,520 so they started to rent their venues out. 416 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,640 MUSIC: Funky Stuff by Kool and The Gang 417 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,560 At night, they'd move the chairs and tables out the way, 418 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:45,600 and let music come in and rock for the rest of the night. 419 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:54,120 That was really the first time that black people were allowed 420 00:27:54,120 --> 00:28:00,240 to go into venues and give parties in the central core of Manhattan. 421 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:05,880 Here I am - 422 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:10,880 I'm in a restaurant below 57th Street. 423 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,280 Unheard of! 424 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,280 People who came to our parties 425 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:23,160 basically joined our network to party at. 426 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,400 It wasn't a disco sound, 427 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,520 and at the same time, it WAS a disco sound. 428 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:33,280 But it was all marinated into a groove. 429 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,440 And that groove that we provided was right down their alley. 430 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,360 Hollywood was a very popular DJ. 431 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:47,480 There were numbers of people that would go wherever he went. 432 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:54,880 When I develop a conversation to go with these grooves, 433 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,200 nobody else was really doing it. 434 00:28:58,280 --> 00:28:59,320 We just... 435 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,000 RAPS: 436 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,440 you just don't care 437 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,680 clean underwear 438 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:07,760 439 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:09,760 It just takes... 440 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,120 ..a lifting. 441 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,400 442 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,200 Those places, they spawned an entire movement. 443 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,040 The black club scene and the gay clubs, 444 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:29,200 they kind of grew up in parallel with each other. 445 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,360 But there was not all that much co-mingling. 446 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,920 Eventually, these different groups of people began to recognise 447 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:44,760 each other and come together around music and around dancing. 448 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,680 And there was a particular song that transcended 449 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,760 every level of party. 450 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,960 MUSIC: Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango 451 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:02,880 I heard the first eight drumbeats - 452 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,960 "Wow!" 453 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,520 I knew right away. 454 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,440 Oh, yeah, as soon as I heard it, I'm feeling that... 455 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,600 HE MIMICS DRUMBEAT 456 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:19,600 I'm there. It's got me, it's glued me, soon as I'm hearing that. 457 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,000 You just hear that groove... 458 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,960 ..and just that little... That whisper. 459 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,640 "Makosa...!" Here we go. It's coming. 460 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,600 You just know that it's lightning in a bottle. 461 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,800 Mama, you're a light, is a mask 462 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,840 My mom, my mom, can be lazy… 463 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:49,000 Soul Makossa? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love this track. 464 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,840 The record, Soul Makossa, is a great game changer, 465 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:55,880 because I think it's a transitional record. 466 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,720 It's a cross-cultural piece of music. 467 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:06,920 so wrong... 468 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,040 My mom, mom... 469 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,000 470 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,400 so wrong... 471 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,520 Then it had, like, a breakdown. 472 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,720 Like... HE HUMS MELODY 473 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,600 It was so unusual, so different. 474 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,600 You went, "Oh, let me go through this door. 475 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,680 "Ooh, listen to that! Oh...!" 476 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,720 LAUGHS: It made your shoulders shake. 477 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,040 Soul Makossa broke a lot of moulds all at the same time. 478 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:53,560 It was a song that appealed to multiple levels of parties, 479 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:57,320 whether it was The Loft or The Gallery 480 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,440 or, you know, The Hevalo Social Club, 481 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,480 or any of these other places. 482 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,280 It was one of those songs that literally took you 483 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:11,200 by the seat of your pants, and even if you couldn't dance, 484 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:12,760 you got up and danced to it. 485 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,160 It really came from underground, which made it more exciting. 486 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,920 It was on a little African label that someone found. 487 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:41,560 I was a writer. I ended up using Soul Makossa as the key to a piece 488 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:47,320 that I wrote for Rolling Stone about what was my sense then 489 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:52,000 of a new kind of movement going on very much underground. 490 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:58,040 We were hearing the same kind of music 491 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:02,040 and we were responding to certain things in the music. 492 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,000 At that point, there was nothing called disco. 493 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,440 It didn't need to be narrowly defined. 