Rock and disco are two popular genres of music in the Western music industry. Rock is a style of music with loud electric guitars and strong rhythms. On the other hand, Disco is a dance music style with a steady beat and catchy melodies.
The key difference between rock and disco is their features. Rock mainly uses the backbeat (second and fourth beats) and powerful, raw, and sometimes aggressive vocals, whereas disco uses a “four-on-the-floor” rhythm (bass drum on every beat) and has smooth, polished, and often harmonized vocals.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Rock
3. What is Disco
4. Rock vs Disco in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Rock and Disco
6. FAQ – Rock and Disco
What is Rock?
Rock is a genre of popular music that began in the 1940s and 1950s with rock and roll, a style inspired by blues, rhythm and blues, and country music. Over time, rock music also took inspiration from electric blues, folk, jazz, and other musical styles.
In the mid-1960s, rock musicians, led by the Beatles, began focusing more on creating albums than just singles. By the late 1960s, various rock subgenres appeared, like blues, folk, country, southern, raga, and jazz rock. These contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, influenced by the hippie scene. New styles, like progressive rock, which added artistic elements, and glam rock, known for its showy performances, kept emerging. In the late 1970s, punk rock reacted against these trends with simpler, more energetic music that often included social and political messages. Punk influenced new wave, post-punk, and alternative rock in the 1980s.
From the 1990s, alternative rock became very popular, with grunge, Britpop, and indie rock leading the way. New fusion genres like pop-punk, electronic rock, rap rock, and rap metal also emerged. Some movements, like the garage rock revival in the 2000s, tried to bring back older rock styles. Since the 2010s, rock music hasn’t been as dominant as it once was, with hip-hop and electronic dance music becoming more influential.
Rock music is known for its powerful sound centered on the electric guitar, supported by the bass guitar and drums. Bands often include keyboards like the piano or synthesizer. Typical rock bands have three to five members, including a vocalist, guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. The music features simple, syncopated rhythms in a 4/4 beat, with melodies from older musical modes and varied harmonies. Songs usually follow a verse-chorus structure and have straightforward lyrics about love, rebellion, and social issues.
What is Disco?
Disco was a genre of dance music that was mainly popular in the 1970s. It was the music that was often played at urban nightclubs (discotheques). Disco originated in the late 1960s as a response to social issues like political scandals, gang violence, race riots, and homophobia. Fans of disco gathered in discotheques GG’s Barnum Room, Studio 54, and Mudd Club to dance to music mixed and produced by deejays and watch live acts. Some popular disco acts of the era included Gee Bees, Rick James, Donna Summer, The Village People, Gloria Gaynor, and Kool & the Gang. However, it declined as a trend in popular music (in the US) following the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” in 1979, where deejay Steve Dahl encouraged people to bring their old disco records to a White Sox game and blow them up in the field.
Disco music often uses syncopation. This is when the rhythm emphasizes beats that are normally unaccented, which creates a lively and offbeat feel. You’ll often hear this in the guitar basslines and drum hi-hat sounds. It also has four-on-the-floor beats. This steady rhythm pattern, where the bass drum hits every quarter note in a “4/4” time signature. This creates a consistent beat that gets people dancing. Early disco music included horns, strings, flutes, and other classical instruments to create its funky sound. By the mid-1970s, electronic instruments and synthesizers became more common, imitating these acoustic sounds. Moreover, vocals in disco are often simple and repetitive and focused on themes like love, encouragement, or dance instructions. This made the music easy to sing along to and perfect for dancing.
Difference Between Rock and Disco
Definition
- Rock is a style of music with loud electric guitars and strong rhythms.
- Disco is a dance music with a steady beat and catchy melodies, popular in the 1970s.
Instruments
- Rock music mainly uses electric guitars, bass guitars, drums, and sometimes keyboards.
- Disco uses a mix of electronic instruments, synthesizers, and traditional instruments like horns, strings, and flutes.
Beats
- Rock music often has a strong, driving beat with an emphasis on the backbeat (the second and fourth beats in a measure).
- Disco has a steady, consistent beat with a focus on the “four-on-the-floor” rhythm (a bass drum hit on every beat in 4/4 time).
Lyrics
- Lyrics in rock music cover a wide range of themes, including love, rebellion, and social issues.
- In disco music, lyrics are usually about love, encouragement, and dance instructions.
Voice
- Rock has powerful, raw, and sometimes aggressive vocals.
- Disco has smooth, polished, and often harmonized vocals.
New Genres
- Rock developed many subgenres like punk, grunge, and alternative rock.
- Disco resulted in the development of electronic dance music (EDM) and house music.
Popularity
- Rock was the most popular music genre in Western countries from the 1950s to the 2010s.
- Disco was popular during the 1970s.
The following table summarizes the difference between rock and disco.
Summary – Rock vs Disco
Although both are popular music genres, there is a difference between rock and disco. Rock mainly uses the backbeat (second and fourth beats), whereas disco uses a “four-on-the-floor” rhythm (bass drum on every beat). In addition, rock music has powerful, raw, and sometimes aggressive vocals, whereas disco music has smooth, polished, and often harmonized vocals.
FAQ: Rock and Disco
1. Is disco a subgenre of rock?
- Disco is not a subgenre of rock, but it can be described as a subgenre of pop. Rock originated from blues, rock and roll, and country music, while disco originated from funk, soul, and dance music.
2. Why is it called disco music?
- The name disco is derived from the discotheque. Discotheques were nightclubs or dance venues where records (discs) were played for dancing. In the early 1970s, “disco” began to describe the style of music played in these clubs.
3. What killed disco?
- The decline of disco is associated with the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” in 1979, where deejay Steve Dahl encouraged people to bring their old disco records to a White Sox game and blow them up in the field.
4. What makes a song disco?
- If a song has a steady “four-on-the-floor” beat, where the bass drum hits on every beat of a 4/4 measure and a groovy, syncopated bassline that drives the rhythm, we can call it a disco song. Disco songs may also include string and horn sections to add a lush sound, catchy melodies with smooth vocals, and electronic elements like synthesizers.
Reference:
1. “All About Disco: Inside the History and Influence of Disco Music.” Master Class.
2. “Rock Music.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Disco Ball” By Ice Boy Tell – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Group of Men Playing Guitar in Concert in Grayscale Photo” (CC0) via Pexels
Leave a Reply