Orgasmic Strings and Eurodisco Beats: How Love in C Minor and Cerrone Rewired the Dancefloor

The Twelve Inch 172 : Love In C Minor (Cerrone)

In 1977, I was 14 and my taste in music was starting to shift. I was no longer just hearing music in the background, I had started listening, really listening, especially to the radio.

We lived close to the Dutch border, which turned out to be a blessing. Belgian radio just wasn’t cutting it (as I explained back in Episode 132 on “Love Epidemic” by The Trammps). But Dutch radio, now that was something else. Disco was on the rise, and my favorite show was the Soul Show on Thursday nights. It was packed with American imports, mostly by Black artists, and full of US-made disco. Eurodisco, a term I’ll come back to in a moment, barely made it onto the playlist.

There were some exceptions, of course. Donna Summer being the obvious one. And occasionally, a bit of Eurodisco would sneak into daytime programming, as long as it wasn’t too risqué. Which brings us to this week’s song: “Love In C Minor” by Cerrone. I don’t think I ever heard it on the radio. 😄

No, the first time I heard that record w…