Disco-Pop / Funk-Pop
familyStarted 1974Peak 1977-1983, 2013-2017Last big hit still active
Groove-first pop built on the bass. Four-on-the-floor kicks, octave or slap basslines, chicken-scratch funk guitar, string and horn stabs, and smooth, often falsetto vocals. Whether lush disco strings, dry boogie synths, or filtered French house loops, the unifying law is a dancefloor pulse you feel in the hips before the chorus.
History
Spun out of mid-70s disco and funk as both went pop on the charts, peaking around Saturday Night Fever and Chic. Post-disco boogie, electro-funk, and 80s funk-rock kept the groove alive after the 1979 backlash, City Pop carried it through Japan, and a 2010s nu-disco wave led by Daft Punk and Bruno Mars proved the bassline never died.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu-disco