1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,880 The disco sound was just wonderful. 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:08,760 It was exciting. 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,080 Powerful. You know, spank you. 4 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,040 And you just had a good time. 5 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,160 Disco brought together Black Pride, 6 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:21,120 women's liberation and LGBT culture. 7 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,320 It was the coming together of that that made it so powerful. 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,200 Listening to the music and... 9 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:32,720 ..and letting yourself go, 10 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:34,800 you become a different person. 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,560 12 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:39,440 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:43,840 14 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:46,560 15 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,480 It was this powder keg chain reaction that happened 16 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:53,800 that made it suddenly totally take over the airwaves. 17 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:55,680 18 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,520 It was, of course, Saturday Night Fever 19 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,800 that really tipped everything over, that tipped the scales. 20 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,280 It just set the world on fire. 21 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,080 Disco was on everybody's lips. 22 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,160 Clubs were packed every night. 23 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,080 Studio 54. 24 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,600 I created it as a playground - 25 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,600 sex, drugs, disco, whatever you need. 26 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:31,040 In the late '70s, the outsider became the insider. 27 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,720 The black disco diva was a breakthrough persona. 28 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:37,480 Someone like Donna Summer, 29 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:39,080 she was a disco queen. 30 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,640 Don't forget Gloria in all her glory-a. 31 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,040 32 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,640 I think that era of music allowed the disco diva to have this stage 33 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:51,840 to be adored and celebrated. 34 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,400 Disco freed me. 35 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,040 It saved me. 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,600 In all the decisions I have made in my public life, 37 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,480 I have always tried to do what was best for the nation. 38 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,760 Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, 39 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,240 I felt it was my duty to persevere, 40 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,240 to make every possible effort to complete the term of office 41 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,720 to which you elected me. 42 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:46,960 In the mid 1970s, the United States was not a happy place. 43 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,280 There was the Watergate scandal, 44 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,760 and any faith that Americans had in government 45 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,920 was shaken to its core. 46 00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:58,280 What percentage of the American people do you think 47 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,400 still have confidence in President Nixon? 48 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,240 Well, among young people, very few. I'd say less than 25%. 49 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,320 Therefore, I shall resign the presidency 50 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,320 effective at noon tomorrow. 51 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,720 Richard Nixon has announced he will resign 52 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,240 as president of the United States at noon tomorrow. 53 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,040 In my life and everybody I know, Nixon was detested, 54 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:25,920 but it was an intense period of time. 55 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:27,640 You knew you were living history. 56 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:30,560 You knew that this is monumental. 57 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:36,640 It was a hard time 58 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,920 because of the Vietnam War, 59 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,280 also a nuclear bomb threat. 60 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:47,000 And Russia, you know, that they might drop a bomb any day. 61 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,840 Oh, my God. What we gonna do? 62 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,280 The flip side of this dark moment is that... 63 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,080 ..when life gets hard, you party harder. 64 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,120 I was living in New York in the 1970s. 65 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:20,240 All we wanted to do was dance to disco music. 66 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,880 67 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,280 It was a freedom. 68 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:29,280 It was like, express yourself was so welcomed and wanted. 69 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,000 And music was the common denominator. 70 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:41,600 I mean, it was just igniting people's dance souls. 71 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,160 72 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,640 Why is everybody rushing and flooding the doors of discotheque? 73 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:50,040 Oh, I think it's because 74 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,400 with all of the hardships that are going on in the world today, 75 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,920 people need a place to go and relieve tension 76 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:58,800 and then release their anxieties, 77 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,560 and discotheques are a great place to do just that. 78 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,160 79 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,920 80 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,960 81 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,240 82 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,360 83 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,560 Gloria Gaynor is a rock and roll singer 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,840 whose records have really never made it 85 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:28,000 until she decided to specialise 86 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,160 in a brand-new rock and roll musical style called disco music. 87 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,040 unhappy feeling 88 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,000 there's the doubt... 89 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,160 She made you raise your hands up and want to touch the ceiling 90 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,160 while you were dancing and screaming. 91 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:49,720 When Gloria was doing her thing, 92 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,880 I think she was the First Lady of Disco. 93 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,120 94 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,880 95 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:02,960 She was one of the earliest people 96 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,360 to have a major presence, in the clubs, 97 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:07,920 was, you know, the Queen of Disco 98 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,240 before there was such a title. 99 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,680 100 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,360 Gloria, did you ever think this would happen? 101 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:17,480 No, I really didn't. 102 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:18,720 Not like this anyway. 103 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,200 I always thought I would sing eventually, but I never thought 104 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:23,880 all this would happen. 105 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:28,920 no, no, no... 106 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,440 I think disco means to most people... 107 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:37,240 ..probably it means a lot of fun. 108 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,080 To me... 109 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,040 ..it meant a change. 110 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,600 In the early '70s, 111 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,920 black women were caught between a rock and a hard place. 112 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,320 Statistically, they were at the bottom of the heap. 113 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:03,120 They earned less than most any other group, male or female. 114 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:06,720 They were victimised 115 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:11,440 by a notorious government-sponsored report 116 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,280 called the Moynihan Report. 117 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,240 It was a report that discussed 118 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,600 what were the particular problems 119 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,600 of blacks and Jews and Puerto Ricans. 120 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:27,000 Black women were literally blamed for the problems of black men. 121 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,920 Black women were heads of their families, 122 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,120 too matriarchal, too strong. 123 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,400 And unfortunately, when scholars produce a document 124 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,840 that is government approved, 125 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,080 people tend to believe it. 126 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,120 And so rather than fight against this, 127 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:52,840 which was virtually impossible for a group that oppressed to do, 128 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,560 they tried not to be like that. 129 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,320 You had to work hard to fit in, 130 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,320 and to fit in, you're going to be quiet. 