Back in the DAY 75 - 85 The London Disco Scene
 

THE ORIGINAL LONDON DISCO's where the music we love was played originally 76 - 85 back in the day

The Global Village (Now Heaven) & The 100 Club were actually both classed as ''Underground Clubs"


The Goldmine (Canvey Island)
The Lacy Lady (Ilford)
The Lyceum (Central London)
Global Village (Central London)
The Venue (Central London)
The 100 Club (Central London)
Bananas (Central London)
Frenchies (Camberley)
Zero 6 (Southend)

A) Were any of you out there regulars at any of the above London venues ?
B) Can any of you out there, list the discos / clubs that you used to 'Go pulling' during the real disco era of 1975 - 1985?
C) Because of the 'then' racist approach and blocking of virtually any mainstream / peak time radio air play for any genre of then black dance music (Disco,Soul & Jazz Funk) the majority of the tracks you heard in the discos & clubs then were never released to buy in this country and when available via U.S & Euro Imports, were very limited indeed and very expensive.
D) Is there any memory jerking tracks playing over & over in your minds, that you to this day have still not found out who actually performed / sung the song?
E) Were any of you out there in a 'Soul Patrol' then or a 'Real DJ' (Mixing) back then when real skill was required?

Let's get this thread moving

I can't say I was part of the London scene, but in Manchester there were Clubs which devoted much of their time to playing Funk. A lot of the music played differed I think to that aired in London venues as regions do. One example of this is The Isley Bros. "Take Me To the Next Phase"- hardly played here, but a great record!
U.S. Imports played an important part as I think some tracks would never have been heard at all otherwise. I believe that Funkadelic's "One Nation Under A Groove" was only released here because it became so popular in the clubs on import.
Some of the Manchester Clubs which were Funk- influenced were-
Tiffany's
Smarty's
The John Bull
Blinkers
This was due in part to the DJs who moved away from main-stream Disco and in doing so attracted a very competitive dance crowd. Their play-lists ensured that their followers grew in number.

The majority of the Disco, Soul & Funk floor fillers, were not available to buy in the UK only on US & Euro import, as already mentioned the dance music as a whole was being very unlawfully blocked from getting 'any' air play at all on any main stream / peak time radio stations in between the whole of the 70's and up to 1986.
It was only the small minority getting through such as Motown artists plus a few other artists on other major labels whose agents and promoters were paying huge regular backhand 'Mafia Type' payments to get their Black music artist songs played on the main radio stations.
When Disco really exploded and became very popular indeed in the UK in 1976, as mentioned by Barbarella, pressure on the record companies to release certain songs which were being played regularly to thousands of people in clubs all over the UK and 'not on radio stations at all' became too much to hold off and also was politically embarrassing, but in their own corrupt corporate way they ganged up and stopped the titles getting released in the UK from becoming really successful and entering the national top 20 music charts by making each release 'Limited pressings & editions'.
How many of the Beatles,Bay City Rollers,T-Rex,10cc,Abba,Andy Williams,Bee Gees and so on had any of any their single releases ever as limited pressings or editions NONE; when mainstream artists/groups records sold well the companies pressed more copies, but not with any Disco, Soul, Funk or Jazz Funk releases when they sold really well nationally and stock sold out they could never be reordered by the specialist shops; they automatically were deleted by the companies involved and it was all the big boys they didn't even mind losing out on making thousands/ millions of pounds of extra profit, they would rather lose out financially and keep the gates closed and locked for black dance music to be controlled not to be succesful in the UK. Even more pressure because of the growing success and following of the new music genre; made them agree to syphon let an agreed percentage through the gates and receive mainstream airplay and unlimited stock control (To cover themselves legally).
The very expensive U.S. imports was the only way to get the majority of the songs being played all over the UK in the clubs and bars but they were also limited in the U.S so when copies arrived in the UK they were very limited editions indeed, they did play a huge part in the success of the Disco era because without them being brought into the UK 2/3 of all the dance classics we all know and love would never have existed here because none were never ever on general release in the UK...

This makes a lot of sense because I do not remember any records played in The Clubs getting any airplay on the radio.
Would this be why anything released by The Rah Band costs so much today? The price of some of their stuff is astronomical! :D
Up to now I hadn't figured it out, but the reasons you give here would explain it.
I have always wondered why Donna Summer had two records out at the same time. One was on GTO Records and the other was on Casablanca.Do you happen to know why this might have been? :)

My name is Russell Beecher and I work with book publisher Essential Works in London, England.

Essential are putting together a large illustrated book about Disco and I am trying to source visual material for the book.

The book is going to be about the music, the people, the places, the clothes, the drugs, the sex, the politics and everything else that made Disco such an amazing phenomenon

I am looking for photos of the clubs, partygoers, artists, records and just about anything else that is visually relevant.

I was wondering if you might be able to help or point me in the right direction?

Kind regards,

Russell
russell.beecher@essentialworks.co.uk