My favorite would be "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston.
Second would probably be "On the Radio" by Donna Summer.
How about you?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 183 | June 11, 2022 12:47 AM |
Far too many to mention (it’s my favorite genre), but this one might be my ultimate.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 3, 2022 8:01 PM |
Sylvester, "("You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 3, 2022 8:20 PM |
Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 3, 2022 8:23 PM |
The biggest and best gay anthem of all time.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 3, 2022 8:23 PM |
The lovely Evelyn "Champagne" King, "Shame."
Great discovery story: she was a janitor, and a music producer heard her singing while she cleaned.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 3, 2022 8:24 PM |
Alicia Bridges "I Love the Nightlife."
It's a classic song.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 3, 2022 8:24 PM |
It's so hard to pick just one, but my current favorite is this one:
My Feet Keep Dancing by Chic
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 3, 2022 8:29 PM |
Turn the Beat Around -- Vicki Sue Robinson
Blame it on the Boogie -- Jackson 5
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 3, 2022 8:31 PM |
Mmmmmmmmm. True 70s cheese. And good cheese.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 3, 2022 8:32 PM |
What were gay clubs like during the Disco era?
It must have been nuts. And fun.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 3, 2022 8:34 PM |
Do You Wanna Funk? by Sylvester.
Also, Get Down Tonight (KC & The Sunshine Band)
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | June 3, 2022 8:37 PM |
Lost in Music by Sister Sledge
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 18 | June 3, 2022 8:47 PM |
cocaine is a helluva drug...
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | June 3, 2022 9:22 PM |
I wasn't alive for Disco, but Sylvester and Diana Ross both had some top shelf songs. Donna Summers too of course. She always sounded great but a lot of her songs are too long and repetitive. Same with Grace Jones. I know they get the eldergay love, but their disco is kind of stale. Ha.
I love this discofied version of If You Could Read My Mind that was done for the movie about Studio 54. We dance to this all the time at our house. It helps when the bones of the song are this good - and it's also a banger.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 23 | June 3, 2022 9:28 PM |
Donna Summer "MacArthur Park"
All 17 minutes of it!!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 24 | June 3, 2022 10:06 PM |
OP good choice, easily one of the best if not the best disco song.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | June 3, 2022 10:34 PM |
Dance a Little Bit Closer
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 27 | June 3, 2022 10:43 PM |
So many of that time but I seem to always want to hear this one.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 28 | June 3, 2022 10:47 PM |
Jump The Gun by The Three Degrees
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 30 | June 3, 2022 10:51 PM |
R9 Yes!
In 1975 I went into a Manhattan bar down in the Greenwich Village area after a boring drag of a day at work, ordered a white wine spritzer and though the bar was small and narrow at the end was a little area for dancing. The song The Hustle came on and these two came out and danced to it like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
I could feel a wave coming and it was so welcome. I just loved those few years of dancing in the discos in NY.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 34 | June 3, 2022 11:17 PM |
R3 - That's the one. You beat me to it.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | June 3, 2022 11:39 PM |
Cheryl Lynn "Star Love"
"Take me in your arms and ROCKET me!"
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 45 | June 4, 2022 12:56 AM |
You'll Never Find another Love Like Mine
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 47 | June 4, 2022 1:07 AM |
make me queen for the night....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 48 | June 4, 2022 1:46 AM |
get the action going.....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 49 | June 4, 2022 1:48 AM |
There's nothing to it / Just say you want to do it
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 50 | June 4, 2022 1:58 AM |
the best disco EP you haven't heard, the title track of which stands as possibly my all time fave disco tune...
and the night they invented love ain't too shabby either....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 51 | June 4, 2022 2:03 AM |
another great obscurity - everything I adore about later-period disco, with just a tinge of melancholy, and the twinkling keys are yummy
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 52 | June 4, 2022 2:13 AM |
politics aside .... this is essential
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 56 | June 4, 2022 2:38 AM |
Nothing can come close to Madonna’s Hung Up
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 58 | June 4, 2022 2:45 AM |
Don't know if it's been posted...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 59 | June 4, 2022 2:46 AM |
I Can't Stand the Rain by Eruption
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 60 | June 4, 2022 3:29 AM |
I always liked Boogie Oogie Oogie
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 61 | June 4, 2022 3:31 AM |
I first heard this on the beach in Lauderdale. I need a whiff of Coppertone.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 62 | June 4, 2022 3:36 AM |
First time I thew out my back..
