News of Donna Summer’s death last Thursday struck an acute nerve within communities online and offline around the world. While the reaction was obvious, what might not have been in plain sight was Summer’s legacy of style and musical iteration. Her voice simmered within the partygoer’s nightlong urge to dance. With the help of an Italian-born producer, Giorgio Moroder, Summer created a partnership that culminated within a movement that served as one of the great artifacts of the 1970s: disco.
Before the famous NY Magazine “Tribal Rites” article and the “Tony Manero” character who was born of the piece, Donna Summer had already etched herself in nightlife culture. Her songs, most notably those overseen by Moroder, were appropriate for the times. The Seventies sought men, regardless of their sexual orientation, meticulously grooming and preening themselves in jump- and leisure suits. Women found their ground with wrap dresses, tube tops, and mini skirts. What you wore and said was very much like the disco movement: experimental.
Summer’s first album, Lady of the Night, didn’t a make much of splash on US and international charts. But in 1975, Moroder and Pete Bellotte, the Italian producer’s partner conceived a song for Summer, “Love to Love You Baby.” Lyric-wise, the song was very terse, yet the few words used were emphasized with sensual orgasmic moans. Summer’s Amazonian presence and breathy delivery were the perfect ingredients to Moroder’s feverishly sexual electronic high hats and funky loops. “Love to Love you Baby” became an epic romance tune this side of Barry White. On the album of the same name it clocked in at nearly seventeen minutes.
Disco music became a subject of ire for many radio deejays across the US, particularly the events the lead up to Disco Demolition Night (aka “The Night Disco Died”). In the summer of 1979, enemies of the music genre successfully campaigned to destroy crates full of vinyl records at Comiskey Park in Chicago during a White Sox game. Unwanted, unsold Donna Summer records were surely part of the toll.
The carnage of the vinyl reached the thousands. Ironically the city became the birthplace of the house music movement. House music deejays, mixing synth rhythms with gospel incantations, clearly found creative guidance from Summer and Moroder’s footprints. Disco contributed to house music. House music could be first cousin of ’80s New Wave. And the proliferation of derivative styles continues today.
Moroder’s influence led him to other acts, from Barbra Streisand to David Bowie. He even ventured into film compositions. One of Moroder and Summer’s last collaborations in 1997 won the team a Best Dance Recording Grammy, “Carry On.” It was the last act of legendary partnership that created a seed for many new styles of music. One part of this partnership is not gone. But if we can proverbially take words for a grain, I’d say let’s continue to do what Ms. Summer muses about in her lyrics: carry on.
