http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpQfCcsqQ0E&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eguardian%2Eco%2Euk%2Fmusic%2Fmusicblog%2F2009%2Fjun%2F18%2Fdisco%2Dsucks&feature=player_embedded


Back in the summer of 1979, the Detroit rock radio DJ Steve Dahl was so aggrieved that his beloved Stones and Zeppelin were being dropped from playlists in favour of Village People, Donna Summer and Chic, that he launched his "Disco sucks!" campaign. Dahl encouraged listeners to phone in their disco requests, which he would then destroy on air with explosive sound effects. "Midwesterners didn't want that intimidating [disco] style shoved down their throats," said Dahl.

What began as on-air mischief soon snowballed into an anti-disco movement. Joined by a failed rock guitarist called Steve Veek, Dahl took "Disco sucks!" public when Veek secured the use of Comiskey Park, the home of the Chicago White Sox that was owned by his father. In July 1979, Dahl announced that anyone in possession of a disco record would receive cheap entry to the next White Sox home game.

Instead of the usual 16,000 fans, an unprecedented 59,000 turned up. Joined by baseball fans, they proceeded to storm the pitch, where they smashed and burned their Bee Gees vinyl. "They wore Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath T-shirts," writes Knopper, then a 13-year-old disco-hater "smashed bottles on the ground, smoked God knows what and chanted their almighty rallying cry: 'Disco sucks'!"

If that's not enough to turn you into a disco fan, then I don't know what is. The unspoken subtext was obvious: disco music was for homosexuals and black people. Not only that, but, as Knopper notes, in the disco era "to make it with a lady a guy had to learn how to dance. And wear a fancy suit!"

It wasn't real concerns such as the threat of war or the loss of jobs that inspired this hate-fest, but something far more malevolent ingrained in rock fans' collective psyche. What should have been harmless insurrection became a demolition rally for hard-rocking, middle American, predominantly white dudes with dubious taste. "It's incredible that rock fans would actually riot for the right to hear REO Speedwagon and Foreigner," Knopper writes.

In the short term, this disco backlash worked. Records sales bolstered by disco's glory days of 1974 to the Saturday Night Fever-fuelled high of 1978 fell by 11% in 1979, and the major US record labels began to look elsewhere for cash cows: to hard rock, new wave and power-pop fluff.

But it was a pyrrhic victory. Disco spawned house music and the club scene and impacted upon the then-emerging hip-hop culture. In short, disco's influence is everywhere. Could you envisage such a thing happening today? Could you imagine thousands of knuckle-headed Nickelback fans protesting Madonna's latest album?

Thankfully not. In an era when all music is just a click away, when gay culture is embedded in the mainstream and America has a black president, it would be nice to think minds have expanded. Thirty years on, the "Disco sucks!" campaign was clearly a resolute failure. But for a while it had an industry quaking in its Cuban heels.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks

Steve Dahl was and is an idiot. Besides, disco didn't die. The good stuff survived and people still listen to it today. :)

What's really sad is probably a lot of valuable vinyl was destroyed because of all that but who knew back then that 30 years later there would be a collector's market for it and eBay to help with finding it especially the rare stuff? Ironically though, The really popular disco artists of the time including Abba, Bee Gees, Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, Village People etc.. are not high on the totem pole as far as collectible vinyl is concerned. Their records were produced in such huge quantities that you can hardly give them away and 12" singles are more sought-after than 45's and Lp's. If you have any dance/disco 12" singles released prior to 1977 then you should consider selling them on eBay or hanging onto them but whatever you do, Don't give them away or trash them because you could be throwing money out the door.

Being the big metal fan that I am, I was not disappointed to see the death of disco thirty years ago. It always struck me as this sappy, trendy form of pop dreck only meant for all the soshy trendoids. It was not music meant for any real depth or lasting substance. As a rocker, I prayed for the death of disco.
And sure enough, 1979 was the year that brought us AC/DC to the forefront, Van Halen was getting huge, and in another year, America would get its major first taste of NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) in the form
of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Saxon.

Having said that, there WAS a place for disco. It didn't mean to take itself seriously. It was just fun music. The women were hot, the tunes were catchy, and sometimes I enjoy hearing something like "Boogie Nights" by Heat Wave--and OMG, "How Do You Like It (More, More, More)", by Andrea True Connection!!! I think I did mention in my rock and roll history section of the 70's that she actually was a former porn actress! :eyes: :drool: So in spite a bit of fluff, disco did bring back one very important component of pop music:
SEXINESS. Sorry, but there was nothing sexy about 'Tales From Topographic
Oceans' by Yes. As far as I know.

