Three Elements Of Disco Music

Disco is, in essence, a fabulous culture, constructed through the club scene and the music of the genre. Euphoria was stressed in all aspects of disco, from sex and drugs to songs that provided deep, powerful messages that might not have even been intended. Through this unique sound and style, disco created a new haven for Hispanics, blacks, and queers, who were celebrated in disco. They could be accepted and welcomed into a community that wanted them to experience pleasure, whether they were a black woman or a gay man. In this glamorous shelter, the pulse of the rhythm resonated through one’s body and they were free to groove to the sound. One finally saw parts of themselves in the singers who pushed every note and composed funky beats. No form of discouragement repelled them from who they wanted to be, instead enabling them to act queer when they may not safely do so outside the confines of the club. The composition of the sonic elements of disco, including its lyrics, the personas behind them, and the sounds, plus the club practices, provided a unique safe space that varied from rock and punk for these marginalized identities that truly allowed them to look and feel fabulous. All these genres, rock, pop, disco, folk, etc., are about representing identities, whether in a group format, through individual tales, or general riot against …show more content…
Songs often focused on these three aspects, such as sex in eroticism and the fleeting nature of relationships in romanticism. In basic terms, “It is music for sex or for dancing or watching the straight world go by” (Kopkind 337). The actual sounds in disco are unctuous and thick, which evoked a sense of pleasure that is not easily experienced through everyday life. Songs were repetitive and long, with an emphasis on rhythm focused on pleasure, not mainly pounding and phallic like in