Matt Smith talks to Fiona Scott-Norman, who tries to convince him there’s still a reason to get down and boogie, when it’s quite clear that he’s committing something closer to murder on the dancefloor.

Podcast link: A Talk with Fiona Scott-Norman

How is disco music going to save the world?
I’ve taken street street violence, electronic music and partner dancing and shown there’s a correlation between them. Disco comes into it because you can’t kill it with a stick. It’s the one music that will appeal cross generationally, and everyone will dance to. A man who has just danced to It’s Raining Men isn’t likely to go and glass someone in the face.

You’re assuming that the guy is going to like the song.
Essentially it’s to do with engagement. Disco music is fun music, and people can dance to it. It’s more that the music that’s played in pubs and clubs is event music, it isn’t designed to help people to get to know each other. It’s also emotionally disengaged being made on machine and auto-tuned, and too loud to talk over.

So if disco is the key to world peace, how far does that go? Does it extend to Funky Town?
Of course it does. It extends to any sort of music that engages people and help them connect to each other.

Fiona Scott-Norman’s show ‘Disco: The Vinyl Solution’:
9:30pm Arthur’s Bar at Rosati, 95 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. 31st March – 24th April (Tues to Sunday nights)