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 63 | June 4, 2022 4:10 AM |
Heaven Knows by Donna Summer and Got to Be Real by Cheryl Lynn
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | June 4, 2022 4:14 AM |
Forget Me Nots, Patrice Rushen.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 70 | June 4, 2022 4:21 AM |
First Choice's excellent "Hold Your Horses"
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 71 | June 4, 2022 4:26 AM |
Odyssey "Native New Yorker"
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 72 | June 4, 2022 5:31 AM |
I love them both - disco mashup.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 73 | June 4, 2022 6:45 AM |
you're welcome gays - Janette and Brandon🔥🔥
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 74 | June 4, 2022 6:49 AM |
"Yes Sir, I Can Boogie."
By Baccara.
I hear this stupid song EVERYWHERE now.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 75 | June 4, 2022 12:32 PM |
“I Feel Love” is still hypnotic to me.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | June 4, 2022 1:19 PM |
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmeralda
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 77 | June 4, 2022 1:31 PM |
Reach Your Peak by Sister Sledge
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 78 | June 4, 2022 1:40 PM |
R49, that is my absolute favorite disco song of all time. LOVE it.
I'm going to add this one. Love it.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 80 | June 4, 2022 3:27 PM |
Burn, Baby Burn! Disco Inferno.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 82 | June 4, 2022 9:03 PM |
OMG I just realized that's John Travolta dancing in the video at R82.
What the hell?
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | June 4, 2022 9:04 PM |
R83, It's a clip from Saturday Night Fever. It says so right in the embed.
| by Anonymous | reply 86 | June 4, 2022 9:09 PM |
Young and Company - I Like What You're Doing to Me
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 87 | June 4, 2022 9:11 PM |
Here's the thing about disco. After you list the top 100 songs of ALL time, there are no others worth listening to. Disco IS dead. It died. Donna Summers doesn't even have one of the top ten disco songs of all time. (Gloria Gaynor and KC and Miss Ross do, though:)
The same cannot be said of folk songs or indie music or C/W or classical, jazz, pop or Broadway. You're not gonna hit the quality ceiling after naming only 100 songs.
| by Anonymous | reply 90 | June 4, 2022 9:14 PM |
I was born after disco "died" but I remember discovering this and being sort of shocked that something so blatantly sexual got a lot of uncensored airplay in the 70s.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 94 | June 4, 2022 9:24 PM |
^^It always seemed like the flip side to this-- same genre, different holes
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 95 | June 4, 2022 9:25 PM |
Meco - Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 97 | June 4, 2022 9:57 PM |
Shalamar - Second Time Around (12" Extended )
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 100 | June 4, 2022 11:23 PM |
Deniece Williams - I've Got The Next Dance (ARC Records 1979)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 101 | June 4, 2022 11:25 PM |
^^Ugh. Here's the right URL
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 102 | June 4, 2022 11:27 PM |
Dan Hartman ft Loleatta Holloway - Vertigo/Relight My Fire (Blue Sky Records 1979)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 103 | June 4, 2022 11:28 PM |
Dan Hartman - Instant Replay (Blue Sky Records 1978)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 104 | June 4, 2022 11:29 PM |
Nile Rodgers & CHIC - Good Times (Glastonbury 2017)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 105 | June 4, 2022 11:33 PM |
Thelma Houston - If You Feel It (Original 12')
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 106 | June 4, 2022 11:35 PM |
Peaches & Herb ~ Shake Your Groove Thing 1978 Funky Purrfection Version
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 107 | June 4, 2022 11:36 PM |
Givin Up, Givin In
Those moves are on POINT!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 108 | June 4, 2022 11:36 PM |
Carol Douglas ~ My Simple Heart 1981 Disco Purrfection Version
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 109 | June 4, 2022 11:37 PM |
Miquel Brown - So Many Men So Little Time
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 110 | June 4, 2022 11:40 PM |
Madonna - Into The Groove (Official Video)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 111 | June 4, 2022 11:42 PM |
Laura Branigan ~ Gloria 1982 Disco Purrfection Version
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 112 | June 4, 2022 11:44 PM |
The Sylvers ~ Boogie Fever 1975 Hot Tracks Purrfection Edit
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 113 | June 4, 2022 11:46 PM |
After seeing Laura Branigan perform it live at Chaps in Boston it's been a favorite, Gloria.
| by Anonymous | reply 114 | June 4, 2022 11:46 PM |
R85 you have excellent taste
| by Anonymous | reply 116 | June 4, 2022 11:49 PM |
Change - A Lover's Holiday [12" Extended Mix]
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 117 | June 4, 2022 11:49 PM |
Brothers Johnson ~ Stomp! 1980 Disco Purrfection Version
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 118 | June 4, 2022 11:51 PM |
Can’t forget the master of French disco, Cerrone
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 119 | June 4, 2022 11:51 PM |
The first lady of French disco, the great Dalida
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 120 | June 4, 2022 11:52 PM |
Got to Give It Up, Marvin Gaye.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 121 | June 4, 2022 11:55 PM |
I already posted my all-time favorite, but I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned what is probably my #2 fave.
