July 12,1979 Disco Demolition night

[DiscoMan]

I always hope for a disco comeback. I love the actual disco music. But perhaps more importantly, I hope for a comeback of some of the attitude toward life surrounding disco. Things have become entirely too uptight on the one hand, and slovenly on the other...

The Baby Boom Generation! We are so special and Disco was the party we threw to celebrate ourselves!

Disco will never come back. I say that because Disco was so intrinsic to our generation. Ours was the first generation to do the things we did; in terms of racial integration, sexuality, promiscuity, drugs (weed and cocaine were everywhere), drinking ages were commonly 18, there were few to no laws prohibiting all types of behavior that today are considered illegal, immoral or illicit.

When we went out we had no limits and pretty much did what we wanted. The authorities pretty much left us alone.

We were the first generation to do it all (whatever it was!) and our parents had absolutely no fucking idea on how to deal with the total freedom we had and used. The sexual revolution was THE social catalyst driving the mood of the day. You didn't have to go to Studio 54 to see couples fucking in a nightclub.

The years between 1969 and 1979 are the most free-spirited, permissive, free wheeling ever in American pop culture. Add to this the evolution in pop music that began in 1971 and DISCO just had to happen!

And the MUSIC!!!!!!!! We were so very fortunate to be part of a generation that had so much talent! We were all working and had the money to spend on clothes, hair and "Good Times".

Young people today don't know how to dress. They go out and by and large they dress like fucking slobs! They don't know how to dance and the music sucks (maybe that's why they can't dance?).

Nightclubbing in my hometown today is just not nightclubbing at all compared to what it was between 1973 and 1979. I was so very. very fortunate to be a young adult then! :D

[markydefad]

Last night, Keith Olbermann had this as a topic on his "Countdown" show on MSNBC. His guest was that Chicago DJ Steve Dahl, who instigated the "Disco Sucks" rally. What I learned was how this event backfired and totally got out of hand. They had planned to have a little Disco putdown/demolition rally between games--BUT the damn thing turned into an excuse for a riot, cancelling the second game. They collected about 20,000 disco records for the demolition. When the collection bin was full, they stopped collecting. Hence, the rest were used as frisbees by the crowd. Nicky, you should been there.......tossin' disco "Evita"s and all!!!!!! :lol:

Sounded like this "event" bit them in the ass, BIGTIME. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Boodikka]

Bill Veeck "sort of" apologized for the event before he died. I doubt Dahl ever will, as this was his fifteen minutes.

There have been other appalling baseball promos over the years (remember the Milwaukee Brewers 5-Cent Beer Night? :o ) but this was easily the worst of the bunch.

[Videoskooter]

Unfortunately "Disco will never come back" .

The music is still here, they even make good "Nu" Disco but I'm afraid the feeling, the lifestyle we so much enjoyed during the real years is gone. Disco's in Belgium play a lot of good vibes but the way people are absorbing those vibes is different. We had fun, we were uplifted, we were enjoying WITH each other. Now the crowds are dancing apart from each other. Sometimes they give me the impression they wanna escape real life but don't succeed in it.

When I was going out in the 70's, we danced and laughed and got into the music and were in heaven. "That Disco" will indeed never come back.

But maybe I'm too negative about it. Clubowners and Dj's are doing tremendous efforts but people are too selfish and spoiled I think. Perhaps we just need a new dance-revolution.

[DiscoMan]

I agree.

There hasn't been a "dance revolution" since the Hustle more than 30 years ago. I don't see "Good Times" on the dance floor. Youngsters dancing, today, stay to themselves, there's no spontaneity to the dancing. Couples don't dance as couples. The closest they get is when they feel one another up but that isn't dancing. I don't hear the laughter and see the smiles I used too and my wife and I go out just about every Saturday night. It could be the town too - it's so depressing that no-one has any reason to smile.

[Mixmachine]

Originally Posted by markydefad

Last night, Keith Olbermann had this as a topic on his "Countdown" show on MSNBC. His guest was that Chicago DJ Steve Dahl, who instigated the "Disco Sucks" rally. What I learned was how this event backfired and totally got out of hand. They had planned to have a little Disco putdown/demolition rally between games--BUT the damn thing turned into an excuse for a riot, cancelling the second game.

