Disco and Funk
Origins
Both funk and disco evolved from soul, and combined elements of rock and early electronic music. Funk became popular first in the mid-60s and Disco became its own genre in the late 70’s/early 80s. Disco and funk have had major influence over the evolution of electronic dance music.
Musical Fingerprints
Instrumentation: Vocals, backing vocals, electric bass, electric guitars, rhythm section, strings, horns, keyboards, synths, drum machines.
Rhythm: The combination of a heavy emphasis on the first beat of the bar and semiquaver rhythms made the music easy to dance to. Disco music favoured four-to-the-floor drum style and syncopation to give the music a ‘funkier’ feel.
Melody: The melody and harmony are of second importance to the bass line and rhythm section.
Texture: Texture is normally thick in all disco and funk recordings.
Harmony: Use of extended chords and dorian or mixolydian modes.
Technological Fingerprints
Heavy reliance on technology to create signature ‘polished’ feel.
Multitracking and heavy reverb used to create ‘wall of sound’
Wah wah is a very popular effect to apply to electric guitar.
Recordings are heavily compressed.
Early experimentation with tape loops in funk music led to the development of the drum machine; in the BeeGees ‘Staying Alive’, there is no drummer but a tape loop of a drum sample throughout the whole track.
Artists
James Brown, Bee Gees , Chic, Earth Wind and Fire.