131 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,560 You're not going to bring all your loud culture with you 132 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,720 or whatever it is and make demands, 133 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:10,400 you're going to try and fit in. 134 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,960 When I was growing up, the only time that people heard my voice, 135 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:18,480 I was singing. 136 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,320 My father had been a minister, 137 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,320 so we just had to kind of stick to what we were told to do. 138 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:28,800 I just wanted to sing. 139 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,440 The pastor called me up on the stage and I started singing. 140 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,680 And the church people started shouting 141 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:44,600 and screaming and standing up and waving. 142 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,760 "Sing, baby! Sing that song." 143 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:49,400 That was the beginning. 144 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,320 The gospel diva or the soul diva, 145 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,880 that's a really powerful, full-bodied sound 146 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,360 that moved into the mainstream in the '60s. 147 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,960 Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx, 148 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:07,160 Patricia Hoult - 149 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,240 known as Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells. 150 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:19,880 151 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:24,520 In the '60s, 152 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,920 we were a traditional girl group and we dressed alike. 153 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:30,280 We did the kind of, 154 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,600 you know, lead singer with backing singers, 155 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,400 waving their arms and looking very nice. 156 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:40,960 Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells 157 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,360 were fulfilling a vision of black womanhood 158 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,680 that was on the tail end of the early '60s Motown era. 159 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,000 They embodied that nonthreatening persona 160 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,080 that America wanted to place black women in. 161 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,320 We were expected to carry ourselves a certain way in the public, 162 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,080 you know, well-dressed, well behaved. 163 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:10,560 That's how it was. 164 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:14,080 165 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,440 In the music industry, we were fighting, 166 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,360 trying to get out of that box that we were put in 167 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:22,680 in the '60s. 168 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:24,560 So disco was wonderful. 169 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,400 Disco did offer black women new opportunities. 170 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:34,320 Disco did give space for black women to kind of add soul 171 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,000 and funk and depth to a lot of different kinds of music 172 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,600 to kind of take centre stage, 173 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:40,560 like Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells. 174 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,280 My next guest stars are the hottest girl group in America. 175 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,320 Man, they are truly hot and they've got the hottest single, too - 176 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:56,760 Lady Marmalade. 177 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,000 And here they. Nona Hendryx, Sara Dash and Patti LaBelle. 178 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Know throughout the music industry as Labelle. 179 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,720 soul sister, go sister 180 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,680 soul sister, go sister 181 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,120 down in old Moulin Rouge 182 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,920 on the street... 183 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,520 When Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells changed their name, 184 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,920 they changed their look and they changed it dramatically. 185 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,640 Uh-huh 186 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,000 187 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,320 Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells were a girl group. 188 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:37,680 Right? 189 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:40,200 Labelle were a girl band. 190 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,400 This evening? 191 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,320 192 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,600 Labelle looking like they just, like, beamed in from some 193 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:52,360 crazy, funky galaxy. 194 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:59,320 It was just so over the top and so amazing and so out there. 195 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,520 That, to me, meant a certain kind of freedom. 196 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,800 197 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:11,280 The architect of the look of Labelle was LeGaspi. 198 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,760 He also designed the look for KISS. 199 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,440 He also designed the look for Funkadelic. 200 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,960 Larry was already sort of making things that looked 201 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:24,720 like a futuristic look. 202 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:29,240 And then with us being open to even going further, 203 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,320 he began to design more. 204 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,720 205 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:42,600 I was mesmerised and delighted to see my people in a way 206 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,200 that was unlike any way anyone had ever imagined them. 207 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,640 208 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,040 209 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,840 And our organisation is, I think is probably one of the few 210 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:00,200 organisations which are run by women. 211 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:06,600 We have a woman manager, lawyer, and we're businesswomen now. 212 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,000 Now. Thanks to Vicki. 213 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,600 Vicki Wickham was the manager of Labelle 214 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:19,120 and was someone who really helped Labelle develop their vision 215 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,320 and really encouraged Labelle 216 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,000 to take on a more experimental spirit 217 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,600 in their costumes, as well as the songs 218 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:28,440 that they were performing. 219 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:33,280 We met Vicki on our third or fourth trip to England. 220 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,160 She was producing Ready, Steady, Go. 221 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:44,320 I think Vicki brought a new belief in us as young women. 222 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,800 I guess a sense of confidence as individuals. 223 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,440 We were deciding what kind of staging we wanted to have. 224 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,640 We were deciding what music we wanted to record. 225 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,280 We were making the decisions. 226 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:03,560 We were just singing songs that felt right to us or mattered to us, 227 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:05,760 and the audience were responding to it. 228 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,960 229 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:16,160 Lady Marmalade is talking about basically sex tourism and sex work. 230 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:17,640 231 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:22,160 232 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,040 Women don't often get centre stage or if there is a story that's 233 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,080 being told, it's also a story that's about titillation 234 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,200 or about fetishization. 235 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:38,360 It's like a playwright, you know, someone describing something 236 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,640 as opposed to judging it. 237 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,960 And in a way that's not celebratory, 238 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:50,600 but in a way that was not downtrodden and horrible 239 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,440 and that this is just yet another aspect of life. 240 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,480 I really think that music was really important 241 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,360 in terms of creating social change. 242 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,600 And in this moment, you know, 243 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,800 music was reflecting black women's lives 244 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,800 in a way that it hadn't ever been. 245 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,240 I was so glad disco came in. 246 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,520 You know, good music, good lyrics, 247 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,600 songs that had a meaning to them. 248 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,400 In the '60s, we were known as RandB singers. 249 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:32,400 than to lose you... 250 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:35,640 My songs were like, 251 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,200 "I'm just a prison," and begging men not to leave me 252 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,960 and, "Oh, God, if you leave me, I'm just going to die," you know? 253 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,040 I mean, this was the kind of songs they would play on us women. 