Why disco made pop songs longer
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- Опубліковано 24 кві 2019
- Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.
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In the early 1970s, a musical sensation took over New York City. It was called Disco. Before Disco became synonymous with Saturday Night Fever, Rod Stewart, and celebrity-fueled parties, it was an underground movement powered by the innovations of young DJs challenging themselves and each other to throw the city’s most adventurous dance parties.
By 1973, their influence as musical taste makers became apparent, and a handful of unconventional dance tracks became pop crossover hits. With barely any radio airplay, songs like "Love Theme" and "Girl You Need a Change of Mind" became defining tracks of the disco era.
These songs were repetitive, hypnotic, and funky, and they were also pretty long compared to other pop hits. That presented a problem for DJs using 7-inch 45rpm singles, which fit only 3:30 minutes of quality audio on them, during their night-long sets. They needed a vinyl record that could make their most popular tracks sound powerful on a dance floor and last the whole night.
In 1976, an accidental studio discovery by Disco pioneer Tom Moulton provided the solution: A 12-inch single. By stretching one song across 12 inches of vinyl, a format typically reserved for full-length albums, those extended dance tracks had room to breath.
By the 1980s, the 12-inch single dominated pop music. It not only changed the sound of records, it allowed for music producers to experiment with length and structure.
SOURCES:
While I dug through hundreds of pages of billboard charts and oral histories of the disco era to research and write this piece a few select sources proved incredibly helpful and they are linked below. I highly recommend checking them out if you want to learn more about this story.
Books:
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster
Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979
by Tim Lawrence
Articles:
Mix Mag’s collection of stories on Disco and I Feel Love
mixmag.net/feature/the-master...
Red Bull Music Academy’s Disco story archive:
daily.redbullmusicacademy.com...
Note: The headline for this video has been updated since publishing.
Previous headline: The disco invention that changed pop music
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Well I’m not, so yeah I’ll carry on with what I was doing
I'd like to see artists go back to 3 minute songs. The songs I listen to now, are like 2 minutes-ish. My attention span can last 3 minutes
Just saying, you misspelled Morley's name in the video. You spelt it as 'Morely' around the 1:43 mark when it should be spelt as 'Morley.'
@@nomeansno5481 Also 'occasional'
where is the spotify playlist?
"It was revolutionary, we could go do drugs" the 12-inch is marvelous
Coclico Coco this guy 😂it slipped out
12"?? Yesh right, at most his was 7" or 8"
Nope, wouldn't know anything about that... :P
He probably lived a very full life
My favorite bit
the audio and visual engineering in these videos are so amazing
seriously.
I'm loving Vox's visual style too, and the audio almost always complements the picture well.
rightfully said
Should we give any credit to Adobe?
They use powerpoint and notepad bruh. Get real please.
6:18 "Wow we can go to the bathroom, do drugs and smoke a joint."
😂 He was a little bit too happy for the extra time.
I laughed when he said that! Good times!
back when you were not drug-screened for every goddammed job.
I wish earworm videos would have a list of the songs used/featured in the video, like on the description
That would be nice, but they do show the music used in the credits at the end of the video.
@@josephstanichar5434 ah I completely missed it 😅 silly of me
Or a spotify playlist plz
@@rickflarez They have done multiple spotify playlists in the past. I remember listening to them. Not sure why they don't have one here.
Agreed text in the description would be great: Song, Artist, and Year would be ideal!
"I Feel Love" is Summer at her best, her angelic voice surrounded by a totally electronic landscape and layers of harmony. The memories...
my favourite artist, the queen of disco
Great, now I need to make a 70s/80s disco playlist
Harrison Ganner Vox should make one to go along with each video. It’ll be great!
Just look for the GTA Vice City playlists and you'll have a great base to start from.
Let’s make one on Spotify and everyone can contribute !!!!
