Disco Fever was a New York City dance club located in the South Bronx on Jerome Avenue and 167th street that operated from 1976 to 1986.
Abbatiello quickly began featuring hip hop artists including a young Grandmaster Flash, and the club greatly increased in popularity and fame.
Abbatiello thought that this unusual practice of talking over the music, getting the crowd involved, was very good for business as it engaged the people who were sitting at the bar and were not dancing.
This low price combined with a promotional campaign of flyers distributed locally resulted in a long line waiting at the front door.
[1] The club was mentioned in the Grandmaster Flash song "The Message" in 1982, and in 1983 Bill Adler wrote in People magazine that it was "the rap capital of the Solar System".
[6] Producer Russell Simmons valued the club as an effective test market for new music; he said, "if a rap record doesn't go around in the Fever, it's fake.
[9] This kind of star treatment brought women interested in joining the DJs and MCs in celebrating: Grandmaster Flash said, "crazy shit used to happen" in the private hideaway.
[9] Sal Abbatiello encouraged a sense of family among his employees and the patrons, which is credited with saving him from the violent incidents common to other hip hop venues.
[3] In early '83 an Easter party with gifts and food was thrown by Disco Fever for about 250 neighborhood children, with free admission.