Without question some of the best Disco material was released between 1978 and 1979. Many consider the most popular year for disco was in 1979. Disco in some form or another had penetrated just about every facet of daily life and it was evident at the top of the music charts, many radio stations had converted to an all-disco format. Disco flavored theme songs and intros were common on American television. . In the second half of the year, disco’s popularity began to declined due to the saturation and ” Cheese-afication” of the style. 8 of the Top 10 songs of 1979 were Disco.
1 Knack My Sharona
2 Donna Summer Bad Girls
3 Chic Le Freak
4 Rod Stewart Da Ya Think I’m Sexy
5 Peaches and Her Reunited
6 Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive
7 Donna Summer Hot Stuff
8 Village People Y.M.C.A.
9 Anita Ward Ring My Bell
10 Robert John Sad Eyes
It only made sense for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to add a Best Disco Recording category for the 22nd Grammy Awards.
The Nominees were “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart, and “Dim All the Lights” by Donna Summer. Most of which were more representative of Soul music than Disco. Absent from this group artists like Alec R.Costandinos,Cerrone, Giorgio Moroder, Sylvester and many others who were recognized by the Disco community for their contribution to the genre.
And the winner is……………Gloria Gaynor with ” I will Survive ” not a terrible choice by any means ,but represented more of the commercial side of Disco instead of it’s purest form. By 1980 “mainstream disco” had ended, but the Genre continued to flourish in cities like Miami and New York and in future styles like house ,trance and EDM. Disco had had not provided record execs with the kind of dependable, multi-platinum acts that the business depended on for its profits. The Disco Category could have continued to exist for a few more years in my opinion at which time the name ” Disco” could have been replaced with ” Dance” The award for Best Dance Recording was first presented to Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder in 1998 for the song “Carry On”.
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