Disco holds the distinction of being one of the most popular, and most hated, musical styles in the history of pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). When it emerged in dance clubs in the middle of the 1970s, many people could not resist the steady pulse of its beat, and they hit the dance floors in droves. More than just a new kind of music, disco created new styles in fashion and dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), and it defined the glitzy nightclub life popular in American cities, especially at such clubs as Studio 54 in New York City, in the 1970s. Although many embraced the positive messages in the music, others feared that disco's focus on dancing, and not on the key rock themes of rebellion and personal expression, signaled the death of pop and rock and roll (see...