Disco Before They Called It Disco

The first disco critic Vince Aletti stumps for Temptations/Motown alumni Eddie Kendricks and his 1972 solo song, "Girl You Need A Change of Mind," as the first disco song, and he ought to know as well as anybody. 

The first pop hit that was first a big hit in early underground discos in 1972: Manu Dibango's Afro-funk global smash hit "Soul Makossa." 

"You Can Have Watergate Just Give Me Some Money," The J.B.'s (1973). In general, James Brown's funk, funky breaks, horns, chanted choruses, and hyperkinetic footwork are as elemental to early classic era disco as Philly Soul or Gloria Gaynor. 

Willie Henderson was a sax player from Chicago. He played on a bunch of R&B hits (Syl Johnson, Chi-Lites), got into some production work (Tyrone Davis), and put out a few novelty dance numbers like this one, "Dance Master," in 1974. Here's another kind of overlooked disco groove, call it Afro-Jazz funk, that proto-disco DJs were digging up before the music industry straitjacketed the music they were playing as Disco. 

 

"You Keep Me Hangin' On," The Supremes (1966)

The Billboard Disco chart began in late 1974, Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye," based on a template already established by a Philly Sound, with a big assist from the Temptations/Eddie Kendricks, in 1972. But what was the first disco song or what pre-disco song hinted most at the classic disco sound to come? Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" has some claim, essentially because it got big at David Mancuso's Loft in 1972, generally recognized as the NYC private party danceclub where disco started; or an important early model, anyway. Archie Bell & The Drells were an early disco staple, from "Tighten Up" in '68 to "Let's Groove" in '75. The Isley's "It's Our Thing" in '69 deserves some attention. Uptempo, insistent, even stomping, funky rock & soul was showing the way. But this Supremes nugget-- 1966!-- should not be overlooked. Pathbreaking proto-disco, if you ask me.