Oh yes indeed - I recall the hours spent getting all dolled up to go out dancing at the local gay disco - a fabulous former restaurant/motel with a glass-walled, black & white tiled garden room for the dance floor.

Then we discovered New Wave...

Oh, yes! And I still love New Wave as well!

Getting dolled up is exactly what it was. We spent hours primping and getting into those tight pants and platform shoes! We thought we positively radiated sexiness. Maybe we actually did, who knows.

I've got a 70s funk/dance playlist. I might be more your husband's age, as I remember them as a child playing in the car as I rode with my hip aunt. Be sure to add some Chaka Khan, The Emotions, and Cheryl Lynn. And with your love of the Southwest and Native American art, perhaps this one:

Some of my faves were 'Shame' by Evelyn 'Champagne' King, 'Ring My Bell', 'I Will Survive' and 'Knock On Wood'.

Yes! Thank you -- I've long liked that song by Redbone!

No disco for me. I had a DIsco Sucks T-shirt in college. In fact, I went to a party where a fight broke out over the music playing. Disco vs. Rock. Spilled out into the street and lots of guys had bloody faces afterwards. That was about 1976. I grew up in the Bronx and fights were not all that uncommon!

The high school I attended in the 70s was small and rural. Today it is enormous and the reason that thousands move to the upscale city in which it resides. It is vastly different than it once was.

There was a jukebox in the corner of the school cafeteria, and we would often forego a good lunch in order to have enough quarters (or maybe it was dimes) to play music. I remember hearing Ring My Bell and Knock On Wood countless times. Also other "gems" like Ram Jam's Black Betty and Nugent's Cat Scratch Fever (no thank you these days).

Was I a dancing queen? Oh heck yes. In high school our town was blessed with a place to go dancing on Friday and Saturday nights with live rock bands. There was another place to dance for those in Jr. High. Cool, huh? One night there was a dance contest and this guy and I, and we weren't dating but knew each other to be great dancers, looked at each other and we immediately went to enter the contest.

We won first place. I got a Beach Boy's album and he got a tank full of gas. lol

I also turned my 10 yr. old granddaughter on to Dancing Queen. :)

ETA, well heck, now I need to go play Abba.

This has really conjured some memories... I didn't like dance music until later in life. My main choice of music as a teenager was influenced by my older brother, who listened to KSHE-95 radio station, which was and still is a fixture in the St. Louis music scene. When I drive from Chicago to visit family in St. Louis, I can usually pick it up just south of Springfield, Illinois. I don't listen to classic rock other than when I go to St. Louis.

Just gonna drop this here, and then carry on with my day. Happy Saturday, and thanks for the memories, IdaClaire!

I remember it from high school/college days but never really cared for it. I was more of a rock and roll fan.

Not to brag...but I did win a Hustle dance contest at "the club" back in the day.

Nope. At 68 now, I was too old to like disco. I stuck with my good old rock and folk. Still do. Also loved classical including opera. Go figure.

Another who did not care much for disco. Rock and Roll all they way! And I still dance!

ETA - I do love the Bee Gees though!

I’m about your age Jen. Rock is what gets me moving. Disco, not my cup of tea. My teen years were in India where, at least back then, girls didn’t go dancing. In my early 20s as a grad student is the US, I’d go with my friends to the bars and we’d dance to live music. Or I’d dance just by myself in my apartment to 60s rock. I like a wide variety of music genres and music of different countries. But rock is the only one for dancing.

Jen, I’m your age but my parents were pretty old when I was born (mom 35 and dad 39, which was old to be having kids in 1961!). They were part of The Greatest Generation, so I grew up with big band music. Love, love, love Glenn Miller! But I love the BeeGees and Neil Diamond, too.

Donna

I loved dancing and listening to Disco music! I was in 10th grade for the most part of it, and we always had a big group of friends every Friday night, go to the skating rink and skate and dance. A little too young to drive, so the skating rink it was. I loved the BeeGees and I distinctly remember wearing a light purple polyester one shoulder pants outfit, like the girl in Saturday Night Fever, but hers was white, I think. I even had the flower in my hair.

