On Oct. 9, 1982, the songwriter and producer Patrick Cowley observed the release event for his third solo album, "Mind Warp," from the mezzanine of the glamorous Galleria event space at the San Francisco Design Center. Mr. Cowley, the disco innovator who spawned hi-NRG — an up-tempo, mechanized strain of dance music calibrated for the peak of the party — wore black patent-leather pants and a matching jacket. The sickly-sweet smell of the inhalant club drug known as poppers wafted up from the dance floor, where gay men dressed in jeans and white T-shirts churned to the album's breathless pulse. But the revelry belied the grim content of "Mind Warp," a meditation on the body besieged that Mr. Cowley created while withering from the effects of a mysterious affliction.
Mr. Cowley looked ashen against his stark ensemble, his friend Theresa McGinley recalled in a recent interview, overseeing the party from his wheelchair. The event featured performances by collaborators including the strapping singer Paul Parker and the inimitable androgyne Sylvester. Marty Blecman, Mr. Cowley's business partner at Megatone Records, later remembered in an oral history of the era, "Tears were streaming down his face, and he said, 'Those stupid queens, don't they know?'"
Mr. Cowley died almost exactly a month later from AIDS-related illness at home in the Castro district. He was 32. Mr. Parker's "Right on Target," one of Mr. Cowley's compositions released on Megatone that year, still lingered on the dance charts after hitting No. 1 that summer. In the decades that followed, Mr. Cowley's influence as a producer was cited by new romantic acts such as Pet Shop Boys and New Order; the critic Peter Shapiro recognized his work with Sylvester for "pretty much [summing] up the entire disco experience." And in recent years, his profile has assumed a new dimension as listeners and scholars excavate disco's intersection with gay liberation.
Mr. Cowley looked ashen against his stark ensemble, his friend Theresa McGinley recalled in a recent interview, overseeing the party from his wheelchair. The event featured performances by collaborators including the strapping singer Paul Parker and the inimitable androgyne Sylvester. Marty Blecman, Mr. Cowley's business partner at Megatone Records, later remembered in an oral history of the era, "Tears were streaming down his face, and he said, 'Those stupid queens, don't they know?'"
Mr. Cowley died almost exactly a month later from AIDS-related illness at home in the Castro district. He was 32. Mr. Parker's "Right on Target," one of Mr. Cowley's compositions released on Megatone that year, still lingered on the dance charts after hitting No. 1 that summer. In the decades that followed, Mr. Cowley's influence as a producer was cited by new romantic acts such as Pet Shop Boys and New Order; the critic Peter Shapiro recognized his work with Sylvester for "pretty much [summing] up the entire disco experience." And in recent years, his profile has assumed a new dimension as listeners and scholars excavate disco's intersection with gay liberation.
On Oct. 9, 1982, the songwriter and producer Patrick Cowley observed the release event for his third solo album, "Mind Warp," from the mezzanine of the glamorous Galleria event space at the San Francisco Design Center. Mr. Cowley, the disco innovator who spawned hi-NRG — an up-tempo, mechanized strain of dance music calibrated for the peak of the party — wore black patent-leather pants and a matching jacket. The sickly-sweet smell of the inhalant club drug known as poppers wafted up from the dance floor, where gay men dressed in jeans and white T-shirts churned to the album's breathless pulse. But the revelry belied the grim content of "Mind Warp," a meditation on the body besieged that Mr. Cowley created while withering from the effects of a mysterious affliction.
Mr. Cowley looked ashen against his stark ensemble, his friend Theresa McGinley recalled in a recent interview, overseeing the party from his wheelchair. The event featured performances by collaborators including the strapping singer Paul Parker and the inimitable androgyne Sylvester. Marty Blecman, Mr. Cowley's business partner at Megatone Records, later remembered in an oral history of the era, "Tears were streaming down his face, and he said, 'Those stupid queens, don't they know?'"
Mr. Cowley died almost exactly a month later from AIDS-related illness at home in the Castro district. He was 32. Mr. Parker's "Right on Target," one of Mr. Cowley's compositions released on Megatone that year, still lingered on the dance charts after hitting No. 1 that summer. In the decades that followed, Mr. Cowley's influence as a producer was cited by new romantic acts such as Pet Shop Boys and New Order; the critic Peter Shapiro recognized his work with Sylvester for "pretty much [summing] up the entire disco experience." And in recent years, his profile has assumed a new dimension as listeners and scholars excavate disco's intersection with gay liberation.
Mr. Cowley looked ashen against his stark ensemble, his friend Theresa McGinley recalled in a recent interview, overseeing the party from his wheelchair. The event featured performances by collaborators including the strapping singer Paul Parker and the inimitable androgyne Sylvester. Marty Blecman, Mr. Cowley's business partner at Megatone Records, later remembered in an oral history of the era, "Tears were streaming down his face, and he said, 'Those stupid queens, don't they know?'"
Mr. Cowley died almost exactly a month later from AIDS-related illness at home in the Castro district. He was 32. Mr. Parker's "Right on Target," one of Mr. Cowley's compositions released on Megatone that year, still lingered on the dance charts after hitting No. 1 that summer. In the decades that followed, Mr. Cowley's influence as a producer was cited by new romantic acts such as Pet Shop Boys and New Order; the critic Peter Shapiro recognized his work with Sylvester for "pretty much [summing] up the entire disco experience." And in recent years, his profile has assumed a new dimension as listeners and scholars excavate disco's intersection with gay liberation.
