Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video essay that looks at the Disco version of Star Wars that nobody knows about.
I don’t know about you, but when I’m watching Star Wars: A New Hope I rarely think about how the film was originally released in 1977. For one thing, I wasn’t alive when the first film in the (now expansive) series hit theaters. And for another, Luke Skywalker’s journey taking place in a galaxy far, far away means that we’re spared the tell-tale bellbottoms, chain-smokers, and post-Free Love malaise. Sure, you might date the film if you’re not fully emersed and spend the runtime picking apart how the sausage was made (and re-made, with CGI “enhancements,” thanks to uncle George). But, if you’re in the zone: you don’t really think about how A New Hope was released in the same year as ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.”
This is a long walk to let you know that disco was huge when the first Star Wars film hit theaters. And while John Williams’ score is what we hear on-screen … there was an official Star Wars disco album. Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk was recorded in two days. And believe it or not: it held the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two whole weeks.
If you’ve never heard of Meco‘s masterpiece before, fear not: the funk is strong with this video essay, which details everything you didn’t want to know about the Star Wars disco album:
Watch “The Disco Version of Star Wars You’ll Never See”
Who made this?
This video essay on the disco Star Wars you never heard of is by Adam Tinius, who runs the YouTube channel Entertain the Elk. They are based in Pasadena, California. You can follow them on YouTube here. And you can follow them on Twitter here.
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- And here’s Entertain The Elk has a look at why Steven Spielberg is the king of character introductions.
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Related Topics: Star Wars, The Queue
