A Gay Sensibility?

[Teddybear]

Do you think Disco Music required a gay or female sensibility
to be understood in the seventies?

I am from a Latin American country and I never understood why so many of my friends considered Disco music as gay. In their minds music was intended mostly for picking up girls and not for the pleasure of enjoying dance or even discovering yourself.

Altough they heared rock, in my country many people didn't dance rock songs or what they called by the time "music in English"; and by no means anything similar to the Disco sound ! They only danced our ryhtms: tropical and some other fast or slow danceable music. They couldn't express themselves through Disco music but if a man could, his movements were too gay for them, even though acceptable for and by girls (of course this was not an absolute fact). But in the eighties they started to change...

Was the Disco generation a pioneer for the present-day metrosexuals or even for a wider cultural mindset? Was Disco a pioneering music forced to change (and change, and change) into a crossover sound?

[QUINNY]

Whatever metrosexual means (I hate these types of words) or has come to mean, I don't see Disco as a driving force. Some things are more important in life than Disco! Maybe it was a mirror of the (r)evolution taking place.

In the necks of the woods where I DJd, all discos were about boy meets girl. True, there were very few really good male dancers, but there were very few female ones too. Mostly, both sexes got onto the dance floor, wiggled, made moves as best they could and collapsed into each others arms at an appropriate moment (during a slowies section). The others who didn't manage to hook up with anyone, drank and danced on the spot at the bar, or where ever they could.

I don't think any rocket science, Gay or female sensibilities were involved, just primal instinct and that's understood by everyone. Did they appreciate the music? I think most of 'em probably did, but on a lower level than most people who'd post here.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Whatever metrosexual means

"Metrosexual is a neologism generally applied to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance, and who display many of the lifestyle tendencies of stereotypical gay men. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology and definition of the word are:

[< metro- (in METROPOLITAN a.) + SEXUAL a., punningly after HETEROSEXUAL a. and n.]

n. A man (esp. a heterosexual man) whose lifestyle, spending habits and concern for personal appearance are likened to those considered typical of a fashionable, urban, homosexual man.

Debate surrounds the term's use as a theoretical signifier of gender deconstruction and its associations with consumerism"

Right! Who are the people that spend their life inventing such stuff. In 200? you have to be a metrosexual, in 200? you have to be a new lad, in 200? you probably have to be a Soprano man (which I already am so I'm a trendsetter ).

Teddy, you just picked the wrong friends

Some Disco people were straight, some were gay, just like in real life (no, I am NOT entering percentage discussions anymore!) and some people just didn't have taste and were constantly checking their manhood, so they didn't shower, got drunk, got into fights and mainly were a intolerant bunch of a-holes! Those were the REAL men (Rockdudes) who began to wear ridiculous spandex trousers, sang with a high voice (Bee Gees, hello!), got their personal hairdresser because their perm needed daily maintenance!

Hey, maybe those guys were the original sillysexuals?

So Teddy, I'm not gay and I'm definitely not aware of my female side but I do like Disco. Maybe I'm a Videosexual?

I mean, I never went out with...



Big mouth, little finesse And they were boooooooooooooooooooring! (Not Suzi of course, she's cool LOL)

[Ian Rose]

PLEASE dont let this topic get out of control...

I remember people calling certain songs being called "Gay House" back in the day (Proably NRG stuff) .

On another topic though, Its really sad that all my friends say I listen to gay music because I like rare Disco and care how I dress. The term "Metrosexul" is sooooo American and funny. Because a man cares about his appearence, or likes dance music, or books, or cooking, or has gay friends....he's gay. I feel it's because I feel like a LOT of guys here are in the closet and dont know how to take it out. From what I hear about the disco scene back in the day, it was VERY open minded.

Was this true??? Or just how history changes stories? I kind of have an idealistic vision of the disco scene being all love and open....Anybody got stories either way, love or hate, about it???

-Ian

[remicks]

Originally Posted by Ian Rose

PLEASE dont let this topic get out of control...

I remember people calling certain songs being called "Gay House" back in the day (Proably NRG stuff) .

On another topic though, Its really sad that all my friends say I listen to gay music because I like rare Disco and care how I dress. The term "Metrosexul" is sooooo American and funny. Because a man cares about his appearence, or likes dance music, or books, or cooking, or has gay friends....he's gay. I feel it's because I feel like a LOT of guys here are in the closet and dont know how to take it out. From what I hear about the disco scene back in the day, it was VERY open minded.

