Discothèque

For other uses, see Discothèque (disambiguation).

Discothèque in South Florida

A discothèque (French pronunciation: [diskoˈtɛk]) is an entertainment venue or club with recorded music played by Disc jockeys through a PA system, rather than an on-stage band.

Prior to the discothèque, most bars and nightclubs used live bands as entertainment.

Etymology

The word is a portmanteau originally coined in the radio business^{[citation needed]} referring to bins used by Radio DJs for the storage of (gramophone) records--(Greek: discos) and storage (Greek: theke, or thèque in French spelling).

History

Further information: Nightclubs and 1970s disco

1940s

In 1943, Jimmy Savile launched the world's first commercial DJ dance party by playing jazz records in the upstairs function room of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds in Otley, England. He advertised his music-nights as Disc Only. He claimed to have been the first DJ to use twin turntables for continuous play, in 1947.

In Occupied France, jazz and bebop music, and the jitterbug dance were banned by the Nazis as decadent American influences, so members of the French underground met at hidden underground basement dance clubs called discotheques where they danced to American swing music. When a jukebox was not available, DJ would play 78 rpm records on a single turntable. These "discotheques" were also patronized by anti-Vichy youth called zazous.

In Nazi Germany itself, even before the war, there were also underground discotheques patronized by anti-Nazi youth who were known as "the swing kids".

1950s

In Harlem, the Cotton Club and Connie's Inn were popular venues for white audiences. Before 1953 and even some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands. In Paris, at a club named "Whisky à Gogo", founded in 1947,^[1] Régine in 1953 laid down a dance-floor, suspended coloured lights and replaced the juke-box with two turntables which she operated herself so there would be no breaks between the music. The Whisky à Gogo set into place the standard elements of the modern post World War II discothèque-style nightclub.

The first dancing hall that was turned into a discothèque was the Scotch-Club in Aachen, when on October 19, 1959, the usual band was unable to play and a record player had to be used. Klaus Quirini took over the record player, and his new format became quickly popular outside town.^[2] The name disc jockey had been coined by Walter Winchell in 1935 to refer to radio DJ's.

1960s and early 1970s

In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabel's, in Berkeley Square, London. In 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated. In 1965, the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles originated the hiring of go-go dancers that were cage dancers.

By the late 1960s, soldiers stationed in West Germany had taken the discothèque format home. American versions of the discothèque started to catch on, and with these clubs, the demand for new dance steps such as the Frug, the Merengue, and the Mule skyrocketed.

Record labels feverishly rushed out whole albums of music to monkey or limbo by, or else mimicked the discothèque effect by assembling compilations of everything from the foxtrot to the boogaloo. Dance instructors got in on the act, releasing LPs such "Killer Joe's International Discotheque."^[3]

Late 1970s to 1990s

Le Tub discothèque club in Calais.

German discothèque club Himmerich "Haus Waldesruh" (Heinsberg)

By the late 1970s many major US cities had thriving disco club scenes which were centered around discothèques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the dancers. The DJs played "... a smooth mix of long single records to keep people “dancing all night long”^[4] Some of the prestigious clubs had elaborate light organs, which converted audio signals into colored lights that throbbed to the beat of the music or even glass dance floors with colored lights.

Some cities had disco dance instructors or dance schools which taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", the "hustle" and the "cha cha." There were also disco fashions that discothèque-goers wore for nights out at their local disco, such as sheer, flowing Halston dresses for women and shiny polyester Qiana shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit suit jackets.

In addition to the dance and fashion aspects of the disco club scene, there was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine^[5] (nicknamed "blow"), amyl nitrite "poppers",^[6] and the "...other quintessential 1970s club drug Quaalude, which suspended motor coordination and turned one’s arms and legs to Jell-O."^[7] The massive quantities of drugs ingested in discothèques by newly liberated gay men produced the next cultural phenomenon of the disco era: rampant promiscuity and public sex. While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction, actual sex usually took place in the nether regions of the disco: bathroom stalls, exit stairwells, and so on. In other cases the disco became a kind of “main course” in a hedonist’s menu for a night out."^[8]

Famous 1970s discotheques included "...cocaine-filled celeb hangouts such as Manhattan's Studio 54 ", which was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Studio 54 was notorious for the hedonism that went on within; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with an image of the "Man in the Moon" that included an animated cocaine spoon. Other famous discothèques included the Loft, the Paradise Garage, and Aux Puces, one of the first gay disco bars.

In the 1980s and 1990s the custom of visiting discotheques, dancing and listening to electronic dance music created Clubbing as a subculture or lifestyle.

2000s

Today the term discothèque is generally considered dated, with the shortened word disco being more common.^[9][10] In the United States and Australia the term has largely been replaced with nightclub or dance club since the mid-1980s, though discothèque or disco are still used frequently in many other parts of the world. The word "disco" was originally an abbreviation of discothèque.

In Britain, a 'disco' is usually now a one-off night of dancing and music organised by a non-professional (or semi-professional) DJ at an institution such as a school or workplace.

See also

• 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing
• Cover charge, the flat fee paid for admission to many clubs
• Dance Party
• Go-Go dancer
• Hot Dance Music/Club Play, a Billboard chart starting in 1974 (originally called "Disco Action")
• List of number-one dance hits (United States) (begins with 1974)
• Nightclub
• Clubbing (music)

References

1. ^ Rock and Roll is a State of Mind:
2. ^ On the German DJ association, site in German
3. ^ "Killer Joe" Piro
4. ^ The Body and soul of club culture
5. ^ Gootenberg, Paul 1954- Between Coca and Cocaine: A Century or More of U.S.-Peruvian Drug Paradoxes, 1860-1980 Hispanic American Historical Review - 83:1, February 2003, pp. 119-150. He says that "The relationship of cocaine to 1970s disco culture cannot be stressed enough; ..."
6. ^ Amyl, butyl and isobutyl nitrite (collectively known as alkyl nitrites) are clear, yellow liquids which are inhaled for their intoxicating effects. Nitrites originally came as small glass capsules that were popped open. This led to nitrites being given the name 'poppers' but this form of the drug is rarely found in the UK The drug became popular in the UK first on the disco/club scene of the 1970s and then at dance and rave venues in the 1980s and 1990s. Available at "?". http://www.drugscope.org.uk/druginfo/drugsearch/ds_results.asp?file=%5Cwip%5C11%5C1%5C1%5Cnitrites.html. 
7. ^ "76k". http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1999/7/1999_7_43.shtml. 
8. ^ Peter Braunstein. Available at "?". http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1999/7/1999_7_43.shtml. 
9. ^ "Definition of Discotheque - Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary". http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=22184&dict=CALD. Retrieved 2007-01-22. 
10. ^ "Definition of Disco - Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary". http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/disco_1. 

• American Heritage: Disco (history)
• History of the Discotheque
• Village Voice article "King of Clubs", on The Loft

External links

• 365Mag - 365 Mag and e-zine about electronic music
• EQTV.dj - An online dance music magazine
• Dance-hits.com - All times dance music charts (begins with 1974)
• Tip of the Pops - solar powered wheelbarrow disco