Dancing 80s disco. e years breakdancing

The story of this man is very beautiful and touching. He decided to post it on the Internet to let us understand what love really is... We decided to translate this wonderful text for you.

One day, my wife of 21 years took me aside to tell me something important. She wanted me to take another woman to a restaurant and then to a movie. She said, “I love you, but I know this woman loves you too, and I want her to be able to spend just a little time with you.”
This other woman was my mother. For 19 years after my father's death, she lived alone, and I was very rarely able to visit her because of my work and three children.

So that evening I did what my wife asked. I invited my mother to a restaurant and to the cinema.

"What's happened?" She asked me. “Are you sure everything is okay?”

“I thought it would be nice to spend some time with you,” I replied. "Just you and me".
Mom was silent for a while into the phone and finally said: “I would be very happy.”

And so, on Friday after work, I picked her up at home. I was a little nervous because it had been a long time... She had her hair pinned up and was wearing the same dress she had worn on her last wedding anniversary. Her smile, shining with happiness, made her look like an angel.
“I told my friends I was going out to a restaurant with my son tonight, and they were all very impressed,” she said as she got into her car. “They can’t wait to hear my story about how I spent that evening!”

And here we are in the restaurant; not too luxurious, but cozy enough. Mom took my hand as if she were the first lady. We sat down at a table and I began to read the menu because her eyesight did not allow her to read small font. I had barely finished reading the snack section when I looked up and saw her looking at me with a wistful smile. “When you were little, I had to read the menu to you,” she noted. “Well then, it’s time for you to rest and let me return the favor,” I replied.
We had dinner and had a nice conversation - nothing special, just everyone sharing news from their lives. As a result, we got so busy talking that we forgot about the film. But we hardly regretted what we missed. When I was driving my mom home, she told me that she wouldn't mind going out with me again, but only if I promise that next time she will invite me. I agreed.

“How was your date?” - my wife asked when I returned home. "Wonderful. Even better than I could have imagined."

I never managed to keep my promise and allow my mother to invite me to a restaurant; a few days later she died of a heart attack. It happened so quickly that no one had time to do anything.

The 1970s and 1980s are remembered for the rise of American dance. In the seventies dance culture The disco era reigned supreme, and discos were crowded with hundreds of dancers dancing to rhythmic tunes. The 1980s ushered in the era of hip-hoppers and break dancers dancing to the sound of boom boxes in the street. At the end of the 80s they began popular rock bands, which had people all over the world headbanging to endless guitar solos.

1970s disco dancing

The most popular disco dance of the 70s was the hustle. It had several variations, including Latin Hustle, American Hustle, and Street Hustle. Basically, this dance consisted of people strutting around the dance floor, tapping their feet on the floor to the rhythm.

1980s breakdancing

With the release of the movie Breakin' in 1984, breakdancing became a mainstream part of pop culture. The Breakers chose two different style, used in dancing during competitions - the so-called battles. Early hip-hop music of the time used synthesized sound, to which dancers imitated robots with their sharp, broken movements. Breaking was also characterized by the dancer spinning on his back using his back, knees and even the top of his head.

1980s slam

During the emergence of heavy music in the 80s, the movement of metalheads became very popular among them to gather in huge crowds and shake long hair to the sounds of guitars. It was a time of giant arenas that hosted rock shows, with spectators forming large crowds right in front of the stage. Naturally, they pushed each other while dancing. This is how two extreme dances arose - mosh and slam, during which people pushed and often started brawls. Some dancers or even performers fell into the crowd and were “carried” across the hall. This trend continued into the grunge era of the 90s.

The 1970s and 1980s are remembered for the rise of American dance. In the seventies, dance culture was dominated by the disco era, and discos were crowded with hundreds of dancers dancing to rhythmic tunes. The 1980s ushered in the era of hip-hoppers and break dancers dancing to the sound of boom boxes in the street. In the late 1980s, rock bands became popular and had people all over the world headbanging to endless guitar solos.

1970s disco dancing

1980s breakdancing

1980s slam

Looking through the remnants of the past in our memory, we see vague outlines and this is not surprising because... Quite a long time has passed since then - when we were young, and human memory It’s not sad, but it tends to wear off.
In this article we will try to approximately restore the picture of the events of the past and remember how we spent our leisure time at the disco in the 80s great country which no longer exists - in the USSR.

The 80s did not spoil young people different types entertainment, most of us at that time had no computer games there were no video tape recorders and there was nowhere to spend the evenings except in a cinema or club.
The repertoire of cinemas mainly consisted of new Soviet films, tearful Indian cinema, and much less often, foreign films that had passed (strict state censorship), but the most favorite entertainment, of course, was the discos held on weekends. For some, these evenings were the only place where they could throw out their energy in dance; for others, discos were an important source of information where they could hear new items. foreign pop music, for some it was a meeting place, but nevertheless the discos were very well attended and the halls were never empty. Bars or cafes were not open at night and it was forbidden to carry or drink alcohol, but at the same time there were almost no absolutely sober people at discos :) someone managed to bring vodka or wine under their clothes to drink it with friends in public toilet, others brought it and hid it near the club so that when they went out to smoke for one and pass on a small one, however, they tried to keep the limits, because this event was often patrolled by the police, and those who were especially “relaxed” had big chance to end up in the "monkey barn".

