RSO/Polydor/Reprise
6. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
When John Travolta hits the dance floor, magic happens. In the often bleak nightlife drama Saturday Night Fever, his character, Tony Manero, a working-class Brooklyn teenager with poofy black hair and a commanding strut, is a vision of grace in his white flared suit. His movements are often accentuated by the syrupy, giddy sound of the Bee Gees, the falsetto-hitting trio of brothers who dominate the film's soundtrack. As much as songs like "Stayin' Alive" and "How Deep is Your Love" are often associated with disco's cultural ascension, it's worth noting that the Bee Gees were largely considered washed up at the time and were certainly not underground disco innovators. "We were fairly dead in the water at that point, 1975, somewhere in that zone -- the Bee Gees’ sound was basically tired," Barry Gibb explained to Vanity Fair back in 2013. "We needed something new. We hadn’t had a hit record in about three years." In addition to reinvigorating the career of the Bee Gees, the soundtrack also served as a potential gateway for curious listeners intrigued by disco's hopeful communal promise. As the music plays, you become convinced you could pull off a flared suit on the dance floor, too. -- DJ