By Gregg Shapiro
Has there ever been a musical genre more deserving of a glorious coffee table book than disco? In his new book “Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania Under the Disco Ball” (Rizzoli, 2024), gay writer Frank DeCaro answers that question with this stunning portrait of the cultural phenomenon that was central to
lives of so many, including the LGBTQ community. DeCaro deftly explores disco’s influence which still
resonates strongly today. Covering every imaginable aspect of the musical style, DeCaro respectfully
and affectionately provides readers with a history lesson as informative as it is entertaining, from fashion to film, from venues to the wide variety of performers, from dance steps to missteps, from devotion to backlash. Frank was generous enough to make time for an interview in early 2025.
Gregg Shapiro: Why was now the time to write your book “Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania Under The Disco Ball”?
Frank DeCaro: I began thinking about writing “Disco” as soon as I finished my 2019 book, “Drag:
Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business.” During interviews to promote that book, people said I was shining a light on something that deserved more respect than it had ever gotten before. That got me thinking – what else do I love that deserves to be taken more seriously and deserves to be given its
flowers? I decided that I wanted to tell the story of disco because the music seemed to be in the DNA of
all the dance-pop we were hearing and continue to hear on the radio. Disco was having a revival moment, one that really ramped up during the COVID lockdown. We weren’t going out, but we turned to upbeat music to get ourselves through those lonely days. “I Feel Love” was the 2019 Christmas
song for Target, “I Will Survive” and other songs were on commercials. We were all listening to
disco at home. Sophie Ellis Bextor, the “Murder on the Dancefloor” singer, began doing “Kitchen
Disco” streams on social media. It was all just bubbling up again, the way it did during the AIDS crisis in
the late eighties and early nineties. Disco was there for us then, and it was there for us during Covid. Then, when I watched the Bee Gees documentary “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart,” I knew I had to tell disco’s story from a queer pop culture perspective. One man in the film described “Disco Demolition
Night,” that awful radio promotion event in 1979 in Chicago when records by black artists were blown up, as a “racist, homophobic book burning.” I knew I had to do this book. Disco wasn’t just a fun
pop culture era – although I do celebrate that in the book – but it was also a watershed moment for
people of color, strong women, and the queer community. Disco was largely made by, consumed by, and
enjoyed by members of those groups. That side of the disco story needed to be told.
GS: How long did it take from start to finish?
FD: My entire life [laughs] – but really the last five years! It really is a sort of one-man-band project when you do a book like this. First, you’re a salesman trying to sell a book proposal to a publisher, then you’re the researcher, then the writer of the manuscript, then the editor. Once you’ve gotten the words down, you become the photo editor, then you play lawyer securing rights to those photos. When the book comes out, you become the chief publicist and social media coordinator, then you’re the talent hawking it on TV. You certainly have help along the way, but you really do have to do a lot of it yourself. At this point, I’ve been living in a disco wonderland for years, but I’m not complaining. It’s a dream job. I love the music and the people and the entire ethos of the “Just Say Yes” disco era, and
I’m always happy to go down a disco rabbit hole and learn more about the subject.
GS: What was involved in your selection process for the interview subjects you included?
FD: I started with people I knew like Felipe Rose and David Hodo, my two favorites of the original
Village People. Felipe put me in touch with his friend Gloria Gaynor. Then, an acquaintance
said, “You know I’m friends with Cory Daye of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band,” and
then she and I did an interview that went so well we became friends. One person led me to another. As I say in the book – and RuPaul likes to say – it takes a village, people.
GS: Was there a dream interview subject that you were unable to get for the book?
FD: I would have liked to talk to the Bee Gees. Barry Gibb is still around, but I couldn’t reach him,
and his brothers are gone. Sylvester has been gone so long, but I would have liked to have talked to
him. I did see the Bee Gees and Sylvester live back in the day, which helped in writing the book.
One dream interview that did happen was with Donna Summer. I had lunch with her in 1999 and the
great bulk of what we discussed was never published before this book. At first, I couldn’t find any
notes. But after much searching in my archives, I found two microcassettes of my interview with
her. I digitized those and transcribed them, and it turned out to be quite a wonderful interview if I say so myself. It really ends the book beautifully. She remains the Queen of Disco – even if Sylvester did
think he was the Queen of Disco and not her – so it was appropriate that my interview with her is the
book’s “finale,” if you will.
GS: As you mentioned, “Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania Under The Disco Ball” includes an interview with gay, original Village People members David Hodo and Felipe Rose. The book came out before the recent hubbub over “YMCA” and remaining original member, straight Victor Willis not only performing at the Trump inaugural with the latest iteration of VP but also claiming there is nothing gay about the song. What are your thoughts about that?
