A disco inferno

A discoth que is defined by the dictionary as a nightclub where records are played for dancing. The idea got its start in Paris in 1940, when Hitler marched in and banned live jazz, which he considered decadent. This drove Parisian nightlife underground, and live music was supplanted with recordings a cheaper way to entertain a crowd.

La Discoth que Club opened in Paris in 1941, and the format became so popular that the term discoth que is still used for those underground clubs.

In New York, the first popular disco was the Peppermint Lounge off Times Square, which took off in the early Sixties. Celebrities were eager to be seen there, dancing the Twist, a new dance craze started by Chubby Checker's remake of a minor hit.

By the Seventies, the clubs had spawned their own distinct style of music, disco, typified by recordings such as Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive and Chic's Le Freak. When the disco movement reached its peak, there were more than 10,000 discoth ques in the US.
On April 26, 1977, Studio 54, destined to become the biggest, most famous disco in the world, as well as my number-one spot to shoot celebrities, opened in New York.

The club's owners, the extroverted Steve Rubell and his introverted partner, Ian Schrager, made the club a haven for celebrities, who would turn up at its doors direct from performing in New York nightclubs, theatres and fashion shows. Once there, they were off-duty, and would party hard into the early hours. Liza, Liz, Mick, Bianca, Truman, Halston, Andy, Calvin, Brooke and hundreds of other celebrities flocked to live the nightlife at Studio 54.

With Marc Benecke and "the list" limiting admission, Studio 54 deliberately created a waiting line that helped the club's mystique. Once inside, the club provided a radiant sunburst of energy, with flashing lights and smoke machines re-creating the feel of a Hollywood movie set. The club's patrons were the stars dancing, drinking, and having sex.

It was glamorous, and it was decadent.
From its opening in 1977, I covered both scheduled and unscheduled events at Studio 54. Although the majority of my shots were taken inside the club, on occasion, I covered the outside.

On May 21, 1979, after a party for the fashion designer Halston, I got a famous shot of Liz Taylor, my most photographed subject, leaving the club by the stage door. That shot of her in the limo turned out to be a big exclusive, because she was very fat at the time. It was published on the cover of Hollywood Babylon II, and in many other publications.

Studio 54 closed its doors in 1986, but there were plenty of other discos for me to cover. These included the Limelight, Area, the Palladium, Bonds, Regine's, Electric Circus, Danceteria, the Tunnel, Le Jardin, Copacabana, and others. Second to Studio 54 was probably Howard Stein's Xenon, which was another converted theatre.

There were many great parties, and many memorable pictures, but of all the discos, none compared to Studio 54.
The Disco Years by Ron Galella is published by Powerhouse on November 2 and is available from BooksFirst priced 31.49 (RRP 34.