Saturday Night Fever and the Disco Revolution

Disco nights and dance floors

In December 1977, a film about a Brooklyn kid who lived for the weekend dance floor lit up movie screens — and disco went supernova. Saturday Night Fever and its Bee Gees soundtrack turned a nightclub subculture into a global phenomenon. The Beat of the Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” and “How Deep Is … Read more

Motown: The Sound That United a Generation

Saxophones on stage, the soul sound

In a modest house on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, a former boxer and autoworker named Berry Gordy built a hit factory that would change American music forever. He called it Motown — and its motto was “The Sound of Young America.” Hitsville U.S.A. From that small studio, nicknamed Hitsville U.S.A., came an astonishing run … Read more

How The Beatles Conquered America in 1964

The Beatles during the British Invasion

When Pan Am Flight 101 touched down at New York’s newly renamed JFK Airport on February 7, 1964, four young men from Liverpool stepped into a wall of screaming fans. Beatlemania had officially crossed the Atlantic. 73 Million Watching Two days later, the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million Americans … Read more