Disco at 50: Stayin’ Alive — and Still Influential

It was derided for years as danceable detritus. But some 50 years later, disco is finally getting the respect it deserves. Vintage dance tracks can be heard in supermarkets, on planes, at the theater — yes, that is a song from The Ethel Merman Disco Album playing before the Broadway hit Oh, Mary!

This glittery music genre that shot to popularity in the ’70s, only to face a harsh “disco sucks” backlash, is now appreciated for all its thump-thump glory. Would you really want to go to a high school reunion and not hear Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”?

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This mainstream acceptance was not expected when disco started about five decades ago, in the early ’70s. Sure, Summer, Gloria Gaynor, 82, and the Village People eventually scored monster hits, but at its origins, this was just high-energy music, then called “danceable R&B,” meant to be played in safe spaces where marginalized groups — people of color, women, gay men — gathered to have fun together. Diversity danced beneath the disco ball.

Disco was surging in popularity in 1975 and ’76, with such chart hits as Silver Convention’s “Fly, Robin, Fly,” Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” and Andrea True Connection’s “More, More, More.”

AARP (Getty Images)

Behind Studio 54’s Velvet Rope

As disco turns 50, AARP looks back at the cultural phenomenon that got us all boogie-oogie-oogieing on the dance floor. Get an inside look at the wildest nightclub of the disco era: Studio 54. ​

The following year, the mirror ball really got spinning. The feature film Saturday Night Fever premiered in December 1977, making a superstar out of a white-polyester-clad John Travolta, now 78, and getting the country boogying to the Bee Gees. (I saw the English-Aussie superstars at Madison Square Garden in September 1979 — I still have my ticket stub!) Earlier that year, a Newsweek cover story headlined “Disco Takes Over” estimated that 20,000 discotheques had opened in the U.S. My local club was the Strawberry Patch in Wayne, New Jersey, and you bet I went to its alcohol-free “teen disco” events every Sunday afternoon. It seemed like this party would never end.

But disco’s downfall began when a Chicago shock jock staged a radio promotion called “Disco Demolition Night” at a baseball doubleheader in July 1979. More than 50,000 people showed up and started a riot. Rock critics, most of whom had discounted disco all along, felt vindicated by its supposed demise (although the music kept going strong in Europe and Australia). It would be decades before they admitted that disco had, in fact, laid the groundwork for new wave and hip-hop.

As we celebrate a half-century of disco, it’s time to realize that disco never really died. It just went into hiding for a while, assuming different names like house music, techno and EDM (electronic dance music). And many of today’s young pop stars proudly incorporate disco beats into their hit songs. Harry Styles’ latest album, for instance, is called Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. As a current T-shirt philosophy puts it: “Disco doesn’t suck. You just can’t dance.” There are lessons to help with that. Only now, instead of at Arthur Murray, they’re on TikTok.

(From left) Disco fashion included jumpsuits, wide-lapel suits with dagger collars, dressing way up, peacock style and halter tops.

AARP (From left: Bert Stern/Conde Nast via Getty Images; Photo Media/Classicstock/Getty Images; ClassicStock/Alamy Stock Photo; Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock; Alamy Stock Photo)

The clothes we wore: iconic disco fashion trends

Besides the music, what do we remember about the era? The clothes! It was about “standing out and being flamboyant,” says design historian Sonya Abrego. “People wanted to be more expressive” and make an impression in a nightclub. These six looks kept the beat through the 1970s:

Jumpsuits. “A full-body jumpsuit in a stretch synthetic works like a leotard — which we also saw on dance floors — in how it molds to the body and creates a lean silhouette,” Abrego says.

Dressing up. “Dresses ranged in length, but we saw a lot of flowing, fluid skirts that showcased movement. Lots of uneven hemlines and flounced edges with high slits,” says Abrego.

‘Peacock’ looks for men. This meant more colorful menswear: bright prints and patterns. Flared pants, half-buttoned shirts, higher heels and medallions were popular looks.

Halter tops. These are “a style that is easy to wear and adjusts to fit while still being revealing. It makes sense with the more body-conscious styles of the time,” says Abrego.

Wide-lapel suits/dagger collars. Dagger collars on men’s shirts were another go-to. “That is borrowing straight out of 1930s aesthetics, but repackaged” for the era, according to Abrego.

Platform shoes. This look started with rock stars. “By the time you get to disco, it was becoming more acceptable for guys to bring that into their wardrobes on the weekend,” Abrego says. —Maisy Fernandez