It seems like there was a fair amount of early '80s neo-disco, though the cheesy synths and lack of stringed instrumentation and stripped down production and songwriting make it more disco-influenced than real disco. Examples include Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown", Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money", The Weather Sisters' "It's Raining Men", etc., and it lasted through 1983. Ultimately, though, it was synth disco with a pretty face.

I'd say full blown KC and the Sunshine Band-type Disco stopped being cool some time in 1979, but its influence was still around for a few more years.

There were still some Disco songs making hits in late '79-very early '81, so I'd cut the line for it being chart material around the first half of 1981 at most (i.e. "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang is an example of a very latter era Disco song).

It's kinda funny how the new wave/early MTV era was so "anti Disco/anti '70s" in fashion and music, although alot of the most "80s" '80s dance music had at least some of its roots in Disco -- i.e. Madonna's first album, "1999" by Prince, "Gloria" by Laura Branigan. Even "Billie Jean" and other songs off Thriller.

This influence was probably there though 1983. Now that I think about it, 1984 was the first 100% '80s year - even if the '70s had completely stopped being cool by mid 81ish, and some things from as far back as '79 were very very "80s".

Yeah. 1983 was the last call of everything late-'70s influenced, including neo-disco. The Weather Sisters' "It's Raining Men", which is sort of synth-disco, and "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer (which is another example of late synth-disco) were both sometime in 1983. I just bought Madonna's first album and it actually has 6-minute dance mixes of "Lucky Star" and "Holiday", a discoish concept, and that's from 1983. And "Flashdance...What a Feeling" is another vaguely discoish 1983 song...most of Irene Cara sounds just like synth-discopop. The transition away from the '70s started in late 1979 with the beginning of the popularity of new wave and had its last hurrah at the end of the early '80s in 1983. I'm trying to figure out what was the final nail in the coffin of the '70s in 1983. Maybe it was when Michael Jackson and Madonna came out, even if, as we've said, their 1983 stuff still has residual disco influence.


Transitional '70s-'80s: Late 1979-Early 1981
Early '80s: Mid-1981-Mid-1983

My guess is around 1984-1985.

  It seems like there was a fair amount of early '80s neo-disco, though the cheesy synths and lack of stringed instrumentation and stripped down production and songwriting make it more disco-influenced than real disco. Examples include Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown", Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money", The Weather Sisters' "It's Raining Men", etc., and it lasted through 1983. Ultimately, though, it was synth disco with a pretty face.


What are you talking about, Disco's pervasive influence is still being felt today...

This influence was probably there though 1983. Now that I think about it, 1984 was the first 100% '80s year - even if the '70s had completely stopped being cool by mid 81ish, and some things from as far back as '79 were very very "80s".



Yeah, I'd say 1983 as well, that seems to be the last year with any 70's influence left in it. By 1984 it was gone.

If I were to give you a cop-out answer, I'd say it's never ceased to be an influence. ;)

However I'm not. I would say 1984.

If I were to give you a cop-out answer, I'd say it's never ceased to be an influence. ;)

However I'm not. I would say 1984.


But his question was when did disco influence stop. Not when did disco peter out to become next to insignificant.  :)

But his question was when did disco influence stop. Not when did disco peter out to become next to insignificant.  :)


Oh.  :)

It should have been petered out to become insignificant, though.

I'm going to say after 1980.

I agree Howard..... The 80s were so destructive its not funny :(

I agree Howard..... The 80s were so destructive its not funny :(


What does that mean? ???

It never really went away, given that the dance music charts and production remained strong through the decade. It just wasn't as mainstream to present it. It started of course with post-disco and electrofunk, followed by Hi-NRG and some Madonna-style pop. The S/A/W and Freestyle sounds are basically late '80s disco, and then of course the '90s House/Eurodance/Trance had it as well. If the term wasn't lambasted in America, people would be calling Get Into The Groove, I'm So Excited, How Will I Know, and Never Gonna Give You Up disco classics. Just look at the genres in the dance category on musicmap online: most had origins in '70s disco. However the non-crossover dance hits (more than the '70s) tended to be viewed as LGBT or minority music unfortunately due to political reasons.

Now in terms of '70s sounding (horns/orchestra) vs. '80s sounding (synths/drum machines), probably sometime during 1982.  ABC's "Look Of Love" seems to be the cutoff.