Disco & Funk

Picture this: it is 1978, the velvet ropes of Studio 54 are parting, and a thumping, infectious bassline begins to reverberate through the smoke-filled air. Everyone on the floor raises their arms in that iconic YMCA formation. You feel the collective euphoria of the disco era, a moment captured in time as golden as the … Read more

In the neon-soaked excess of the 1980s, the line between musical genius and absolute chaos was often blurred by thick clouds of cigar smoke and the frantic rhythm of a drum machine. For a brief, blistering moment, the worlds of stand-up comedy royalty and funk royalty collided in a cramped, private studio. It was here … Read more

In the smoke-filled, high-stakes world of the mid-1970s music industry, truth was often the first casualty of marketing genius. For Ann and Nancy Wilson, the formidable sisters behind the legendary rock band Heart, fame did not arrive on a silver platter. It arrived wrapped in a toxic, multi-platinum lie. As Heart began their ascent, their … Read more

In the smoke-filled air of late 1979, the punk rock movement stood at a fragile crossroads. While the rest of the world was transitioning toward the neon-soaked excess of the impending synth-pop decade, one band was locked in a private hell that threatened to erase their legacy before it was fully cemented. The Clash, led … Read more

The early hours of September 27, 1986, did not begin with the roar of a crowd or the thunderous distortion of a Marshall stack. Instead, it began with the sickening sound of metal grinding against Swedish asphalt. On a desolate, ice-slicked highway near Ljungby, the rising stars of the thrash metal scene were not charting … Read more

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