I've noticed that a lot of the stuff that's popular today is stuff (music and other things) that would be considered embarrassing to have back then. Meaning that if you admitted that you liked a particular person, place or thing, you really got put through the embarrasment ringer!

To me, good music is good music and I enjoy disco. I agree with Ablairican, "More, More, More" and "Boogie Nights" are great songs. :cool:

I like disco music. Chic was my favorite disco artist. I also like Rock The Boat song by that black group. I can't think of their name. The Bee Gees made some good disco songs.

I also like Rock The Boat song by that black group. I can't think of their name.

That black group? Geez, can't you make a comment without bringing up race? All you had to do was say that you couldn't recall the name of the band. Their skin color makes no difference and by the way, it was the Hues Corporation.

LOL@you being sensitive about me bringing up race hahahahahahahahahaha. The Hues Corporation is their name. Thanks. Rock The Boat song is a classic. I also like the disco songs Everlasting Love by Carl Carlton, It Only Takes A Minute To Fall In Love by Tavares, Ladies Night, Hangin Out, Tonight's The Night, Hollywood Swinging by Kool And The Gang, Groove Line by Heatwave, Love Hangover by Diana Ross, Love To Love You Baby by Donna Summer, Got To Give It Up by Marvin Gaye, Dancing Machine by The Jackson 5. I don't know why people back then made such a big deal about disco was starting to get on their nerves. There was nothing wrong with disco music. I like uptempo party songs anyway because i can't stand love songs. Is there any documentaries available on dvd to buy about disco?

LOL@you being sensitive about me bringing up race hahahahahahahahahaha.

It has nothing to do with being sensitive, Your comment was totally pointless. It's no different than someone asking who sang "Sweet Home Alabama" and mentioning that they were a white group. Most any of us here could've told you who sang "Rock the Boat" without being told the group was black.

I just saw a documentary about disco at Amazon.com called Disco:Spinning The Story and it's $9.99. It's hosted by Gloria Gaynor and there's interviews with disco artists like George Clinton, KC And The Sunshine Band, Chic, Village People, Donna Summer. There's also live performances by disco artists like Chic, Donna Summer, Kool And The Gang, Thelma Houston, The Hues Corporation. I wanna see this documentary. I'm gonna buy it. Didn't KC And The Sunshine Band sing Keep It Coming Love? I forgot about Hot Chocolate who sang You Sexy Thing. That's a good disco song. Isaac Hayes made a good disco song called Don't Let Go. That's my jam.

With the exception of the Bee Gees and a couple of tunes by Chic I was never a big fan of disco myself. My beef with the genre is that most of it was done on keyboards and drum machines and they used the same beat throughout the whole song. Talk about irritating.

That said go to a wedding reception and more than likely you will hear disco music because people want to dance.

With the exception of the Bee Gees and a couple of tunes by Chic I was never a big fan of disco myself. My beef with the genre is that most of it was done on keyboards and drum machines and they used the same beat throughout the whole song. Talk about irritating.

That said go to a wedding reception and more than likely you will hear disco music because people want to dance.

The Bee Gees were great, period. Be it there disco music or their non-disco music. I think that Barry Gibb is one of the greatest pop songwriters in rock n' roll history. The brothers were also great producers. I still cannot believe that there was such a backlash against them in the 80's and early 90's.

To me, good music is good music and I enjoy disco. I agree with Ablairican, "More, More, More" and "Boogie Nights" are great songs. :cool:

Well put, Monika. :)

The Bee Gees were great, period. Be it there disco music or their non-disco music. I think that Barry Gibb is one of the greatest pop songwriters in rock n' roll history. The brothers were also great producers. I still cannot believe that there was such a backlash against them in the 80's and early 90's.

I preferred The Bee Gees when they were a Baroque-Rock Band from the 60's, using many instruments such as mellotrons and harpsichords. But since their popularity waned in the 70's...they went to disco!

I kinda like disco, but it was something to kill rock music. Now it's "American Idol".

I think we should do what they did to disco...get all the stuff that is "American Idol" and have an "American Idol Sucks!" rally.

I preferred The Bee Gees when they were a Baroque-Rock Band from the 60's, using many instruments such as mellotrons and harpsichords. But since their popularity waned in the 70's...they went to disco!


