New York’s Studio 54 in 1978Photo: Richard Drew (AP)
Last week, Billboard published a list of the top disco songs of all time, as chosen by one of the genre’s great architects, producer/songwriter/performer Giorgio Moroder. Moroder is probably best known for this career- and genre-defining work alongside Donna Summer, though his resume goes on much longer both within disco (see: his solo releases like “The Chase” and “From Here to Eternity,” which are classics in their own right) and beyond (the Top Gun and Flashdance soundtracks).
If anyone knows disco from both sides now, it’s Moroder, which is why the list was...odd. Firstly, it was 34 songs (was not rounding the number a decision made with SEO in mind?). Secondly, its Top 6 is entirely Donna Summer songs that he collaborated on, which on one hand is fair and on the other is like, brag much? Thirdly, there are songs on it that strike me as not disco, or at least not nearly the best representation of it within such a limited number of the genre’s offerings. “Super Freak?” “1999?” “Billie Jean?”
Armed with the confidence that I could do better than a man who made history several times over, I came up with my own rough canon of the 69 greatest disco songs, doubling his number and adding one to maximize niceness. That this happens during Pride month is no coincidence for the historically gay, Black genre. I’ve attempted to balance my own taste with objectively important songs in terms of popularity and endurance, and I made a particular effort to include strong examples of offshoot genres like Italo disco, hi-NRG, and so-called “boogie,” the analog synth-heavy strain which the genre morphed into in the early ‘80s that was particularly present on R&B radio.
I gave myself some parameters: No songs were eligible after 1985, which mitigated any confusion as to whether something could also qualify as disco if it were really house music. I also am including only one track from each primary artist (though people like Luther Vandross show up multiple times via production work). I’d have Donna Summer multiple times on my list, too (not to mention Stephanie Mills, Chic, Sylvester, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Shalamar, and more), but I’d rather cover more dancefloor ground than commit to any corner.
Forty-five years later, this Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder/Pete Bellotte collab still sounds like the future.
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No. 2 - Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
No. 2 - Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
The tempo on this song subtly speeds up and slows down—a huge no-no in dance music, which requires a metronomic precision for proper beat-matching. But that’s nicely thematic, as “Mighty Real” transgresses right along with its singer, who once responded to Joan Rivers’s interview question, “Are you a drag queen?,” with, “I’m Sylvester.”
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No. 3 - Chic, “I Want Your Love”
No. 3 - Chic, “I Want Your Love”
The absolute height of elegance. This song is like caviar injected with good coke.
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No. 4 - Diana Ross, “Love Hangover”
No. 4 - Diana Ross, “Love Hangover”
No other song fucks as hard or with such class.
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No. 5 - Stephanie Mills, “Never Knew Love Like This Before”
No. 5 - Stephanie Mills, “Never Knew Love Like This Before”
Those strings are practically begging to go over the top, but Mills’s heartfelt chirp keeps it all grounded. The Mills/James Mtume/Reggie Lucas trifecta is up there with the great longterm collaborations of all time, like Janet Jackson/Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis and the aforementioned Summer/Moroder/Bellote.
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No. 6 - Thelma Houston, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
No. 6 - Thelma Houston, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
The peaks, valleys, and thrusts make this as much a rollercoaster as a song.
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No. 7 - Cheryl Lynn, “Got to Be Real”
No. 7 - Cheryl Lynn, “Got to Be Real”
I’m sure this song made loads of sense prior to its inclusion in Paris Is Burning, but after it’s a veritable credo.
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No. 8 - Evelyn “Champagne” King, “I’m in Love”
No. 8 - Evelyn “Champagne” King, “I’m in Love”
If disco died at 1979's Disco Demolition night, then the kind of sparser and shinier take on the genre that dominated Black radio in the early ‘80s was clearly from heaven. Songwriter/arranger Kashif outfitted this one with the wiggly analog synths that were its signature earworms.
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No. 9 - Patrick Cowley, “Menergy”
No. 9 - Patrick Cowley, “Menergy”
An early example of what would come to be known as a drop can be heard in this 1981 masterpiece by the San Francisco based pioneer of the hi-NRG disco subgenre, Patrick Cowley. In this context, though, it’s orgasmic.
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No. 10 - Anita Ward, “Ring My Bell”
No. 10 - Anita Ward, “Ring My Bell”
Tell me you want to fuck without telling me you want to fuck.