I guess, now we know what happened to Disco, after watching the Barry Gibb documentary. I had no idea at the time, some disc jockey hated it so bad and made it his soul purpose to turn people against it. I probably would have grown tired of it anyway, and it was a phase in life, for those of us who liked Disco, we can remember fondly.

I’m sorry you younguns missed having great music in your formative years. 😊

I was lucky to have been in 8th grade when THE BEATLES arrived on our shore. Then we danced through high school to The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Rascals, The Dave Clark Five, The Byrds, The Kinks and The Beach Boys. Note: that “The” was part of every name until Credence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane landed.

In the 60’s we still had dances in the school cafeteria after every football game. And teen night clubs were safe places for kids to hang out. So much fun!

eta: The Temptations, Diana Ross and The Supremes and so many other excellent music makers.

I think I'm a few years younger than you, so I was in middle school in the late 70's and not going to discos, but loved the music. Still love all the music and it brings up such great memories of that time in my life. Your playlist is great!

I'm so glad I'm not a teen now because the music they have to listen to is terrible...IMHO. We had great, wonderful disco and rock and roll when I was young!

I am so old that I remember seeing a strange looking couple by the name of Sonny and Cher (never heard of them at the time) do the opening act for The Dave Clark Five.

I had a family member in the music industry and went to most concerts that came to Los Angeles. Fabian, Dion, Bobby Rydell (my biggest crush at the time), Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon, just about anyone who had been on American Bandstand. OMG. I AM old. (This continued for decades but these are my teen memories and some of my fondest.)

I graduated high school in 1966 and we had The Righteous Brothers perform at the prom. Does anyone even remember them? I still love their music.

This morning I did my cardio to Elvis and Three Dog Night. It's amazing how fast you can raise your heart rate to Jail House Rock and Joy To The World. :-)

Maddielee, you and I must be about the same age. I helped usher in The Beatles as well. I think I just have been in 9th grade when I have some of my first memories. Prior to that I recall collecting Elvis bubble gum cards in 3rd grade and going with my older cousin to see Jail House Rock (swoon). My mother let me go because I was with her.

And then there was Dick Clark every Saturday and man, did we dance right along with those cool cats. And when the Detroit sound came out we were at the movies watching and grooving right along with them. Fascinating to us kids in a small town.

Pajama parties meant everybody brought their own records and we played The Beach Boys endlessly, then the Stones, and whoever else was popular that week. We had dances after football games too and in high school there were dances at some of the church halls. The Episcopal hall had the best ones. We had a blast.

Then I had a teenage girl who would now be almost your age Ida. She turns 50 in a few weeks. Gah! So I have been thru lots of Donna Summer, the disco phase and all that and danced right along with those girls too. As an adult we had a friend whose wife was handicapped and he loved to dance. He and I loved to do a lot of old 50’s rock and roll moves together. I was the only one who knew the steps and could keep up with him.

I love almost all music except a few types I could probably count on one hand. And dance right along with a lot of them.

Ida, put your wishes somewhere in writing. Say you want a memorial service, and where, and what to play.

My play me out song will be Morning Has Broken.

I was another one who identified with the Disco sucks sentiment. I will say though, that many years later ( after seeing Mamma Mia in London) I became enlightened and understood the brilliance that was Abba. Other than Abba, though (and Bee Gees) not really a fan.

I love this thread. I was a kid in the ‘70s, but we were a very musical family and I grew up with a real appreciation of good sounds. Now my DH plays these songs and classic rock. We hook his amp up to the TV and play videos nearly every night.

Anyway — so fun reading everyone’s memories. Love your playlist, Ida! :)

outsideplaying, pajama parties! Oh, what great memories. ❤️

My play out song (great term Bunny) is the song from Wizard of Oz and not Somewhere Over The Rainbow 😉

Marlene, not "Ding, Dong..."?!!!

Bunny, yes! Actually it was my husband's suggestion. I wonder if it's because of my broom collection :-). He did have a wicked sense of humor, no pun intended.

No disco queen here. I remember one of my sons liking the song Disco Duck when he was a toddler.