I'm sorry I missed this interview, Apparently many history revisionists through the years try to make this insignificant event into a great social statement of the day, but in reality it was just one out of countless local Rock Radio Dj promotions that went badly and became a news event (national in this case) after drunken fools turn it into a riot, I’ve seen many in my days, no big society conspiracy here against any one, The slang use of the word 'Suck' was used in everyday life by everyone then to express dislike of someone or something, still is.

[efunk_adelic]

The event didn't have too much impact on me..... cuz I also heard about it after the fact.


I do remember that it was the fourfront for things to come. I just felt it.. period.


I remember in early jan or feb... an exclusive disco music station came on.... it was gone by August or September.

I enjoyed listening to the songs that I didn't hear on American Top 40.

[markydefad]

I've said it before and ...I'll say it again. :P :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: This oughta bring that guy (Outsider) out of the woodwork who has to say I'm full of it everytime I write this....BUT, In the summer of 1979....as the Chicago "Disco Sucks" rally turned into a riot....it seemed that "blood (of disco) was in the water". MY SHARONA by The Knack became the first non-disco/soft pop hit to top the Billboard charts in ages. It reigned for something like 9 weeks and was ultimately the biggest hit of the year. Newsweek & Time had articles about the demise of Disco. Radio stations in San Francisco that had just recently become "All Disco All the Time" changed their formats.

We were still dancing at Trocadero....but the fad was over for the rest of the nation--except in the clubs in larger cities. Radio certainly stopped searching for more "DISCO" records....R&B took over that. The music changed. We still danced--only in retrospect, are all the changes so obvious.

[Mixmachine]

[quote="markydefad"]....but the fad was over for the rest of the nation--except in the clubs in larger cities. quote]

A 'fad' is what SNF made out of "Disco", once the 'Masses' (mostly Rock lovers)got tired of the media's constant Disco onslaught the fad died a quick death,(just like all fads do sooner or later) and Disco, now dubbed 'Dance' went back to what it was, unfortunately Club music was never the same again….

[nrgbeat]

Too bad rap didn't die a similar death.

[originalbigm]

Originally Posted by nrgbeat

Too bad rap didn't die a similar death.

:D Hey good to see everyone still having informative discussions as well as new people on the board.Haven't posted for a while as I've been busy moving and resettling the past month and a half.My computer was down for a while because my old service provider couldn't hook me up to hi-speed in my new location and I've had to switch providers :( The worst part of moving, as others I'm sure can attest to, is moving the record collection :x Vinyl simply gets heavier and more cumbersome with age :lol:

Back to the thread.I don't recall the event and only became aware of it's focal status after coming to this board.As my memory serves me disco had already begun to change prior to this event.

My theory on why rap music has endured is it's perceived(real or imagined) badness :evil: The music scene has become much more polarized with rap being the extreme ultimate tool of expression for the younger generation.Unlike disco which was encompassed and accepted by all ages,groups and the establishment of the day.Rap and it's in your face - up yours expression of dissatisfaction with the status quo and the world in general has embedded itself culturally into our society.The older generation has frowned on it,denigrated and dismissed it much to the delight of the younger generation who embrace it as their own unique part of life.Someting their parents and older people can't relate to.I certainly don't envision it's imminent demise. :cry: IMHO

[JussiK]

Originally Posted by markydefad

. Radio stations in San Francisco that had just recently become "All Disco All the Time" changed their formats.

The music changed. We still danced--only in retrospect, are all the changes so obvious.

Everything with a strong steady beat is good basically, be it rap or gabba, no? We've been here before but once more: in Europe we never really had few radio stations that were exclusively disco as such. Come 1980 the average clubber never noticed any backlashes. It was a smooth slide from from h/c disco culture into today's club culture which incorporates disco as a part of the whole. Clubs were doing more and more business, My Sharona and Rock Lobster were largely ignored. Last Night a Dj Saved My Life was big but that got sequed into tunes like I Like Chopin. Synthesized sounds replaced strings but not many people took any notice since the spirit of the music remained the same. Hands remained in the air. There was of course the lower bpms, especially in England, but they also flooded us more fast stuff than we could handle. Whatever happened in America, we didn't care, we just stopped going there. The action was now in our side of the globe, in Barcelona, Milano and Paris. In the radio, it was more and more dance music, hi-nrg pop, then italodisco took over and before you knew it, it was 1988 and the summer of love or whatever it was called. Then, Enter Kylie, acid house, deep house, all kinds of house. Beats came and went and came back again slightly altered. Kylie of course remained. So us, we never missed a beat, nor was there really any changes in atmosphere. That is why it's odd reading such joyless articles on disco in American press, the recent one from the Detroit magazine on the exhibit that's open there now. Read a Euro piece on disco and it's something completely different entirely. Get real, America, get rid of Bush and maybe negative sentiments there overall may change ...:-) (oops)