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No. 11 - Alicia Bridges, “I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)”
No. 11 - Alicia Bridges, “I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)”
A softer, less driving take on disco—it feels like Bridges is aspiring alongside its listeners in their living rooms and cars.
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No. 12 - Mr. Flagio, “Take a Chance”
No. 12 - Mr. Flagio, “Take a Chance”
Practically every Italo disco fan will tell you a different song that epitomizes the European, highly synthesized genre. Here’s mine.
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No. 13 - Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”
No. 13 - Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”
Uncancellable.
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No. 14 - The Bee Gees, “Night Fever”
No. 14 - The Bee Gees, “Night Fever”
Somehow sweeter and more serious than “Stayin’ Alive.” Disco was a Black and queer genre, and I’m sure it was frustrating when white dudes from the UK became the faces of disco in the mainstream media. But a banger is a banger.
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No. 15 - Blondie, “Call Me”
No. 15 - Blondie, “Call Me”
“Heart of Glass” was kind of a joke (its hummed bridge is in 7/4, reportedly to throw dancers off). American Gigolo’s “Call Me” was no joke! (If I were a braver man, “Atomic” would be here instead.)
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No. 16 - Wish featuring Fonda Rae, “Touch Me (All Night Long)”
No. 16 - Wish featuring Fonda Rae, “Touch Me (All Night Long)”
This song is so much more than yet another thing to gay up A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, but it’s also very that.
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No. 17 - Cerrone, “Supernature”
No. 17 - Cerrone, “Supernature”
The original version told the story of evolution gone awry by human meddling a good decade and a half before Jurassic Park. But the pumped-up instrumental riff accompanied by an eye-popping one-take ensemble dance number in Gaspar Noé’s 2018 movie Climax is so indelible as to be definitive.
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No. 18 - The Andrea True Connection, “More More More”
No. 18 - The Andrea True Connection, “More More More”
In 1976, porn performer Andrea True recorded a commercial in Jamaica but couldn’t take the money she earned home to the US as a result of government sanctions. So she recorded “More More More” there and took that home, and then around the world, thereby getting paid and then some. Thank you, bureaucracy!
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No. 19 - Madonna, “Holiday”
No. 19 - Madonna, “Holiday”
Wild to think that at one point Madonna was just another anonymous disco artist, joyfully upholding the status quo.
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No. 20 - Aretha Franklin, “Jump to It”
No. 20 - Aretha Franklin, “Jump to It”
“Jump to It” songwriter/producer Luther Vandross on the making of the song in David Ritz’s 2014 Aretha Franklin biography, Respect:
I wanted to establish the groove with a long instrumental intro. Aretha didn’t think the listener would wait that long to hear her voice. I assured her that the listener would be hooked on the groove and would be delighted to wait. She wanted to come in sooner. I said no. ‘Who’s the one with the most hits here?’ she asked. Of course the answer was her. I just had one; she had dozens. ‘But who’s the one with the latest hit?’ I asked. She didn’t answer. She stormed out.
But then, luckily for us all, she came back.
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No. 21 - Teena Marie, “I Need Your Lovin’”
No. 21 - Teena Marie, “I Need Your Lovin’”
“Is that enough love?” asks vocal maximalist Teena Marie in the extended version of this song. Honestly, there’s room for even more.
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No. 22 - Gino Soccio, “Dancer”
No. 22 - Gino Soccio, “Dancer”
Never stops ascending.
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No. 23 - Kano, “I’m Ready”
No. 23 - Kano, “I’m Ready”
Arguably the biggest Italo song of all time in the U.S., thanks to the sampling of its bass line in Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is).”
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No. 24 - Gwen Guthrie, “Seventh Heaven”
No. 24 - Gwen Guthrie, “Seventh Heaven”
Sly and Robbie give Gwen Guthrie a dubbed out slice of seventh heaven, and legendary DJ producer Larry Levan slams it home. I like to imagine myself taking this home from a record shop in 1983, smoking a joint, and feeling my head explode while listening to it for the first time.
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No. 25 - Change, “The Glow of Love”
No. 25 - Change, “The Glow of Love”
“It’s a pleasure when you treasure all that’s new and true and gay,” sings Luther Vandross in this song that finally made it to No. 1 in 2001 thanks to its rather heavy sampling in Janet Jackson’s “All for You.”