254 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,440 Women. Men could sing anything they wanted to sing. 255 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,560 So to make a long story short, 256 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,760 disco...freed me. 257 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:58,360 It saved me. 258 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:03,320 You know, I've been married a few times, 259 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:04,960 and I don't mind telling it 260 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:09,640 cos, you know, I was in one of those type of marriages, 261 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,120 but it was dangerous. 262 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,160 It was really a dangerous marriage. 263 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,320 So I was doing Las Vegas with Ray Charles. 264 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,440 I was opening for Ray Charles. 265 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,440 The last night, I decided I was going to just sit 266 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:28,440 in the audience and watch Ray do his show. 267 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:32,320 And my ex-husband, he was looking for me, and he couldn't find me. 268 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,200 And I was in the audience. And he kept walking up and down the aisle. 269 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:36,360 I saw him. 270 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:40,440 And that's the night when he went completely nuts. 271 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,280 My suite was way up on the 20th-something floor. 272 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:45,960 And he pushed me, you know, 273 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:50,320 he was pushing me all the way through the lobby to the elevator, 274 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,320 and then we get to the floor. 275 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,680 He said, "I'm going to kill you tonight. 276 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:56,240 "I tell you what I'm going to do. 277 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,600 "I'm going to throw you off the balcony." 278 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:00,040 20-something floors. 279 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:01,320 He picked me up. 280 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:07,120 And had me, holding me over the banister like this. 281 00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:11,480 And I'm like, "This man is going to kill me tonight. 282 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,480 "How in the world? 283 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,480 "Well, how am I going to get out of this one?" 284 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,280 I said, 285 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:24,520 "You know, you are in this hotel and it's owned by mafia. 286 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,720 "This is Las Vegas. We're in Las Vegas now. 287 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,160 "See, you got to get out of here. 288 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:30,960 "You got to walk out of here. 289 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,680 "How are you going to feel with my body splattered at the bottom 290 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,080 "and my name is on the marquee?" 291 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,280 And I said, "You won't make it out of Vegas." 292 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,760 He thought, and he brought me back in. 293 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:47,640 And he said, 294 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,680 "I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm just going to shoot you." 295 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,600 So I laid... I just... You know, I was so tired. 296 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,000 I just lay down on the bed. 297 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:56,920 I said, "OK, shoot me." 298 00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:58,320 I went to sleep. 299 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:01,200 He had a gun like this. 300 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,160 I said, "Just shoot me. I won't know it." 301 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:04,320 Just forget it. 302 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,160 That's how Young Hearts Run Free came about. 303 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:16,760 this one and only life 304 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,480 lost and lonely wife 305 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,000 306 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,960 with tears... 307 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,640 That song is for women. 308 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:31,200 It's about survival. 309 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,240 310 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,480 but you won't have your man 311 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:42,800 every woman that he can... 312 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:45,160 Music has a way of changing people. 313 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,640 When they won't listen to you, 314 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:48,840 talk to them. 315 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,280 Look at Mavis. 316 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,800 317 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,040 Aretha. 318 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,560 You can say it. Respect yourself. 319 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,320 It'll just go right over their head. 320 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:01,520 But sing it. 321 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,440 It gets into the spirit. 322 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,960 323 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,240 Candi Staton is singing about pain, 324 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,840 and yet the power in her voice says that she's no victim. 325 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:16,760 326 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:18,760 She is telling her story 327 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:23,520 and there's a triumph just in the telling of the story. 328 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,680 329 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:30,880 Isn't that amazing? 330 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,360 You're singing a sad song and folks are dancing. 331 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,640 One girl... I got to tell you this. 332 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,120 One girl, she said, 333 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:44,600 "I could not believe I was dancing to such a sad song." 334 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,600 She said, "That song is tear jerking." 335 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:52,760 She said, "But I love it." 336 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:54,280 337 00:19:54,280 --> 00:20:00,280 is what's really going on today. 338 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:05,400 We couldn't sing those type of songs back in the early '60s. 339 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,760 We started doing that in the '70s. 340 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,440 For the longest time, it was very hard for black acts 341 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,440 to become strong pop acts, 342 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,760 outside of something like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye. 343 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:36,240 The charts in the '70s were much more segregated. 344 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,880 During those days in music, it was the Billboard charts. 345 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,280 They had a pop side, they had an RandB column, 346 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,160 but they weren't together. 347 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,720 You made the RandB charts, which was all black. 348 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,040 Everything was black. 349 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,280 It was amazing if you could get on the pop side. 350 00:20:55,280 --> 00:21:00,640 Disco made it possible for black acts to become pop acts 351 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,200 more than they ever had before. 352 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,920 It meant that there were suddenly a lot of black performers 353 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,920 on the charts that had not been there before, 354 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:11,240 had not been... 355 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,200 Not had the ability to cross over in that way. 356 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:19,560 I was on the Motown label for five years. 357 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,440 At that time we were interested in singles, 358 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,360 so I was in that studio recording. It was like a job. 359 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:29,480 I was in the studio all the time recording, 360 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,600 trying to get that single. 361 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:32,920 They would want you to do it 362 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,400 over and over and over and over and over again. 363 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,720 Trying to get that hit, right. 364 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,280 Trying to get that single. 365 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:45,480 Suzanne de Passe. 366 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,080 She was running the AandR department at Motown. 367 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,640 She found the song. She heard the song. 368 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,840 That song was originally recorded by Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes. 369 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,960 She thought that the song was great with the guy singing that. 370 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,400 But she says, "But if a woman sings that, then that's really good." 371 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,400 372 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:16,880 373 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:18,840 374 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,400 It was specifically cut as a disco song. 375 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,360 You know, that psss, pss, psss? 376 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,520 377 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,880 That was Suzanne de Passe and Hal Davis. 378 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,440 They cut it to be disco. 379 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,040 They had a good beat, you know, 380 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,000 that would get you out to the dance floor 381 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,400 and it just kept building and building and building. 382 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:40,640 And that's the kind of song 383 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,480 that you like to dance to in the club. 384 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,160 385 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,120 386 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,440 Female voices and female, you know, female registering voices 387 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,600 just work better with dance music for some reason. 