The song Keith Richards called “the first disco record”
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of any musical genre; no matter what you claim, there will always be another musician who claims to have established a particular sound first. The divisive world of disco is no different. In fact, the very fact that disco can be traced back to funk, soul, and gospel means it is virtually impossible to cite the very first disco song. However, that did not stop The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards from weighing in on the debate, identifying the supposed first-ever disco track.
Any disco aficionado, upon being quizzed on the origins of the genre, will undoubtedly mention Manu Dibango’s Soul Makossa, which hit the clubs of Paris in 1973. The song predicted many of the conventions that disco would later embrace when the scene kicked into force during the mid-to-late 1970s, predominantly on the East Coast of the United States. However, if you listen to much earlier tracks, particularly Motown releases from the likes of The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, or Edwin Starr, you can certainly hear the early origins of what would later become known as disco.
It was this early 1960s soul and R&B movement which Keith Richards saw as the beginning of disco. The Stones had their own experiences with blazing a trail for new genres, with their adolescent rock rebellion giving rise to the British Invasion scene and inspiring countless future generations to adopt a dirty, sleazy rock and roll sound. However, the band, particularly during the early days, were also incredibly well-versed in the origins of styles like blues. At heart, Richards and company have always been obsessive music nerds, so it makes sense that they would find a natural appreciation for disco.
So much so that, during the 1980s, The Rolling Stones began to expand upon their existing sound, taking on countless modern genres and musical conventions. For their 1986 album Dirty Work – which was, by no means, the band’s finest hour – the Stones even paid homage to the worlds of R&B and disco, covering the classic 1963 track ‘Harlem Shuffle’ by Bob & Earl.
The original song has undeniable importance on both disco and hip-hop, with House of Pain using a sample of the song for ‘Jump Around’, but Richards suggest its importance goes much further than the classic hip-hop track, citing ‘Harlem Shuffle’ as potentially the first disco track of all time.
Speaking about the track back in 1985, Richards explained, “The original version by Bob & Earl had horns on it, straight-ahead soul-disco style,” before making the divisive claim, “It was probably the first disco record. It was still the early ‘60s when they did it, but the sound and beat were very connectable to that early disco stuff, too.” It is certainly hard to disagree with Richards on the fact that ‘Harlem Shuffle’ shares something in common with early disco, but it should be noted that lots of tracks of the 1960s did, too.
After all, disco’s natural predecessor was soul, which was virtually unavoidable during the early 1960s, around the time of ‘Harlem Shuffle’. Nevertheless, Richards’ appreciation for the proto-disco stylings of Bob & Earl led to one of the strangest Rolling Stones tracks of the period. “The thing we didn’t want to do was to exactly lift their sound and arrangement by using horns,” he shared, “So we were trying to get a different sound to kink up and follow those parts through, like Chuck Leavell’s synthesiser riff and the mandolin-sounding guitar intro.”
It is difficult to properly emulate the sounds of brass horns, particularly while using 1980s synthesisers, and perhaps that is why the Stones’ version of ‘Harlem Shuffle’ does not pack nearly the same impact of the original. Either way, the song showed the band’s willingness to embrace new and diverse genres and sounds, which helped them to become one of the most enduring and beloved rock bands of all time.