494 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,480 And people who went out dancing to it didn't need to call it anything. 495 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,760 Rolling Stone, September 13, 1973. 496 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,280 It's called "Discotheque rock." 497 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:24,080 And I start out, "Party! Party!" 498 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,920 "It's a call to get down and party. 499 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,520 "The underground where the hardcore dance crowd, 500 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,800 "blacks, latins and gays was." 501 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:39,000 There was the sense that all these places were happening, 502 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,040 and they were all called discotheques, 503 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:42,720 and it was exciting to hear - 504 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,640 that they'd feel like I was sharing this experience 505 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,320 with a lot of other people who are probably going out dancing, too. 506 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,200 507 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,360 508 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:57,000 They have all types of people here - 509 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,840 people who dance, people who pop up and down, get high. 510 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:03,600 Everybody that be here makes this the party that it is. 511 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,880 Oh, yeah 512 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,280 513 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,000 Vince Aletti was the first one to ever write about discos. 514 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,680 It was us against the world, 515 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,840 meaning the world was going their way 516 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,920 and we seemed to be in unity with the music. 517 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,120 518 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,720 into the night... 519 00:34:30,720 --> 00:34:34,880 You need to have a name for something to become big. 520 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,800 I don't know who shortened "discotheque" to "disco", 521 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,600 but it was inevitable, it seems to me. 522 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:46,440 I've got to get close to you 523 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:54,920 Girl, I've got to get to know you 524 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,640 525 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,520 of the street... 526 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,080 HE PLAYS DRUMBEAT 527 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,760 I didn't have anybody to teach me to play drums. 528 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,640 I went and got four phonebooks, 529 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,320 and I had two Maxwell House coffee cans, and that was my cymbals, 530 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,360 cos I came up very poor. 531 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,600 All them kids, y'all missed it - y'all missed the phone book days. 532 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:33,280 EARL LAUGHS 533 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,840 Philadelphia is a music city. 534 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,440 So, Philadelphia's always done well in music, 535 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,840 even in hard times. 536 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,600 REPORTER: A high percentage are unemployed, 537 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,440 and most others experience the frustration of underemployment. 538 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:02,160 Gamble and Huff set up Philadelphia International Records 539 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:07,800 to help musicians and recording artists develop. 540 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:15,520 Its combination of orchestra and rhythm was inventive, 541 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,000 at that time. 542 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,440 We were musicians that would play for anybody that came through 543 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,640 the door with a cheque. 544 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,240 Always got to have... 545 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:30,400 ..the bat bag wallet, cos the wallet is what makes the hits. 546 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,080 Sometimes the vibration from the bass drum 547 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:39,120 would make the snare drum rattle. 548 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,520 So I used to put a wallet, tape a wallet on it, 549 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,000 so I would get a dead sound. 550 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,720 When playing disco, 551 00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:49,400 some people play it like this... EARL HITS SNARE DRUM 552 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,520 ..but you don't get the real fat sound. 553 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,600 You need the back of the stick. 554 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,680 STRONGER SNARE HITS 555 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,640 That's how disco is played. 556 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:02,720 The rhythm track would be done first - 557 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:06,560 Baker, Harris and Young, drums, bass and guitar. 558 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,480 It was pretty amazing, that rhythm section. 559 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,520 Earl Young had an internal clock. 560 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,800 HE LAUGHS 561 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,040 You know, his timing was literally perfect. 562 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,160 First thing I do is I check my high hat, 563 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,360 because this is the baby here, this is all the timing. 564 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:25,760 So, then the Blue Notes came in. 565 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,920 We had a ballad called The Love I Lost. 566 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:30,080 It started out with... 567 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,640 568 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,280 569 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,880 Which was nice. I like ballads. 570 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:39,440 But I'm a dancer. 571 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:44,520 So, I said, "Look, why don't you try this upbeat groove?" 572 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:49,480 To be able to dance to it, you got to have, first of all, my groove - 573 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,440 the four on the floor, four beats on the bass drum. 574 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,960 EARL STRIKES BASS DRUM 575 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,280 That's how it starts. 