388 00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:58,880 And I feel like with disco 389 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,320 there opened up a stage for a lot of amazing women. 390 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,160 can set me free.. 391 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,720 Somehow I got the test pressing, 392 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,000 so I said, "Ooh, I want to hear this." 393 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,600 So I got to work and I go to hear this real good. 394 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:22,360 So a friend of mine was also friends with a lady that owned the club 395 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:26,240 that we used to go to dance at called the Catch One. 396 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:27,880 It was mostly like a gay club. 397 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,120 The straight girls would call it Catch None. 398 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,920 And she allowed me to come in there on an afternoon 399 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,920 and play it, like, with their equipment. 400 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,200 That, "Owwww!" That was there. 401 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,560 And... 402 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,440 So the thing about a test pressing 403 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,840 is you can only play it so many times. 404 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,560 So I played it so many times it was like... 405 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,080 By the end it was like, "Drrrrrr!" 406 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,520 and do what you've got to do... 407 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,600 The DJs in the clubs, 408 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,880 they played my song all the time 409 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,280 cos people liked to dance to it. 410 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,120 I knew that it was going to be a good dance song. 411 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:07,680 I knew that. 412 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,000 But as far as a hit, 413 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,760 no, I had no idea. 414 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,680 I have here a scarf. Tell us about it, will you? 415 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,840 Well, this scarf... This scarf! ..tells that my record 416 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,520 is number one in the nation. 417 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:30,640 How about that? 418 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:44,440 Black women became stars with huge LGBTQ followings. 419 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:50,680 So the black disco diva was a breakthrough persona. 420 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,040 And this means everything to black women 421 00:24:54,040 --> 00:25:01,040 because the minute you see yourself in a raised position, you know, 422 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,480 as a world-class artist 423 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,320 that people would pay a fortune to buy a ticket, 424 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,200 you could fill up Madison Square Garden, this kind of thing, 425 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,320 it opens possibilities. 426 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:16,040 To see Labelle on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, 427 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:20,040 the first black female group to ever be on the cover, 428 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,640 this was a really heroic moment. 429 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,040 At that time in the '70s, 430 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,040 we broke the glass ceiling for women. 431 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,480 Women became very, very, very popular. 432 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,960 In the 1970s, there is an idea of a sexual revolution 433 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:46,840 that's afoot, you know, in the culture. 434 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:54,520 Whole groups of people were demanding personal freedom. 435 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,320 We also had the Vietnam War. 436 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,840 And the Vietnam War had been brutal. 437 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,120 And it didn't really end until 1975. 438 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:06,280 make a little love... 439 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,680 The bulletin has just come in from Saigon. 440 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,360 The war is over. 441 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:11,960 South Vietnam's new president 442 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,520 has announced an unconditional surrender. 443 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,480 444 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,520 And so you had this huge thing by the mid '70s. 445 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,120 Everyone's back from the war now. 446 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,240 You're not going to be drafted any more. 447 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:26,840 And everybody looking for fun 448 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:31,120 and everybody looking for something that appealed to them at their age. 449 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:36,720 What appeal to the baby boomers? Sex, drugs and rock and roll. 450 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,160 451 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,840 People were celebrating life in the club. 452 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,120 The music talked about, 453 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:50,760 "We got to love each other. We got to spread this love." 454 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,080 455 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,600 The genre of disco during that time period 456 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,840 was so huge and so successful. 457 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,480 And also, disco music was fun. 458 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,760 You sort of felt the beat and the pulse 459 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,760 of what the public wanted. 460 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,120 And we made a commitment that we were going to be in the disco business. 461 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:19,080 462 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,040 Do a little dance 463 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,600 464 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,160 465 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:27,720 466 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,560 Neil heard Donna's voice and he said, "Oh, I like this," 467 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,240 and proceeded to put out Love To Love You. 468 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:40,360 469 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:45,120 470 00:27:45,120 --> 00:27:49,880 471 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:55,080 472 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:56,840 473 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,800 No-one had heard anything like that before. 474 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,440 It was really daring. 475 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,840 It was really outrageous in a lot of ways. 476 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,280 But it was so good. 477 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,120 It was so well done. 478 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,400 479 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,920 The song revolves around 480 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,560 Donna Summer having sex 481 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,080 or at least pretending to, very effectively. 482 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,440 483 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,840 such an awful spin 484 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:31,360 In a spin, uh... 485 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,800 Love To Love You, Baby 486 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:39,280 was an expression of sexual equality. 487 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,240 That song was a way of giving women permission 488 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:48,000 to have the same sexual feelings as a man. 489 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,120 490 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,320 Donna Summer described herself as someone who kind of 491 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,640 fell into the role of sex diva. 492 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,680 She didn't really expect that Love To Love You, Baby 493 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:10,840 would be picked up and seen as like this game-changing song. 494 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,040 The interesting thing is 495 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,120 the record was not a success... 496 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,600 ..until Neil made it 16-plus minutes. 497 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,600 It was the first LP like that. 498 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,320 Now it didn't exist before Neil did that. 499 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,600 500 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,800 501 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,760 It was a trip. It was almost 17 minutes long. 502 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,560 And even though there weren't a lot of lyrics to the song, 503 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:44,520 it was emotional. 504 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,040 The production was so important in it, 505 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,720 and no-one had ever done anything like that before. 506 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,920 I mean, it was, you know, it was Donna. 507 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,280 She was special. 508 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,520 When I played, like in a really big club, 509 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,000 it was like watch... It was like ecstasy. 510 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,480 and it was really a sensual, sexual record. 511 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,600 And so people got into a different groove. 512 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:18,640 Listening to Donna Summer on acid at the Pavilion 513 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,680 was like being in heaven. 514 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,000 It was just like being in another world. 515 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:36,880 When that hit the discos, within two weeks 516 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:38,320 the record was gold. 517 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,040 But to get it on the radio stations at 16 minutes, 518 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:42,520 now that's a trick. 519 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,600 Neil bought a whole bunch of stations at midnight. 