I think that they had some really good songs in the 1960's like "Words", "I Started A Joke" and "I've Gotta Get A Message To You". And its important to remember that even after they started writing disco songs, they still did non-disco songs like "How Deep Is Your Love", "Too Much Heaven", "Love So Right" and "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)"

^ Not to mention they did really good pop songs from the 1980s onwards.

The Bee Gees were great, period. Be it there disco music or their non-disco music. I think that Barry Gibb is one of the greatest pop songwriters in rock n' roll history. The brothers were also great producers. I still cannot believe that there was such a backlash against them in the 80's and early 90's.
:clap :clap :clap

I think that they had some really good songs in the 1960's like "Words", "I Started A Joke" and "I've Gotta Get A Message To You". And its important to remember that even after they started writing disco songs, they still did non-disco songs like "How Deep Is Your Love", "Too Much Heaven", "Love So Right" and "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)"

They did. And my favorite Non-Disco Bee Gees album is 'Odessa', with the song "First of May".

They did. And my favorite Non-Disco Bee Gees album is 'Odessa', with the song "First of May".
"First of May" is actually my mom's favorite Bee Gees song. Sarah Brightman covered it a few years ago.

LOL@you being sensitive about me bringing up race hahahahahahahahahaha. The Hues Corporation is their name. Thanks. Rock The Boat song is a classic. I also like the disco songs Everlasting Love by Carl Carlton, It Only Takes A Minute To Fall In Love by Tavares, Ladies Night, Hangin Out, Tonight's The Night, Hollywood Swinging by Kool And The Gang, Groove Line by Heatwave, Love Hangover by Diana Ross, Love To Love You Baby by Donna Summer, Got To Give It Up by Marvin Gaye, Dancing Machine by The Jackson 5. I don't know why people back then made such a big deal about disco was starting to get on their nerves. There was nothing wrong with disco music. I like uptempo party songs anyway because i can't stand love songs. Is there any documentaries available on dvd to buy about disco?

I also like "Rock the Boat."

Steve Dahl was and is an idiot. Besides, disco didn't die. The good stuff survived and people still listen to it today. :)
Tell it!

If your favorite type of music isn't what the general public is into at a particular time, TOO EFFING BAD. Don't be a big crybaby about it, getting people together to toss the records into a fire and make a big scene. Just suck it up and deal with it. Nobody's stealing your rock and roll records from you, they're still in the store, and you can buy them whenever you want to and listen to them a million times a day if that's your pleasure. There was NO NEED for Dahl and his asshat friends to pull that stunt. If they didn't "get" disco, that's on them. Nobody was holding a gun to their head because they didn't "get" it. Why they felt the need to piss in everybody else's Corn Flakes, I do not know, but whatever. There are millions of people who don't "get" metal or even plain, ordinary rock and roll at all, but you don't see them pitching fits and throwing records/tapes/CDs into fires, do you?

Disco music, to me, can have every single bit of feeling as any other type of music. People love to stereotype it as fluff, mindless music that you just dance to, but I don't think people truly understand what it can do to you. When your self-esteem takes a blow, you listen to the music, and the beat gets into you like nothing else. The repetitive rhythms and melodies, they serve a purpose. With each repetition, it pulsates harder and harder. The swell of the disco orchestra...it just sends your heart to racing, and it puts this deep feeling of fearlessness in you. It makes you feel like you're on top of the world, like nothing can get you down, and like you can be anything you want to be. The music can make you feel that without a single lyric ever being sung in a song, but when there are lyrics, they can be just as deep as anything else. "I Will Survive" can sound corny, but to anyone who's been oppressed, it's a life-affirming statement.

Point blank, as far as I'm concerned, disco music empowers the little person like no other music can. When a metalhead is in the zone listening to Zeppelin or Thin Lizzy or Deep Purple, it's the equivalent of someone like me being in the zone listening to Chic or First Choice or Sylvester or Donna Summer or the Bee Gees. There is no need to be a music snob at all, there's just no point to it.

I also like "Rock the Boat."
So do I. I remember a Pepsi commercial a few years back that used the song. People were on the boat and it literally was rocking back and forth. :lol:

Tell it!