One of the most positive, uplifting, feel-good recordings of all time, IMO. Never fails to lift my spirits.
"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" - McFadden & Whitehead
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 122 | June 5, 2022 12:09 AM |
Il Valiero bitches!
Those who were in the clubs know this one
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 123 | June 5, 2022 12:16 AM |
Eldergays - why were so many disco songs so long? What was the point of an 10 minute extended-play version?
| by Anonymous | reply 124 | June 5, 2022 12:30 AM |
Johnny Mathis - Gone Gone Gone
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 125 | June 5, 2022 12:30 AM |
quaaludes, R124.
A lot of disco songs were plodding. Many were tooo extended and repetitive.
| by Anonymous | reply 126 | June 5, 2022 12:35 AM |
Really r124? Songs at a disco weren't formatted for the radio where a song would be 2 or 3 minutes long. It wouldn't only be at discos, rock concerts had full versions of their songs (compared with two versions), which were longer than 5 minutes. It was an experience to savor the entire song and to dance to it.
| by Anonymous | reply 127 | June 5, 2022 12:36 AM |
What do you get when you cross the son of jazz legend Thelonious Monk with the songwriter that gave us "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree"?
A friggin' classic, that's what!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 128 | June 5, 2022 12:47 AM |
Got to Be Real - Cheryl Lynn
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 129 | June 5, 2022 12:53 AM |
As usual, I am a bad gay who doesn't love disco that much. But in the last month or so I've had the urge to really look into it and give it a chance. I've listened to podcasts on the rise and fall of disco which are very interesting, and I just love a lot of 70s history. On listening to a lot of disco, I'm still of the view that a lot of it is not for me, but I have discovered some real gems too, like:
"Good Times" - Chic
"Boogie Wonderland" - Earth, Wind and Fire
"I Feel Love" and "Love to Love You Baby" - Donna Summer
"Love Hangover" - Diana Ross
"Love Train" - The O'Jays
"Jungle Boogie" - Kool and the Gang
"A Fifth of Beethoven" - Walter Murphy
"Star Love" - Cheryl Lynn
and a number of others too. What I'm also discovering is that heaps of music from my generation owes a lot to 70s disco. A lot of songs I never realised are based on samples of these 70s songs or reference them in some way.
| by Anonymous | reply 130 | June 5, 2022 12:56 AM |
[quote] Eldergays - why were so many disco songs so long? What was the point of an 10 minute extended-play version?
Because, back in the olden days, people would actually go to clubs and drink and dance with each other on a dance floor. If a song was popular, you'd want to keep dancing longer than the 3 or 4 minutes (radio version).
Some of those EPs were too long, though.
| by Anonymous | reply 131 | June 5, 2022 1:00 AM |
What Is Love, Haddaway.
Technically, post-disco, but I think it deserves a mention.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 132 | June 5, 2022 1:01 AM |
[quote]Eldergays - why were so many disco songs so long? What was the point of an 10 minute extended-play version?
Here's an interesting mini-documentary you might like:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 133 | June 5, 2022 1:01 AM |
r90, I'm confused by your post. Donna Summer (no "s" at the end) has had many memorable [disco] songs and is always a fixture of 10 ten lists when ranking the disco genre and would probably even earn an entry in any top ten list that ranks popular music of the 1970s in general. She not only had monster hit singles (e.g., Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love, Last Dance, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, On the Radio, etc.), but her albums were successful as well, which bucked the trend of it being merely a singles driven genre. Disco may have fallen out of favor for a time, but it never went away and the best songs and artists associated with the 70s disco era are still widely esteemed (Chic, Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder, Bee Gees, ABBA, etc.).
| by Anonymous | reply 134 | June 5, 2022 1:34 AM |
Thank you R133--checking it out now.
And sorry R127, I like R126's answer better--it makes more sense.
R131 - isn't the job of the DJ to play a song immediately after that will keep people on the dance floor? It wasn't like there was only one disco song you'd dance to?
| by Anonymous | reply 135 | June 5, 2022 2:21 AM |
And thank you again R133-- just watched it. Really well done and interesting--learned a ;lot from it about the music scene in the 70s and 80s.