576 00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,960 The bass drum is just hitting four on the floor - 577 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:01,960 "Boom, boom, boom, boom!" 578 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:03,600 It's a heartbeat. 579 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,320 And your body wants to move to the heartbeat. 580 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:11,200 Next, you got to go to the high hat here. 581 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,640 HE STRIKES HIGH HAT 582 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,640 Earl Young hits that high hat - it's open - 583 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,320 but he slams his foot down and it closes every beat he does. 584 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,880 Like, that's the groove. That's part of the groove. 585 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:28,600 Yeah! 586 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:32,720 I mean, that's disco right there, baby. 587 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,720 He hit it on just about every disco hit. 588 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:38,920 You hear that... HE IMTATES DRUMBEAT 589 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,320 But you didn't hear before The Love I Lost 590 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:43,840 or the Sound of Philadelphia. 591 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,720 You could arguably say that the first disco track 592 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:49,720 was The Love I Lost. 593 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:53,800 594 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,760 595 00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:58,840 Ah... It's a sweet one. 596 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:01,120 The Love I Lost is a sweet one. 597 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,880 You just hear the first few notes, and it just gets you all excited. 598 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,240 599 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:10,280 All of the sudden, your hand's got a mind of its own and it's moving, 600 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,720 and then you're kind of drawn into it. 601 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:17,080 And that's why I always say your body seems to catch on 602 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,120 to something before you do. 603 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,960 The Love I Lost, a dance floor hit. 604 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:26,440 Unbelievable! 605 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:28,800 606 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,760 make it on through... 607 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,200 People who could not dance actually learned how to dance 608 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:39,960 by going to clubs, because the rhythm was so strict 609 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,880 that you no matter where you were on the beat, 610 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,480 you were on the beat. 611 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,640 612 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:50,200 613 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,280 Earl Young, he was the man. 614 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,360 He took it to another level, his own way. 615 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,360 616 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,920 That becomes the drumbeat for everything. 617 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,880 That becomes the drumbeat of disco. 618 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,040 619 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,120 Gorgeous. Gorgeous song. 620 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:14,200 Just having those type of four on the floor grooves, 621 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,280 having a really beautiful love story, like, at the back of it, 622 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:19,040 just really timeless. 623 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:25,840 At the heart of disco, there's rhythm, soul, melodrama, character, 624 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,640 romance, sex, heartbreak. 625 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:32,040 It's everything and anything. 626 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,720 EARL PLAYS DRUMBEAT 627 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,560 That's why they call me the Disco Daddy. 628 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,360 LAUGHTER AROUND ROOM 629 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,640 MUSIC: Hollywood Swinging by Kool and The Gang 630 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:06,000 In the mid-'70s, New York was still the leader, 631 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,880 in a sense, of disco. 632 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,160 There were clubs opening all the time. 633 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:12,760 Not all of them lasted. 634 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,280 Most of us never had a lot of money, 635 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:20,080 but there was this sense of release in the clubs 636 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:24,720 and escape from whatever was bothering you. 637 00:41:24,720 --> 00:41:29,440 Real life, that was what we wanted to forget on the dance floor. 638 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:30,800 639 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:35,160 This is just that time when music was a good time. 640 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:42,040 People having a good time was the most important thing 641 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,280 that a DJ could do. 642 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:48,280 643 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:52,880 644 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,880 DJs will say again and again that they want to take you on a journey. 645 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:01,400 They want to structure the night so that you're elevated 646 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:05,280 to that place over the rainbow. 647 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:15,120 In the late '60s, DJs would play one record after another - 648 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,360 simply let the first record end and then play another. 649 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,200 The dance floor would just stop in front of your eyes. 650 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,080 RECORD SCRATCH SOUND EFFECT 651 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,160 MUSIC: Love Is The Message by MFSB 652 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,000 Then Francis Grasso comes along. 