Billboard's Hot 100/ Top 40 Motown Chronicles - 1974 - [Pt. 2]

[Boogiedown]

The following article from Record World stretched the regular chart posting beyond the maximum amount of text permitted, so rather than trying to condense it, the entire article is being posted first [with the post of the week's regular chart review to follow]:

[The following is the conclusion
of a two part series on New York's
burgeoning disco scene.]

NEW YORK - So who are the top deejays in the city's leading discotheques, what kind of music do they play, and where do they get their programming material from?
Research into the thriving disco market has provided both answers and information.
As to who they are, most of them are young entrepreneurs who
have made working at various discos around the city their full
time job. The pay is reasonable: from $30 to $50 a night, with most working five days a week in one or more clubs. And the reason they don't hold down day jobs is
fairly logical: most would find it difficult to wake up for "normal
working hours" after having spun records until 4:00 a.m. the night
[morning] before. One Le Jardin deejay, however, is studying to be a pharmacist.

Communication
And the deejays - in the open discotheques where admission is
available to everyone, and the closed "parties" where admission
is limited to members and their friends only- maintain close communication with each other. They know each other, where they work, how much they make, what
records they are playing, and what type of crowd [and most of the
deejays have built up a loyal clientele that will follow them wherever they go] attends.
Accordingly, they share information on new disco records, new sources of supply [since surprisingly, most of them still pay for the majority of records], and new trends in the overall disco scene. Since the discos themselves are short-lived, changing with the
times becomes a crucial factor. A disco that maintains the same format, layout, music and light show, an "in" place today, will probably not last out a year unless it changes. The disco market is indeed flexible- volatile would perhaps be a better word- and today's trendsetter discos must change with the times if they want to maintain their clientele.

Music
The music played in discotheques could be called a record company executive's delight. It is six or more hours of total nonstop music,with one record segueing into another. All of the records fall into the "dance" category, of which the overwhelming majority
are r&b or r&b crossover records. All of the records are brand new:
they are not necessarily dropped when they reach the charts [and the deejays check out Record World's R&B Singles Chart, Soul Truth column and International
Hit Parades for new record information], but older standards like "Love Train,""Keep On Truckin'," or "The Love I Lost" no longer receive play. About the oldest records being played now are "Dancin' Machine" or "TSOP,"
and they will probably be dropped soon. Gallery deejay Nicky Siano explains the policy on dropping records:"I hangout with my audience, and I know what they
listen to and what they like. After a certain point, I can tell they're getting tired of a record, and I probably am too. That's when I drop it." And since Nicky is one of the key deejays in the city, when he and his colleagues decide a record has had its run, almost
all drop it. Filling six hours with good new music is a challenge that the deejays enjoy. They scour record stores for new releases, and are very much aware of the music
scene. And their value in exposing and breaking new records is becoming more well known. Billy Smith, local representative for 20th Century Records, is recognized as
the resident expert on the New York discotheque scene, and is
acknowledged as the first local man to service them fully and become friendly with them. Smith credits the discos with breaking some of the Barry White and Love
Unlimited Orchestra records, and Barry White himself noted in his Record World Dialogue[[April6) that "discotheques have been greatly responsible for a lot of my
success,"while the importance of discos to the label runs up to 20th
president Russ Regan,who agreed to award a gold record to a Le Jardin deejay for his efforts in breaking "Love's Theme" [RW'April27).

Breaking the Hits
Other companies have experienced success with records breaking out of the discos, "Soul Makossa" being a prime example.The record was initially discovered after a member of local discos turned it into an underground hit, ultimately a gold record, which was bootlegged initially with copies going for $10. The deejays, when they play something heavily [and by nature of their close communication, they usually do] can create hits. A&M credits them with Billy Preston, Columbia appreciates
their efforts on their own and Philadelphia International product
[especially MFSB], and they have exposed Motown, Buddah, RCA,
Atlantic and other labels' product without much recognition for their
value in breaking the records initially, they quickly add."I spend $30 to $40 a week for records," says Bobby D.J. of Le Jardin, and
his expenses are typical of what some of the deejays spend.

Influentials
According to 20th's Billy Smith, there are about 40 major discotheques in the New York area,with five or six considered the most influential. Smith, the deejays, and some local promotion men who have begun servicing them, are aware of their value and power. Now, they hope for recognition for their efforts

Not yet:
The applying of the term "disco" to define a specific type of music.
Here disco is used only as a synonym for a dance club, a shortening of the word discotheque.