Much appreciated.
| by Anonymous | reply 136 | June 5, 2022 2:33 AM |
R70 I never heard that song before. I really enjoyed that! Thanks.
This one for Steve Rubell, who unfortunately did not.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 138 | June 5, 2022 2:58 AM |
Harmony by Suzi Lane
Written and produced by Giorgio Moroder.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 139 | June 5, 2022 3:18 AM |
You can’t think of all the wrong in the world….get dancin’
1970s philosophy
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 142 | June 5, 2022 4:03 AM |
It’s so hard to pick just one! I was raised on Donna Summer & ABBA & love so many of the songs mentioned, so I’ll go with one I hadn’t actually heard back in the day,mits a bit obscure, but altogether wonderful.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 143 | June 5, 2022 4:19 AM |
OP, I never heard Thelma Houston's song until maybe 5 years ago (millennial here!) in the grocery store of all places. It was pretty funny because once that hook started (1:09 in your video) the old people in the store started dancing in the isles. And I have to admit, it was catchy!
| by Anonymous | reply 144 | June 5, 2022 4:25 AM |
My choice for best would be Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" and Santa Esmeralda's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood".
What about the worst Disco song? I nominate Dee D. Jackson's "Automatic Lover" and the video from 1978 doesn't help to like it either. But watch it: I promise you will laugh!
| by Anonymous | reply 145 | June 5, 2022 4:34 AM |
When faced with an important question such as this, one must always ask oneself
What Would Jesus Shake His Ass To?
The answer:
"Mighty High" by Mighty Clouds of Joy
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 147 | June 5, 2022 4:36 AM |
The thread is way past the best 100 list at this point. Time to wrap it up. There just isn't that much good disco. And a lot of what's "good" was only OK.
If you can still dance through it, eldergays - it was probably not one of the good disco songs.
| by Anonymous | reply 148 | June 5, 2022 4:49 AM |
This one always puts me in a good mood.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 152 | June 5, 2022 12:07 PM |
This one doesn't get mentioned enough.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 153 | June 5, 2022 12:13 PM |
Daft Punk, Pharrell and Nile Rodgers brought disco back to the pop charts in 2013.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 154 | June 5, 2022 12:27 PM |
Stormy Weather - Viola Wills
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 155 | June 5, 2022 12:49 PM |
The chorus to this song gives me chills:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 156 | June 5, 2022 12:54 PM |
Best disco song of all time. I'm Coming Out by Ms. Ross.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 157 | June 5, 2022 12:57 PM |
Heaven Must Have Sent You - Bonnie Pointer
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 160 | June 6, 2022 8:00 PM |
Get Up and Boogie (That's Right) - Silver Convention
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 161 | June 6, 2022 8:04 PM |
Mellow Lovin' - Judy Cheeks
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 162 | June 6, 2022 8:06 PM |
Haven't You Heard? - Patrice Rushen
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 163 | June 6, 2022 8:07 PM |
If you were born during disco, you're a Xennial.
| by Anonymous | reply 165 | June 7, 2022 11:56 PM |
"Loving You, Losing You" by Phyllis Hyman
"Native New Yorker," by Odyssey
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 166 | June 8, 2022 12:11 AM |
^ yeah R &B but it's one helluva dance song, too
| by Anonymous | reply 167 | June 8, 2022 12:14 AM |
"Make Me Believe in You," Patti Jo
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 168 | June 8, 2022 12:22 AM |
Better than Donna Summers! And Carrie doesn't condemn the gays.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 169 | June 8, 2022 7:33 AM |
Make That Feeling Come Again
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 170 | June 8, 2022 3:12 PM |
Best of My Love by The Emotions
| by Anonymous | reply 172 | June 8, 2022 9:19 PM |
Aw hell now I see it listed above. Sorry for the brain fart on this thread.
| by Anonymous | reply 174 | June 8, 2022 9:27 PM |
And once again, after 174 entries, 30 of them listenable - disco is DEAD!
| by Anonymous | reply 175 | June 9, 2022 11:27 PM |
For me, 70s disco falls into three categories.
- A small number of songs that are truly excellent songs. Usually ones that are a lot more bass heavy/funky.
- A larger number of songs that I can and do enjoy in the right place but always with tongue in cheek. I find myself enjoying, but in a self-aware way, those songs.
- The largest number of them which are just terrible and cheesy and sound like they were produced as part of the pop-music factory.
| by Anonymous | reply 176 | June 9, 2022 11:52 PM |