FD: I don’t want Victor to sue me for saying this, but I don’t think the song “YMCA” is about playing
pickle ball. There are pickles and balls involved, but I’ve already said too much! The unfortunate thing
about the band playing the inauguration is that many people who rightfully condemned Willis
used photos of the original Village People in their posts and articles. Believe me, the other original
members of Village People are not on board with any of his doings. Any longtime fan of the group knows that the current lineup is like a Village People tribute band. But, hey, if they make people happy,
good for them. But at this point, they’re like the Eiffel Tower on the Strip in Las Vegas, not the genuine
one in Paris.
GS: Earlier, you mentioned the hate-filled 1979 Disco Demolition, which is referenced numerous times in your book. Regardless, disco, or as the kids call it “dance music,” survived in ways that shock jock Steve Dahl hasn’t. Meanwhile, Star Vista’s Ultimate Disco Cruise continues to be one of its most popular cruises, disco is often prominently featured in musicals on Broadway and on tour, festivals such as the house music focused Arc in Chicago and the EDM-oriented Ultra in Miami regularly draw large crowds, gay bars such as Hunters in Wilton Manors host weekly classic disco events, and 2025 Album of the Year Grammy-nominees Chappel Roan, Charli XCX, and Billie Eilish all incorporated dance music on their albums. This is a long way of asking what you think it means that disco survived, and disco’s detractors have been relegated to the dustbin of history.
FD: To quote Lizzo, “It’s About Damn Time.” We’re only now understanding the history of disco
and showing the throughline from disco to the music of today. I wanted to help people understand
that disco, back in the day, was as big as hip-hop. It colored everything we wore, listened to, watched at the movies, and on TV. Disco was all consuming. We can see now that the “disco sucks movement of the seventies was what we today call “toxic masculinity.” Disco Demolition Night was like a MAGA
rally when you look back on it. Disco was about diversity and inclusion – a message that still
resonates with at least half the country – and that never really went away. Disco influenced all the
music that came after it – hip-hop and new wave especially – and gave way to house music and EDM,
as we call Electronic Dance Music. You couldn’t have Lizzo without Chic, or Dua Lipa without Donna Summer. My favorite thing is now you hear classic disco at the grocery store. There’s nothing more fun than hearing “More, More, More” while you’re reaching for a box of spaghetti at Safeway [laughs]!
GS: Would you agree that there is something ironic about the Disco Demolition taking place
in Chicago which also turned out to be the birthplace of House Music?
FD: It is ironic, isn’t it? What I like is that the original Comiskey Park where Disco Demolition Night was held was torn down decades ago, but disco and house just keep hustling along. Toot toot,
hey, beep beep!
GS: While you were attending Northwestern, did you ever go to the Bistro, Chicago’s answer to Studio 54?
FD: We had a group of six of us that someone dubbed the Northwestern Army. We were all out and proud – and this was in the Midwest in 1980! – and we’d go with our fake IDs to the Bistro. None of us knew that we were in what would later be called the Studio 54 of Chicago. We just knew it was THE fun place to be young and gay. We’d go on fiftycent drink night – Thursdays, if I remember correctly – and stay out all night and still get up for class on Friday morning. I’m still friends with the whole gang, although we haven’t been dancing together in decades [laughs]! I’ll have to remedy
that!
GS: i’m glad you included “Must- Hear Disco Playlists,” ranging from 1970 to 2024. If you had to pick one song from those lists that you would consider to be the most must-heard, what would it
be?
FD: The greatest disco song is “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer. The story of how it came to be that the
cowriter and coproducer Pete Bellotte tells in the book gives me goosebumps every time I think of it.
That song still sounds like the future almost fifty years after it was recorded.
GS: My husband and I have had the pleasure of going on the Ultimate Disco Cruise a couple of times, and some of your interview subjects, such as Linda Clifford, France Joli, Nicky Siano, and Deney Terrio, have been among the entertainers. Is there any chance you might board one of the upcoming cruises to talk about your book to an ocean liner full of disco fans?
FD: I want to be invited on the cruise to host panels and do a disco history presentation so badly! Who
do you know? Hook a sister up!
GS: I love that you featured journalist and long-time ally Ann Powers, in your book. I recently interviewed her about her Joni Mitchell book. Have you read it?
FD: I haven’t read it, but I admire Ann and, of course, Joni Mitchell, so I’ll have to!
GS: Have you started thinking about or working on your next book project?
FD: I’ve set my sights on Italian-Americana. I want to explore how pop culture shaped our notions of
what it means to be proudly Italian American, whether it’s Tony Soprano or Lady Gaga or Chef
Boyardee. Let’s see what kind of “Sunday gravy” I can make out of all those ingredients!