520 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,800 He bought time on the radio stations. Mm-hm. 521 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,680 Casablanca actually bought that time and 522 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,720 therefore could play whatever they wanted to 523 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,640 for 16-plus minutes. 524 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:04,960 Casablanca brings you a moment of love with the First Lady of Love. 525 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:09,040 People were calling in and they wanted to hear it again, 526 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,840 and that was... Then it just took off from there. 527 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,640 You know, what was it, 22 orgasms or whatever they called it, 528 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,040 in Time magazine and Newsweek. And she was in everything. 529 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,640 The song, you know, had been banned by the BBC 530 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,640 and banned by some US radio stations as well. 531 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,520 It had kind of a tough life. 532 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,800 I mean, I have been put down for it. You know, I have been scorned. 533 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,440 Hmm. Why? 534 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,720 Well, you know, there are certain people I mean, reverends and things 535 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,080 who have not taken it very lightly. 536 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,000 Oh, the uptight folks. The Puritans among us. 537 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,320 Well, you know, the funny part of it is, 538 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:53,920 I'm kind of a puritan myself 539 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,720 and that the song was just the song as such. 540 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,640 And, all of a sudden, it became kind of a revolution. 541 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,280 Did sexuality drive disco? 542 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,200 Um, you know, I mean, that's kind of always been there in music. 543 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,840 I mean, there's some dirty songs. 544 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,040 I mean, Love In C Minor. Cerrone. 545 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:21,400 He's basically having a four way in the, in the beginning. 546 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,160 He's getting down with three ladies 547 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,080 and there's also a really wonderful little moment of consent there 548 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:32,360 where one of the girls is like, "No, don't do that." 549 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,200 And he's like, "I'm sorry, are you OK? 550 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:36,560 "How about this?" 551 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:37,760 "Yes." 552 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,640 So, yeah, it was... It was great. 553 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,600 Record companies have always wanted to exploit sex. 554 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:50,960 It happened long before disco. 555 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,960 Between the early '70s and the late '70s, 556 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:00,640 the covers became more sexualised. 557 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:05,840 There were more women on the covers without much clothing on. 558 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:12,680 There were a lot of really, you know, kind of outrageous covers, 559 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,400 lots of nudity, lots of female nudity, 560 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,320 and little by little, some male nudity as well. 561 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,320 The jacket for Theo Vaness - Bad, Bad Boy 562 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,640 has a guy in the foreground and a guy in the background, 563 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,640 and he's clearly looking at him with sexual interest. 564 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,040 A straight person would not... You know, they would flip through it 565 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:40,480 and it wouldn't faze them. 566 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:46,960 A gay person would see it and go, "Whoa, this is about us!" 567 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:55,000 In the '70s, we were desperate to see signs of our own existence 568 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:56,600 in popular culture. 569 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,600 And so we would look at records like these as affirmations 570 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,240 of who we are, of our existence. 571 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,080 Gay is obviously a lot more visible now than it used to be 572 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:14,240 what with gay candidates, magazines, social and political organisations. 573 00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:16,160 The rest of the world is having to notice 574 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:17,960 what it used to try to ignore, 575 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,520 is finding out that homosexuals no longer meekly melt away 576 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,560 under the blast of scorn, ridicule or hatred. 577 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:32,360 Disco will always be entwined with the Gay Pride movement. 578 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,800 This is what being gay is all about, 579 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:43,400 is being free, free from the chains that have bound us forever. 580 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,360 If there is one American city in which the gay rights issue, 581 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,640 if not embraced, is at least tolerated, it is San Francisco. 582 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,800 Gays reportedly make up 12% of the population 583 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,080 and possibly 30% of the voters who go to the polls. 584 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:00,600 Last January, the city elected 585 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,560 its first open homosexual to public office - 586 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,320 a fellow named Harvey Milk - 587 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,280 to the Board of Supervisors. 588 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:09,440 Harvey Milk was the first out politician 589 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:13,080 that came from the gay movement itself. 590 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,680 He represented gay people in a way that hadn't been done before. 591 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,720 Just like Harvey Milk mirrored an element of San Francisco, 592 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:25,120 so did Sylvester. 593 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,280 Sylvester first presented himself 594 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:33,240 as sort of really traditional blues and jazz, 595 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:37,160 glam rock and soul all at once. 596 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,040 And there was no place for it. 597 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,240 But when disco came around, there was an audience 598 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:45,440 for all these things 599 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,360 that could come together in no other genre. 600 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:53,360 Disco allowed Sylvester to be churchy and queer 601 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:54,720 at the same time. 602 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,920 The man you're about to hear is one of the most theatrical 603 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,160 and flamboyant performers on the disco scene. 604 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,920 Here is that bizarre star, the sensational Sylvester. 605 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,520 on the floor, darlin' 606 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,240 some more and I... 607 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:18,840 Sylvester was out and proud and put it in your face. 608 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,880 There was a lot of things that were gay and you didn't know. 609 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:24,840 Sylvester was almost drag. 610 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:26,320 He was like, "This is who I am. 611 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,640 "You like me, you don't like me, I don't care. 612 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,400 "You accept me or you don't accept me, I don't care." 613 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,720 He was unapologetic for being who he was, 614 00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:35,800 which is wonderful. 615 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:42,440 616 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:47,240 Sylvester is the definition of fearlessness. 617 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:50,800 I don't know if you've ever met someone that when you meet them, 618 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:55,240 they make you feel your most authentic. 619 00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:59,280 And so I think that's what that...that feels like for me. 620 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,280 621 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:05,640 622 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,520 I remember when Mighty Real was released, 623 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,040 and it was major! 624 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,120 Major, major, major. 625 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,720 626 00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:19,760 It's a song that never gets old. It's never going to get old. 627 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:21,760 It's one of the best songs ever recorded. 628 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,480 You could always put it on at any party. 629 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:28,080 You could be in a heavy room and, like, that song can come on 630 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,280 and...and just change everything. 631 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,040 632 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,160 633 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:38,840 It's that voice! 634 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,920 That kind of like androgyny with vocals is really fun. 635 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:48,640 And I think that Sylvester was one of the pioneers of that. 636 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,720 637 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:52,280 He was extremely high. 638 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,280 He...he...he was in nosebleed land. 639 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,200 I said, "Child, I can't even think that high." 640 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:07,480 There was one moment that the label tried to change him. 641 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,240 They wanted him to conform, 642 00:38:09,240 --> 00:38:12,320 to be a straight man or to do things, 643 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,840 wear a suit, you know, chew gum and play baseball. 