Was this true??? Or just how history changes stories? I kind of have an idealistic vision of the disco scene being all love and open....Anybody got stories either way, love or hate, about it???

-Ian

Ian, I'm somewhat taken aback by your actively encouraging this topic as wasn't it only recently that it caused you so much anguish .
To build bridges ,and because you are wondering what was "true" , I'll give my input as someone who was there and promise to keep my comments "under control" Nevertheless it still is my opinion formed from how I experienced it ...

What I always loved a great deal about the disco music itself was its diversity of origin ... coming from its wide variety of influences ... multi-national ... multi-cultural ... multi-racial .... multi-sexual .... multi-orientational ..... this blending I believe exists more so in disco than any other kind of music .....reflected in much of disco music's album and 12'" covers which tended to be vague as to who was behind the music to be found inside. It just didn't matter.

I always felt a bit like the odd white bird with my own preference for soul music throughout my teens. My environment was mostly amongst white kids and while I shared their interest in rock music as well .... it bothered me that when thumbing through their albums they gravitated strictly toward white acts ...Led Zeppelin.... Eagles.... Chicago ... John Denver ... Aerosmith .... (long list of etc.s ) . My musical taste cut a wide swath . I even loved country music ,not really popular with the youth then ...generally viewed as " old fogy" music ....and country then didn't have this hard core American flag waving association it now has .
Disco's arrival soon thereafter was an amazing thing because it incorporated influences from so many areas of music and couldn't so easily be fitted into a specific box. . It truly was a color/gender/age etc. blind format ... with artists and producers participating from a wide array of backgrounds .

As far as the clubs (West Coast USA being my reference ) themselves, it would be a stretch to say everyone easily instantaneously came together under one disco banner. . There were typically clubs that catered to specific crowds ... not all reasons for such were dubious, but not all were pure either. Rome wasn't built in a day and even the mighty power of the disco couldn't absolve all social unbalance. Such blending couldn't have just spontaneously happened , although disco sure helped it along! And leave it to disco to convert a formally incinerating phrase like BURN BABY BURN into an exhilarating phrase of jubilee.

If you're asking especially about the gay angle to disco .... as far as being young and gay in the 70's : ... .....thanks largely to disco. If you needed any affirmation that it was OK to be gay .....a night at Studio One would more than do it.

teddybear4703: I am from a Latin American country and I never understood why so many of my friends considered Disco music as gay. In their minds music was intended mostly for picking up girls and not for the pleasure of enjoying dance or even discovering yourself.

That's an interesting observation .....





*****

[Billy72]

A very good POST, and am enjoying the responses. Like one person responded (sorry, forgot to check back to his name), that where he was from it was about boy meets girl. YEAH, like Saturday Night Fever. You know my parents divorced in the mid-70s; and my Dad hit the Disco's on weekends. I didnt live with him (just visited), and he's told me it was a wild time. Alot of one night stands with chics.

I get this same VIBE about not only DISCO music but 70s and early 80s light rock stuff. I work in THE OIL FIELD, I real mancho place to be, right lol. I've had people tell me, "you know I really do like The Beegees, Barry Manilow, AIr Supply (stuff like that), Its just not something I tell the guys".

I dont give a care lol. I just play what I like to get reactions, its good conversation lol.

I am straight, but I constantly wish I could dress in the exact fashions that 'Tony Manero' or 'Double J' did (in FEVER), and the music I listen too is really stigmatized as 'girly' in MANCHO circles that is. I JUST SEE IT AS ROMANTIC, and DISCO'S as ultimate 'let your hair down' partying.

[Teddybear]

From the New York Times, December 10, 2002:

''Some people were threatened because [Disco music] had a different sensibility,'' [...] ''I'm not saying disco had a black sensibility or a gay sensibility or a female sensibility. But it didn't have a straight-white-male sensibility. And that bothered a lot of people.''

...Disco was about dancing and, to some degree, about sexual liberation...

...AIDS helped kill disco...