653 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:48,720 He's the DJ at The Sanctuary, 654 00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:52,400 which was an enormous club at the time. 655 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,840 And he starts blending, 656 00:42:54,840 --> 00:43:00,520 which is putting on a record while this record is playing, 657 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:04,320 and then he would fade it in, fade the other one out. 658 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:09,520 And then Francis started doing beat matching. 659 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:15,280 The record that you're bringing in, you change the speed 660 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:20,160 in order to align it with the kick drum that's playing. 661 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,560 RECORD PLAYS 662 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:33,080 Francis Grasso was the first guy to really disco DJ. 663 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,040 When he played, he went from one to the other and was so smooth. 664 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:40,800 So, when one record was fading out, this other one would come up, 665 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:44,040 but it would have the same exact beat. 666 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,080 MUSIC: Boogie Down by Eddie Kendricks 667 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:53,120 668 00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:57,800 One of the most exciting experiences for the dancers back then 669 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,240 is when - cos no-one was doing it - 670 00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:04,720 is when the record changed, and they could dance right through them. 671 00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:07,440 That would make them scream. 672 00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:11,160 It excited and ignited the dance floor, 673 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,560 and it ignited the DJs. 674 00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:19,360 675 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:23,720 I want you to have the best time you ever had in your life, 676 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:27,760 and I'm going to do my best to make that come true. 677 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,800 678 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:36,400 Playing records for an audience back then, 679 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,080 they didn't have extended breaks. 680 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,440 They didn't have long beginnings. 681 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,080 So we did that ourselves. 682 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:50,360 We were creating new productions from the records that we had. 683 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:56,560 We were creating the extended mix that became so popular. 684 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:08,200 Love Is The Message comes along, the MFSB orchestra, 685 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,200 the track that I became identified with. 686 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:16,720 687 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:21,120 that I sing to you... 688 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:26,880 Love Is The Message featured the really unique drum pattern 689 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,520 that Earl Young had created. 690 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:35,400 So, I started to think about what I could do to make the track 691 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:39,280 a featured record, something that people would go crazy for. 692 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:44,400 The groove, the good part, was two minutes and 40 seconds. 693 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:48,480 So, I looped it. 694 00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:52,560 You would hear the horns and the beginning, 695 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,720 and then you would hear this breakdown, 696 00:45:55,720 --> 00:45:58,960 where I would turn up the bass. 697 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:03,280 And the piece de resistance, 698 00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:06,160 a sound effect that I found, 699 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,680 which was a jet plane. 700 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,120 RECORD PLAYS 701 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,120 And then I started over again, 702 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,840 and do the same thing over and over and over again. 703 00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:29,320 They loved it. 704 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:37,360 705 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:38,600 Nicky was amazing. 706 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:43,240 I mean, he was very avant-garde for the time. 707 00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:47,320 He made it so dramatic that you just had to stop and pay attention. 708 00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:53,560 The crowd was in the palm of his hand. 709 00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:01,400 The Gallery is a beautiful place to go if you want to enjoy yourself 710 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:05,320 and have big fun. It's a hell of a place to go. 711 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:07,600 Now, I'm telling you, it truly is. 712 00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:11,400 What about Nicky? And he's the best disc jockey there is. 713 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:17,840 Nicky Siano was a leader. 714 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:20,320 He was an alpha when he came to DJ. 715 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:24,520 that I sing to you... 716 00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:29,960 Those of us that came from the '70s, early '80s, 717 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:34,040 we mixed differently, cos everything was about the story. 718 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:43,680 "The best discotheque DJs are underground stars 719 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:48,160 "discovering previously ignored album cuts and obscure singles 720 00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:51,120 "with the power to make the crowd scream." 721 00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:55,800 I had been reviewing records for Rolling Stone for a while. 722 00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:59,120 There were a lot of records that were remaining fairly underground, 723 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:04,760 that were not on the radio, that had not been chart records. 724 00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,600 But they were extremely popular in New York, 725 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,440 because people went to dance and heard them. 726 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:15,520 And there was this kind of sense for me that 727 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,360 that was not going to be underground for long. 728 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:26,800 During the 1970s, most people were hearing new songs 729 00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:29,400 primarily from radio. 