A Survey: The Influence of Drugs in Disco
Disco Music > Disco History 101 Index > History > A Survey: The Influence of Drugs in Disco
A Survey: The Influence of Drugs in Disco
I need some help. I wonder how much influence DRUGS had in and on DISCO. Its music, its clubs, its people. When I start wondering, it usually leads to other things. In this case, we will start with an article. I want to hear from all deejays, artists, producers, bartenders, waitresses, bouncers and of course the DISCO patrons themselves. Tell me what you think the influence of DRUGS and DISCO was/is?
I believe it changed the entire face of the world. I remember there was DRUGS before DISCO, but when the world got invaded by the DISCO movement, DISCOS sprang up everywhere. Before DISCO there were relatively few Night Clubs for Dancing. Then afterwards it seemed that there was a Club every few shopping centers! With so many people now going to these DISCOS, the DRUGS of the sixties couldn't keep up with the fast pace of the lifestyle. So the Columbian's came up with an OLD solution to this NEW problem. They started bringing in the former main ingredient of Coca-Cola, cocaine, into the streets and DISCOS of Miami, New York, Philly, Los Angeles and every-other Metropolitan area in the United States.
During the "time-span" of DISCO, Cocaine became the party drug of choice. It was everywhere, and it never left, even when DISCO supposedly died! Do you agree? To what extent? How far did it reach? How many did it hurt? How many were killed?
Consider this research, I need feedback from everyone, then I'll write an article (if I get enough good, juicy stories, a BOOK??) right here! Tell me all! Did DISCO "destroy the fabric of society" as it was predicted? It gave us CRACK? Without the popularity of cocaine in the DISCO era, there wouldn't have been the demand for something like CRACK!! Maybe those soothsayers were right?? What do you think?
"Oh, this isn't part of DISCO music" you might say? Yes it was!! If you went or worked at ANY DISCO in the seventies, this was just as big a part of the atmosphere, as the music being mixed. The musicians who were giving us this great DISCO music were all snorting, smoking and shooting it into their veins. It was part of everything to do with DISCO!
How far did the influence affect you and your life? Think about it, it was the DRUGS in DISCOS that started the COCAINE COWBOY WARS and in turn, AMERICA'S WAR ON DRUGS in the eighties!! That's TWO WARS that DISCO and DRUGS STARTED!!! Face it, it might have been more influential than DISCO itself!!
There are so many different angles one could look at it from. I need to see as many as possible. Send me a comment here, tell me YOUR horror story. Either way, it might be used in my future writing, so make sure you are comfortable telling me anything. With your help, I am sure it will all make for interesting reading.
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YOUR COMMENTS ON A Survey: The Influence of Drugs in Disco
I remember clearly that before I graduated from high school, I wanted nothing to do with drugs, my report card said" F 3 F for the drugs education class, that was for academics, effort, and conduct, I wanted nothing to do with it, and until one Saturday night in 79 I was at Valentino's the restaurant next to the lime light having dinner with two buddies of mine from child hood days in Hialeah, and they pulled out a bad and on a sugar spoon they put this white powder and asked me to sniff it, I remember them both very clearly and will never forget that day, I will not tell you their names, I know of of them is still alive at least he was a year ago, the other I have not seen or heard from in the longest time, but that Saturday night in Valentino's restaurant is where it started and since I was part of the all night dancing group I need it the energy to go all night, so that went on for a very long time, It was fun and also very dangerous at times, you had any woman that you wanted if you had some and if a girl approached and you wanted her, you waited for her to ask if had some and if you did not, then you would immediatedly get some to get her to go home with you or to the motel down the street at the end of the night, It was an experience for me, that I was able to eventually overcome, but I can not say the same thing for a lot of my friends or buddies from those days, most of them are either in jail or dead, as for me I was blessed by God and just gave it all up and today I am still dancing today, but now I am a health nut, so yes the drugs days's build Miami and most of it's high rise buildings and a lot of the disco night clubs that were created all over the country were either selling it some how and or to laundering the drug money, it was fun, but never ever again, I survived it and most of my friends did not and some are still in it now.
