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The evolution was surely an interesting one.  Around 72-74 it was called "Soul" or "Funk"-  "Funkadelic" shortly after "Standing On the Verge" became "Parliament", and BT Xpress with songs like "I Like it", Ohio Players with Roller Coaster, and of course Earth Wind and Fire (who were one of the black bands playing what would later become known as R&B that were quite popular with the white audience as well.. As college kids we were hearing "Soul", the Spinners with "Mighty Love" were phenomenal, but somehow the Love ballad philadelphia "Soul" sound (Delphonics, Stylistics, O'Jays and The Commodores) were transitioning to a dance trend where folks for the first time were able to do "Lindy Hop"/ "Jitterbug" duple meter shuffle-swing type amazing couple "competition dancing", and around 1975/1976 New Years eve pretty much transitioned in the isco Era" with "The Trammps" playing "Where the Happy People Go" (New York Waldof),  "The Night the Lights went out",  "Disco Party" and DAMN, they were the most amazing band in terms of the counterpoint rhythmic patterns they pulled off I've EVER heard, Commodores were getting into more interesting dance stuff too like "Machine Gun", and at that point "The Jackson Five" were getting into a more funk/dance oriented style playing stuff like... "Don't stop til you get enough" (I think that's the title) ?  But there was an interesting hesitating beat that was introduced that soon bands were picking up on and Chic (listen to the bass hesitation in "Good times", that was TOUGH to play guitar on on a bad night),  MFSB,  Tower of Power, Miami Sound machine, and now Bee-Gees, "Grease", and all sorts of folks were bridging the black "Funk Soul" style to a trend that became EVERYBODY's style...  Disco was sort've a transition from Funk/ soul into Shuffle/ Dance - and MY OWN feeling is we owe it to Earth Wind and Fire, Jackson Five, Funkadelics, and the Philadelphia R&B groups for creating and diverting a style of Ballad into funk that we white folks wanted a piece of...

I was active in music during that time, and sat in with a few soul bands and I LOVED IT !, but there weren't many white boys playing guitar lines to Bootsy Collins basslines, or George Clinton "Funk" style in 1972... Jimmy Castor Bunch "Bertha Butt Boogie" certainly was interesting but we white college kids didn't know what to make of it in 1974....


"I'll sock it to you daddy"...


Disco IMHO is merged from "Soul" Funk" styles,  and while I LOVED BT Xpress and Ohio Players around 1974, it wasn't until "The Trammps" and Commodores about a year later that we white folks decided we wanted a piece of the stuff too !

YEOWWW.....  SAY WHAT!

However, many believe that Donna Summer with her heavily sequenced rhythm structures, and looped bass lines was the sore thumb of the Disco era.  She certainly IMHO didn't do an amazing form of dance music and powerful music justice.  What made KC of course was his use of bass and synth patterns,  he was basically "Funk" bass patterns.

That style was also the time bassists decided we needed a more trebly sound, put down the Gibson EBO's.  EB2s, Guild Starfires, and picked up Jazz and P basses, started learning slap styles, and soon bought Music Man stuff  I always loved the horn sound,  MFSB "Sexy" etc... "Soul"  "Funk" "Disco" or all of the above

Many that loath disco do in fact associate it with Donna Summers are "Grease" type stuff...   Those of us that think MFSB,  The Trammps, Sister Sledge,  Musique, Chic, love it !    There was amazing dancing, and musicians in the mid 70's "Soul" Funk" Disco" transition period..If you want to see disco at it's finest get a clip of (1976 New Years Eve Waldorf Astoria NYC)  You won't soon forget it !!!!

Watch competitive dancing to this type stuff..

This is Disco at it's best,  Duple meter "Shuffle",  I've seen these groups live, and it's amazing... POWERFUL...  Crank it up, and try to sit still while listening to this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E78MQuiXK08

This group wasn't sequenced,  they were this steady live..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYp7Pj_B ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqNBfUqUBAk

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

The Trammps are still around too, but I won't dare play their February 2008 concerts...

IMHO Commodores,  Spinners, EW&F, and The Trammps are the best of the 70's !

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Hot Stuff was a great song.   What I like about music from the 70's was the variety of instruments used.  As someone told me once, "It's the horns!"

There was a kid in my gradeschool that was really into disco.  On the inside of one of his Pee-Chee's, he had done this elaborate Disco Inferno drawing.  The next year he had converted to rock, and Van Halen was his heroes.  The trouble was, he still had the same Pee-Chee, and one day towards the end of that year, someone spotted the Disco Inferno thing and pointed it out to him and people started cracking up!  It was pretty funny!  LOL  LOL

There were alot of people that liked disco, that later claimed they didn't.  I think there was a peer pressure to go one way or the other--disco or rock, when actually both genres had good music.  But maybe you can't dress like a rocker if you like disco and vice versa?   Who knows?  I still like KC's music, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Andy Gibb's hits, Samantha Sang, Thelma Houstan, Diana Ross, Rita Coolidge, Andrea True Connection's More More More, and alot of the other songs from disco genre.  Earth Wind and Fire is one of my favorites, as is Chicago, and the Doobies.   The level of musicianship in these bands was very high. I think the creativity that came out of the 70's is mind boggling.   The music was fun.  The variety was huge.   And alot of people listened to all of it.  Things seem to be alot more nichey right now.

Don't forget these guys..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktPZJxdAkus

And a little bit of boogie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsyuH0QT_cg