Decoration of the halls.
The halls for discotheques in different clubs could look different, everything depended on the financial investments of the club for repairs and equipment with light and music elements.
Classic look the design of the hall in the Disco style of the 80s, it is usually a mirrored ceiling and walls, in the center of the ceilings were hung balls rotating on thin bases, pasted over with many rectangular pieces of mirrors and small laser spotlights “guns” aimed at them from the corners, thereby creating the effect of many flying around a hall of small light rays.
And also all kinds of flashing lights, adjusted to the tempo of the music, but most of all, mirror balls attracted attention, creating a festive atmosphere, which is perhaps why over time the mirror ball became a symbol of disco music of the 80s. And of course, at the head of the hall there was a small raised podium, next to it were installed powerful speakers and tables with audio equipment, there were DJs working there .

Audio equipment for DJs and program preparation.
While foreign DJs spent their evenings playing long live sets (mixes) on professional vinyl players, in the USSR there was no such opportunity for a number of reasons.
One of them is that it was impossible to buy expensive vinyl players even if the allocated funds allowed. All audio equipment in stores was sold only of domestic production, which was several years behind in its technical capabilities from foreign analogues.
It was very difficult to get original vinyl with modern foreign performers, and the assortment of the Soviet gram recording studio Melody- was very sparse and consisted mainly of pop music Soviet period which also lagged significantly behind in its development and could not compete with foreign music in the style Disco, the exception of course were some new youth groups, but there were very few of them.
Still, branded vinyl that was smuggled into the USSR could be obtained on the black market, but its cost was very high... approximately 100-150 rubles for 1 album, at that time in the USSR this cost was equal to the monthly average wages worker at the factory, naturally, even having bought such vinyl, it never occurred to anyone to play it, much less cut scratch. The attitude towards the records was appropriate; they were taken care of as if they were expensive things.
N so everyone could afford to buy vinyl, and those who I still bought it, usually made recordings on audio magnetic tapes (575 meters) domestic production and distributed them among colleagues, thereby returning the money spent with profit. After purchasing the recordings, the DJ was faced with the task of listening to the material and choosing from it best songs and compile collections of them for evenings. The program was composed of studio mixes, fast and slow songs, which had to be recorded on a separate reel, write a list of performers in pen (song names) and put the tracklist in the box with the reel .
Because From the above, you already understood why it was impossible to play on vinyl, let's return to the DJ equipment, which consisted of an amplifier, a mixing console with a microphone, headphones and two reel-to-reel tape recorders high class, tape recorders were popular at that time Olympus 004 and later Olympus 005, sometimes stationary cassette decks were used" Lighthouse"(especially when holding festive evenings for high school students - in schools), and of course several pairs of large speakers. The duties of the DJs also included monitoring the light and music modules.

Holding discos.
Once the program for the disco is prepared, the tables are set up, and all the equipment is connected with cords, sound testing begins, checking the microphone and light and music modules.
Having made sure that everything works, they open a hall in which, even before the time of the evening begins, music is already playing, the audience is slowly catching up. The first half hour after the start of the evening, the hall is not yet full and there is usually a gradual build-up, i.e. DJs play average songs, which seem to be fast but do not yet turn them on at 100, thus giving a warm-up to those already dancing but gradually increasing the rhythm and accompanied by provocative remarks to the dance on the microphone.
Unlike discos abroad where the entire program was done non-stop, in our clubs the program took place with breaks between songs and DJs announced the names of one or several subsequent performers, usually performing 3-5 fast songs in order, one slow one, or turning on mixes with sounding for 15-20 minutes, also diluting them with “slows”. The second tape recorder was used to search for songs based on requests. Visitors often asked to play their favorite track and congratulate a friend on his birthday.
Hearing congratulations from the DJ to the applause of the entire hall was considered an honor and was a great gift for the birthday boy. And of course, sold out... In the middle of the party, as the “highlight of the program,” the DJs played 1-2 songs in the style Heavy Metal- this style of music was also popular in the mid-80s, but of course not all visitors could dance to it, so including metal - the girls mostly went to the sides, and the guys - “thumbs up” and danced in the center. Some big fans of the Heavy Metal style (metalheads) came to the disco in leather jackets completely studded with various metal rivets, spikes and chains, as well as leather gloves with cut off fingers and also decorated with metal studs, patiently waiting until the middle of the evening, only to participate in the dance to their favorite style of music.

Disco music of the 80s.
Popularity musical styles and directions changed significantly during this decade, so I would like to mention in more detail about the music of the mid-80s, that very time is considered the heyday of music in the Disco style that we remember most.
And so, let's remember what was most often played at discos in the mid-80s. From domestic performers groups were staged - Forum, Mirage, Tender May and wonderful carpet versions on foreign performers from Sergei Minaev.
Of the foreign Euro Disco performers, the most popular were the projects of Dieter Bohlen, the legendary duo Modern Talking and singer CC Catch, projects by Tomi Hendrick - Bad Boys Blue, Ralf René Maué - London Boys, and Silent Circle from Axel Breitung, Sandra(producer - Michael Cretu), and of course the incomparable Mike Mareen .
From Italo Disco an impressive list of performers and artists can be compiled, but I will limit myself to a few broadly famous names, This Ken Laszlo , Den Harrow , Savage, as well as a mega project from Mauro Farina - Radiorama .
From the Synthesizer Disco style or also called Space Disco bands Laser Dance , Koto , Hypnosis. The sold-out Heavy Metal shows were mainly performed by the bands Accept and Metallica. And of course, mixes from famous European DJs -