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The Disco Era and Electronic Dance Music
Breakout
Dance/electronica as a musical genre broke out in the mid-1970s with the release of numerous disco classics, such as “Love To Love You Baby,” “Disco Inferno,” “Lady Marmalade,” “Kung Fu Fighting,” and “Dancing Queen.”
Inevitably, there was a backlash against disco in 1979, partly fuelled by racism and partly by homophobia (faggy and unmasculine, they sneered). Disco reactionaries burned records, as had happened in the racist backlash against rock, a generation earlier.
Although the popularity of disco declined (but did not disappear), other sub-genres sprang up from the club dance scene, and, over time, dance/electronica became a musical genre in its own right, not just a dance fad.
Crest
Dance/electronica probably crested in the 1990s, the heyday of numerous electronic sub-genres, some of which had emerged in the 1980s, such as techno (Detroit), house (Chicago), drum ‘n’ bass, trip-hop, and scores of others.
Mainstream Genre
Dance/electronica artists continue to experiment and innovate. The clubs rave on.