If your favorite type of music isn't what the general public is into at a particular time, TOO EFFING BAD. Don't be a big crybaby about it, getting people together to toss the records into a fire and make a big scene. Just suck it up and deal with it. Nobody's stealing your rock and roll records from you, they're still in the store, and you can buy them whenever you want to and listen to them a million times a day if that's your pleasure. There was NO NEED for Dahl and his asshat friends to pull that stunt. If they didn't "get" disco, that's on them. Nobody was holding a gun to their head because they didn't "get" it. Why they felt the need to piss in everybody else's Corn Flakes, I do not know, but whatever. There are millions of people who don't "get" metal or even plain, ordinary rock and roll at all, but you don't see them pitching fits and throwing records/tapes/CDs into fires, do you?

Disco music, to me, can have every single bit of feeling as any other type of music. People love to stereotype it as fluff, mindless music that you just dance to, but I don't think people truly understand what it can do to you. When your self-esteem takes a blow, you listen to the music, and the beat gets into you like nothing else. The repetitive rhythms and melodies, they serve a purpose. With each repetition, it pulsates harder and harder. The swell of the disco orchestra...it just sends your heart to racing, and it puts this deep feeling of fearlessness in you. It makes you feel like you're on top of the world, like nothing can get you down, and like you can be anything you want to be. The music can make you feel that without a single lyric ever being sung in a song, but when there are lyrics, they can be just as deep as anything else. "I Will Survive" can sound corny, but to anyone who's been oppressed, it's a life-affirming statement.

Point blank, as far as I'm concerned, disco music empowers the little person like no other music can. When a metalhead is in the zone listening to Zeppelin or Thin Lizzy or Deep Purple, it's the equivalent of someone like me being in the zone listening to Chic or First Choice or Sylvester or Donna Summer or the Bee Gees. There is no need to be a music snob at all, there's just no point to it.

That's a great post.:) I love both Led Zeppelin and the Bee Gees. There can and should be a place for both in a person's life.

Like I said before...I don't hate Disco and it didn't die...it became dance music.

Musicians such as Snap, Aqua, Eiffel 65, and Ace of Base kept some of that disco-esque music around.

My biggest problem with disco was that it was a corporate radio-force-fed genre that was plugged incessantly to all the sosh-y pop princesses and dapper disco Dannies out there. It's true that rock albums were out there and that no one had taken them away, but the DJ who was fed up with disco's omnipresence was frustrated that he couldn't play his favorite rock albums on his station. It was was dominated by DISCO. It was a corporate conspiracy. Rock record albums were there, but if there were no radio stations allowed to play them, no one would get to hear them. Disco had a chokehold on the industry--until that night in Comiskey Park. I remember back in 1979 when KISW in Seattle had its own on-air version of Disco Destruction, like "torpedo-ing" the Village People's "In the Navy" with the sounds of a submarine crew launching a torpedo and blowing them out of the water! :lol: :rock:

The ban on rock albums thirty years ago on the radio is similar to the current ban on rock albums on the stations now heavily devoted to playing rap and
and teen pop. That might have changed recently, but the ban is the one reason why I listen to internet radio like KNAC.com.

My biggest problem with disco was that it was a corporate radio-force-fed genre that was plugged incessantly to all the sosh-y pop princesses and dapper disco Dannies out there. It's true that rock albums were out there and that no one had taken them away, but the DJ who was fed up with disco's omnipresence was frustrated that he couldn't play his favorite rock albums on his station. It was was dominated by DISCO. It was a corporate conspiracy. Rock record albums were there, but if there were no radio stations allowed to play them, no one would get to hear them. Disco had a chokehold on the industry--until that night in Comiskey Park. I remember back in 1979 when KISW in Seattle had its own on-air version of Disco Destruction, like "torpedo-ing" the Village People's "In the Navy" with the sounds of a submarine crew launching a torpedo and blowing them out of the water! :lol: :rock:

The ban on rock albums thirty years ago on the radio is similar to the current ban on rock albums on the stations now heavily devoted to playing rap and
and teen pop. That might have changed recently, but the ban is the one reason why I listen to internet radio like KNAC.com.
I get all of this, but, IMO, all of those issues (which were pretty legits gripes) have nothing to do with the music itself and everything to do with its popularity. The solution was sooo not to take their anger and frustration out on the songwriters and singers who made the disco genre what it was (talented and skilled musicians just like the others).

I get all of this, but, IMO, all of those issues (which were pretty legits gripes) have nothing to do with the music itself and everything to do with its popularity. The solution was sooo not to take their anger and frustration out on the songwriters and singers who made the disco genre what it was (talented and skilled musicians just like the others).
JT, you hit the nail right on the head! :nod: