#1 reason why todays club scene is dead?????

[Spellbound]

what in your opinion is the #1 reason why the Disco/dance club scene of today is dead and nowhere near as energetic and exciting as it was back in the 1970's and early 1980's?

in my opinion there are several reasons but i am curious to know what people who actually lived during that era have to say.

is it the music?

is it the people?

is it the producers?

is it the dj's?

is it the clubs?

or

is it a combination of all of the above?

i will post my reply below. since i am not old enough to remember the "decade of saturday nights" i would also appreciate your feedback in regards to my opinion on this matter.

[zeca azevedo]

Hey,

you forgot to mention the drugs :lol: :lol:


zeca azevedo, always flyin' high in the friendly sky :lol:

[Spellbound]

true. i will overlook that though for the sake of my opinion.

i have a lot to say here. i will try and make this short and to the point. i apologize in advance for any run on sentences.

my #1 reason why today's club is dead, unexciting and boring is the people. yes the very same people of my age group and generation. everything that is wrong with todays scene just filters down from them. the following applies to my country. i know for a fact that there are people in places like brazil and the dominican republic (to name a few) partying their asses off and having a good time.

the majority of today's club patrons just suck. we would rather just stand around trying to look and act all pretty than actually get on the dancefloor and have a good time. we all stand around with drinks in our hand and criticize the next man/woman about how they are dressed, how they look and what kind of car they drive etc...

while we are standing around we are saying to ourselves in our minds who is worthy and not worthy of approaching and socializing with us. after the above scenario is played out (which usually lasts a few hours ) there leaves very little time for actually dancing and having a good time.

in my opinion if people were to walk into the club with a totally different attitude such as dancing the entire night from start to finish with anybody and everybody then a good time might be had by all. that would never happen though because most of us (my age group) are a bunch of fucking assholes when it comes to socializing with other people. we absorb way to many false images from the media, television and then try to act them out in real life.

my age group will criticize anything and everything. from the records the dj is playing, to the way the dj is dressed, all the way down to the temperature of the club. in other words my age group would rather go to the club to socialize/not socialize, to see and be seen instead of actually dancing and enjoying the music.

i remember when i was younger my mother would tell me every morning before school "your day all depends on how you make it. if you start out the day with a bad attitude then chances are good that your day will end that way."

looking back it all makes sense now. my day was already decided based on how i felt when i left the house in the morning. well i guess you could say the same thing about todays club scene. everybody's night is already decided based on their attitudes when they leave their house at night.

the music, the dj's, the clubs and the sound systems are basically non factors.

[markydefad]

I'll refer to that ole political chestnut about the Economy, I won't use the "stupid " part... (lest I offend)

BUT "It's the MUSIC, _______"

IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
BIGTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

[Spellbound]

true. the lack of quality music does not help out the situation but i would like to believe if people's attitudes were to change then the scene could be tolerable.

technology is not helping out either.

too many people with cell phones standing around.
too many people with cell phones walking around.

i have never understood why somebody would want to pull out their cell right in the middle of a dancefloor and just stand there.

in the future there probabaly will be more people talking on their phones in the middle of the dancefloor than people actually dancing.

i wonder whats next?

people online sitting in the middle of the dancefloor with their laptops/labtops chatting in a chatroom?

[Paulo]

Well... It is not that dead. At least not here in central Rio. The night is an integral part of younger generations' lifestyle.

In the 70's there was much less poverty and people could afford to pay for many things, other than just pay for straight survival (like these days).

Also: I think that in the 60's and 70's music was placed in a central role. Take rock music, for instance: it was a like a "gun" in the hands of the late 60's hippie-generation and in the late 70's punk generation (an anti-stablishment arm).

Music today has stepped aside and is much more like an "escort" and has not the central role it had in the 60's and 70's.

Maybe this explain a bit why today's music has not the impact it had in the past. But nevertheless it exists.

[K-Bee]

I suppose most of the world's club scenes today are geared towards people in their teens & early 20's.
Since most users of this forum are older than that, maybe that's why we're not enjoying so much as we used to do :-?
It's simply not "made" for us :lol: We're not the main target group so to speak.

[JussiK]

You're right K-Bee. If one thinks clubs are dead it's because she or he has been going to the wrong places or indeed because she or he is simply too old to get it on...:-)

[cdmack]

Washington D.C. must have a boring nightlife. I can't imagine being in a club and talking on a cell phone in the middle of a dance floor in NYC. You'd have to be more of a mind reader then a listener with your ear! The music would be just to loud to hear!

Here in New York City, clubs (like in most cities and countries) tend to fall in trendy categories. Some cater to a young crowd, but there are clubs where dancing is still the number one priority (usually no alcohol and drugs are visible in the background, if you choose them) and age is never a factor. Especially, at the gay spots (which I always preferred). I have always hated the pick-up factor in staight clubs!

