Disco facts for kids

The reflective light disco ball was a fixture on the ceilings of many discothèques.

Disco is a fun style of music that was super popular from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. People usually dance to disco music at special places called disco clubs. The word "disco" can also mean the way people dance to this music, or the cool clothes they wear when they go dancing.

Disco music is upbeat and mixes sounds from soul, funk, and Latin music. It has a strong beat perfect for dancing, a steady "four-on-the-floor" rhythm, and a big bass line. It often includes instruments like strings. Disco is definitely dance music!

Disco was most popular in the United States and Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A big reason it became so well-known was the hit movie Saturday Night Fever, which came out in 1977. This movie, starring John Travolta, showed off amazing disco dancing. Many radio stations played disco songs all the time in the late 1970s.

By the early 1980s, disco started to become less popular. Other music styles like dance, Hi-NRG, and post-disco began to take its place. However, disco still influences modern dance music today. It even has moments where it becomes popular again! Also, a different type of disco called Euro disco became popular in Europe.

What is Disco Music?

Disco music mixes R&B with funk, soul, and dance music. It usually features a singer, electric guitars, synthesizer keyboards, an electric bass guitar, and a drummer or electronic drum machine. Disco music often has a simple structure with a strong beat and a powerful "bass line." You'll also hear many electronic effects in disco songs.

How People Danced to Disco

Blue disco quad roller skates.

When people went disco dancing, they often wore stylish clothes. Guys might wear tight trousers, leather shoes or boots, and shirts with a few buttons open. Girls often wore tight or glittery outfits that allowed them to move freely on the dance floor. The fashion was all about looking glamorous and ready to dance!

Famous Disco Clubs

Disco music was played loudly at special places called disco clubs. In the late 1970s, some clubs became very famous, like Studio 54 in New York City.

Disco clubs had a large dance floor and a big sound system. A Disk Jockey (or "DJ") would play disco records using powerful speakers. The music was usually played very loud, with lots of deep bass sounds. Disco clubs also had cool colored lights that flashed with the music, called scanners. They also had mirror balls with hundreds of tiny mirrors that reflected light all over the room, making it sparkle as people danced.

Notable Disco Musicians

• Bee Gees
• Donna Summer
• Village People
• Sylvester
• Amanda Lear
• Amii Stewart
• Andrea True Connection
• Anita Ward

Related Music Styles

• Funk
• R&B
• Soul music

Images for kids

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  Disco bass pattern.

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  Rock & disco drum patterns: disco features greater subdivision of the beat, which is four-to-the-floor

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  Major disco clubs had lighted dance floors, with the lights flashing to complement the beat.

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  Disco dancers typically wore loose slacks for men and flowing dresses for women, which enabled ease of movement on the dance floor.

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  Dancers at an East German discothèque in 1977

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  Gloria Gaynor in 1976

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  Diana Ross in 1976

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  ABBA in 1974.

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  Italian composer Giorgio Moroder is known as the "Father of Disco".

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  Donna Summer in 1977

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  Dalida in 1967.

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  The Bee Gees had several disco hits on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever in 1977.

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  The a cappella jazz group the Manhattan Transfer had a disco hit with the 1979 "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" theme.

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  A man wearing a "disco sucks" T-shirt.

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  Classic DJ Station. A DJ mixer is placed between two Technics SL-1200 MK 2 turntables.

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  Disco dance performance at the 30th anniversary of Kontula in Helsinki, Finland, in 1994

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  Like disco, house music was based around DJs creating mixes for dancers in clubs. Pictured is DJ Miguel Migs, mixing using CDJ players.

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  Strobing lights flash at a rave dance event in Vienna, 2005

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  Students from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City dancing to disco during a cultural event on campus

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  British singer Dua Lipa has been credited by music critics with leading the revival of disco following the widespread international success of her single "Don't Start Now" and her album Future Nostalgia.

See also

In Spanish: Música disco para niños