(drum beating) - Do you hear that?

That's the sound of dance music being changed forever.

♪ Dance, dance, dance ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Aaah aah ahh ♪ One, two, three, four.

It's the heartbeat of American dance music.

Four on the floor, or one bass drum on every beat.

Linda and I are gonna explore how a simple but revolutionary rhythm changed dance music history, from the foundational rhythm of disco to the foreground of modern pop and dance music.

- And we're gonna take what we learned to create a new dance track using the classic four on the floor groove.

♪ Celebrate, vibe with me ♪ ♪ Although it's not the last time ♪ Our story starts at the end of the disco era of American music.

Before there was panic at the disco, there was panic aimed at disco.

In July, 1979, a crowd of thousands packed the White Sox stadium to burn and destroy disco records, the culmination of years of anti-disco sentiment.

Even though some claim that disco died that day, disco's iconic four on the floor rhythm survived its supposed demolition, living on an everything post disco from electronic dance music to pop.

♪ Talk, talk, we should talk, talk ♪ ♪ We should talk, talk ♪ ♪ We should talk ♪ But to understand disco's influence, we need to rewind to before four on the floor.

In post World War II America, there was a new kind of arms race.

Who's the best at drumming up the dance floor?

Ballroom band leaders like Perez Prato, Duke Ellington, and others competed to see who could create the latest dance craze by making music filled to the brim with complex drum rhythms.

♪ Mambo ♪ ♪ Que rico ♪ - Then in the fifties, a new generation of rock and rollers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard chased a different direction.

They move the drummer up front and have them come up with a much simpler, much louder, and catchier rhythm.

The four to the floor.

On songs like Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," you can hear the bass drum (bass music) on every beat of the music.

It's swing combined with rock's aggressive rhythmic pattern.

♪ Yeah baby, woo ♪ Meanwhile, funk pioneers like James Brown stressed the one, having a heavy emphasis on the first beat of each measure.

That not only helped funk become such a danceable genre, but it foreshadowed the emphasis that would come with the four on the floor beat we know today.

♪ Hot pants ♪ ♪ Hot pants ♪ - Then came Harold Melvin in the Blue Notes' "Love I Lost."

This song set our march to the start of a new and definitive movement.

♪ The love, the love, the love I lost ♪ ♪ Was it sweet love ♪ It was the seventies ♪ and drummer Earl Young needed a new sound.

Through the fifties, rock and roll had come to be defined by a simple, steady drum rhythm called four to the floor and funk pioneers like James Brown emphasized the one.

Earl was working on a new song with the Philadelphia band, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and needed a new rhythm to stand out from the rest.

(electronic music) - Earl created his beat by adding a kick.

(electronic music) Every four beats or quarter notes of a measure, creating his distinctive four on the floor pattern and carving a place for Philadelphia's soul music.

When Earl added the snare to the back beat.

(electronic music) And added those eighth note high hats to create the groove.

(electronic music) More music history was made.

♪ I can remember hopin' ♪ It was Earl's beat that arguably birthed disco and gave the platform shoes to rise above the musical crowd with this distinctive four on the floor rhythm.

You can hear this disco recipe in songs like George McCray's "Rock Your Baby."

(disco music) In the early days of disco, producers like Tom Moulton and Walter Gibbons played a key role.

They remixed tracks like BT Express's "Do It Till You're Satisfied," extending dance tracks by splicing and rearranging audio tape.

♪ Do it, do it till you're satisfied ♪ This early remixing tradition helped disco spread and popularized it as its own musical style.

Nevertheless, disco remained a growing but niche scene.

- That all changed in 1977 with "Saturday Night Fever."

All it took was a young John Travolta walking north on 20th Avenue from 86th Street in Brooklyn to turn what was a bubbling disco scene into a roaring one fed by that four on the floor rhythm.

♪ Well you can tell by the way I use my walk ♪ ♪ I'm a woman's man, no time to talk ♪ As disco grew in popularity, other genres started to pick up the beat.

The iconic crowd rock band, Can, traded in their hypnotic eighth note motoric rhythm for the more danceable four on the floor beats of disco.

♪ Say I want more ♪ ♪ Say that I want it ♪ Other groups like the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, and even Rod Stewart, who are once disco curious, became disco influenced.