@@FITTOO honestly let's do that
Made one open.spotify.com/user/12175828226/playlist/3QjrTVIHEGtqjuNhI5deJn?si=Z0CM2RbIQAqyCK1txLVd4w
Without 12 inch singles we wouldn't have hip hop in its current form either. One of the best selling 12 inches of all time was The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. That changed hip hop forever.
nahhh son, hip hop is Kool Herc and em other Djs rocked 12 and 45 but the culture that really made it has to be the instrumental tape versions you could then record with on a multitrac or cheap boom box that had the Mic in and dual tape deck
@@iMergeAndSee I'm saying the song changed hip hop by introducing socially conscious lyrics into the fold.
1.radio edit
2.album version
3.instrumental
4.a cappella
The 12 inch version of Rapper’s Delight was the entire original one take recording
We’d still have Hip Hop without 12 inches though.
Just the songs would be shorter and DJs would have less vinyl room to work with. Lol.
At the superstore that I worked at, and when Donna Summer passed away, the person in charge of the store's nation-wide instore radio played the extended version of "I Feel Love" 4 times to pay their respects. They then played "Dire Striaghts - Sultans of Swing", once, then played "I feel Love Another 3 times. They were given a very stern warning, and to keep to brand.
Additionally, when they left their position 8 month later, they played Eagles - Hotel California, on repeat, from 6PM Until it was changed in the morning at 7:30AM. Most stores chose to plug in their (then) iPods. When I asked the boss what the story was about, he said, Working for the company was a bit like the Hotel California, "You can swipe out anytime, but you can never leave."
You gotta love oral history like this. It's one of the best things UA-cam brings.
TIL Donna Summer died. Relatively young too :/
And now in the stream era, songs are getting shorter again. It has been increasing a lot the amount of 2/2 and a half minute songs on their top playlists. The choruses have moved to the very first few seconds, so it gets people's attention and the shorter length makes you want to listen to it again and again. Technology evolving and changing our lives on ways we barely notice.
A clear sign of declining attention spans
@@danieldaniels7571 well in 63 the beatles had a song on there album that was only 1:50 ( and most of the rest hovered around 2 minutes) so who knows. All i know is these kids are ruining music!
And I always assumed it was because of TikTok songs were shorter but it's been a thing in the past too
" My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio. "
Ay sick reference bro
Lmao I busted out laughing at this reference
One of the best tracks on that album!
(Song is Giorgio by Moroder. Album is Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (which, in my opinion, is the best album of the decade))
Cue one of the best electronic tracks of all time!
YASSSSSSSSS
I was waiting for them to bring up Blue Monday: highest selling 12 inch single of all time 🎧 📀🎶🎵
Same, after being exposed to the song from Joris Voorn in a NYC club, I have loved it ever since. Very influential song.
really? well tell us..."How does it feel?" :D
Hearing Blue Monday for the 1st time in this video made me realize that I'd heard it before. It's the sample used at the Darmok breakdown in The Picard Song by Dark Materia.
I see a ship in the harbor.
I got all excited when I found a copy in a thrift store in the 90's....my friend tried to burst my bubble with that fact, "cool, but It's the highest selling single of all time." True, but you never find it in a bargain bin....people don't give it away!
I'm a music nerd, so I can't tell how much I appreciate these videos
Do you know Adam Neely?
Why can’t you tell?
Queen on the 45’s: I’m about to end this man’s whole career
Napoleon I Bonaparte YESSSSS💀
whoever does the graphics for shows needs a raise
BIG RECOMMENDATIONS FROM ME:
- Heartbeat (Larry Levan Mix 12”) by Taana Gardner
- Walking into Sunshine (Larry Levan Mix 12”) by Central Line
- nearly anything by Evelyn “Champagne” King (I’m In Love, Shame, Love Come Down, Betcha She Don’t Love You)
- The Glow of Love (LP Version) by Change
- Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life by Indeep
- Genius of Love (Long Version) by Tom Tom Club
- Inside Out (12” Version) by Odyssey
- Forget Me Nots (12” Version) by Patrice Rushen
- You’re the One for Me by D Train
- Walk on By (12”) by D Train
- Somebody Else’s Guy (M&M Remix) by Jocelyn Brown
I’ve got more, but can’t think of them right now. Enjoy!