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No. 26 - Phyllis Hyman, “You Know How to Love Me”
No. 26 - Phyllis Hyman, “You Know How to Love Me”
Phyllis Hyman didn’t sing a ton of happy songs, which is a shame because despite a tragic life, she made this Mtume/Lucas collaboration sound so convincing.
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No. 27 - Prince, “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
No. 27 - Prince, “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
If he never accomplished anything else, Prince still could have gotten to say that he wrote and performed “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” Top that!
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No. 28 - Charlie, “Spacer Woman”
No. 28 - Charlie, “Spacer Woman”
This technically sports an electro beat, but this is nonetheless an Italo staple, and no sensible disco fan would be without it.
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No. 29 - Earth, Wind & Fire featuring the Emotions, “Boogie Wonderland”
No. 29 - Earth, Wind & Fire featuring the Emotions, “Boogie Wonderland”
Drama!
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No. 30 - Taana Gardner, “Heartbeat”
No. 30 - Taana Gardner, “Heartbeat”
Larry Levan famously played this for the first time in the Paradise Garage to a frosty reception. So he played it again. And again. And again. By the end people were lying on the floor, kicking their feet.
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No. 31 - Kool & the Gang, “Get Down on It”
No. 31 - Kool & the Gang, “Get Down on It”
Nobody grooved like Kool & the Gang.
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No. 32 - The Village People, “Go West”
No. 32 - The Village People, “Go West”
It seems almost unfair to say that the Village People abandoned camp with this earnest depiction of gay migration to San Francisco (I mean, they were still in their archetype costumes), but this one is pure soul. The Pet Shop Boys understood and cultivated its poignancy in their 1993 cover.
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No. 33 - Sister Sledge, “He’s the Greatest Dancer”
No. 33 - Sister Sledge, “He’s the Greatest Dancer”
More class from Chic!
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No. 34 - D-Train, “You’re the One for Me”
No. 34 - D-Train, “You’re the One for Me”
How D-Train managed stadium-sized sound in 1982 with this funk stormer is beyond me.
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No. 35 - MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, “Love Is the Message”
No. 35 - MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, “Love Is the Message”
Truly a seminal track that may come off today as relatively toothless but basically inspired the very genre we’re examining.
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No. 36 - First Choice, “Doctor Love”
No. 36 - First Choice, “Doctor Love”
Everything about this, but especially the bridge.
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No. 37 - Klein & MBO, “Dirty Talk”
No. 37 - Klein & MBO, “Dirty Talk”
Do androids dream of lit-up dance floors?
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No. 38 - Chaka Khan, “Clouds”
No. 38 - Chaka Khan, “Clouds”
Not the best known Chaka Khan/Nick Ashford/Valerie Simpson collaboration (that would be “I’m Every Woman”), but for my money, the best.
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No. 39 - Gwen McRae, “Funky Sensation”
No. 39 - Gwen McRae, “Funky Sensation”
Kenton Nix, who wrote Taana Gardner’s “Heartbeat,” also wrote this, and you can tell. That’s not a knock though. If you write a song so good, you might as well write it again.
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No. 40 - Fatback Band, “I Found Lovin’”
No. 40 - Fatback Band, “I Found Lovin’”
The ultimate in backyard barbecue jams.
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No. 41 - Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive”
No. 41 - Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive”
A genre-defining classic that has lost a lot of its pop via its ubiquity. Now it’s cultural wallpaper. Ingenious all the same.
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No. 42 - Imagination, “Just an Illusion”
No. 42 - Imagination, “Just an Illusion”
The way this one just strolls.
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No. 43 - Patrice Rushen, “Forget Me Nots”
No. 43 - Patrice Rushen, “Forget Me Nots”
In the ‘90s, not one but two hits sampled “Forget Me Nots”—Will Smith’s “Men in Black” and George Michael’s “Fastlove”—to help us to remember.
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No. 44 - The Pointer Sisters, “Automatic”
No. 44 - The Pointer Sisters, “Automatic”
Robots jam to this.
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No. 45 - NYC Peech Boys, “Don’t Make Me Wait”
No. 45 - NYC Peech Boys, “Don’t Make Me Wait”
A key example of what has been called “proto-house.” Without this Levan production, who knows how things would have turned out for us?
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No. 46 - Inner Life, “Moment of My Life”
No. 46 - Inner Life, “Moment of My Life”
That wild key change in the pre-chorus bridge!
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No. 47 - Slave, “Just a Touch of Love”
No. 47 - Slave, “Just a Touch of Love”
Rollerskates for the ears.