In the late seventies as disco started to fade in America, Europe's love for its iconic beats soared, especially with electronic instruments.

David Bowie once recounted how legendary producer Brian Eno introduced him to Donna Summers' "I Feel Love," calling it the sound of the future.

♪ I feel love, I feel love, I feel love ♪ ♪ I feel love ♪ This single created by Giorgio Moroder, lending human touch with solid state electronics, would change club music for years to come.

- 1, 2, 3, 4.

It's a sound of the evolutionary four on the four pattern being reborn through newer, faster technology.

By the late seventies, huge analog synthesizers were replaced by smaller keyboards and groove boxes, which played a part in the creation of post disco.

This era saw the rise of a DIY spirit in dance music.

In Chicago, artists like Jesse Saunders and Frankie Knuckles, inspired by early synth pop pioneers, started using electronic instruments to make their own versions of the four on the floor beat.

Now, instead of having a whole band play backup, these artists could create entire songs using only electronic gear.

(electronic music) Drum machines made it easy to plug the four on the floor beat into a 16th step sequencer.

Like on the Roland TR-909.

A kick drum could land on 1, 5, 9, and 13.

The snare fit on the five and 13, and the high hats filled in eighth notes in between.

It was these electronic instruments that helped four on the floor become synonymous with electronic dance music.

Disco might've been dead in the eyes of its critics, but in the hands of cutting edge musicians and producers, it would live on forever in rhythm machines.

- Today, modern samplers and DAWs, or digital audio workstations, have made it easier for nearly anyone with an idea or who read the manual, to take a stab at cutting their own dance track.

After digging into the history of four on the floor, Jojo and I have been eager to try making a dance track of our own.

- So for the pattern, we just need the four kicks.

(drum music) And then we need a snare.

And then we just need the high hats.

(drum music) - Nice.

- Yeah, disco.

- Nice.

Four on the floor didn't just stop at disco and house, but stretched to other genres as dance music continued to evolve.

♪ But these are breaks ♪ ♪ Break it up, break it up, break it up ♪ ♪ Break down ♪ In Detroit, during the 1980s, producers like the Belleville Three used drum machines to create their own four on the floor beats, giving birth to techno music.

(electronic music) In the nineties, new dance genres were born that changed how musicians interfaced with this rhythm.

Trance music ramped up the tempo of electronic dance music and added the crescendos of classical music to create a hypnotic take on four on the floor.

(trance music) As the 2000s began, different types of modern dance music joined together under EDM or IDM, electronic or intelligent dance music.

The four on the floor pattern could still be heard within the modern synth heavy electro dance tracks being created.

(electronic music) ♪ Remember trying on, remember ♪ All of this started with disco, and though it took a detour, it's somehow found its way back with the rise and influence of new disco on modern pop music.

New disco was born out of the nineties through a combination of the newer house sound with the traditional disco flare.

And though new disco's popularity has risen and fallen throughout the decades, its influence can still be heard in modern pop songs from artists like Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, and Pharrell.

However, the truest strongest signal of disco's pumping four on the four heartbeat, can be found in its biggest co-sign, Beyonce's "Renaissance Act One."

At the end of Queen B's panoramic love letter to black dance music and culture, was her "Summer Renaissance," a synth heavy neo disco track co-produced with Mike Dean that pointed at its past, present, and future.

♪ Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance ♪ Now let's see if we can inspire you to explore further by sharing just what we can make with four on the floor.

- Do you want a vocal sample?

- [Linda] Yeah, we need to do like something addictive.

- Okay, so here's like soul.

♪ Celebrate this night with me ♪ - This is a good option.

- You like this?

- Yeah.

♪ I want a hug from you tonight ♪ Nice.

(electronic music) - You think it comes in too soon?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

(electronic music) ♪ Celebrate this night with me ♪ ♪ Although it's not the last time ♪ - Yay.

- Woo.

- Before you go, I wanna tell you about "Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution," a new PBS docuseries that captures the story of disco, its rise, fall, and legacy.

It explores how disco took over the world, while speaking to some of the biggest issues of today, LGBTQ+ identity and female empowerment.

Check out the link in the description below, and let them know that Sound Field sent you.

(electronic music)