"Look Up" by Patrice Rushen
Hung Up - Madonna
Ring My Bell by Anita Ward
The 11-minute remix of Get Lucky by Daft Punk that they done was issued as a 12-inch single (of which I own a copy of), so I’ll throw that as my recommendation. It’s basically an entirely different song from the original.
From here to eternity by giorgo moroder
So we put a click on the 24 track which was then synch to the moog modular
I knew that it could be a sound of the future
But I didn't realize how much impact it would be
My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio
*beat drops*
Always goosebumps at the drop after :)
I can honestly remember the moment when I first heard that track. I just kept driving. God that entire album. Perfect.
Daft Punk
This is my favourite quote of R.A.M
*Agressively listens to Blue Monday for 12 hours straight*
Exactly
Yesss
Video idea: How streaming made songs shorter & more repeteative
Yes! Now it's the rule to release as much short songs as possible in one single album (Lover for example)
shower, repetitive and MORE annoying...
I think streaming is amazing. If u are only hearing short repetitive songs your are listening to the wrong stuff
Or how search engines shaped song titles
Did it?
8:10 Wondering when you were going to mention _Blue Monday_ ! Note it wasn’t a disco piece by any stretch, though it obviously would have had trouble existing if the 12” format wasn’t already popular.
Also note that FM radio took full advantage of 12” singles as well, since they sounded so good, and hi-fi stereo radio could really show that off.
Now we use Spotify
free version
with unskippable 30 seconds ads.
No
Stop
Lot's of people still buy vinyl.
And Spotify and streaming has shortened the length of songs again because artist get paid per song not per minute. So instead of putting out long songs, without many short ones.
Hey I just payed for like 2 months then didn’t have any money in my debit card Spotify had, so I haven’t payed for it in like 5 months and still use premium
I really hope that disco can come back
It never left.
@@SPAZZOID100 OOOOHHHHHH
I have a feeling it will! These past 5 years the music industry has been dominated by 80s inspired tracks and ppl are slowly morphing their sound to be funky ! I think this change will be refreshing
@@SPAZZOID100 You're absolutely right. It never left. It just evolved and got worked into different genres.
FRANK Well Dua Lipa is kinda bringing it back with Future Nostalgia
Fantastic video. Great to see this presented in such a clear and concise way. The voice over work and animation is superb.
Next video: "Why Streaming Made Pop Songs Shorter"
(more plays)
Tazmanian Ninja also shorter attention spans
(and TikTok)
@@MysteryMii Songs not snippets of songs....
I'll never understand why Rock n Roll fans hated disco so much. Disco is the embodiment of positive vibes, fun, freedom, and dance.
David Boucard they hated the black and gay people who listened to disco but pretended it was about the music!
Disco is great, but at the time it was everywhere, anything can get old if there's a lot of it. It's the same reason the 80s were filled with melancholic Pop in the form of New-Wave and stuff like Depeche Mode and that left in the 90s for happier stuff again e.g. Spice Girls
ua-cam.com/video/AiDYGlSJY1E/v-deo.html
@@bltvd Historians seem to agree with this according to an article I read some time ago. During "Disco Demolition" people were bringing records that were not Disco but music by black artists and when the doorman told them they could not get the special promotional admission discount, he was over ridden and told to allow them to still get the discount. Historians believe it was more about social issues as Disco had brought people from different walks of life and the whites felt excluded - probably felt that way because they didn't want to be associated with the crowd Disco created.
Yess. No disco without Nile Rodgers though 🎸
Damn right
disco around quite a while before Nile...…………………………………………….sorry
@@robinsss Nile and Bernard Edwards were inarguably major contributors to disco throughout the 70s ❤️.
as far as I know it was only in the late 70's and that's a much different statement than there's no disco without Nile
SPEAK ON IT!!!!!!
