‘Le Freak, c’est Chic’: Decadence and Disco

Abstract

The optimistic beats of 1970s and 1980s disco might seem a strange comparison to the decadent tradition’s obsession with rot. Decadent legacies are, however, to be found in disco, with the acknowledgment that decadence after the fin de siècle is difficult to explicitly label. This article investigates the influences of decadence on disco. It does so by exploring similarities between the two cultures: how they were conceived alongside ideas of decline, how they were both criticized as ‘other’, the relationship between nineteenth-century dandyism and late twentieth-century popular culture, and how both movements put emphasis upon refinement. This analysis builds upon existing studies that link decadence to twentieth-century popular culture, and sets itself apart by specifically examining decadence’s relationship to disco, a topic that remains largely undiscussed. Overall, this article suggests that, although it was a distinct culture with utopian elements, disco incorporated aspects of decadence and disseminated these into mainstream American society.