Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines , string sections , brass and horns , electric piano , synthesizers , and electric rhythm guitars. Disco music as a genre started as a mixture of music from venues popular among African-Americans , Hispanic and Latino Americans , gay Americans , and Italian Americans [ 6 ] in New York City especially Brooklyn and Philadelphia during the late s to the mid-to-late s.
Disco can be seen as a reaction by the s counterculture to both the dominance of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music at the time. During the s, disco music was developed further, mainly by artists from the United States as well as from Europe. By the late s, most major U. Nightclub-goers often wore expensive, extravagant outfits, consisting predominantly of loose, flowing pants or dresses for ease of movement while dancing.
There was also a thriving drug subculture in the disco scene, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine and quaaludes , the latter being so common in disco subculture that they were nicknamed "disco biscuits".
Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity as a reflection of the sexual revolution of this era in popular history. Disco declined as a major trend in popular music in the United States following the infamous Disco Demolition Night on July 12, , and it continued to sharply decline in popularity in the U. Disco would eventually become a key influence in the development of electronic dance music , house music , hip hop , new wave , dance-punk , and post-disco.
The style has had several revivals since the s , and the influence of disco remains strong across American and European pop music. A revival has been underway since the early s , coming to great popularity in the early s. The word "discotheque" had the same meaning in English in the s. Some clubs used it as their proper name. In , it was also used to describe a Parisian nightclub in an English magazine.