I remember finding out about extended singles when I first heard the Brothers Johnson's "Get The Funk Out Ma Face" on the radio. My best friend and I were both disappointed when he got the Brothers' LP and found it was only 2 and a half minutes long. That's when we found out we were hearing a special extended version only available to deejays. That was in 1976 just before Double Exposure's "Ten Percent" was released.
I remember "Get The Funk Out Ma Face" and it was on a 45 with the entire long version of 6:01.
12 inch singles really do sound amazing. I remember first hearing the difference when I began collecting vinyl. Night and day from 7” to 12”.
I've been wondering about that: *disco songs could last over half-an-hour!*
So much longer than those 50's and 60's 3-minute "doo-wops"!
In the 70’s the DJs really had to work, develop actual skills.
For real. They were, and had to be ahead of the curve. Modern club/bar DJs are so badly behind the curve they play the same tired “top 40s” over and over. They wait to be told what’s “popular” and play that no matter how bad it is
Prof. Potato it’s hard to get a keep a DJ gig now if you’re actually creative
"We can go do drugs. We could smoke a joint." Good man!:)
Earworm is the best series on this channel, it's so good!
This should be made into a longer documentary!! 👌🏻
Disco is one of the best genres ever!💘
The introduction of the 12-inch Disco single was definitely one of the most defining moments of the 1970s. Thanks to mixers like Tom Moulton, the grand-daddy of them all. And they're still going strong to this day.
this is totally fascinating. Once again we see the symbiotic relationship between technological advances and artistic necessity.
This is awesome. Thanks soo much for making this video! You rock!
Wait... So the origin of why most pop songs even today is around 3,5 minutes long is because of storage capacity limitation back in the day?
Interesting...
well mostly radio djs back in the day disliked songs that were over 3 min long
Pop songs were typically under 3 minutes
3:30 was the upper limit
Today, a large number of pop songs exceed 4 minutes
Some hit 5 minutes
Usually for no good reason
Shorter songs means more commercial spots means more ad revenue.
@@RaymondHng, exactly. And radio stations now edit longer songs down. I've heard a whole verse taken out of C, S & N's "Suite Judy Blue Eyes", the ARP 2600 sound effects taken out of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein", a verse take out of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes", instrumental break in Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" cut short. I'm sure there's others (maybe an Eagles song?), that I'm forgetting.
@@zibbybone Editing out the introductory 33 seconds of "ooga chaka" from Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling" earned two commercial spots for the radio station. ua-cam.com/video/NrI-UBIB8Jk/v-deo.html (full single version)
At the time, I thought the removal was due to listeners feeling creeped out being assaulted by cannibalistic headhunters as backup singers.
I remember a radio station shaved off eleven seconds consisting of two lines from the bridge of The Carpenter's "I Won't Last A Day Without You" ua-cam.com/video/5VcbZ-fKsWE/v-deo.html (full single version)
Hey Vox, you make really good videos, huge fan. Keep up the amazing work! Loved this segment on Disco music
The audio and visual engineering in these videos are so amazing, editor does a fire job
I appreciate these videos so much!! Thanks for your work!
Love blue Monday:)
I am a proud owner of 12” inch BLUE MONDAY vinyL..
Loveth
I love these. I’m so glad they brought it back for season two
Estelle, your videos are always as fascinating. I was just listening to Blue Monday this morning and when I heard it featured here, I thought heck, good things never die.
Damn woke up to this! Good morning!!
I'm deeply amazed how everybody mention only Donna summer song from 77 (when they talk about electonic music pionners) and nobody mention the real deal - Gershon Kingsley - Popcorn (1969) Jean Michelle Jarre, Kraftwerk. .. etc. come on people. (I know you want to belive that everything is around America but is not true)
THTSound Vox isn’t exactly known for being thorough or factual
T HIS, it's not that hard to find
It's not the same thing at all, I Feel Love was a disco dance record that happened to be electronic and it started a revolution in the way that dance music was made. Much of the stuff that came before was experimental, or made a feature of being electronic music, it's fair to say it could not have existed without what went before or that it isn't inherently "better" but it changed the way the general public wanted dance music to sound, it hit a bigger audience and pioneered "popular" electronic dance music.
