In 1976,

Salsoul Records Salsoul Records is an American New York City based record label, founded by three brothers, Joseph Cayre, Kenneth Cayre, and Stanley Cayre (the Cayre brothers). Salsoul issued about 300 singles, including many disco/post-disco 12-inch releases, ...

released their eighth release,

Walter Gibbons Walter Gibbons (April 2, 1954 – September 23, 1994) was an American record producer, early disco DJ, and remixer. He helped pioneer the remix and 12" single in America, and was among the most influential New York DJs of the 1970s. Career Gib ...

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

Double Exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be i ...

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

song "Ten Percent". "Ten Percent" was the first commercially available

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

. Although, according to the record label, the actual title of this record is Ten Per Cent, not Ten Percent. The

was reserved for DJs until the release of "Ten Percent."

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

had already begun to exploit the

12-inch The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

's allowance for higher volumes, better sound quality, and longer playing time, but no record companies had previously seen commercial value in the new format.

Production

Ken Cayre, the head of

, decided to sign a number of famous musicians and bands to the label, hoping to "consolidate the success of the faceless Salsoul Orchestra", and

was chosen as the newly signed band whose first release, "Ten Percent," would feature the orchestra and be promoted with a 12-inch single as well as the typical seven-inch format. Walter Gibbons was a DJ, not a producer, but his innovative skills, along with his punctuality and serious nature, got Gibbons the "Ten Percent" assignment at

. One of his original techniques was "taking two records and working them back and forth in order to extend the drum breaks," a technique he applied to the "Ten Percent" mix, which displeased the original songwriter, Allan Felder, but which was supported by Salsoul in the front-page story in which

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

covered the release. It was "mostly an exercise in stretching the original track out," and Gibbons transformed it from a "four-minute song into a nine-minute-forty-five-second-cut-and-paste roller coaster."

Public reaction

When Gibbons first played the "Ten Percent" 12" remix at Galaxy 21, where he was a regular DJ. One witness said, "It sounded so new, going backwards and forwards. It built and built like it would never stop. The dance floor just exploded." Peter Shapiro "The Secret History Of Disco" 2005 pp46

Chart history

Release

*Release Date: May, 1976: Album Jacket: 4-colors, with a center window showing the record's label Price: $2.98 Speed: 45rpm Publicity: front-page stories in

and

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record W ...

Effects on dance music

"Ten Percent" was a "dancefloor stormer that radically changed the disco underground in terms of record production." The release "signalled the rise of remixers", and the rise of the DJ.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Mixed With Love: The Musical World Of Walter Gibbons
1976 singles Disco songs Songs written by Allan Felder 1976 songs