Customer Reviews

Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Recently read and interviewed the author on my show. It is a quick read looking at the various cultures that contributed to "Disco". There were some interesting facts that I did not remember from the era, so it was fun seeing it all over again. Take a look around, the kids are all looking at "disco" and the culture as glamour anew...wake up..it is not all that. Read it and you decide.

for the author to write his own (surprise!) five star review below. For that reason alone, this book merits a one star rating. This is only reinforced by an actual perusal of its pages.

How can anyone squeeze all the joy and life out of Disco, I don't know - however Mr Andriote manages to do just that. I found myself humming Gloria's Gaynor's anthem, wondering if I could indeed survive one more page.

And is it in poor taste for a writer to review his own work? As Donna Summer would say, BAD GIRL!

I will say this - there was a DISCO INFERNO in my fireplace, when I throw this one on the fire. Hey, book burning isn't always a bad thing - especially if HOT STUFF is the kindling.

For those who did not like this book, there is a better one. The one I would recommend is "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The History Of Disc Jockey." Although that book discusses other dance music such as house and techno, it does a better job explaining about disco. That book talks more in-depth details including the Stonewall Inn riot in New York and how the DJ David Mancusso rewrote the rules of the DJ than "Hot Stuff" did. Also, "Last..." wrote more details about the early disco clubs and what those clubs did that laid the foundation of the late '70s disco mainstream than "Hot Stuff" did.

If you don't like either book, then the liner notes of the Disco Box and the Disco Years (vol. 1-7) do a great job although emphasis is on the songs itself and not too much history.

In addition, I feel that "Hot Stuff" should have provided a more exhaustive discography than it did by providing Billboard chart positions and listing rare songs that are hard to find and where to find them. For example, does anyone know if The Ritchie Family "Brazil" album is available on CD? This book could have provided the answer.

I did not know that authors were allowed to review their work? I agree that Mr Andriote showed extreme poor taste in posting such a glowing review of his work ... especially when you consider that the book, was a rehashing of everything we have heard before.. nothing new, nothing informative ... and certainly nothing entertaining.. Sorry Mr Andriote you were way off base on this one

I wrote HOT STUFF because disco music and fashion were back in style at the end of the 90s, and I thought it would be fun to take a close look at a time in recent history half my lifetime ago. I turned 20 in 1978, disco's hottest year. My friends and I were dancing in the clubs then.

One night that year we went to Lucifer's, a club in Boston, and paid a buck to see Gloria Gaynor sing "I Will Survive"--when the disco classic was burning up the airwives. The four-on-the-foor disco beat, the divas singing about love and romance, drove us wild. Songs like Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby," made us wilder.

Disco was the parent of today's dance music. And it was happy music. This is very important: Disco gave people a lift from the hard times of the 70s, a chance to get down and get their spirits up. We often forget that the 70s was a hard decade: the end of the Vietnam war, President Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal, double-digit inflation called "Stagflation," gas lines.

People needed escape--and disco provided it. But like rock 'n roll before it, disco didn't take off into the pop culture mainstream until the Bee Gees and John Travolta put a straight, white face on what was often called "the gay sound" because of the music's early and tremendous popularity in gay clubs. This made it "safe" for the white, hetero, mainstream--just as Elvis had made rock 'n roll, a black style of music, safe for white America.

The kind of fun and escape that disco music and the discos themselves offered is important, even today. We all need to celebrate life's good times even amidst the hard times we may face, and disco helps us do that. "Don't be a drag...participate," as Chic sang in "Good Times."

I hope you'll enjoy HOT STUFF and that it will bring back happy memories for you--or help you create new ones by (re)discovering the fun and fabulousness of disco.

Okay, I thought I would try to read a book about music that I just never got, I should have known better.

The writer does a great job creating the disco scene, and obviously considered himself to be one of the "cool" crowd, one of the faceless lemmings that danced to the disco beat. I was proud not to be part of that crowd. Ultimately, despite what the writer would have to believe disco was souless music, it's roots aside , there is no message and no meaning. Music should speak for a generation, and while I am all for fun - what is the collective message of LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY - SHAKE YOUR GROOVE THING, and I'M YOUR BOOGIE MAN? Perhaps disco is the mother of today's dance music,but after listening to the radio I am left wondering if OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN is something to brag about. Another thing that struck me is that Mr Andriote seems to be reliving his glory days,trying to recapture his youth, not neccessarily telling us anything about the music he professes to love. A few of the facts are wrong, and I don't see how such a lover of disco could make those mistakes. A BRIEF HISTORY OF DISCO is a little misleading, as it read , at least to me, like an autobiography.

This book, and it's message are as muddled as the music that it glorifies, perhaps it is Mr Andriote's writing, or perhaps his subject matter, who knows. I would suggest that if you anyone really wanted to understand the social confusion, the revoltions that were going on during the 70's one need only listen to the punk music of that era. Love them or hate them, THE SEX PISTOLS, as well of other punk bands of that time influenced and changed music.Can the same thing be said for KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND?I think not, and let us all say a prayer of thanks for that.

Disco was part of the 70's - but it certainly wasn't the only part, nor was it the most important part. It came, some people danced - as well as do a few other things, then it died. Let Disco rest in peace...