Christian John Wikane has disco in his veins; the New York-based writer was only a child at the height of the 1970s, but he’s built a career being one of the foremost historians of that era’s dance music.
A Night at the Disco, co-authored with longtime collaborator Alice Harris, is a chance to give shine to the genre’s legends as well as its more underrated artists.
Ahead of an appearance at Green Apple Books Books on the Park (1231 9th Ave.) on Monday, Wikane presents an especially lovely Guest List: a disco travelogue that crosses genres, eras, and regions from New York to Paris, to Philly, Los Angeles and back to New York.
“A Night At the Disco is really more about the music that was played in the discos versus disco as a genre,” Wikane told Gazetteer, calling from West Hollywood before a book stop at Book Soup, 20 minutes away from the legendary disco label Casablanca Records.
“DJs really played lots of different styles. If you can look back at the playlist from 1970 through '79, you see a lot more variety than that era is ever given credit for.”
The interview below has been condensed.
“I’ll Play the Fool” by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
“Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band were from the South Bronx in New York, but they blended big band, Latin, dance, pop, all of these styles together. This was 50 years ago, and to me, 50 years later, it still sounds fresh. When the record breaks in the middle, and it just kind of goes into outer space a little bit, the excitement of it; to me, it's like I'm zooming up in a rocket ship.”
“Native New Yorker” by Odyssey
“In the '70s, that was a record that the DJs would wait until midnight to play. Even the producer, Sandy Linzer, told me about going to Studio 54, and when the DJ played it, confetti would just cloud the club, and everyone would lose their mind.”
“Top of the Stairs” by Ashford & Simpson
“Ashford & Simpson, of course, were just the king and queen of the New York recording studios back then, in terms of all of the musicians that they brought together, the vocalists that they worked with. I think ‘Top of the Stairs’ just has this sexiness to it. Just the line, ‘Take me up to the top of the stairs / We'll get lost in the darkness.’ Ooh! That image, you could go many places with that.”
“I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)” by Instant Funk
“When people ask, what's on your Top 10 disco list, that's always there. They were based out of Philadelphia, and also Trenton, New Jersey. With ‘I Got My Mind Made Up’, Larry Levan, who was the resident DJ at Paradise Garage, remixed the record, and it was that remix that took ‘I Got My Mind Made Up’ to number one on the disco chart. It was really great to speak to the founder of the group, Kim Miller, and he said just how grateful they were for that, because suddenly that record was everywhere, and it shows how much the DJs meant to these groups.”
“I Just Want to Be” by Cameo
“It's just such a fun, quirky, left-field funk track, and it was their first top five R&B hit. They weren't taking themselves too seriously. For me, it's just a way to let yourself go. It's a different compass point in terms of dance music.
“Open Sesame” by Kool & the Gang
“I grew up with songs like ‘Celebration’ and ‘Joanna’ and ‘Fresh,’ which were their contemporary hits of the 1980s. But then, we also had the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever in my house. I don’t know at what point I figured out that this is the same group. ‘Open Sesame’ is the same group as ‘Celebration,’ yet they sound completely different. You hear just this massive musical talent. The horn charts on that record are ridiculous. I would dare any musician from any symphony around the world to actually play what they played. It’s a masterclass.”
“Give Me Love” by Cerrone
“Cerrone just recorded some of the sexiest, coolest records of that era. And ‘Give Me Love,’ the way that it starts out with just the percussion, and then it just slowly builds with the drum coming in, and the guitar, and the bassline, and then before you know it, there's this explosion of sound. ‘Give Me Love,’ to me, is like this ecstatic release. If we want to be sexual about it, it’s sort of like a musical orgasm.”
“Souvenirs” by Voyage
“‘Souvenirs’ is in the top 3 for me, in terms of favorite club songs from that era. It's dreamy, it's celestial. It's every fantasy you've ever had coming true in music. I think ‘Souvenirs’ is sort of, like, the quintessential Studio 54 song. I feel you would probably hear that every night in 1979. There’s a clip of Soul Train where the dancers are dancing to ‘Souvenirs’; I could watch that clip every day of my life and still find new details in how people move their body.”
“MacArthur Park Suite” by Donna Summer
“‘MacArthur Park Suite’ is 18 minutes, so, in that way, you get a lot of Donna Summer in this playlist. I was so thrilled to see the response to ‘MacArthur Park’ when Alysa Liu performed it at the Olympics, because I thought, ‘Yes, finally, this record is getting some respect.’ People always regard ‘Love To Love You Baby’ and ‘I Feel Love’ as groundbreaking, which they are, of course, but I sometimes feel like other parts of Donna's catalog are overlooked. I’ve interviewed Pete Bellotte, who co-produced all of her hits in the '70s with Giorgio Moroder. One thing that Pete said is, out of all of the records that he and Giorgio produced for Donna from 1975 to 1980, he considers ‘MacArthur Park Suite’ to be their crowning achievement.”
“Take Me Home” by Cher
“I thought Bob Esty did a brilliant job in showcasing Cher in a club context, really, I think, for the first time ever, that Cher recorded a song that was played in the clubs. After she recorded another album with Bob Esty, it wouldn't really be until “Believe” that she ever did that again. A lot of fans only know her as a club diva. This kind of started it for her. For me, that's my favorite part of her catalog. She’s seductive; she uses her voice in a really powerful way.”
