Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco

By Peter Shapiro , Etienne Menu (Translation)

Despite its global success, disco is arguably the most maligned musical genre. In this volume, Peter Shapiro does justice to this blend of funk, soul, and pop, born in New York in the 1970s as a reaction to rock, which was then on its last legs. Far from sticking to clichés—sequined clothes with pointed collars and other disco balls—he reveals the richness and complexity of a true cultural movement, advocating pleasure and unbridled rhythms. With passion but lucidity, he traces the history and significance of disco culture, which emerged from the gay liberation movement and the emergence of individualist values advocated by the new America. He studies its manifestations in Europe, analyzes the explosion of the nightclub phenomenon, and the crucial role played by DJs, who, from playing records, became the essential instigators of a dance to wild rhythms. He discusses its main players - drummer Marc Cerrone, Chic, Donna Summer, but especially the shadowy producers responsible for the biggest hits. Initially an underground phenomenon, disco quickly conquered the mainstream with Saturday Night Fever, before abruptly disappearing under the onslaught of moral order. Shapiro does not hesitate to point out the excesses and ridiculousness of this art of casual, futile speech, stripped of all militancy and, above all, of this production dedicated to an escalation of profitability, which led to its decline. An ode to pleasure as well as a cultural history, this book nonetheless revives an era and sheds light on the social significance of a music that was able to erase the differences between ages, sexes, and conditions.

ISBN: 9782844852922