644 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,720 And he marched up to those offices in a ball gown and wig 645 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:26,720 and, you know, full make-up 646 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:31,040 and walked down those steps, massive staircase. 647 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:35,000 And he walked down that staircase in full drag. 648 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:43,360 And he said, "No. Mm-mm. I'm just going to be myself." 649 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,120 He refused to change. 650 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,200 Do I smile when I talk about him? 651 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,440 You had a memorable event in San Francisco. Yes. 652 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:54,720 What happened? 653 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:57,760 We were the first disco act or popular music act 654 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,800 to ever perform in the San Francisco Opera House 655 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,320 with the San Francisco Symphony. 656 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,560 With the symphony?! Yes. 657 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,200 The first time... Right! 658 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,120 The Living Proof album by Sylvester, 659 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,120 it's a live recording at the San Francisco Opera House. 660 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,200 And from what I understand about this night, I feel like 661 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:22,520 this could have been the peak moment of disco. 662 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,480 They blew the roof off of the joint. 663 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:27,320 Come on in here, everybody. 664 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,720 The symphony players are really straight. 665 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:39,240 Straight? Oh. I see. 666 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:42,040 Well, I mean, you know... 667 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:44,480 You know how classical musicians are. 668 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,200 So what I did to make them loosen up a little bit 669 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:48,400 just before the curtain, 670 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,560 I said this just before the curtain went up. 671 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:52,000 And I ran around backstage 672 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,320 and I threw pounds of glitter all on their hair, 673 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:56,280 all on their instruments, all over everything. 674 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,040 They must've loved that. They did love it. 675 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,240 They played great. Really? Yeah. 676 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:01,880 Sylvester was not... 677 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:05,080 ..you know, seeking to be political. 678 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:06,360 The more success he had, 679 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,880 the more he was able to express himself as to who he was. 680 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,920 And that might be seen as being political. 681 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,040 There's a really great photo 682 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:20,520 of Harvey Milk and Sylvester together. 683 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,880 It was for Harvey Milk's birthday party. 684 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:25,240 I was with Sylvester. 685 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:27,640 It was a grand party, too. 686 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,560 Harvey Milk knew how to party. And Sylvester sang. 687 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,480 It's fascinating that there were these two people 688 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:37,640 that happened at the same time 689 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:40,960 to really make a difference 690 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,400 and politicise the ordinary stuff. 691 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,240 Both Harvey Milk and Sylvester were doing that. 692 00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,240 In the late '70s, the outsider became the insider. 693 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,480 The trans women would show up at the Manhattan discos. 694 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,120 They weren't just welcomed, they were encouraged. 695 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,680 You know, it was like it was their home. 696 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,600 People wanted to mix with that culture, 697 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,280 that marginalised, very marginalised culture, 698 00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:20,720 especially at that time. 699 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:22,400 I was there with my camera. 700 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,080 I stumbled into this world. 701 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,360 702 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:32,480 it's so good, it's so good 703 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:34,800 704 00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:42,640 705 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:45,520 This is the scene outside a New York disco 706 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,360 called Studio 54. 707 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,240 This is the place that's in with the disco crowd. 708 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:53,280 One of the owners, Steve Rubell, works the door. 709 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,200 He is choosy about who gets in 710 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,680 and that adds to the mystique. 711 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:02,360 I feel love, I feel love 712 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:03,640 713 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:07,320 Steve Rubell became a really close friend of mine. 714 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:13,640 He wanted to open a club that was beyond any other club 715 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,000 that was open till that time. 716 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,560 And that was his inspiration. 717 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,920 We try and make this like a play. 718 00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,040 And we want to get the right cast of characters 719 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:29,520 so that everybody has a good time, 720 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:31,560 so that not one group is dominant. 721 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,040 There's nothing more boring than a room full of celebrities 722 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:35,400 or a room full of anything. 723 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,880 They would look and they would say, "You." 724 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:44,840 Two out there, please, 725 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:46,200 And they would say, "Me?" 726 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:47,800 "Yeah. Come on in. Come on in." 727 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,320 They would pick who they wanted to come in. 728 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,440 It would be so crowded outside. 729 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:55,840 Two out there, please. On the left. 730 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,600 People went to Studio 54 to be seen, 731 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:03,720 and there were people who went to Studio 54 to party. 732 00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:05,080 I went there to party. 733 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:10,920 I created it as a playground 734 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,000 so people would go. 735 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,560 Sex, drugs, disco, whatever you need. 736 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,160 A one-night stand is better than nothing. 737 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:23,520 But you know something to enjoy life and to make it more creative. 738 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:27,080 739 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:29,160 Glamour up your ass. 740 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:33,600 It just was so ostentatious. 741 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,000 Beyond... Ostentatious beyond belief. 742 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,760 743 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,040 There was never anything like it. 744 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:47,360 And there will never be anything again like it. 745 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:52,920 746 00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:55,120 747 00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:59,400 The waiters who were bare-chested, in little shorts. 748 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:04,160 Huge DJ area. 749 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:08,400 Not only control of the music, but all the effects. 750 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:13,240 I feel love, I feel... 751 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:14,840 And you feel like the music 752 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,360 is pumping inside your body. Boom, boom. 753 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,880 Disco music, for me, is the type of music that 754 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,920 no matter how tired you are, you have to dance. 755 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:26,440 You have to. 756 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:30,040 The energy that it has is so magnificent 757 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:31,960 that there is no other way. 758 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,800 And that brings everybody together 759 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:36,520 with that gay energy, 760 00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:37,880 which is so important 761 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,800 because they are the ones that want to be out every night. 762 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,760 Andy Warhol was a... 763 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:47,560 ..fixture. 764 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,880 He didn't want to miss out on anything. 765 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:52,000 He would go to the opening of an envelope 766 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,880 because he was scared of missing out. 767 00:44:54,880 --> 00:45:00,560 fallin' free, fallin' free... 768 00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:03,520 Grace Jones, when she did the first New Year's Eve, 769 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:05,720 that was legendary. 