Posted on 04/19/2025 5:53:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Disco music’s time in the sun may have passed, but the legacy of “The Hustle,” a mega hit in the genre, lives on
On April 18, 1975, Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony’s “The Hustle” was released and skyrocketed to become a massive dance hit of the decade, selling ten million records. The song and the dance it celebrated set the beat of the disco era.
The record is known for its irresistible rhythm and its primary lyrical command: “Do the hustle,” which is said 11 times. The only other lyrics—said five times—are “Do it.” Before spending an hour to compose the song, McCoy had joined an acquaintance to visit a New York nightclub and see disco fans dance the hustle, which had originated among Latino communities in the city. McCoy later recalled that “It was something completely different from the you-do-your-thing-and-I-do-mine dances. It was people dancing together again.” “The Hustle” went on to win a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
In American popular memory, disco resides in images of a young John Travolta strutting down the street and commanding a dance floor, but the era did not begin in 1977 when Saturday Night Fever became a hit film along with its Bee Gees soundtrack, now the second-highest-selling film soundtrack of all time after The Bodyguard. Disco first emerged in underground Black, Latino and gay clubs where people created their own version of dance music. At the close of the 1960s, it was still illegal for same-sex couples to dance in public in New York City, but that changed in 1971, opening the door for gay clubgoers to celebrate their new freedom at the discotheque.
Van McCoy - The Hustle (Official Music Video) [HD]Watch on YouTube Logo
What these underground clubs planted in the late 1960s and early 1970s were the roots of disco, which would leap into mainstream pop culture in the mid-’70s at a time of “Rust Belt” economic collapse and spiraling inflation, a world in which a U.S. president had resigned in disgrace and the Vietnam War waned.
Report This Ad In 1975, disco began its move into the spotlight as records such as McCoy’s gained attention from rock fans. “With disco music, you see several threads come together in a really interesting way,” says curator Krystal Klingenberg of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “We’ve got this partner dance element, we’ve got the birth of electronic music and we’ve got Philly soul and just soul antecedents in general … and you have them come together at this moment of release after a time of great social tensions” that rocked the 1960s. “And so where is the place to go? The dance floor, and it becomes this absolutely massive, popular success.”
Disco introduced significant use of synthesizers, electronic pianos and orchestral instruments, such as brassy horns and silky strings, and often featured repetitive lyrics. The rhythm became central to moving people from their seats onto the dance floor, with bass drummers emphasizing a “four-on-the-floor” pulse, hitting all four quarter beats in every measure. At the same time, Philadelphia soul had already introduced a more luxe feel to dance music by adding lush strings to frame the vocalist.
The dance is just as much a part of the experience as the music. “We can look at the dance moves that Travolta does in Saturday Night Fever, and that whole group of choreography gets called ‘the hustle,’ but over time, it coalesces into this more specific partner dance,” says Klingenberg, who notes that some people still do the hustle today as a part of ballroom dancing. “The hustle meant a thing at the time, and even now, remains in our memory as this one move, despite it being really a catchall for so much more.”
Clubbers on the dance floor in an nightclub, circa 1975 Clubbers on the dance floor in an nightclub, circa 1975 Richard Creamer / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images In some clubs, the hustle was introduced as a line dance rather than as a dance for couples. But partner dancing became significant: A few months after the song was released, a New York Times article reported that “after years of dancing at each other, couples suddenly are dancing with each other. And parents, over-30s and great-aunts who have not danced in years are back on the parquet. … Dance observers see the hustle as an expression of a yearning for style and sophistication in the 1970s that has replaced rebellious attitudes of the previous decade.”
Report This Ad The writer, Dena Kleiman, compared McCoy’s “Hustle” single to Chubby Checker’s iconic “Twist” of the early 1960s. Sources told the Times, “The hustle is sophistication,” and, “When you do it, it’s not only that you feel good. It looks good.” The Times even included a step-by-step guide about how to do the dance. The first of eight steps was: “Twist your left foot out to the side and rest it on an angle with the heel on the ground and the toes in the air. Tilt the head and torso to the left.” Klingenberg cites the lindy hop, the mambo and the cha-cha as antecedents of disco partner dancing.