I will have you know, however, that I won the Twist contest at my school when I was in eighth grade. So there.

This thread has turned out to be a lot of fun and a walk down memory lane, so thanks to you all!

Jinx, that Frankie Valli song makes me instantly happy! I became quite enamored of all of his (and The Four Seasons) songs after seeing Jersey Boys. Such great stuff!

Ded tired, Disco Duck was apparently the start of the downfall of Disco, according to the Barry Gibb documentary LOL

Our Senior class song was "We are Family" by Sister Sledge.

Someone mentioned The Beatles above-somehow I never got into The Beatles? Maybe I was just a tad young for them? I remember going to my best friends house in 6th grade-she had moved away and her mom had me out for a week in the summer and it was the first time I had ever heard of The Yellow Submarine-she loved them for some reason. Just not my cup of tea.

I was never a Beatles fan either. I have come to truly appreciate some of their music now, but I think we naturally gravitate to the music of our own particular era, or that to which we were primarily exposed. The Beatles were just never really on my radar.

There is some classic rock from the 60s and 70s that I cannot listen to. I recently heard Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, and realized how much that song feels like it's physically assaulting my ears. 😉 Sadly, some of the music that was a big part of my life not that long ago now annoys me. I cannot listen to Tom Morello's guitar on certain Rage Against the Machine tracks... and that makes me feel old. Oh well.

I know people who simply adore Elvis. Again, that's not a musician I can listen to. He was probably more of the era of my parents, but they don't like him either. They lean more towards artists like Carlos Santana.

We all like what we like, and that's cool. It's also interesting to me how it can change over time.

Was I a dancing queen? Ah yes, going out dancing was such fun. Most of the dance clubs near us were Top 40 cover bands. We used to go dancing at one club until are 2 am and then go to the after hour clubs. We would get home around time to get up school/work days Good times. That said I was much more a rock and roll girl, new wave and a bit of punk. My neighbor was in Social Distortion, we would go to to their backyard shows way back when.

The music on my 8 track player and cassette was primarily rock including softer such as Van Halen, Queen, Def Lepard, Beach Boys, Eagles... But I remember every word of the disco songs as well. Then again I worked at a record store, The Wherehouse, while I was going to school, so I got to hear all the popular music every work day. Good times!

Oh wow, Jill, your description of staying out til all hours reminded me of my early 20s when I lived in the Philippines. My then-husband was a high voltage electrician and worked nights. I had an office job during the day, where I met a group of friends who enjoyed dancing til dawn, and that is precisely what we did. We'd get off work at 5pm, primp til 8, then go out and I often arrived home after 4am. I would then lie down, and be up again to head in to work at 7:30am. How I kept that up defies explanation, but I do remember sometimes excusing myself to the ladies room where I literally fell asleep on the toilet for 20 minutes at a time. It was a ridiculous existence, but dancing to New Wave and the latest rock and pop tunes til we almost dropped was just what we did. Oh, we drank too. It was a full-on party in motion, and I'm just thankful I lived to tell about it.

We went to see Social Distortion a few years ago. I confess to harboring a bit of a crush on Mike Ness, but when some idiot spilled beer all over me, we decided that wasn't the environment for us. In my younger days I would have hung in there. Now? Not so much of a punk anymore, I guess.

I didn’t love Disco but I loved getting ready to go to and the energy once there of live disco clubs.

I was born in 1960 Michigan, about 70 miles or so north of Detroit and around 40 minutes east of the “mini motor town”, Flint. So, there was a lot of Funk/R&B, Motown, Rock and some country. If you knew where to look there was also some amazing Jazz and Blues. I grew up with all these influences. These days my favorite is blues/rock. But I love a wide variety of music.

Disco started up right around the time that all our industry started leaving and gloom hung thick in the air and mind. This was the seventies and I couldn’t wait to leave the state.

Back in the seventies it was fairly common to have a fake ID at sixteen or seventeen to get in the clubs. The drinking age was eighteen then so for girls it was easier to pass with some makeup. I only did clubbing during off season for track training though.

