‘Disco Inferno’ by the Trammps: 'That Was a Bad Mistake' – At First

'100 Greatest Soul Songs' Book Excerpt

Frank Mastropolo

Music Manager / The Music Company

“Disco Inferno” was first recorded as the title track of the Trammps’ 1976 album. Released as a single, “Disco Inferno” only reached №53. When the Philadelphia group’s tune was included in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, “Disco Inferno” was re-released and shot up to №1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.

Jimmy Ellis provided lead vocals on “Disco Inferno,” which was written by Leroy Green and producer Ron Kersey. The song was inspired by a scene in the 1974 film The Towering Inferno.

“When disco came out, we had just left Philadelphia International Records and signed with Atlantic,” bass vocalist Earl Young told the Philadelphia Tribune. “We had out ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’”

Young explained that bassist Ronald Baker made a fateful suggestion. “Ronnie Baker decided, ‘Let’s cut a song called, “That’s Where the Happy People Go” — to the disco. We cut ‘That’s Where the Happy People Go’ and ‘The Night the Lights Went Out’ and that started us out as disco. We were selling records so Atlantic said, ‘Well, let’s keep ’em disco!’

“That was a bad mistake for us because everything they cut after that was disco! When we put out ‘Disco Inferno,’ it didn’t do well at first! Our attorney, David Steinberg, made a deal when they were putting Saturday Night Fever together to use the song because they needed another song and luckily, they remembered ‘Disco Inferno.’

“They put it in the movie, and wherever that movie went, it made us go around the world too! It made us popular too — that one song!”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest Soul Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on on latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.