The Gay Generation Gap

[markydefad]

A few months ago, on the old board, I posted a little anecdote about my last dancing experience in the early 1990's. To recap, it was at The Arena in Hollywood, and they were attempting a Disco night on Sundays, where they played vintage tunes from back in da day. Several friends and I attended one Sunday and had a fun time dancing to Donna Summer, Chic, Madleen Kane, etc. The following week, we returned and the music was good, but there was this large group of younger guys who would not dance to the oldies and as the evening progressed, their number grew and eventually the DJ gave in to their displeasure with the music and abadoned Disco for House music. The record that changed everything was Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman" and the dance floor filled with dancers. I likened this event to The Jets (Disco Queens) and The Sharks (House Queens) rumbling in the gym for rule of the dancefloor. I did dance to the House for awhile...then my interest waned and I eventually went home, never to return again.



The October 2001 issue of Out Magazine has an interesting article titled "Is There A Gay Generation Gap?" I'd like to quote a couple paragraphs:



"Music, once the great gay unifier, now embodies our differences. We used to share Broadway musicals, opera, and disco. The Saturday night before the pride march in New York last June, two parties took place less than two blocks from each other but worlds apart. At Caligula,superstar DJ Victor Calderone spun hard-driving tribal sounds for thousands of people packed into a grand ballroom. Around the corner in a small office suite, several dozen people danced and waved flags to vintage Saint-era tunes at the appropriately named Tribe party.



DJ Susan Morabito recalls being at a club when "Souvenirs" was played. She overheard a man saying to his friend, "Why is he playing that? All of the people who danced to that are dead anyway." "



Uh, has it come to this? I'm always encouraged when young kids contact this board and ask about disco (remember the guy whose mother told him to check out Philly soul because he wanted music that sounded like The Trammps?)



Is there a lack of appreciation for the history of dance music from the younger generation, even though they are constantly stealing it to sample in their supposedly "new" tracks?



Any comments?

[Boodikka]

A HUGE gap, Marky! As I write this, I'm listening to the 12" version (10:35) of "Blackjack" (It is SICK!!!). I LOVE this thing now, we loved it then, but I cannot imagine playing this at any of the laid-back boring-ass grrl clubs in NY now. I think I realized things were done one night when I was at Julie's on 58th Street. They played "Barbie Girl" (YUUUCCKK!) and these silly bitches were jumping around like it was the Second Coming.

There are those who listen to "wedding" crap and think that they are some sort of retro-discoheads, really irks me. We don't even bother going to "American" clubs anymore, haven't in years, we just go to Brasilian or Latin clubs. What's the point, really?

[BrunoRepublic]

Is there a lack of appreciation for the history of dance music from the younger generation, even though they are constantly stealing it to sample in their supposedly "new" tracks?



Any comments?

Most kids today have no idea where their beloved club tracks came from. I think on your original post I had responded with the story of someone I once knew, who was all into trance and what not, but thought disco was silly and ridiculous (as if the stuff kids wear to raves isn't something to laugh at). Anyway, to recap, he was astonished to learn that Tokyo Ghetto Pussy had sampled Dee D. Jackson's "Automatic Lover", and that "Keep On Jumpin'" was originally recorded 20 years ago. Unfortunately, it didn't change his opinion.



What I find more worrisome are the overall attitudes of kids today... I have previously ranted about current attitude towards AIDS and drug use among other things. The basic mindset today seems to be one of total numbness -- where you need to be stoned to feel anything at all.

[Move2This]

There definitely is a generation gap and, irritating though it may be to guys my age (43)that younger guys don't like disco and high energy and don't care how these genres have influenced today's club sounds, it's only natural isn't it?



I'm sure in my clubbing days there were older guys around who couldn't stand the music I liked, and thought things were much better in the 1950s, but I sure as hell wouldn't have agreed with them, nor much wanted to listen to what they had to say. I guess it's just the way of life. Each generation wants to do its own thing.



Just for the record, I stopped going out to discos and clubs frequently around the mid 90s. It got to the point where nearly every track I heard filled me with nothing but boredom and the desire to go home. Even many younger guys admit you can only enjoy much of today's music if you're out of your head on something (which seems to suggest that it's not naturally enjoyable) - but if that's their thing, then good luck to them. They will soon enough be overtaken by yet another generation who thinks they are silly and boring!

