Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco

I certainly enjoyed this brief, fun trip down memory lane. Mr. Andriote successfully evokes the essence of an era in a wonderful, light and fun way. Hot Stuff offers a lucid explanation of the confluence of factors that caused disco music to begin, and then explode into the mainstream. He is at his best when evoking the energy of this era and the "disco scene". As you turn the pages, you too will re-live the era and if only for a brief moment, you will lose 4 inches from your waist, regain the hair you have lost and fit into those bell-bottom jeans one more time. Thank you John-Manuel for the trip down memory lane.

I'm sorry a few self-appointed "reviewers" have panned HOT STUFF because of their personal agendas or interpretations. Some of them simply hate--and obviously always hated--disco, so nothing on the subject will ever please them. The others, clearly not professional or published writers themselves, are the kind who love to lob stinkbombs in the safe anonymity of cyberspace. I am still pleased with HOT STUFF and the reception it received from people who enjoy disco and those who know something about the writing and publication of books, unlike the lone-star rangers you may have read above. I wrote HOT STUFF because disco music and fashion were back in style at the end of the 90s, and I thought it would be fun to take a close look at a time in recent history half my lifetime ago. I turned 20 in 1978, disco's hottest year. My friends and I were dancing in the clubs then. One night that year we went to Lucifer's, a club in Boston, and paid a buck to see Gloria Gaynor sing "I Will Survive"--when the disco classic was burning up the airwives. The four-on-the-foor disco beat, the divas singing about love and romance, drove us wild. Songs like Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby," made us wilder. Disco was the parent of today's dance music. And it was happy music. This is very important: Disco gave people a lift from the hard times of the 70s, a chance to get down and get their spirits up. We often forget that the 70s was a hard decade: the end of the Vietnam war, President Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal, double-digit inflation called "Stagflation," gas lines. People needed escape--and disco provided it. But like rock 'n roll before it, disco didn't take off into the pop culture mainstream until the Bee Gees and John Travolta put a straight, white face on what was often called "the gay sound" because of the music's early and tremendous popularity in gay clubs. This made it "safe" for the white, hetero, mainstream--just as Elvis had made rock 'n roll, a black style of music, safe for white America. The kind of fun and escape that disco music and the discos themselves offered is important, even today. We all need to celebrate life's good times even amidst the hard times we may face, and disco helps us do that. "Don't be a drag...participate," as Chic sang in "Good Times." I hope you'll enjoy HOT STUFF and that it will bring back happy memories for you--or help you create new ones by (re)discovering the fun and fabulousness of disco.

Recently read and interviewed the author on my show. It is a quick read looking at the various cultures that contributed to "Disco". There were some interesting facts that I did not remember from the era, so it was fun seeing it all over again. Take a look around, the kids are all looking at "disco" and the culture as glamour anew...wake up..it is not all that. Read it and you decide.