770 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:08,920 It was, like, beyond. 771 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,880 She came out of the staircase in the stage 772 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,800 and having three guys on leashes like dogs. 773 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:18,280 It was amazing. 774 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,120 775 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:25,240 You know, they only invested $300,000 to do the Studio 776 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:28,560 and the first year they were making $3 million. 777 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:30,760 OK? In those years. 778 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,560 Steve liked to talk a lot to the press every day. 779 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,360 He's saying, "We are making more money than the mafia." 780 00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:49,240 People all over the country were opening up discos. 781 00:45:49,240 --> 00:45:51,200 It was a phenomenon, clearly. 782 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,840 There was a real focus on opening bigger clubs, 783 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,840 looking for a larger audience that was clearly out there. 784 00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:05,720 I got a job at New York, New York in the fall of 1977. 785 00:46:05,720 --> 00:46:09,720 It was sort of an upscale midtown disco 786 00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:14,040 that was catering to a very mainstream white crowd. 787 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:16,360 They were open seven nights a week. 788 00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:18,880 They had private parties in the afternoon 789 00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:22,920 and then the evening until four or five in the morning or whenever, 790 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:24,080 every night. 791 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,680 It never stopped. 792 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,440 There was this powder keg chain reaction that happened 793 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:36,840 that made it suddenly totally take over the airwaves 794 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,360 and mass media 795 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:42,080 and everything else all at once. 796 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:47,640 And then late in 1977 797 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:51,080 was when Saturday Night Fever literally exploded. 798 00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,040 Just like crazy what happened with that record. 799 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:05,400 And with... I mean, it just set the world on fire. 800 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:07,200 801 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,320 no time to talk 802 00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:12,560 I've been kicked around 803 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:13,880 804 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:16,280 805 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,720 806 00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:20,760 807 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,440 effect on man... 808 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:30,040 Saturday Night Fever was this amazing game-changing film. 809 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:33,840 I don't think the film producers even realised the kind of impact 810 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:35,240 that it was going to have. 811 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:36,920 And its soundtrack 812 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:40,280 is one of the best selling soundtracks of all time, 813 00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,040 and I think it wouldn't have made the kind of impact 814 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:46,320 that it would have without the soundtrack itself. 815 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:48,480 816 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:50,440 817 00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:53,960 The Bee Gees weren't a disco band. 818 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,720 Along with their producers and some of their writers, 819 00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:59,640 they found a formula, that was brilliant, 820 00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:02,720 to do as a soundtrack for a movie 821 00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:05,400 that was basically exploitation of disco. 822 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,680 The Bee Gees album made hundreds of millions of dollars. 823 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:14,400 or whether you're a mother 824 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:16,760 stayin' alive 825 00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:20,160 and everybody shakin'... 826 00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:25,640 Saturday Night Fever made me feel like all our work was being noticed. 827 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:29,160 I loved it. I loved the music. I loved everything about it. 828 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,080 829 00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:35,120 Bee Gees were... They were one of my favourite groups. 830 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:37,000 831 00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,200 Yeah. It changed a lot. It changed a lot. 832 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:42,760 It broadened the spectrum of music. 833 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,400 A lot of people that weren't into the disco-type thing 834 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:48,040 kind of embraced that. 835 00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:52,880 Saying Night Fever gave disco a story 836 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:56,640 where the white straight guy is at the centre of it. 837 00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:58,400 It put a face on it. 838 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:02,360 Tony is a very everyman kind of guy 839 00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,080 that the average white guy could relate to. 840 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:08,280 You know, it was like Rocky, right? 841 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:14,200 It's the everyman who's kind of thuggish but debonair. 842 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,640 He's polished, he's graceful 843 00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:21,760 and he's not completely masculine. 844 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,520 He embraces his femininity, too. 845 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:28,200 If he didn't, then, you know, 846 00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:30,640 he'd be laughed off the dance floor. 847 00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:33,600 All right! 848 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:39,920 I remember him being just like a real asshole 849 00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:44,200 and just super macho and, you know, not very nice to women. 850 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:48,320 It was upsetting that Saturday Night Fever 851 00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:52,400 didn't represent the disco that I knew and loved, 852 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,400 but it represented something very particular. 853 00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,520 854 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:02,720 It made dance culture and the involvement in dance 855 00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:06,160 really understandable to a lot of people who probably didn't quite 856 00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:10,040 understand why their kids were going out dancing all the time. 857 00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:17,200 It's interesting after this, the ways that the lit up floor 858 00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:19,200 and his dance moves, 859 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,800 his white suits that Tony was wearing 860 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:23,200 with a little mirrored ball, 861 00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:24,600 the slicked back hair, 862 00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:26,960 and then the lady on your arm who is kind of wearing 863 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:28,960 some kind of flouncy, fluttery skirt. 864 00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:32,400 It's what became disco. 865 00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,480 A lot of people had to take dance lessons. 866 00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:40,760 Three, four, five. 867 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:45,760 They couldn't just get on the floor and master it like, you know, 868 00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:50,160 John Travolta. You don't just show up on the floor and do that. 869 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:52,040 You've got to practise. 870 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,760 ..two, three, four. Repeat, two, three, four. 871 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,520 One, two, three, four. Repeat, two, three, four. 872 00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:01,280 Repeat, two, three, four. 873 00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:13,960 When you look at the gross it took in the film theatres, 874 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:16,360 it was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 875 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:19,440 And that got the bandwagon really going. 876 00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:21,600 Everyone said, "Wow, that's a gold mine there." 877 00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:28,680 Saturday Night Fever just like metastasized 878 00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,080 into this cultural thing. 879 00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:37,160 Disco had become what felt to us like a global craze. 880 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:39,080 Disco was on everybody's lips. 881 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:41,240 Everybody wanted to know about disco, 882 00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:43,120 and they wanted to be part of it. 883 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:49,760 Every other artist wanted to be a disco artist. 884 00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:52,560 Anybody who wanted to revive their career 885 00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:54,360 or to have a hit - disco. 886 00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:02,720 Rock stars don't have to be wild about disco 887 00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:04,400 to take advantage of its popularity. 888 00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,720 Rod Stewart's biggest-selling record ever is the disco-flavoured 889 00:52:07,720 --> 00:52:09,280 Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? 890 00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:10,480 891 00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:12,200 892 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:15,920 Tell me so... 893 00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:19,240 A lot of other artists, from Frank Sinatra to Dolly Parton 894 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:20,400 to the Rolling Stones, 895 00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:22,560 have also swung into the disco beat. 896 00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:25,480 They all dabbled. 