[JussiK]

When in Paris, try the huge, ultrapopular, always almost too packed gay/mixed club Queen on the ritzy Champs Elysees, on any monday, for classics played full volume to dancers of all ages. What I'm saying too bad you people are witnessing negative reactions to disco. I've never had such problems here or anywhere else, it's been hands up in the air all along. And they've kept dancing to "Blackjack", too! The reason for this is obviously differnt radio broadcasting policies. In Southern Europe especially biggest stations pump handbaggy pop house 24 hrs non stop so the discoey vibe has always been in the air. And people love it. - Keep on spinning it!

[Leanmean]

I can't believe what a calloused remark that guy made about the people who liked disco "are all dead anyway." Then again, if I was 20 to 25 years old today, I might have made the same insensitive remark. We were all brash and headstrong when I was that age and didn't care for anyone but ourselves and our good time. Sarcasm ruled the day.



Sadly, all my male friends from back in the day ARE dead. It was years before I could even approach a gay man in an effort to be friends because I was afraid to lose him.



The music in the clubs here in O'Town that they call "house" is not really true House as it is known in Chicago. What we have here is some kind of hybrid of techno and ambient without much vocals. Everywhere you go -- it's called house. I really like trance which is a high energy/techno type of sound -- again, not much vocals but a great dance rhythm.



You're right, the younger gay male crowd prefers that so-called house over disco -- the one someone aptly said goes, "oonce, oonce, oonce, oonce." Disco is for retro parties and at some point, they get sick of that and switch to newer stuff.



What can you say? "Every generation has its own disease." I never thought about getting older. While we were living the disco life, time was frozen in a dance dream. It never occured to me that it would end.



Now, all my female friends from back then are graying and widening (as am I). None of us goes out to the clubs much except for birthdays. I am always oddly shocked when I see a gay man with gray hair, a bald head or a pot belly. For one, it means he survived. But the other thing is, it reminds me of how vain we all were back in the 1970s. No self-respecting gay man would have dared show his face in a gay bar if he wasn't fit and trim.



I think I need a night out at the grrrl's bar to bring things into perspective!

[kelvy]

On 2001-10-17 10:25, Leanmean wrote:



The music in the clubs here in O'Town that they call "house" is not really true House as it is known in Chicago. What we have here is some kind of hybrid of techno and ambient without much vocals. Everywhere you go -- it's called house. I really like trance which is a high energy/techno type of sound -- again, not much vocals but a great dance rhythm.

i definetly hear you on that! Also, bear in mind that central Florida is a hotbed for "breaks" a la dj icey (think of that "three blind mice(i think that was the name of the studio gorup) sound from the mid-90s. While trance/techno could be considered house in the sense that it spun off from it, it actually far, far from the origins of house music (classic disco and r&b, with its emphasis on complicated arrangements, lyrics, and harmony). That's not to say that house music today (and that genre has been sub-divided to many varities to death; i mean, who came up with the terms "funky house" "spiritual house" "hard house"<???>) True, house music does not have the complex arrangements of disco, a fact invariate by the use of cost-cutting electronics but in some forms, it maintains the vocal ingredient vital for staying power.



get back at me,

kelvy

[cimendef]

Hello,



I`m 28 and only discovered real disco 2 years ago. Since, I have bought an incredible amount of disco albums and Cds. I don`t listen to it because I`m nostalgic of the disco period (I was only a kid at that time), but for the simple reason that I find it immeasurably superior to today`s music. I listen to all sort of music, and think that modern music culminated as an art form with disco music. Clips video killed music as it became more and more a visual experience, which is a nonsense to me, but is understanding in such a tv addicted society...

[sirius]

Hi! Twice a week I´m Dj-ing at HEAVEN in

Vienna, which is the most important GayClub

in Town. Certainly there´s a gap between

the 70ies and 90ies...but since two years

the people began to love Disco-Sound again.

It´s like to fall into nostalgia...it´s one

of Disco´s strong elements...and to give in

into feelings, no matter if there are deep,

happy, sad or maybe kitschy. I think that

the younger generation is learning very much

of previous gay-liberation through music...

and now Donna Summer, Weather Girls, Gloria

Gaynor, Viola Wills("If You Could Read My

Mind"), Santa Esmeralda, Antonia Rodriguez,

and so many more are nowadays so massive,

that people are going real crazy with that

sound...because House or Techno are the only

music-styles left in clubs. The most beauti-

ful feeling is when PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS

DANCING TOGETHER!...gays, drag-queens, dykes,

straight women and men ... because then

WE ARE really FAMILY! And for sure you have

to illustrate and document the history of

Disco with pic´s, movies and lots of deco-

ration...only then it is possible, to create

a real Disco-Party. The story will be con-

tinued...