Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture10 Apr 2025

You Should Be Dancing: Saturday Night Fever pt.1

The day has finally come: after 79 episodes of Love is the Message, it’s time to talk Travolta. Saturday Night Fever was always coming down the pipe for us, and now we’re giving it the LITM treatment.

In this episode, Tim and Jeremy establish some of the pre-history to the seminal 1977 film. With musical examples drawn from Vince Aletti’s Disco Files playlists, we hear about the rise of the suburbs in the USA, the dynamics between the different boroughs of mid-70s NYC, and consider the suburban disco scene. We ask again what makes disco disco, revisit the Hustle, tune up the Salsoul Orchestra and take a trip to a disco conference.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Saturday Night Fever without the Bee Gees: often-derided and much-mocked but one of the highest selling bands of all time, it was their music which provided the soundtrack to the film. Are they a guilty pleasure? Listen along to find out.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcast

Remember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs⁠

Tracklist:Carl Douglas - Blue Eyed Soul Gloria Scott - Just as Long as We’re Together Babe Ruth - Elusive

Tina Charles - Disco Fever

Joe Bataan - The Bottle Van McCoy - The Hustle Salsoul Orchestra - The Salsoul Hustle Bee Gees - Spicks and Specks Bee Gees - Massachusetts Bee Gees - Jive Talkin’ Bee Gees - You Should be Dancing

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