As disco tunes increasingly invaded Billboard’s Hot 100 list, rock performers such as Cher, Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones joined the sound. Later, as the genre moved into the mainstream, there were also disco roller-skating events and boat parties. In addition, some disco hits were recorded on 12-inch, 45-rpm extended-play singles so that DJs had the power to stretch the dance experience. Historian Adam Green said in PBS’s “The War on Disco,” aired in 2023, that being in the club and responding to the beat “almost felt like you were participating in something equivalent to religion.”
And disco culture did not confine itself to the dance floor: Disco launched trends in fashion for men and women. According to journalist Ed McCormack, disco fashion varied “from Pierre Cardin suits to silver cosmic clothing, from Halston originals to backless halters, through all the shades, cycles and fetishes of chic, camp and queer.”
Disco fans danced to records from the “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer, as well as Gloria Gaynor, ABBA, the Bee Gees and many more, while club owners appreciated the reality that paying DJs was considerably cheaper than hiring a band for a rock crowd.
Report This Ad Donna Summer in a 1976 studio portrait Donna Summer, known as the "Queen of Disco," posing in a studio portrait, circa 1976 Fin Costello / Redferns / Getty Images But eventually, the disco era came to an end as the ’70s did. Many people believe they can identify the exact day disco suffered a fatal blow. On July 12, 1979, about 50,000 music fans heard the call of Chicago rock DJ Steve Dahl and reported to a Chicago White Sox-Detroit Tigers doubleheader at Comiskey Park for “Disco Demolition Night.” Dahl had a personal motive: He had been fired from his last job on Christmas Eve because the station’s management had decided to become all-disco. During the break between the two games, fans flooded the field, and Dahl exploded a fireworks bomb in a crate full of disco records contributed by the crowd. The riot forced the cancellation of the second game, which the White Sox forfeited.
The DJ contended that his rowdy fans were just tired of disco and disliked its glittery image, but others saw deeper psychological reasons for angst directed at disco. Some white men, they suggested, wanted to reduce the influence of gay men, Black and Latino people, and women. Additionally, they believed that rock fans, who were predominantly white men, hated disco because it was seen as belonging to these groups, according to PBS’s “The War on Disco.” Historian Jefferson Cowie told PBS that “in many ways, the ’70s are the roots of our own time. All the questions that emerged in the 1960s—about race, about gender, about sexuality—those answers are being fought over in the 1970s.”
While “The Hustle” and disco represented a relatively short pop-culture phenomenon, the sound set the stage for what would follow. Later genres such as house music, electronic dance music and new wave flowed from disco. And even now, contemporary artists like Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa have embraced the disco beat.
This is what Smithsonian covers now?
I was hoping it was Disco Duck.
The day after Reagan was elected someone spray-painted disco is dead on the building.
No more disco dances were held.
The beginning of good times.
Thanks, now I’m going to have that insipid tune in my head for hours.
Even The Rolling Stones quit disco after that.
Makes me want to try my roller skates on.
But, I’d better not.
I will never forgive disco for killing Motown.
This was considered an early form of disco and a great tune.
The Hues corporation. Don’t rock the boat. Great tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKr9wZpjBqE
I never listened to radio stations that would play something like that. During that time I listened to Orlando radio station WORJ, an album station.
This may interest you.
Hell, half of Detroit was listening to the BeeGees. I met my first wife while pretending that I could dance to that.
50 years of gag inducing reaction.
Yay.
One of the best lines I ever heard in a song is “well, disco back where you came from”
I cannot find it right now, but I will keep trying
At least people would get out and dance, now they are tethered to their phone
Back in the day, I hated disco.
Now it’s such an improvement over today’s pop and country music.
Yep. Nowadays the ball gowns of the First Ladies can be viewed by appointment only.
I will never forgive disco for killing Motown.
____________________________________
Motown killed Motown when Motown left Motown.
AI...
Motown’s move from Detroit to Los Angeles in the early 1970s is widely cited as a turning point that led to its decline. The label lost its unique Detroit-based identity and culture, which had given it a distinctive sound and approach. In LA, Motown shifted from being a trendsetter to more of a trend follower, losing the tight-knit, hands-on leadership and regional character that had set it apart.
“Gag inducing reaction”? That would be a very young hardspunned attempting to chase women in a disco. TWICE, I gave it shot. Thank God, there were no personal recording devices in those days.
I knew it wouldn’t be “Shine Your Love”.
Whatever that means.
https://youtu.be/0869MUqUqvc?si=rCwJWhTwkSLR2bp8
It was the Democrat theme song for a lot longer than that.
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