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No. 48 - Pluton & Humanoids, “World Invaders”
No. 48 - Pluton & Humanoids, “World Invaders”
An Italo classic hailing from...Canada.
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No. 49 - A Taste of Honey, “Boogie Oogie Oogie”
No. 49 - A Taste of Honey, “Boogie Oogie Oogie”
When someone playing a bass that busy tells you to get up on the floor ‘cause we’re gonna boogie oogie oogie till you just can’t boogie no more, you listen.
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No. 50 - Divine, “Native Love (Step by Step)”
No. 50 - Divine, “Native Love (Step by Step)”
Yeah, the rapping is hokey (there’s a dub that mostly does away with the vocals that’s much cooler), but Divine is divine, and the track itself is way, way ahead of its time. It practically predicted the hyper dancey industrial-adjacent subgenre of the late ‘80s called EBM.
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No. 51 - Evelyn Thomas, “High Energy”
No. 51 - Evelyn Thomas, “High Energy”
A song, a genre, a lifestyle.
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No. 52 - Nick Straker Band, “A Little Bit of Jazz”
No. 52 - Nick Straker Band, “A Little Bit of Jazz”
This song glides on air.
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No. 53 - Whitney Houston, “How Will I Know”
No. 53 - Whitney Houston, “How Will I Know”
Not widely considered disco, but that bass line and the emphasized kick on this pumped-up remix by John “Jellybean” Benitez makes it so.
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No. 54 - Musique, “In the Bush”
No. 54 - Musique, “In the Bush”
The chorus is: “Push push in the bush,” OK?
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No. 55 - George McCrae, “Rock Your Baby”
No. 55 - George McCrae, “Rock Your Baby”
Another one of those foundational tracks whose inclusion may seem mundane, but only because it predicted so much that it rendered itself part of the scenery in retrospect.
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No. 56 - Dharma, “Plastic Doll”
No. 56 - Dharma, “Plastic Doll”
Hardly the weirdest Italo song, but it’s certainly a weird one.
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No. 57 - Cloud One, “Atmosphere Strut”
No. 57 - Cloud One, “Atmosphere Strut”
Because psychedelia is far too rare in these parts.
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No. 58 - Odyssey, “Inside Out”
No. 58 - Odyssey, “Inside Out”
This is so heartfelt I already regret not putting it up higher.
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No. 59 - Advance, “Take Me to the Top”
No. 59 - Advance, “Take Me to the Top”
An Italo production that sounds like it was made in some New York basement studio alongside rats. I once heard this at a club with a primo sound system and I swear the walls were vibrating.
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No. 60 - Indeep, “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life”
No. 60 - Indeep, “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life”
And then what’d he do?
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No. 61 - Alicia Myers, “I Want To Thank You”
No. 61 - Alicia Myers, “I Want To Thank You”
A real come-to-Jesus moment.
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No. 62 - Chemise, “She Can’t Love You”
No. 62 - Chemise, “She Can’t Love You”
Singular in its cattiness.
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No. 63 - Sharon Redd, “Never Give You Up”
No. 63 - Sharon Redd, “Never Give You Up”
It’s caked in the reverb and hum of electronics, but Redd’s joy is entirely human.
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No. 64 - Miquel Brown, “So Many Men, So Little Time”
No. 64 - Miquel Brown, “So Many Men, So Little Time”
This is one of those tracks sung by a woman that seems to be written from the point of view of a gay man (see also: Inner Life’s “I’m Caught Up (In a One Night Love Affair”)—or at least it speaks directly to the experience as it was and has since resumed being.
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No. 65 - Answering Service, “Call Me Mr. Telephone”
No. 65 - Answering Service, “Call Me Mr. Telephone”
Another Italo classic—and this one has a rap!
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No. 66 - Shalamar, “The Second Time Around”
No. 66 - Shalamar, “The Second Time Around”
This isn’t just about the smoothness of the groove, or the lusciousness of Howard Hewett’s and Jody Watley’s voices. It’s about the sprong-y “boing” sound that punctuates throughout.
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No. 67 - Azoto, “San Salvador”
No. 67 - Azoto, “San Salvador”
Disco Fizz, Azoto’s entire mini-album that is home to “San Salvador,” is about as eccentric as it gets—vibrating with arpeggios and teeming with high-pitched vocals that imagine the Bee Gees on helium. It’s a disco fever dream, but you can dance to it.