730 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:33,200 Take that pearl 731 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:34,800 732 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:38,720 Radio was very, very powerful. 733 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:41,800 RADIO DJ BROADCASTS 734 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:46,360 REPORTER: The key to million-dollar profits 735 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:48,280 is getting the record on the radio. 736 00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:51,640 Larry Lujack, one of the country's top disc jockeys. 737 00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:53,360 I'm convinced that you can make.. 738 00:48:54,840 --> 00:49:00,480 ..any half-decent record a hit if you play it enough. 739 00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:03,960 Boring. Boring! 740 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:05,920 The underground world didn't want to be playing 741 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,880 what the radio was playing. 742 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:15,000 I only play songs that I believe are good. 743 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:20,880 So, if there's a B-side that actually is better than the A-side, 744 00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:24,640 then I will play only the B-side. 745 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:30,200 It's part of my job to find good songs that people could dance to. 746 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,160 24 hours a day, always going out, always getting new records. 747 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,480 And absolutely had to be on top of it. 748 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:41,520 MUSIC: It Really Hurts Me Girl by The Carstairs 749 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:47,320 750 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:49,640 I got hired to play on Fire Island... 751 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,120 we shared... 752 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:59,200 ..an island off of Long Island that is filled with beach resorts. 753 00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:03,760 Two of them are gay, the Pines and Cherry Grove. 754 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,320 You could be openly gay because the island 755 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:13,680 is so isolated from policing. 756 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:21,640 It was a really beautiful retreat for queer people to get together 757 00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:24,000 and dance and be who they are. 758 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,680 Fire Island plays a very crucial role in the telling 759 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:30,960 of the story of disco. 760 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:37,600 Gay clubs want new, exciting music. 761 00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:47,320 David Rodriguez and I were invited by a new promotion man 762 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:51,680 to his office, and we saw an album cover on the floor, 763 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:56,640 and it had three women of colour with big Afro wigs. 764 00:50:56,640 --> 00:51:00,280 So, David Rodriguez said, "What's that?" 765 00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:03,520 He said, "It's a damn album. Here, take a box." 766 00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,120 The song was Love's Theme. 767 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:15,320 It was so well produced, 768 00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:19,160 and Barry White really knew how to work strings, OK? 769 00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:21,360 And I love orchestration. 770 00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:23,040 It makes my heart sing. 771 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:33,880 Love's Theme had such a Fire Island gay sound 772 00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:38,800 that they embraced it and made it their own. 773 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,920 Love's Theme was one of the songs I remember when I would be dancing 774 00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:48,960 at Fire Island, which was a very intense time to dance, 775 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:53,680 cos everybody on the dance floor was really doing something wild. 776 00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:55,880 That used to be played a lot. 777 00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,560 It became like an anthem, 778 00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:03,760 and it had just the right sound 779 00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:06,600 to make it go all the way to the top. 780 00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:20,680 It became huge from our play - 781 00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:24,040 getting on the charts, climbing the charts - 782 00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:32,040 and it did it without radio play and usual record company promotion. 783 00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:38,560 The music was always better in the gay clubs. 784 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,280 I mean, the straight world knew the gay world was always 785 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,120 first on something. They just didn't give you credit. 786 00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:51,120 The gay community in the US was the first, basically, to latch on 787 00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:52,680 to the disco phenomenon. 788 00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:55,840 And it has come up through those roots. 789 00:52:55,840 --> 00:53:01,280 And it's gotten to the point now where the major record labels 790 00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:05,240 cannot ignore what's happening. 791 00:53:05,240 --> 00:53:07,480 MUSIC: Rock the Boat by The Hues Corporation 792 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:14,160 When Love's Theme broke big, it was important not just because 793 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:18,640 it was a great record and it was suddenly on the radio, 794 00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:22,760 but it sort of brought along two other club records 795 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:25,720 that also hit sort of simultaneously, 796 00:53:25,720 --> 00:53:28,520 records that had been played in the clubs for months... 797 00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,120 Don't rock the boat, baby... 798 00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:33,520 ..Rock the Boat and Rock Your Baby. 799 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:36,360 Those broke in the discos, 800 00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:40,800 and that's when people started paying attention. 801 00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:47,720 RECORD PLAYS 802 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:52,240 You got to have that feel first, the bottom. 803 00:53:52,240 --> 00:53:55,800 Right back to Earl Young. Yeah, you got to have the bottom. 