897 00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,960 But one song here and there didn't change who they really were. 898 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:31,200 It was like, "You have to make this now." 899 00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:33,920 Record companies dictated what you really did. 900 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:35,440 I think with any social movements, 901 00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:38,160 you're going to have two things coexisting. 902 00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:40,680 There was not one or the other. There were both. 903 00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:44,480 Music with integrity was still being played at the same time 904 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,320 as you had the commercial things that were being played on the radio. 905 00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:52,000 straight to you 906 00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:58,160 907 00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:00,840 Polydor announced that they were releasing 908 00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:04,920 a new single called Substitute. 909 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:08,920 All the DJs, we all got a 12-inch saying Substitute 910 00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,400 backed with, on the B-side, I Will Survive. 911 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,280 I don't even think that most DJs realised that that song 912 00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:19,640 was on the B-side of Substitute. 913 00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,840 Gloria knew that Substitute 914 00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,200 was not going to be played in discos. 915 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,880 It was the B-side that was important. 916 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:33,160 So Gloria took the record herself to the hottest DJ in New York - 917 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:36,080 Studio 54's Richie Kaczor - 918 00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:39,000 and made sure he played the B-side. 919 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,680 I heard Richie play this song and, you know, 920 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:44,000 at first I was afraid and I was petrified. 921 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,720 I was petrified 922 00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:51,120 without you by my side... 923 00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:53,280 And every time that song would come on, 924 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:55,920 the whole crowd would just go nuts. 925 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,040 926 00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:00,000 927 00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:04,000 from outer space 928 00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:05,800 929 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:08,040 930 00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,400 that stupid lock 931 00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,680 leave your key 932 00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:14,440 for just one second 933 00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:16,360 934 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:18,560 935 00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:20,240 Everyone fell in love, 936 00:54:20,240 --> 00:54:26,000 because regardless if you were gay, heterosexual, whatever, 937 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:27,480 male, female, 938 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:31,120 that song provided some...some hope. 939 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:34,600 Oh, no, not I... 940 00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:39,200 Gay men, we're told that we don't belong in the church, 941 00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:41,640 and black women, black divas, 942 00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,240 they became our ministers. 943 00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:45,400 They became our preachers. 944 00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,080 945 00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:49,360 946 00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:51,080 947 00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:57,720 It speaks to every living being, to their soul. 948 00:54:57,720 --> 00:55:03,160 It gives them a feeling of strength in dark times. 949 00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:06,840 How many different countries has the recording been 950 00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:08,160 as big as it is here? 951 00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:10,760 Well, at least 27. 952 00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:11,920 You know something? 953 00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:15,920 I Will Survive, with all the crises we've had in the past few years, 954 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,840 could be the theme song for this country. 955 00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:27,480 If I had to say what really defines that era as a song, 956 00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:29,600 I would say I Will Survive. 957 00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:31,920 We sat there one day and I said, 958 00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:34,720 "Gloria, I wish I had done I Will Survive." 959 00:55:34,720 --> 00:55:37,200 She said, "I wish I had done Young Hearts Run Free." 960 00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,480 I said, "No, you don't. 961 00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:42,160 "You're glad to have I Will Survive." 962 00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:44,120 She said, "I knew you were going to say that. 963 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:46,840 I said, "Yeah, that's a bad song, girl." 964 00:55:46,840 --> 00:55:49,800 I love it. That's one of my favourites. 965 00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:52,000 966 00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:54,120 967 00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:56,200 968 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:57,720 969 00:55:57,720 --> 00:55:59,480 970 00:55:59,480 --> 00:56:01,680 971 00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:04,640 That happened at the exact point 972 00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:08,840 when disco was starting to become overexposed 973 00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:11,240 as a cultural phenomenon. 974 00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:14,520 975 00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:17,320 976 00:56:17,320 --> 00:56:19,800 Since 1975, when Gloria Gaynor recorded 977 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:21,440 Never Can Say Goodbye, 978 00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:24,000 the first record specifically mixed for discotheques, 979 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:26,560 millions of people have been dancing to the sound. 980 00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:30,000 The movie Saturday Night Fever helped boost disco's popularity, 981 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:31,920 and now radio stations across the country 982 00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,600 have started programming all-disco formats. 983 00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:39,600 It was wonderful because it kept me busy. 984 00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:42,440 Did a 30-minute show and got paid big money. 985 00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:45,320 And I could do three in one night. 986 00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:48,200 I would leave there, get in a limo, go to another club, 987 00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:51,240 do another 30 minutes, get in a limo, go to another club, 988 00:56:51,240 --> 00:56:52,480 do another 30 minutes, 989 00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:55,360 then go home and go to bed and make myself $30,000. 990 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:02,240 So it was like a blessing. 991 00:57:02,240 --> 00:57:04,040 I said, "Man, I love this." 992 00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,520 Donna Summer, she made a fortune. 993 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:11,880 I think one year she made $26 million. 994 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:15,480 She made a lot of money from touring, from Vegas, 995 00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:19,440 from publishing of what she wrote. 996 00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:21,960 Everything started changing so quickly 997 00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:25,600 because obviously people don't want to miss the chance 998 00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:28,160 to make a buck on, you know, 999 00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:31,960 riding on the coat-tails of a winning trend. 1000 00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:35,200 If we have what the discos take in 1001 00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:37,600 and what they generate with the records, 1002 00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:41,560 we are talking about an estimated four billion, that's with a B, 1003 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:43,400 $4 billion a year. 1004 00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:45,480 When disco really exploded, 1005 00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:50,200 it becomes less about what the movement originally was, 1006 00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:55,600 which was people who loved music getting together 1007 00:57:55,600 --> 00:58:00,120 to dance to it and have a sort of ecstatic experience. 1008 00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:04,080 And then it became a little less about the music 1009 00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:06,160 and more about the money. 1010 00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:08,880 It was too much, and you knew that eventually 1011 00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:11,320 the bubble was going to burst on this. 1012 00:58:11,320 --> 00:58:13,880 1013 00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:17,360 Disco, in part, was a victim of its own success. 1014 00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:20,440 Disco got bloated. It also got rich. 1015 00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:22,400 1016 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,440 The racism, the homophobia had been brewing for some time. 1017 00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:30,240 That was personal, but you can't stop creativity. 1018 00:58:30,240 --> 00:58:32,160 1019 00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:33,560 Yeah, you got rid of the disco. 1020 00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:35,560 Now wait till you see what's coming next. 1021 00:58:36,920 --> 00:58:41,080 1022 00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:44,240 1023 00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:48,080 1024 00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:50,480 1025 00:58:50,480 --> 00:58:53,280 1026 00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:57,440 1027 00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:00,720 the last dance...