Defending the "Disco Sucks" Movement 30 Years Later
In recent months, Trash Culture Connoisseur has been examining the concept of selective nostalgia. This is the way that our popular culture looks back at any era with rose-colored glasses. The biggest problem with this type of selective memory is how it tends to revise the past. This time, we are seeing a lot of revisionist history involving the disco phenomenon of the late nineteen-seventies.
As one who hit adolescence during that time, I vividly recall the massive popularity of disco. Not only did the music garner enough radio play to become the dominant soundtrack of our lives, but the social phenomenon became the subject of hit films like “Saturday Night Fever.” So popular was this movement that it crossed age lines. Previously the territory of young people, many middle-aged parents found themselves donning polyster three-piece suits and evening gowns to dance the night away to that funky music.
Just when disco became so big that it seemed like it would last forever, it imploded upon itself. Many young people, tired of hearing slicked-up dance music coming from every speaker cone began to stand up and shout, “Disco sucks!” Perhaps the most prominent driving force behind this sentiment was Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl. A rock fan at heart, the proto-shock jock began running gags on his radio program where he would “blow up” disco singles on the air. So popular was this joke that he organized a “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park during a White Sox game. So passionate was the fervor over this event that a fan riot forced the White Sox to forfeit the game.
During the past month, the Guardian UK ran an editorial observing the 30th anniversary of this event. Commentator Ben Myers went as far to raise the argument that anti-disco sentiment was motivated by racism and homophobia!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks
I have heard this argument for the past 10 years, and completely disagree. To this rock, soul, blues, and jazz fan, it sounds like a lot of politically-correct self-pity. Many of my favored genres include artists of various races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. I love their work regardless of these superficial differences, but still harbor disdain for disco.
First off, a lot of music unfairly written off as "disco" was in reality late 'seventies soul. Sure, it may have had the repetitive skating hi-hat, but it was largely an extension of the Philly soul from earlier in the decade. Prime examples would include performers like Gloria Gaynor, The Commodores, Kool and the Gang, the multi-talented Chic, and the late great Michael Jackson.
As for disco itself, it was usually by white artists or producers doing a slicked-up and sanitized imitation of contemporary rhythm and blues sounds--think in terms of The Bee Gees. As more performers followed this approach and further dumbed down the genre, disco became increasingly popular to the point of overkill. Soulless dance music became so ubiquitous that it seemed to be crowding out all other styles, including rock. It was easy to build a resentment for something that would have otherwise been met with personal indifference.
When Steve Dahl organized the Disco Demolition in 1979, he appealed mostly to fans of contemporary arena rock like Foreigner or R.E.O. Speedwagon. So young and shallow were these followers that few cared about any rock from before 1970 or it’s African-American roots. Even though I was in my early teens at that time, I was not part of this crowd. I was equally dissatisfied with mainstream rock. To these ears, arena rock was just as sterile, brainless, and overblown as disco. No wonder that I found myself looking to the UK and finding highly satisfying newcomers like The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Clash, and The Specials.
On a purely visceral level, disco records that were at least one generation removed from genuine rhythm and blues still annoy. The production is cold, sterile, and over-orchestrated to the point of the saccharine. While I do not expect all pop lyrics to be profound, the repetition of one or two phrases is utterly monotonous. Most offensive to these ears, though, is the narcissistic conceit that radiates through the grooves. Added together, these elements still make for an unpleasant listening experience that has absolutely nothing to do with the ethnicity nor sexual-orientation of the artists involved.
Being a fairly sheltered and naïve Midwestern teen during the height of disco, I was completely ignorant of it’s appeal to the gay community. It was only after I had grown up and came to accept and love gays and lesbians as my brothers and sisters did I learn of this aspect. By that time, it was irrelevant.
If anyone still wishes to insinuate that my disdain for disco is racist or homophobic, I'll show them my Little Richard records. That should shut them up.
As one who hit adolescence during that time, I vividly recall the massive popularity of disco. Not only did the music garner enough radio play to become the dominant soundtrack of our lives, but the social phenomenon became the subject of hit films like “Saturday Night Fever.” So popular was this movement that it crossed age lines. Previously the territory of young people, many middle-aged parents found themselves donning polyster three-piece suits and evening gowns to dance the night away to that funky music.
Just when disco became so big that it seemed like it would last forever, it imploded upon itself. Many young people, tired of hearing slicked-up dance music coming from every speaker cone began to stand up and shout, “Disco sucks!” Perhaps the most prominent driving force behind this sentiment was Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl. A rock fan at heart, the proto-shock jock began running gags on his radio program where he would “blow up” disco singles on the air. So popular was this joke that he organized a “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park during a White Sox game. So passionate was the fervor over this event that a fan riot forced the White Sox to forfeit the game.
During the past month, the Guardian UK ran an editorial observing the 30th anniversary of this event. Commentator Ben Myers went as far to raise the argument that anti-disco sentiment was motivated by racism and homophobia!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks
I have heard this argument for the past 10 years, and completely disagree. To this rock, soul, blues, and jazz fan, it sounds like a lot of politically-correct self-pity. Many of my favored genres include artists of various races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. I love their work regardless of these superficial differences, but still harbor disdain for disco.
First off, a lot of music unfairly written off as "disco" was in reality late 'seventies soul. Sure, it may have had the repetitive skating hi-hat, but it was largely an extension of the Philly soul from earlier in the decade. Prime examples would include performers like Gloria Gaynor, The Commodores, Kool and the Gang, the multi-talented Chic, and the late great Michael Jackson.
As for disco itself, it was usually by white artists or producers doing a slicked-up and sanitized imitation of contemporary rhythm and blues sounds--think in terms of The Bee Gees. As more performers followed this approach and further dumbed down the genre, disco became increasingly popular to the point of overkill. Soulless dance music became so ubiquitous that it seemed to be crowding out all other styles, including rock. It was easy to build a resentment for something that would have otherwise been met with personal indifference.
When Steve Dahl organized the Disco Demolition in 1979, he appealed mostly to fans of contemporary arena rock like Foreigner or R.E.O. Speedwagon. So young and shallow were these followers that few cared about any rock from before 1970 or it’s African-American roots. Even though I was in my early teens at that time, I was not part of this crowd. I was equally dissatisfied with mainstream rock. To these ears, arena rock was just as sterile, brainless, and overblown as disco. No wonder that I found myself looking to the UK and finding highly satisfying newcomers like The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Clash, and The Specials.
On a purely visceral level, disco records that were at least one generation removed from genuine rhythm and blues still annoy. The production is cold, sterile, and over-orchestrated to the point of the saccharine. While I do not expect all pop lyrics to be profound, the repetition of one or two phrases is utterly monotonous. Most offensive to these ears, though, is the narcissistic conceit that radiates through the grooves. Added together, these elements still make for an unpleasant listening experience that has absolutely nothing to do with the ethnicity nor sexual-orientation of the artists involved.
Being a fairly sheltered and naïve Midwestern teen during the height of disco, I was completely ignorant of it’s appeal to the gay community. It was only after I had grown up and came to accept and love gays and lesbians as my brothers and sisters did I learn of this aspect. By that time, it was irrelevant.
If anyone still wishes to insinuate that my disdain for disco is racist or homophobic, I'll show them my Little Richard records. That should shut them up.
posted by Trash Culture Connoisseur at 9:20 AM
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