I was certainly surrounded by drugs at the club I worked in from 1975 to 1987, but I see it as a part of the cultural revolution that was taking place in America. It was a very much a movement that began in the sixties and was what "young" people did, no matter where they were. Obviously discos were where young people went, so the drugs went with them. Marijuana was the choice the masses (some graduated to LSD), but then the 70's moved more into cocaine. While I'm sure some went to discos to do drugs, I saw it much more as a place to: 1) meet people, with sex in mind, and 2) hear the music that they loved and to dance.
I understand what you want. That is a big debate waiting. I heard of many women becoming COKE WHORES at DISCOS. I think that influence possibly changed the "moral values" of the world, especially the United States.Those women, now married(or not)have kids, daughters. What can they tell them about her past? What advice can she pass on? Can she actually be a positive influence? I don't think she can. The world is tough enough without getting a bum deal. So there is a very negative side to all that COCAINE getting snorted in the DISCOS. Drugs were always there, so DISCOS had a very bad influence, were they totally responsible, absolutely not, but DISCOS were the 7-11 of the DRUG culture. Then there was the violence it was responsible for. Fights, stabbings, shootings; that was another side that was negative. Would it had happened without DISCOS? I don't think the violence would have been EVERYWHERE like it was/is. There would be violence and Drugs without DISCOS, but DISCOS was like gasoline on a fire. It made it worse. OMG I sound like my parents when they talked to me thirty years ago. They told me that DISCOS would ruin me, it didn't. But they also told me everything that I wrote above as a WARNING way back then!
I think that drugs gave disco a bad name. It was solely for dancin and getting laid at the beginning. Then it changed, around 1978. It ruined the fun. it killed a lot of friends of mine. There was a definite link between the two.
I must admit I was very Naive when I started working in Disco's.
I was only 16 and didn't even drink.
I soon came to find out that most,I'd say 98% of the people I worked with did some kind of drug.
I met a gentleman that wanted me to "loosen up" as he put it.
well I didn't know he meant literally....
so he gave me a 2
Qaludes aka.."Disco Biscuits"
"Beans"Wacky Wafers" and a few more names I cant quite remember"probably due to taking the Qualudes" wink..
they bascially made me incoherent
I remember a burst of euphoria at first
then passed out..
Well he was not a gentleman at all~!!
Lets just say that.
I then started taking half of one about 15 minutes after they called last call
so I wouldn't be high and spill drinks on anyone..By the time it hit it was my own time..of course we had to clear the glases and pick up other things such as popper bottles any glass articles,a cleaning crew would come in and do the rest. and sometimes you would find all kinds of goodies..
Then I graduated to taking a whole one.I must admit they made me feel great and made me love everybody when I was high on them.
I never took more than one at a time and I never did cocaine..
but all around me people were doing Cocaine,MDA,qualudes,Heroin,speed OMG the speed demons "as we called them" were everywhere,
There was this one bartender that had a nightly ritual.
he would take what he called a Happy Pack
it consited of a comination of 8 pills
I would be filling up his ice bin and he would take them..I once asked him what it was but he just said a "Happy Pack" so it remains a mystery..
he offered me a happy pack one time but I declined.All the bartenders would have there nightly stash with them behind the bars.Be it Coke, Ludes,Speed or whatever there pleasure was.
Being only 16 and very attractive I was offered many drugs and declined.
Although I never turned down a Qualude and I NEVER had to pay for one..
But I made sure I didn't take more than one at a time.
I never had anyone close to me Overdose on any kind of drug but you heard about so and so or What's his name O'D'ing with all the rest of the usual club gossip.I knew there were drug dealers in the clubs but I never gave it much thought at the time.seing as I did't buy them anyway.
Today they are much more on the down low about those kinds of things but there just as prevalent
As far as Drugs as a whole in the Disco era The only difference I see is that it was much more highly publicized because of the whole sexual revoloution thing..
Sex and Drugs and the 70's blah blah blah..
People have always had they're drugs and still do..
People have always tried to discredit anything to do with Disco and the drugs
"although they were certainly there"
is just another part they throw in to make it more negative.. The majority never looks at the good it brought such as tolerance,unity, and love not to mention the fabulous music.
I was only 16 and didn't even drink.
I soon came to find out that most,I'd say 98% of the people I worked with did some kind of drug.
I met a gentleman that wanted me to "loosen up" as he put it.
well I didn't know he meant literally....
so he gave me a 2
Qaludes aka.."Disco Biscuits"
"Beans"Wacky Wafers" and a few more names I cant quite remember"probably due to taking the Qualudes" wink..
they bascially made me incoherent
I remember a burst of euphoria at first
then passed out..
