Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution

About the Show

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution is a new three-part series that tells the surprising and overlooked history of disco: its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy. Told by the original musicians, promoters and innovators – as well as modern day musical icons – the series charts disco from its inception in the early 70s to global domination in the latter part of the decade up to its violent end in the summer of 1979.

Disco embodied the height of 1970s glamour: a dancefloor culture born in New York that went on to take over the world. But its success also obscured its wider significance. Disco originally belonged to the marginalized and dispossessed: gay, black and Hispanic people and women. It was their weapon in a battle for community, identity and inclusivity; and once unleashed, it took on a life of its own. Inextricably bound up with the major liberation movements of the 1970s, disco speaks to some of the biggest issues of today: LGBTQ+ identity and female empowerment.

But if disco shone brightly, it also shone briefly. Sensing profits, the commercial mainstream co-opted the disco sound and flooded the market, making disco the dominant sound on the airwaves and in record shops. The subsequent hate-fueled backlash is one of the most extraordinary instances of cancel culture in recent history. But the story of disco is also a survival story. The music and its ethos went back underground, where it evolved into an electronic dance sound that laid the foundations for contemporary dance culture.

EPISODE 1: Rock the Boat

The remarkable story of how a global music phenomenon was born among the gay and black communities in the loft apartments and basement bars of 1970s New York.   And how the dancefloor became a platform in their battle for visibility and inclusion. 

EPISODE 2: Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now

Set against the backdrop of black power and sexual liberation, Episode 2 takes us to the high watermark of disco in the middle of the decade.  As disco conquers the mainstream, it turns black women and gay men into superstars and icons.

EPISODE 3: Stayin’ Alive

By the end of the 1970s, disco seemed untouchable.  But its dominance of the charts and airwaves incited a violent backlash that led to its commercial demise.  Disco returned underground… where it laid the foundations for all electronic dance music.