It was recorded by Donna Summer - one of the true disco divas, whose very name still conjures up disco delirium.īut Pearl Street - or PSW, as it was alternately called - was only the stage, and the music was only the soundtrack - the drama occurred both on and off the dance floor. The song skyrocketed into musical history with a 16-minute running time, and contained the sounds of a reported 20 multiple orgasms. Then came along a little song called "Love to Love You, Baby" engineered by electronica genius Giorgio Moroder, and the fate of dance music was sealed.
It was, by most accounts, the first real disco record, and she followed it with "Walk on By" (" They say the eyes are the windows of the soul. That first night at Pearl Street, I was entranced as we danced to the entire A side of Gloria Gaynor's album, with "Honeybee (Come On and Sting Me)," "Reach Out, I'll Be There," and "Never Can Say Goodbye." Not only were the songs extremely long, but they blended into each other for seamless segues. Songs by Barry White and Love Unlimited offered an alternate approach to dance music. Morphing from soul to funk, we began hearing lush orchestrations overlaid with a throbbing beat. Disco, as a sensation, was just beginning to take hold in Austin (long before Saturday Night Fever), and was predominantly a gay trend that set the world on fire. Previously we danced to tunes by Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, Billy Preston, and Marvin Gaye, but as the Seventies developed an image of its own, music began to change. It had typical Seventies details, combining cheap art deco with a tropical flavor - but who the hell cared what it looked like? The music was sublime. Pearl Street Warehouse was on the corner of 18th Street & Lavaca there is a parking lot there now, but with the history embedded in the earth under that asphalt, it's surprising that the cars can keep still.Īs a club, Pearl Street wasn't particularly different from many dance clubs, even now - a long, two-story structure with a bar at both ends, a generous dance floor with a DJ booth overlooking it, and plenty of seating and standing room. I spent a good portion of my midteenage years getting my education at Houston's infamous Mary's Lounge and graduating from the legendary Locker, so I wasn't a neophyte. I was in college at ACC and working on a production at Zach Scott and somebody said, "Let's go to the Pearl Street Warehouse." It wasn't my first time in a gay bar - far from it.
I do remember the first time I went to Pearl Street Warehouse in late 1975 - and it may be one of the last totally clear memories I have of the era. It was one of the most schizophrenic eras, but so typical of Austin - you could begin your night at the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters listening to Greezy Wheels and end it at the disco dancing to ABBA.