[wever]

what about female sensibility??
cause i see black and gay or straight males....but where are the girls! any girl in this forum?(apart from me)
and back in the day? it looks like there was sexual liberation and women became more independent but i don't see a big participation in the disco thing. I mean it was some kind of sexual dancing so there has to be some partner on the dancefloor to dance with or to impress with your moves, but it also seems tha men dicted the rules.
I wonder how the 70s were, it seems the people was more openminded then!

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by wever

but where are the girls! any girl in this forum?(apart from me)

Yes Eva, there are girls on the board! Dayna, Discolady, Boodikka, Angelina 77 and maybe others that I'm not aware of, so...you are not alone and surrendered to the rule dictating men

[wever]

hahahahahhahahahahaha ok! i didn't mean that, sorry (and hello ladies!).
i was trying to ask about the women part in disco music.
if you need some kind of gay sensibility or female sansibility why there wasn't more participation? (I'm not trying to attack men! I'm just asking where the ladies were that time,what were they doin. i don't have idea of how it really was!)

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by wever

I'm just asking where the ladies were that time,what were they doin. i don't have idea of how it really was!)

OMG, women were treated very badly!

[Teddybear]

Wever, women stood in the same place we were: the dance floor. But my personal impression is that men were
more aggressive in assuming Disco music: the man leads, the woman follows, that is to say, the eternal game of
seduction (as u can see it in Saturday Night Fever). Some say Disco dancers were hedonistic and narcissistic, and I think ladies are naturally less selfish than we are and much more sensitive to not care only for prominence in dancing (as u can
see it in John Travolta).

Now, talking about the vocals in songs, I would say women were the leading voice. Check this thread: http://www.discomusic.com/forums/dis...le-vocals.html.

But, please, don't check this one : http://www.discomusic.com/forums/dis...sco-album.html

I'm sure this is a controversial subject (starting with SNF), but we all can hear what others have to say and become wiser.

[discolady75]

anyone knows the track title and artist that you hear during the whole 1st disco godfather video ? it s absolutely terrific

i didnt know that film, that s a pretty good example of black disco ambiance : mmh very exciting ! as much as plato s one ??

about women and disco.
i dont agree with that legend that men are leading. it was maybe the case in the 70s, with the couple dances, where, its true, harmony appears while moving on the same beat, tuned moves, synchronized figures... men was leading, and women had to anticipate every move !

i can tell after these years that today, women are completely leading on a disco dancefloor. i mean, i absolutely dont trust boys to create the warm thing on the floor that attract dancers. It s an hormonal thing too... girls are much less shy and their body/sensibility accurate perfectly with disco music, especially strings and any (suggestive) chorists among others. the only guys who will run first to the dancefloor are the most sensitive to the sounds (gay or straight... whatever, who cares). a good beginning party is when ladies let themselves go.. and i noticed they are better dressed too.

disco is for me, the music of feminity. just look the sleeves, everything is around those damnly beautiful and glamorous bodies and faces. this celebration put women as center, it s obvious...

as a woman, i maybe know more how this interaction works ? but i cant say that it s a "logical and scientific" matter, it s about feeling and instinct.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by discolady75

anyone knows the track title and artist that you hear during the whole 1st disco godfather video ? it s absolutely terrific

Aïcha, it's from the original (and very supèèèèèèèèèèr) soundtrack!

This is the album:

Rudy Ray Moore is Dolemite! Official Website - Album Gallery: Disco Godfather soundtrack

[wever]

hahahaha YEAAAAH! i love it I LOVE IT!!! i'm Dolemite you motherf*ucker! hahahaha O M G !!!! i've been sayin that "put your weeeight on it!!!" over and over theese days! and guess what's on my messenger avatar: the snf record with coke on it (that made me laugh a lot! hahahahaha)
and now you post those videos (can you tell me how to do it?).

HELLO DiscoLady!!!! great to salute you!!!

ok, now about women in disco.... i know Disco is one of the musics that really fits more with feminity, i've always thought it (agree with you absolutely in everything about the clothes and strings and the feeling and nowadays discos)...but in any case It seems that Female were just the OBJECT to treat not the ones who treated it (as in many ways of art). But apart from Dancing and singing (cause the song needs a female vocals) there's nothing more were the Ladies are real protagonists doin important things for it (apart from a few! i could say maybe Valerie Simpson? tell me more if you know).

Just wanted to know if it really was as i suspected or not. Whatever it was won't change my LOVE for Disco Music!!!!
now i'm gonna check those threats.