The track appeared on U2's album Pop and was performed live for the first time during the PopMart tour opener in Las Vegas on April 25, 1997. On October 26, 1996 a 30-second snippet of Discotheque, taken from a promotional EPK, was released on the Internet by Hungarian fan Martin. On December 27th, the full MP3 was available on fan site Interference.com. These premature releases of the first single from the upcoming album and airplay of the Internet releases by radio stations around the world moved up the official radio airplay date.

Formats:
Discotheque CD Single CID 649/854 775-2 Holy Joe Garage Mix (4.21) Holy Joe Guilty Mix (5.09)
Discotheque CD Single CIDX 649/854 877-2
Discotheque DM Deep Club mix (6.58)
Discotheque Howie B hairy B Mix (7.40)
Discotheque Hexidecimal Mix (7.21)
Discotheque DM Tec Radio Mix (3.46)

During the PopMart tour Discotheque was performed as the first song in U2's encore after their descent from the lemon. Dream Theatre had performed Discotheque live in concert where the singer mumbled most of the lyrics. The following artists recorded a version of Discotheque including Intra-Venus on We Will Follow: A Tribute To U2; Studio 99 on The Best of U2-A Tribute; and The Celebrity All-Star Jam on Hot Dance Hits 97.

The song debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA on April 7, 1997