804 00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:58,240 805 00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:00,440 806 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:03,880 807 00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:06,640 HE IMTATES DRUMBEAT 808 00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:08,280 That's the Miami sound. 809 00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:12,680 There's a Latin influence at the nucleus of it. 810 00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:15,640 And everything is like sugar on top, with the vocals and everything else, 811 00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:17,160 to round it out. 812 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:21,360 813 00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:24,520 814 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:26,440 815 00:54:34,080 --> 00:54:39,560 I just think with men singing in falsetto over a dance beat, it... 816 00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:44,040 There's something about it that really has a sort of magic. 817 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:46,560 818 00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:48,400 The track was already E flat. 819 00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,560 I could sing it different, low key and high key. 820 00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:53,160 HIGH-PITCHED: Because sometimes I could speak like my mother. 821 00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,080 LOW-PITCHED: And then other times I could speak like my father. 822 00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:57,960 HE LAUGHS 823 00:54:57,960 --> 00:54:59,960 I have a long range. 824 00:54:59,960 --> 00:55:02,320 825 00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:04,280 826 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,960 I know it's going to sound very strange, but it almost 827 00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,040 sounds like the kind of song you would hear in heaven. 828 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:12,480 LAUGHING: I know it sounds very strange. 829 00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:14,320 No, and I don't take drugs. 830 00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:16,000 831 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:17,560 832 00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:21,440 Before Rock Your Baby, it was a live drummer. 833 00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:25,760 The innovation of the drum machine was the first machine 834 00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:28,800 to really start dance music, 835 00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,280 disco music at the time. 836 00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:37,920 Electronics started becoming extremely important 837 00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:40,280 to the disco sound. 838 00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:43,840 Drum machines and synthesisers kept the beat going. 839 00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:49,920 The way the drum machine is just, like, in a loop, 840 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:52,720 you are able to really, like, sing into it 841 00:55:52,720 --> 00:55:54,960 and lose yourself in them sounds. 842 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:02,480 When they did my Rock You Baby, the club DJs that was underground, 843 00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:04,720 they picked it up and started playing it. 844 00:56:06,240 --> 00:56:09,160 DJs would come and say, "George, as soon as I put Rock Your Baby on, 845 00:56:09,160 --> 00:56:11,760 "the whole floor - boom!" 846 00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:14,200 I didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes. 847 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,840 I didn't realise the song was that hot. 848 00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:23,640 All of a sudden, I get a phone call from James Brown. 849 00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:28,160 James Brown call...? 850 00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:30,480 "I want you to be my opening act." 851 00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:33,840 So, the whole summer, I toured with James Brown. 852 00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:39,040 At the end of the tour, here I am performing in Madison Square Garden, 853 00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,760 opening for James Brown in Madison Square Garden. 854 00:56:47,040 --> 00:56:50,760 And all of a sudden, it crossed over into Europe. 855 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,600 They tell me, "You have to go to England. 856 00:56:53,600 --> 00:56:58,600 "Oh, and also we have a tour in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy." 857 00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:05,040 Rock Your Baby sold, I think, 11 million copies. 858 00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:07,120 And that's a good tally. 859 00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:13,240 We were making record companies a lot of money. 860 00:57:13,240 --> 00:57:17,280 We were outselling rock, jazz, every category. 861 00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:23,520 They could no longer deny how influential club DJs were. 862 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:31,000 When the Hues Corporation's Rock The Boat was followed by 863 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:35,760 George McCrae's Rock Your Baby on the pop charts, 864 00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:38,680 that was the commercial beginning of disco. 865 00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:41,200 That signalled a new era. 866 00:57:45,640 --> 00:57:48,320 Rock Your Baby was the start of the disco sound, 867 00:57:48,320 --> 00:57:50,240 and I'm happy to be a part of it. 868 00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:55,840 This is the time we crossed from the underground 869 00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:57,280 to the mainstream. 870 00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:01,320 It integrated everybody - red, yellow, black or white. 871 00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:02,680 It didn't matter. 872 00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:04,360 It made everybody happy. 873 00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:11,800 This is the time that disco came of age. 874 00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:13,680 875 00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:15,960 876 00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:17,960 877 00:58:24,520 --> 00:58:27,440 When life gets hard, you party harder. 878 00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:33,160 Disco had become what felt to us like a global craze. 879 00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:38,760 The black disco diva was a breakthrough persona. 880 00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:41,080 We broke the glass ceiling for women. 881 00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:43,280 I said, "Man, I love this!" 882 00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,520 883 00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:53,480 884 00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:56,600 885 00:58:56,600 --> 00:59:00,800 more and more" 886 00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:04,680 887 00:59:04,680 --> 00:59:07,640 888 00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,320 889 00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:14,360 boy...