Well he was not a gentleman at all~!!
Lets just say that.
I then started taking half of one about 15 minutes after they called last call
so I wouldn't be high and spill drinks on anyone..By the time it hit it was my own time..of course we had to clear the glases and pick up other things such as popper bottles any glass articles,a cleaning crew would come in and do the rest. and sometimes you would find all kinds of goodies..
Then I graduated to taking a whole one.I must admit they made me feel great and made me love everybody when I was high on them.
I never took more than one at a time and I never did cocaine..
but all around me people were doing Cocaine,MDA,qualudes,Heroin,speed OMG the speed demons "as we called them" were everywhere,
There was this one bartender that had a nightly ritual.
he would take what he called a Happy Pack
it consited of a comination of 8 pills
I would be filling up his ice bin and he would take them..I once asked him what it was but he just said a "Happy Pack" so it remains a mystery..
he offered me a happy pack one time but I declined.All the bartenders would have there nightly stash with them behind the bars.Be it Coke, Ludes,Speed or whatever there pleasure was.
Being only 16 and very attractive I was offered many drugs and declined.
Although I never turned down a Qualude and I NEVER had to pay for one..
But I made sure I didn't take more than one at a time.
I never had anyone close to me Overdose on any kind of drug but you heard about so and so or What's his name O'D'ing with all the rest of the usual club gossip.I knew there were drug dealers in the clubs but I never gave it much thought at the time.seing as I did't buy them anyway.
Today they are much more on the down low about those kinds of things but there just as prevalent
As far as Drugs as a whole in the Disco era The only difference I see is that it was much more highly publicized because of the whole sexual revoloution thing..
Sex and Drugs and the 70's blah blah blah..
People have always had they're drugs and still do..
People have always tried to discredit anything to do with Disco and the drugs
"although they were certainly there"
is just another part they throw in to make it more negative.. The majority never looks at the good it brought such as tolerance,unity, and love not to mention the fabulous music.
I was a DISCO era deejay, first in Miami, then in New York Area. I saw first hand all the dangers of DRUGS. was there an influence. Of course, it affected everyone in one form or another.The owners welcomed the DRUG money that the dealers would spend. The waitresses and bartenders loved the tips and drugs that these drug dealers gave them. Most everyone at GAY clubs did drugs; downers, uppers, POPPERS and a lot of Coke. The cops were all dirty, the deejays were all getting high, and the performers were always messed up on something or another. That is a big influence, I say. Now is DISCO responsible, not anymore than ROCK N' Roll or R&B. If DISCO did not exist, the drug culture would have thrived anyhow. After all, it was there before DISCO wasn't it? Didn't "Biker Gangs" do these things for years prior? I think we all were influenced, but DISCO had nothing to do with it other than being the "IN" place. DISCO didn't stand on street corners and sell CRACK. It might have been a "Classy" way to score and do drugs, with less of a POLICE presence. But you can't BLAME DISCO!!!
I believe that there wouldn't have been so many discos without the drugs. I believe that without discos there would have been less drugs. They both started out as new and exciting things, but both soon were simply over-indulgences. There was a direct link between the two, no doubt about it.
Drugs and Disco
Well I don’t see how disco was solo responsible for the drug era, drug have been around before some of us were even born. Well lets go back in time some to the sixties the hippy era, sexual era, bikers era, where marijuana wasn’t the only drug they had acid,lsd, hash, opium, heroin, and many other drugs they had wood stock lots of rock concerts which were around before disco, so it was already in the making way back. As to the mid 70’s to about the mid eighty’s that’s when cocaine, mesk, Quaaludes, black beauty’s and all other drugs started getting more popular due to times changing it was a new era for new music , new times, more clubs keep coming out and people started to party more. It was a younger crowd/ generation it was a time that people enjoy going out dancing having innocent fun it was a new sexual generation again, and let’s not blame the music for crime, we all know crime is always been there, did it get worst yes a new cycle of time, is it worst today yes it is. Well we all know where there’s money to be made someone will figure out how to corner the market and that’s where clubs started getting the reputation for drugs, but mostly it was the owners of these places who were responsible for a good portion of the drugs and money that use to cycle in clubs and on the streets don’t you think a good part of America was build on drugs look at N.Y. and Miami, Chicago just some of the few. So weather you did drugs or not they always been around you, and they always will be depending where you go and where you live and where you are. As for people that used drugs depending on the type of drugs it was a recreational thing for most people, that went along with all the partying and drinking, I myself wasn’t no stranger to some of these drugs like cocaine which I consider a quick pick me upper and the ladies favor drug, he who had the white ruled especially with the ladies, marijuana which I think a good percentage of all people in this planet have try at one time or another, and my favor was a little pill called mesk/ pinheads which you pop and got an energetic high that all you did was dance and dance and had a smile on your face worth a million dollars the whole night that you could ‘not hide, and the high would last 6 to 10 hours depending on the number of hits do did. Today I’m clean and happy and lucky, I guess on happy to have live in a good era, I wouldn’t change this for nothing. As to all the drugs and crime today they are worst, and times as we know then from the past have changed, but you will always have your memories to share, and that’s something no one can’t take from you.
