12 inch

Last week, THE queen of disco, Donna Summer passed away and that took me back to my teenage years, listening to her songs, anthems of coming of age. Besides having an amazing voice, the diva was a true pioneer in music and style.

I used to listen to her records (yes, I know - some of you don’t know what that is) and I still remember the excitement of going to the record store, and holding the paper covered double-record. It opened like a book and had many photos and sometimes even lyrics.

The 12 inch was a record that typically carried one track. Originally, it had wider grooves and produced better sound quality. DJs used them to play in discos (clubs) because the visual spacing of the grooves helped them locate the approximate area of the 'breaks' on the disc's surface.

Love to love you, released in 1976, is said to be the second song found on a 12 inch single, with a 17 minutes version of the then controversial ‘moan and groan’ that became a huge success, though some American and European radio stations, including the BBC, refused to play it! I remember how embarrassing and exciting it was to hear her on the radio.

Her song I feel love was probably the beginning of electronic dance, but my absolute favorite Donna Summer track still is MacArthur Park Suite: MacArthur Park/One of a Kind/Heaven Knows/MacArthur Park reprise, the 12 inch version! 

Almost 18 minutes of sheer happiness!!!