I Feel Love sounds so different from other disco tracks of 1977, like Everybody Dance by Chic, which owes much more to its soul heritage. I guess the difference comes from Moroder who draws on that other tradition of till-then rather experimental electronic music and shifts it to the purpose of dancing.
I think they were talking about song-length vs a style.
Love these videos. Excellently researched and beautifully produced. Thank you for making them!
Another awesome episode!! This is one of my favourite series on UA-cam by far!!
Don't suppose there's a Spotify playlist for this video is there? I loved some of the ones made for older videos.
YES PLEASE!
@@swathywithay If you want to hear tracks from the New York disco underground (70-80s) I've compiled a playlist of commonly played songs from the club Paradise Garage open.spotify.com/user/ollynewport/playlist/4qGSISujH6kSZGP65lDLL4?si=KXeMdvFHT8Sc1_K0l0EBfQ
Nope. You’re supposed to go buy the 12” vinyl singles.
I Love earworm :) I always learn something new! and the videos are so well written and edited
Earworm is a gem. The perfect example of how art and technology are historical processes that co-evolve. I LOVE it.
Your videos are so incredibly well made, it amazes me every time.
Keep up the great work, greetings from Germany!
4:00 that comprises the quality of audio
Queen: hold my beer
what did queen do?
call me zagh I wanna know, too. I don’t have too much musical knowledge - someone please tell me
They recorded bohemian rhapsody on a 7 inch disk
@@jonlivington9179 my best guess is how they released Bohemian Rhapsody, a 6-minute song, on a 7" record in 1975 and still hit number 1 for a couple of weeks
@@antonlain6238 In comparison, it is
Thank you a lot you are one of best music journalists
Donna Summer - Packed the dancefloors, raised the bodyheat, rattles the glasses on the tables, left your ears ringing. By the time you walked off the dance floor you were drenched in sweat and felt giddy high...yeah, I WAS THERE!
Rappers Delight was my first
12” single and I still have it today!!
Sadly, the era of the extended club play mix is starting to come to an end, and it isn't just the obsolescence of vinyl. DJ software has made beat-mixing so easy that 3 or so minutes is more than enough time to click on the next track and match the BPM. That, coupled with the impatience of the average clubber, is making extended mixes a thing of the past. It is even going the other way, with many remixers making "quick-hit" edits of tracks, many under 2:00 in length, that allow DJs to quickly and easily transition between tracks. As a result, the average length of even "exdtended" remixes often falls short of 5 minutes - assuming there's an extended mix at all.
His Holiness Pope Salty I generalizing a bit much. Yes most DJs are lazy, but go see an underground minimal house show and tell me those mixes aren’t 10 min+
Some are, yes. But when you're talking about having to go to an underground show to hear extended mixes, I think my overall point stands. Mainstream audiences have neither the attention span nor the open minds necessary to appreciate the art of the extended mix. It's a shame, but it's the way it is today.
His Holiness Pope Salty I I hate when I’m at a club and DJ Snippet is playing the music.
I have a 12” single of Headhunter by Front 242... I never understood why it was on full LP. Now I do!
Estelle I LOVE YOU this is honestly one of the best series I've ever seen! Totally addicted, especially the hip hop one x
Brilliantly informative and of course nicely done.
The "big discovery" was that you could use a 12 inch instead af a 7 1/2 for longer Songs?! Damn drugs ...
Was waiting for someone to say that.
more space between the part of the song you're playing and the part you're trying to get to making it easier to locate
Christoph much better sonics
No drugs involved. Tom Moulton had run out of 7" blanks and so he used a 12" blank.
Another symptom of this phenomenon. Casey Kasem's 'American Top 40' countdown was lengthened from 3 to 4 hours around 1978.
