What hasn't already been said about Sylvester? Or about his fabulously talented sidekicks on "Dance (Disco Heat)," Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes? As Sylvester put it himself on his emotionally charged Living Proof concert album: "Your ear has got to be in your foot for you to not know that these women can sing, y'all!" The precedent-shattering synthesizer work here by Patrick Cowley set the stage for the Hi-NRG and house styles that emerged in the '80s, and Sylvester's deep-down generosity and emotionalism is part of the very definition of divaism. -- Brian Chin
The idea of electronic dance music was in the air from 1977 on. Released as disco 12" records in the U.S., cuts like "Trans-Europe Express" and "The Robots" coincided with Giorgio Moroder's electronic productions for Donna Summer, especially "I Feel Love." This in turn had a huge influence on Patrick Cowley's late '70s productions for Sylvester: synth cuts like "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real" and "Stars" were the start of gay disco. Before he died in 1982, Cowley made his own synthetic disco record, the dystopian "Mind Warp." -- Jon Savage