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by originalbigm

The worst part of moving, as others I'm sure can attest to, is moving the record collection :x Vinyl simply gets heavier and more cumbersome with age :lol:

(veering things off-topic)

Oh, isn't that the truth! I'm still in vinyl hell from my last move a month ago. 1500 records to sort out, and I'm still only up to C...

[mrbill]

Simply put, if you lived in the second largest city in America and loved disco, this was the worst possible event. Within 6 months the local disco radio station WDAI turned MOR and by the early winter of 80, all the rush street places started to close.
By 82 disco was offically dead. A few of the clubs lingered to 82 (i turned 21 that year) Cinderalla Rockafella and BBC. But Faces and Cocconuts were no more. Without radio or a disco to visit, disco as a music genre and lifestyle was over.

Demolition Night made it very UNCOOL for a teenager to like disco music. The blockheads who rioted at Comenski Park became the COOL. White trash rules the club circuit to this day in Chicago only replaced by black trash (gansta rap) in the last 4-5 years. The color is immaterial the "trash" is not. Style, fun, coordination and a feeling of being the party instead of expecting others to be the party is the norm.

Disco was "fun", "open", "sexy" music until Demo-night. After that it became "gay" (in a nastiest meaning), "a passing fad", and worst of all "old hat". within weeks of that event. (Atleast in the Midwest).

Events that occur in the midwest seldom have immediate impact on the coasts or overseas, yet over time, the events can be looked backed upon as signal events. House orginated here in Chicago. All the "fathers" of that derivation of disco were from Chicago.
House grew from the nasty side effects from Demo night. Now music became racially divided - house black and rock/metal white. Look back at videos, groups and clubs at the time. Disco was multi-racial and ethnic neutral. Demo-night started the split which has grown worst over time. It was a rallying point that marked a change in society. An since music/enterainment is reflective of society, it also changed. Any rallying point is a significant event in history.

Without going deeper into my experiences as a DJ in the early 80's or as a record collector since then, I had a unique opportunity to experience the quickly changing tastes in music, segragation and lifestyles from 79.

Experiences for others will be different since few lived in Chicago, where either too young or too old to be effected by Demo-night. But it did effect what became the next group of nightclubbers/party goers. Instead of watching American Bandstand then Soul Train and see the exact same acts in consecutive weeks, the impressionable teen was forcefed two views of music and lifestyle.

I remember vividly mine and all my friends/club goers reaction to "The Breaks" and "WordyRappin Hood". I also remember senior prom in 79 when the setinal song was "Good Times". Music aways changes and often changes with society. Society changed dramatically for my age group from 79 to 80.

Soon, I and others my age became the club goers, the "in" group and the largest record buying demographic. Reagan and his hatred for all non-white, multicultural influences started to seep into the minds of the unwashed masses. Exclusion was the rule not inclusion. Music split into rap and metal, then HiNRG, house and techo. Split was it! The clubs I went to over the years 84-04 looked like a scene from from some 50's Klan propaganda movie. Rap night - all the brothas and sistas and techno night - all the stiff Wasps.
Funny thing was, retro-nights were the few nights in which there were all colors of the rainbow represented and partied as one.
This the perspective from Chicago. This is my observations on music and culture in Chicago from July 79. I know New York and LA did not experience as quick a change as Chicago did. But then Peoria is only 80 miles away. It took house 10 years to become the "hip" sound but is started here, after 79' in ole Daley Chicago.

[BitchBag]

I was always curious about the particular records they were burning,-maybe most of them were just the top 40 pop records. If they were burning them, why did they buy them in the first place? I think this is the main reason I never wanted to see the movie "The Last Days of Disco."

I think MrBill exagerates the situation. I think this event was only important to the people who participated. And hopefully, sniffed more than their share of burning vinyl.