Star Wars and disco: the forgotten love affair

When Star Wars broke into my consciousness in 1977 it was likely the first, or nearly the first, element of popular culture to do so. I was four years old and generally paid no attention (as far as I can remember) to popular films, television or music at that time. So it's easy to overlook the fact that the Star Wars craze coincided with the disco craze.

Disco's forgotten love affair with Star Wars begat some truly horrible offspring. First up is, of course, the Osmonds. You will especially enjoy the dancing stormtroopers towards the end.

But both Star Wars and disco were international phenomenons. The French embraced both in this delightful segment, featuring a cameo from Jodi Foster.

Weirder still is when the Japanese seize upon both Star Wars and disco to sell canned tuna.

But I don't want you to think that nothing good came out of the disco/Star Wars dalliance. Meco's Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk was a hit record in 1977, and you can hear why. It's actually quite marvellous. There is a three-minute track available on YouTube and an eight-minute cut on iTunes but I'm a purist: the link below is to the full 15 minute version. 

Comments

[Mike]

I think I heard Meco first on the radio, but I remember that it also showed up on Jerry Lewis's Labour Day telethon, complete with dancers. :-)

[Dark Helmet]

Really? I'd love to see a video of that.