David Perkins that’s interesting. I have two sets of that show on the original airplay vinyl, one from ‘77 that’s 3 hours and one from ‘84 that’s 4. Never gave any thought as to why. I did notice some songs on it are greatly shortened.
@@danieldaniels7571 More commercial breaks perhaps?
The editing in this video is sooooo amazing
Nicky Siano seems like such an awesome fun guy to chill with. I love his energy and humor. What a legend.
I bought the Blue Monday 12 inch in 1984. I was 16. I wish I still had it. Love New Order.
James there’s always hundreds of them for sale on Discogs starting at around $6
My name is Giovanni Giorgio but everybody calls me, Giorgio
and now I have that whole album stuck in my head.
These Earworm videos are fantastic, thank you for the beautiful work you do in terms of research, structuring the video, voiceover, animation and everything else that goes into it that us viewers don't even notice.
Estelle, your work is SO good! Congrats!
Blue Monday ; one of the greatest songs ever on a 12 inch record
It's one of the greatest songs ever, full stop.
Leon Youngs mehhh
here's a idea on the next video. "why pop songs today are now less than 2mins"
Johnny Llama streaming revenue and short attention spans
And awful.
@@apollozero Speak for yourself...
I squeel in enjoyment every time a new Earworm video is available. THANKS VOX !
Thank you for these insightful and well-produced videos! I now understand the history and meaning of a 12" single.
I _have_ heard it called a "45" in _Brim Full of Asha_ by Cornershop. That's the only reason I know that a record spins at 45 rpm.
Not all records ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
45rpm & 33rpm are the two most common formats.
@@qwertyTRiG There was also 16 and 78 which we called cow speed and chipmunk speed.
Also, there were certain 12" records that were at 45 rpm.
juan's Dawon I even have albums that spin at 45. Divide by Ed Sheehan and the new one from Charli XCX both are 45rpm
1:22 wait so that huge thing could only hold 2 songs god damn the progress we have made
Man i wish there's more i could do to commend this video other than pressing the like button (i am already subscribed for about a year and a half now). This video has so much effort research, data structuring, writing the story, choosing the reference songs and turning it into a visual eyecandy. Daaaym. To the creator off this video. Know that someone appreciates you and your work.
Absolutely love your channel. Thank you for the awesome content.
That Nick Slano guy looks and sounds exactly how I ever could have hoped he'd sound.
This should make a comeback, they should bring back dance music again. You cannot dance, to new music today is boring !
Love the way you edit, It's everything
This video was great. Besides being the editorial and subject was great as being a long time occasional disco DJ, learned new things from this.
I freakin love Blue Monday
I think “45” meant that the record spun around 45 times in a minute, but I’m not sure.
Yep. Duh.
You helped me, finally understand what was going on with 12 inch singles! Thank you!!!!!!
I adore Earworm! I always come away learning so much. And the presentation and writing is spectacular.
Every time I hear Donna Summer - I Feel Love, I have to remind myself that I'm not listening to Eurythmics - Love is a Stranger.
You have it backwards, hee hee.
How did you still single with 12"?
Living in Asia?
What?
I LOVE this series. Keep it coming.
Love this video! Good job Estelle and vox 👍🏼
Back when the billboard charts actually meant something. Now 🙄
The Billboard charts just cataloged the most popular tracks at any given time. It hasn't really changed since.
2:12 to bad he lost all his furniture when disc died
Another amazing video. Thank you 👍
Earworm is my favorite series on Vox. Really enjoy the work you put out
Pop Pop Pop.
Goes the Music industry
what are the Queen 45's references about? am I missing something?
BR was 6 minutes long and was released as an A-side on a 7” record.
@@MysteryMii Thank you :)
Whoa! This is awesome! Thanks for the upload! 😲
Such great content and amazing editing skills. Awesome video!
90s baby, but disco is my guilty pleasure. Am I Commander Lewis?
Vox has gone into premium category on youtube.. Can't download anymore. 😢😢
You guys are stellar. I bow down to you !