Today's music has just as much of a pulse as 15 - 25 years ago. If it gets under your skin and make to you move, you'll feel it. Soul goes with you everywhere!

[DiscoMan]

I think the club scene is dead compared to what it was 25 - 30 years ago and for all of the reasons you mention and a few more:

1. No wildy popular dances - we had the Hustle. the Bus Stop and the Bump. Everyone Hustled the night away, it was almost an obsession.

2. ATTITUDE! The attitude among today's young regarding a night out is far different than it was then. They're not committed to it the way we were and don't give a shit about how they look when they do go out. We had a ritual we went through before we went out in terms of dress, hair, excitement, getting the crew together... Many of today's young dress like bums when they go to a club. And overall don't really give a shit about clubbing.

3. They hate to spend a buck on a good time. They bitch about $5.00 cover charges (these haven't increased in 30 years!), $5.00 to $7.00 drink prices and then stiff the bartenders with 15 cent tips. Yet they walk around with $400.00 cell phones and $200.00 a month cell phone fees.
The world is truly turned upside down.

4. The clubs: there aren't that many of 'em, they aren't that big and they aren't that nice - If they ain't gonna come why build it. If you want to sell $.75 - $1.00 drafts to 21 year old college students you'll make a buck. If you want to provide a broad based, high quality nightclub experience to the same age group forget it. And there is nothing for the "older crowd".

My home town (Worcester, Massachusetts) is full of hip hop bars, if you're looking for anything else you're SOL.

[originalbigm]

Originally Posted by markydefad

I'll refer to that ole political chestnut about the Economy, I won't use the "stupid " part... (lest I offend)

BUT "It's the MUSIC, _______"

IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
BIGTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

Totally in agreement with you Marky.No imagination or excitement in today's music.No real creative producers or songwriters.Everything just seems so contrived,formulized and synthesized.Hip Hop and Rap has forsaken the true essence of music and the term "artist".

[Spellbound]

I suppose most of the world's club scenes today are geared towards people in their teens & early 20's.
Since most users of this forum are older than that, maybe that's why we're not enjoying so much as we used to do
It's simply not "made" for us We're not the main target group so to speak.

i am in my early 20's and i do not enjoy the current scene at all.

Here in New York City, clubs (like in most cities and countries) tend to fall in trendy categories. Some cater to a young crowd, but there are clubs where dancing is still the number one priority (usually no alcohol and drugs are visible in the background, if you choose them) and age is never a factor. Especially, at the gay spots (which I always preferred). I have always hated the pick-up factor in staight clubs!

exactly. the gays always manage to have a great time. unfortunately i am not gay. maybe i should have named this topic "#1 reason why todays straight club scene is dead"

either way, gay or straight, both scenes are dead compared to 25 years ago in my opinion.

Today's music has just as much of a pulse as 15 - 25 years ago. If it gets under your skin and make to you move, you'll feel it. Soul goes with you everywhere!

i have to disagree. the music may have more BASS in it but that is about it. if one is not old enough to remember the 70's and early 80's then i guess it really does not matter to them. everybody who is old enough to remember will most definitely recognize the difference.

[shootyourshot]

For the most part, modern club music has very narrow appeal, at least compared to disco. That's why the feeling of "people of all backgrounds coming together to have a great time" is gone today. Nowadays, it's the same stereotypical group of E-users populating just about every club in America.

[zeca azevedo]

Originally Posted by shootyourshot

Nowadays, it's the same stereotypical group of E-users populating just about every club in America.

:D

As I said before, you have to consider the drugs when you start to think about this whole club scene thing :D


zeca azevedo, your permanent addiction baby :lol:

[markydefad]

Well, at the risk of sounding like the angry OLD man (what? MOI???) :oops: ...it's all changed so much...that it's hard to care anymore. It started to change in the late 1980's. The RAP factor and the no "SONGS" per se--just beats and a "catchphrase" repeated as a chorus ("James Brown Is DEAD"!!!) took over in the early 1990s. Still there were some songs that I got exposed to on Groove radio here in LA that I liked. I bought lotsa those dance compilations cds and relentlessly looked for the good that was out there. Then it became a problem of "remixers" destroying good songs in the name of "THEIR" BORING 13 minute Arena Anthem Mixes. After several years of buying stuff that I'd liked as a radio song and hearing the 8 or 9 "Unlistenable" Mixes on the cd single--I gave up. Why waste money? It was apparent that the radio /regular cd version was gonna be the only version that was not deconstructed, stripped down, every hook radically removed until it becomes a thumping/tuneless/ usually lyric-less piece of throbbing "dance product" that is easily mixed with the 50 other records that will be played that night. :x

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

So I turned to the past with a vengeance...to find what I'd missed the first time around. I'm working on the beginning of 1975 now.