One of the hot spots was the Mykotam in Flint. Many a musician played there before fame and some even after. The owner would often get shut down for serving minors but it would last about a day till someone was probably paid off.

In 78’ I moved to sunny Florida. What a great time that was because there were so many places to go with live bands then.

Not all Disco bars had live music though, some were DJ’d.

For some reason this song stands out in my mind and the funny back story behind Alicia Bridges amazing fame off this one song is that she Hated disco.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1etoMApVUYY

I don’t have one disco song on any of my playlists lol.

Living in a small midwestern town, I didn't have much chance to go to a nice disco or have any dancing partners. I do vividly remember when Saturday Night Fever came out, that intro was certainly fantastic as was the album that everyone bought. I liked Donna Summer, amazing voice. I was more of a funky Stevie Wonder Motown, Chaka Kahn kind of music listener for popular. But I was also big into folk, huge John Denver fan, and classical. But we all wore the heck out of the Saturday Night Fever album. It still holds up, IMHO. I was a bigger jazz fan though, during the disco era. I still enjoyed going to dances but rarely could find a good dance partner.

But I remember dancing the hustle and playing the trumpet at the same time on the football field in marching band. Ah youth. I also remember staying with a farm family in our town's sister city outside of Hamburg and going out with their two boys in search of fun times in their little berg. It was about as exciting as my little town, but they did take us to a nearby disco. It was very intimidating to me since everyone was foreign and all speaking German but under loud, loud music so almost impossible to comprehend, I didn't know a soul in the entire country other than those two farm boys, who didn't want to dance disco anyway, but they thought that's what they had to do to impress the American girls. Then, in the midst of all that, on the speaker comes Glen Campbell, God bless him, singing "Southern Nights." I have never been so happy to hear a familiar voice! We packed it in, drove home, stopped to get some ice cream on the way back and ate it at their house at the kitchen table where we tried to explain as best we could that we were just down to earth farm girls too, and this was our idea of a good time.

What a great memory, Pink! I can fully imagine what a welcoming sound "Southern Nights" must've been.

Terrilynn that video was so much fun. Really well staged. I remember the song but am not familiar with the singer. But she can really sing, that's for sure! Not a synthesized sound.

Edited to ad: oh yes Ida, I wasn't much of a Glen Campbell fan up until then, but I sure became one that night. And subsequently I have realized how much talent he had . . .

I met my hubs when I was twenty He was twenty-five. When we would go out to clubs, he’d sit down somewhere to talk with friends, and I’d get out there and dance. (We had the sitting and talking friends, and the dancing all night friends). We’d go have breakfast at the Empire diner sometimes. We both used to dress up!

We got it all out of our system, thank goodness. By the time the kids came, we were happy to be homebodies.

I still love to dance though. I love playing music and dancing around as I go about my business here.

Dancing queen...oh yes. When I was a wee won, other kids would be playing and I would be in front of a juke box choosing favorites and dancing away. Any place that had music was my place to be. Have danced to all kinds of music and up to this day, even dance to no music...lol.

PinkMountain, that vid is equally fun to watch with no sound 😊

FWIW, I like all of it - I had every Beatles album I could get my hands on AND I loved the disco music we danced to. Big fan of '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s '80s, '90s and '00s pop music, as long as it's good. And who decides it's good? Me, of course 😊

I also like classical and Broadway musicals - love me some Rodgers & Hammerstein, Meredith Wilson, Lerner & Loewe, etc..

I think it was Satchmo who said there are only 2 kinds of music: good & bad.

Was never one of those who did the ballroom type disco dancing, but I remember watching the TV show Dance Fever with Deney Terrio, until everyone started looking like they were costumed for skating routines.

Ida, we seem to like a lot of the same music. I love Disco and actually was a cocktail waitress at a local Disco for a summer during college. Bars here are open to 4 am, so after our disco closed, all the employees went out to dance at other places and after hour clubs until the sun came up. One of the bartenders and I were so good at couple dancing, the dance floor would clear off and people would just watch us.

I also love New Wave & Punk, spent a semester studying in London in 1980, and heard some great punk bands play.