Disco - people either love it or hate it. But one thing's for sure: rumours of its death are premature. This lighthearted yet in-depth look at one of the most outrageous eras in musical - and cultural - history discusses the fashion and the freaks, the music-makers and the celebrators, to uncover why disco was so revered and reviled. From disco's musical roots in black funk to its across-the-board appeal; from the history of dance halls to the rise of cruelly exclusive clubs; from the reigning queens (Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer) to the wannabes (Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, and even Ethel Merman!), Hot Stuff will leave readers with the urge to dust off their platform shoes, dig out their mirrored balls, and shake their booties all night long.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
While disco remains one of the most maligned of all musical genres (according to Andriote, as much for its roots in African-American, Latino and gay dance clubs as for its hedonistic packaging), it is a music that refuses to die (instead it is renamed or deeply influences HiNRG, techno, rave, hip-hop, jungle or just plain dance). While it lives on (either in full albums like Cher's Believe or Madonna's Ray of Light or sampled in songs by the Notorious B.I.G. and Robbie Williams), its marginalization continues with Andriote's slight history. While not as exuberantly detailed as Alan Jones and Jussi Kantonen's delightfully exhaustive Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco (A Cappella, 1999), which focused on the artists and their songs, this volume instead focuses on the social history and culture of the movement that flourished between 1974 and 1979. Kitschy, glitzy and underground, disco thrived with its core minority fans and avoided popularization (the actual long-playing 12-inch music mixes were available to club D.J.s only). Middle America didn't embrace the phenomenon until the release of 1977's Saturday Night Fever, when John Travolta and the Bee Gees made it palatable for the masses and, incredibly, ushered in disco albums by Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra and Mickey Mouse. Andriote's in fine form covering the "disco sucks" backlash, detailing how it resulted from both an oversaturation of inferior product and homophobia. The appendix of artists and key songs is hit and miss, sometimes up-to-date (Donna Summer), more often not (Loleatta Holloway). Even with excellent writing from Andriote (Victory Deferred), fans of the music will find little new here, especially if they've already bought Saturday Night Forever. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Andriote's rhapsodizing expresses one popular view of disco, the booty-shakin' craze that swept '70s America like a tidal wave of pomade. Another, more musically concerned perspective sees disco as what happened when the record companies dumbed down the music of George Clinton and James Brown. Andriote acknowledges disco's generation from '60s and '70s funk, but surly pop historians may carp that Andriote overstates the talents of the likes of Giorgio Moroder at the expense of less glitzy American progenitors and practitioners of the back beat. But then, the book is promoted as a "lighthearted yet in-depth look at one of the most outrageous eras in musical--and cultural--history," and as such, it's fan-friendly puffery that painlessly imparts a bit of pop music history. If an entertaining look at the music and careers of such stars as Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, the Andrea True Connection, and the Village People is what you're after, look no further. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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More About the Author
John-Manuel Andriote began reporting on the AIDS epidemic while he was a graduate journalism student at Northwestern University in the mid-1980s.
An updated and expanded second edition of Victory Deferred, Andriote's award-winning history of AIDS in America, will be available in paperback and e-book format in October 2011.
Kirkus Reviews called the original University of Chicago Press hardcover edition of Victory Deferred, "The most important AIDS chronicle since Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On."
The Washington Post said, "In his nearly two decades of reporting on AIDS, Andriote has interviewed every major player, and it shows."
A regular contributor to the Washington Post, a columnist for The Bulletin in Norwich, Connecticut (Andriote's hometown, to which he returned in 2007, after 22 years in Washington, DC), and a featured speaker at universities and conferences, Andriote has shown his ability to tackle a variety of subjects with a depth of research and clear, literate writing that Publishers Weekly has called "excellent."
Besides Victory Deferred, Andriote is the author of Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco (HarperEntertainment), The Art of Fine Cigars (Bulfinch/Little Brown), and a privately published history of The Metropolitan Club of Washington, one of the capital city's oldest and most prestigious private clubs.
An updated and expanded second edition of Victory Deferred, Andriote's award-winning history of AIDS in America, will be available in paperback and e-book format in October 2011.
Kirkus Reviews called the original University of Chicago Press hardcover edition of Victory Deferred, "The most important AIDS chronicle since Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On."
The Washington Post said, "In his nearly two decades of reporting on AIDS, Andriote has interviewed every major player, and it shows."
A regular contributor to the Washington Post, a columnist for The Bulletin in Norwich, Connecticut (Andriote's hometown, to which he returned in 2007, after 22 years in Washington, DC), and a featured speaker at universities and conferences, Andriote has shown his ability to tackle a variety of subjects with a depth of research and clear, literate writing that Publishers Weekly has called "excellent."
Besides Victory Deferred, Andriote is the author of Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco (HarperEntertainment), The Art of Fine Cigars (Bulfinch/Little Brown), and a privately published history of The Metropolitan Club of Washington, one of the capital city's oldest and most prestigious private clubs.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Retro Fun,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco (Paperback)
I certainly enjoyed this brief, fun trip down memory lane. Mr. Andriote successfully evokes the essence of an era in a wonderful, light and fun way. Hot Stuff offers a lucid explanation of the confluence of factors that caused disco music to begin, and then explode into the mainstream. He is at his best when evoking the energy of this era and the "disco scene". As you turn the pages, you too will re-live the era and if only for a brief moment, you will lose 4 inches from your waist, regain the hair you have lost and fit into those bell-bottom jeans one more time. Thank you John-Manuel for the trip down memory lane.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This "Hot Stuff" is lukewarm.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco (Paperback)
Having written an excellent book about AIDS (Victory Deferred), I expected more from John-Manuel Andriote. Instead, Andriote's history of disco is too brief and incomplete. I wanted to read more about the culture of disco, especially as it relates to those of us, like Andriote, grew up gay in the 1970's. Still, any history of disco is better than nothing to this dyed-in-the-wool disco fan and, within its limitations, Hot Stuff is OK.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tepid Stuff,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco (Paperback)
Despite the authors own glowing review, I found that this book lacked the enthusiasm , and the zest for life that marked the disco era. How could one write a book about Disco that lacks the passion that pumped through the music and got us all on the dance floor .SATURDAY NIGHT FOREVER was a much better read this this lack luster number.
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