What was the first disco song?
There tends to be a clear dividing line in the music world regarding disco. Although the 1970s were known as a golden age for classic rock, there were just as many artists who were learning to embrace that four-on-the-floor drum pattern and get people moving in clubs across the world through the power of disco. While many people see the end of the 1970s as the moment when disco started reaching its zenith, the first dance song to capitalise on it actually came right alongside the biggest names in rock.
You must remember that despite its genre name, disco wasn’t all that different from what soul music had to offer back in the day. As much as people loved the idea of dancing in a club, the idea of disco music and the various John Travolta-style dances that came with it were just a hope for the future when ‘Soul Makossa’ by Manu Dibango was first released in 1972.
While the clubs were certainly not filled with the same leisure-suited dancers in the age of glam rock, the pieces of the style were already there. Despite the artist behind the hit coming from Cameroon and recording it in France, hearing it come across the DJ’s turntable at a club in New York City was enough to get people on their feet and grooving in a way that no other dance record had done before.
That’s because it hadn’t quite been invented yet, and once Donna Summer came storming into view and the Bee Gees got their makeover, many of them were just trying to emulate what Dibango was doing naturally. If you look closely at what he was trying to do, though, there’s an argument to be made that that “inspiration” should come with a few royalty checks as well.
So, what makes ‘Soul Makossa’ the first disco song?
There had already been dance songs both before and after disco’s prime, so what makes this random Cameroon singer any different? Most people hadn’t heard of this kind of style before, but it didn’t really seem to have a prayer when the biggest names of the day were David Bowie and T Rex. Once you peel back the layers of how everything is constructed, the pieces of disco are all there; they just hadn’t been capitalised on yet.
Looking through the tune, the chanting chorus and relentless groove means that the song never really has to have an ending. Outside of using the disco trope of being as long as possible to keep the dancefloor populated, the biggest strength of ‘Soul Makossa’ is that relentless rhythm, keeping everything low to the ground and constantly hitting you over the head, which is both the reason why people love and hate disco.
Some pieces of modern pop were even lifted from there. As much as Thriller would define what pop music would look like in a post-disco world, the breakdown of ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ is just Jacko lifting the chant from this song to give his tune a bit more flavour. But that’s only one piece of what this kind of tune meant for the rest of the world.
But when did disco start going mainstream?
Although Dibango was most likely singing the kind of music he understood, the rest of the world had to do more catching up. We were still in the age when acts like Led Zeppelin ruled the charts, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the track not gaining traction yet on the charts. When it finally did explode in 1977, though, the entire world was on the hype train.
Once Donna Summer started coming out with tunes like ‘I Feel Love’, that same drum pattern and hypnotic groove was what cemented disco’s legacy in clubs around the world. Suddenly, now there were disco dances, disco clubs, and the unveiling of Saturday Night Fever, which may as well be considered the first thing shown to aliens when they ask humanity about this mysterious dance music.
Dibango also could justifiably credit himself for starting two genres of music, with ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by Sugarhill Gang becoming the first hip-hop song while riding the groove of the disco smash ‘Good Times’ by Chic. Was ‘Soul Makossa’ meant to change the world overnight? Probably not, but sometimes the most obscure singles of all time have a foothold in history well beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations.
