Posted on 05/11/2024 6:55:17 AM PDT by DoodleBob
Forty years ago, on July 12, 1979, what was supposed to be a wacky promotional stunt by shock-rock DJ Steve Dahl to sell tickets to a double-header White Sox baseball game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park turned ugly — when piles of vinyl records, many by artists of color, were destroyed as thousands of anti-disco rioters, 39 of whom were eventually arrested for disorderly conduct, stormed the field. Dahl has always vehemently denied that 98.7FM WLUP’s infamous “Disco Demolition Night” had any racist or homophobic undertones or intentions, arguing that “annexing this event to today’s advocacy is lazy academically and inappropriate geographically” and that what happened should be “viewed in the 1979 lens.”
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The disco movement had been spearheaded by many marginalized people, artists who were LGBTQ or of color, and had initially appeared to those audiences — which is why it’s so easy to assume that Disco Demolition Night had been a bigoted event. But by 1979, disco was as mainstream as a music genre could get. … So, it could be argued that disco fatigue had set in after all this market saturation,
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..there was one report in Rolling Stone that mentioned the inherent, if possibly unintentional, “racist and homophobic s***” that occurred at Comiskey Park. That article’s author, esteemed music critic Dave Marsh, described Disco Demolition Night as “your most paranoid fantasy about where the ethnic cleansing of the rock radio could ultimately lead… White males, 18 to 34, are the most likely to see disco as the product of homosexuals, blacks, and Latins, and therefore they’re the most likely to respond to appeals to wipe out such threats to their security.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Per wiki...
"Well-known artists included the Bee Gees, ABBA, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Giorgio Moroder, Baccara, The Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Boney M., Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Chic, KC and the Sunshine Band, Thelma Houston, Sister Sledge, Sylvester, The Trammps, Barry White, Diana Ross, Kool & the Gang, and the Village People."
You really can't say too much negative about any of these groups. Well, maybe you can about the Village People (although...who hasn't dance to YMCA?).
You will hear more Led Zeppelin songs on traditional radio today than you will disco songs over the next month
Earth Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson and Barry White were disco?
I was outside Comiskey Park that night. It was awesome.
L
Per wiki...
I still love disco, both black and white bands....and still have my albums.....WBGO streamed on the weekend plays it all....
White, female SJW author, I’m shocked !
That, right there. 👆👆👆 Bland, canned sound.
Disco...was short for “discoteque”...French word meaning “record library”...started big in other countries before being adopted in US. Of course American popularized and magnified it’s cultural effect. Although it was popularized by groups who reveled in rhythmic sounds and the dance response, that experience was basically sold to all Americans as the “next great thing”....most Americans pretty much got tired of it and moved on and made a public display of disdain for the genre
The writer of the article thinks the world revolves around consensus corporate racism and colonization instead of let’s say, the total summation of the sins of all individuals, and couches the review in that light. Most likely AI derived drivel. Meant to generate clicks and 15 nanoseconds of fame.
IMHO....
Nothing wrong with a little disco. Just not a lot of it! On the other hand RAP and Hip Hop is complete trash. From first to last.
Typical young dummy. Knows that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. And that Adolf Hitler was a matinee movie star from the 40’s. And that peoples are unable to have existed outside of her time, understanding, personal experiences, and memories.
One of maybe 3 disco tunes I liked. It had a good groove and worked so well with the opening sequence of the legs walking down the street. Also, Donna Summers "I Feel Love", I can listen to anytime with its unique arrangement that was almost rock with the tempo being disco. Maybe, I have only 2 disco tunes I can actually enjoy to this day.
I was so happy to see disco die, but then came rap.
Yup- EWF is closer to rock and roll than disco. Great band!!
That and "Play That Funky Music White Boy" were just the worse crap pretending to be music.
If you can find it, check out Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". Ignore Summer's repetitious lyrics, listen to the backing music. It had rock underpinnings that worked within the disco tempo (110 - 140) at 128 beats per minute.
**Earth Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson and Barry White were disco?**
See, that’s how ignorant many people are about music. Popular music is fashion with a beat. Musicians that can be successful in more than one catagory can appeal to a lot of listeners.
I bought one album (an 8 track) of Led Zep, and decided they were boring. And a tall brunette beauty I dated at the time liked hard rock. She said, “I like Led Zeppelin, but Robert Plant is not even close to being a handsome man. And Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart? Ha, ha!!”
Tell me she isn't the sexier version of Diana Ross.
“This is the first that I have ever heard that disco was anything more than obnoxious, repetitive dance music”
Same here. But of course, the US is becoming a lot like the old USSR, so the past is always changing.
“Nothing wrong with a little disco. Just not a lot of it! On the other hand RAP and Hip Hop is complete trash. From first to last.”
SOME disco music was very good. I could not have brought myself to write that in the 20th century.
I did not even SEE the movie “Saturday Night Fever” until the late 1990’s. Just not open-minded enough at the time.
SOME Hip-hop/rap is pretty good as poetry.
However, these days, 99% of all “commercial” music is doggie dirt.
What I miss most about the disco era was platform shoes. I was taller when I was 16 than I ever was as an adult.
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