Will relate some more on topic some other time.
Long live the DISCO era
Well I don’t see how disco was solo responsible for the drug era, drug have been around before some of us were even born. Well lets go back in time some to the sixties the hippy era, sexual era, bikers era, where marijuana wasn’t the only drug they had acid,lsd, hash, opium, heroin, and many other drugs they had wood stock lots of rock concerts which were around before disco, so it was already in the making way back. As to the mid 70’s to about the mid eighty’s that’s when cocaine, mesk, Quaaludes, black beauty’s and all other drugs started getting more popular due to times changing it was a new era for new music , new times, more clubs keep coming out and people started to party more. It was a younger crowd/ generation it was a time that people enjoy going out dancing having innocent fun it was a new sexual generation again, and let’s not blame the music for crime, we all know crime is always been there, did it get worst yes a new cycle of time, is it worst today yes it is. Well we all know where there’s money to be made someone will figure out how to corner the market and that’s where clubs started getting the reputation for drugs, but mostly it was the owners of these places who were responsible for a good portion of the drugs and money that use to cycle in clubs and on the streets don’t you think a good part of America was build on drugs look at N.Y. and Miami, Chicago just some of the few. So weather you did drugs or not they always been around you, and they always will be depending where you go and where you live and where you are. As for people that used drugs depending on the type of drugs it was a recreational thing for most people, that went along with all the partying and drinking, I myself wasn’t no stranger to some of these drugs like cocaine which I consider a quick pick me upper and the ladies favor drug, he who had the white ruled especially with the ladies, marijuana which I think a good percentage of all people in this planet have try at one time or another, and my favor was a little pill called mesk/ pinheads which you pop and got an energetic high that all you did was dance and dance and had a smile on your face worth a million dollars the whole night that you could ‘not hide, and the high would last 6 to 10 hours depending on the number of hits do did. Today I’m clean and happy and lucky, I guess on happy to have live in a good era, I wouldn’t change this for nothing. As to all the drugs and crime today they are worst, and times as we know then from the past have changed, but you will always have your memories to share, and that’s something no one can’t take from you.
Will relate some more on topic some other time.
Long live the DISCO era
OK Everybody here is forgetting something way more important which is the influence of drugs on the constitution of the music itself. And it is all too obvious that disco and it’s repetitive monotonous beat, 10 minute tracks and percussion orgasms is obviously the result of producers making music on coke and speed. Everybody knows that both drugs, but especially amphetamines, make tedious work fun cause they continually reuse the dopamine in your brain cells, so you start liking stereotypical things, speed demons all have these tics where they tap their feet or something.
Of course dancing to such music takes tremendous energy especially all night long. The music got faster when the drug culture and gay cultures reached their apex (late seventies and early eighties). This was not only in disco music. In rock music, speed and thrash metal emerged at the same time. It is a reflection of America’s obsession with speed, media, the buzz, the buzz.
Of course dancing to such music takes tremendous energy especially all night long. The music got faster when the drug culture and gay cultures reached their apex (late seventies and early eighties). This was not only in disco music. In rock music, speed and thrash metal emerged at the same time. It is a reflection of America’s obsession with speed, media, the buzz, the buzz.
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David Mancuso of the Loft
An in-depth interview with New York legend David Mancuso of the Loft and the New York Record Pool who inspired generations to dance and be happy. Read it!