The Rumpus Room Disco : Featuring Donna Summer and Friends

I am a child of the 70s, so it was super sad to wake up today and hear that Donna Summer had died after a very private battle with cancer.  It got me thinking about how I was SUCH a disco kid.  Big hair and shiny pantsuits were NORMAL at my place. My mum had QUITE A LOT of glam outfits and rocked, at various stages, an afro and a Soul Train bob.

We spent our disco years in a two storey brick veneer in Tasmania. The house had a huge rumpus room with a bar in it, which I thought was totes sophisticated because I wanted to be a bar maid when I grew up (dream in tatters, btw).  Not only did it have a bar, but it had a STAGE with weird psychedelic lighting too.  My siblings and I used to do performances and sing along to my Mum’s records on boring Hobart afternoons.

Let me set the scene.  There was pampas grass in the front yard and Beetle in the driveway.  I wore flares and patent floral clogs with my v-neck t-shirt.  I had my hair home-cut in a bit of a Agnetha flick-mullet (that IS TOO a hair do.) When I was on stage, I would twist the front of my t-shirt into a roll and tuck it in to form a bit of a disco midriff top.  Or I’d wear a boob tube. And I didn’t even have boobs. RADICAL!

We’d put on some music and then my little sister and I would put our hands on our hips and shake our groove things. Sometimes we’d do the Lady Bump.  Or the Rockin’ Robin.  It was all good.

When we got tired out from all our hip shaking and Bus Stop-ping, we’d fling ourselves into beanbags or the purple striped lounge suite and wish we had a real disco ball, instead of the purple fluorescent lights with the timer switch. Dang.  After the rumpus room disco, we’d go upstairs and eat jam sandwiches in front of Sesame Street.  Sesame Street was a bit disco too, in those days. All the cool kids were doing it.

Today, in honour of Donna Summer, I thought we’d revisit some tracks from The Rumpus Room Disco.  Dyawanna get your Boogie Fever on? Do you wanna get a bit disco (and even PRE-disco!) with me?!

Did you have a lounge room disco? Or a RUMPUS ROOM disco like me? Do you have some Disco or Donna memories? Drop your favourite 70s tracks in the comments!

xx Pip