Radio and the "death" of disco

[garrybcoston]

Originally Posted by UltimateBeeGeesFan

The notion of Disco threatening dedicated rock fans is ridiculous. It was the average listener that the various genres were going after to sell more reocrds and disco sold, as a genre the most because it appealed to people of all nationalities, black or white. The reason disco was badmouthed was because it was popular, therefore it was the pop( which stand for popular, that is its root) of the late 70's, and as it was popular, it sold, which made the other genres less popular to the average listener, not the dedicated funksters, (as the first poster claimed,though I bet many fans of funk loved disco) or rockers. Seriously, go figure, back then it was hard to download off then net free music as the net did not exist for the people to use, so money was the issue at the core as well as those rockers' insecurities about themselves, which made them fear disco.
And I would say that the gay disco thing was separate from mainstream disco, as mainstream disco was about heterosexual love. I wouldn't doubt it there were more closet gays in rock then there were ever open gays in gay disco. Mainstream disco was a straight thing and as noted many times, popular in New York among working class Italians,a traditionally sensual people, as opposed to the English and their Puritanical ways. Of course, every person is different in their own way, but I am simply stating cultural traditions.

I think the "gay" thing that was "stigged" onto disco was over inflated; disco was popular as you say and was the popular music of its time and during its existence; so every type of race, culture, sex preference group, etc. loved, revered and worshipped disco. Why just cut the gay slice out of the pie? If you do that, then maybe you should say that disco was a white thing as the largest population sect that loved disco was white (on an international level).

Garry

[FunkMaster]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

I think the guy's more or less got it right. I've always viewed Disco music (the genre as recognized by most posters here) as a white incarnation: not in the sense of the people who made it but in the sense of who it was aimed at. That's why it was so strongly, nae overpoweringly 4/4, 'cos that had been the foundation of rock and it made it easier for your average white guys to dance to. It has to be said that most DJs (myself included) openly welcomed music that was aimed fairly and squarely at the dance floor, was acceptable to a wide cross section of people and had an uncomplicated rhythm that insisted on dancers participation. It was a victim of its own success.
Now, the really funny thing is that Funk probably appeals to white rock fans even more because of its earthiness, heavy offbeat, general instrumentation and its nod to Rock 'n' Roll with its rebellious undertones. As Marky might say "GO FIGURE"

Yeah,It's pretty ironic when you think about it.Disco originated from blacks as a watered down pop version of Funk music.Funk had a complex groove while disco was very repetitive beat wise which is why Funk didn't get as much play on pop (white radio) as much as the simpler Disco form

[discopsycho]

The author writes of "anti-disco funk music" and lists Brick. Their big hit in the mid-70's was "Dazz", which of course stood for "disco jazz". Their follow-up was "Dusic". So, I don't think the author thought his thesis through very thoroughly. Slave's sound also became smoother and more disco through the seventies.

Also, I think disco introduced a lot of people to funk music. It did me. Especially after the backlash, if one liked dancing and dance music, one often turned to R&B and funk.

As far as black stations playing disco music due to pressure to play white artists, during the seventies, I remember hearing white artists all the time on R&B stations. Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" and Hall and Oates come to mind. Also, when I listened to rock stations, I often heard The Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind and Fire. And, David Bowie and Elton John both performed on Soul Train!

So, although I agree radio stations became more segregated as the seventies progressed, I don't think it had anything to do with disco. I also don't believe that disco harmed funk music.

Re: Italian-Americans and disco, weren't many of the early disco djs Italian-American?