1980 and the demise of Disco in USA

[discoboy2008]

I have been reading newspapers from 1979 - 1980 to see when disco became a "dirty word"... but am having a hard time figuring out what happened exactly. It seems that in spite of the backlash that started late in 1979, there was still plenty of people who liked disco. In May/June of 1930, the song "Funkytown" hit Number One and remained there for a few weeks.

But something happened soon after that... Could it be that since all the major disco artists had released pathetic rock oriented albums (Patrick Juvet, Tina Charles, Grace Jones, Donna Summer, etc.) and so people who wanted disco music and liked it had nothing to listen to and had to move on? Or did the release of "Can't Stop the Music" hasten it's demise because of the obvious gay subplot of the film? There seems to have been an utter hatred against this film, at least that's what I perceive from reading articles from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Although a few articles from the 1979-1980 are written by liberals who are apparently disgusted by the resurgence of homophobia and racism that occurred in 1980. For example, many radio stations refused to play Donna Summer's rock songs from 1980 simply because she was black...

I often hear the argument that the disco backlash was caused by a flood of disco records in early 1979... I think that argument is pure hogwash... If it was valid, why did rock not suffer the same fate with all the rock albums that were produced in 1980, even by all the major disco artists... In fact, the market was so overwhelmed with rock type music that obscure artists like Lipps Inc. shot up in popularity because none of the old disco artists had anything to offer but their disgusting attempt at rock music.... I think disco the disco backlash was purely based on the conservative and religious revival that occurred in this country late in 1979 .. a revival that even led to Donna Summer recorded some Jesus tripe on her new rock album. I'm frankly completely disgusted with the vast majority of American music released in 1980 and onwards... At least we have European bands who thankfully ignored American stupidity and continued making good records for a couple of years (e.g. Liquid Gold)...

[Paulo]

I have been reading newspapers from 1979 - 1980 to see when disco became a "dirty word"... but am having a hard time figuring out what happened exactly. It seems that in spite of the backlash that started late in 1979, there was still plenty of people who liked disco. In May/June of 1930, the song "Funkytown" hit Number One and remained there for a few weeks.

The disco market was in the process of ending, that's why very few disco songs had success in the early 80's. This happened as the result of the backlash which was a reflex of the general opinion spread by the music-press that disco music was crap, silly, superficial, disposable and supported by gay people.

With a pressure like that, it was obvious that it had nowhere to go anymore.

Could it be that since all the major disco artists had released pathetic rock oriented albums (Patrick Juvet, Tina Charles, Grace Jones, Donna Summer, etc.)

They did it because they wanted to survive in the music industry. Disco was dying. Rock was back thanks to punk and the New Wave.

Or did the release of "Can't Stop the Music" hasten it's demise because of the obvious gay subplot of the film? There seems to have been an utter hatred against this film

And against disco too. The fact that disco-music was supported by gays did much to taint its image and to kill it.

And the prejudice still exists: Last week my cousin (who is not gay) went to a retro 80's birthday party in a club here in Rio de Janeiro. I asked him what music was played. He answered: "Oh... fag music: pet shop boys, madonna, erasure, sandra, etc..."

If it was valid, why did rock not suffer the same fate with all the rock albums that were produced in 1980

Disco is gay music. Rock is white macho music. This is the ''school of thinking'' created by the press.

Besides, rock music is part of the american culture. It exists since the rebeloius 50s (Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry)... It was even stronger in the liberal 60s thanks to the counter-culture (Doors, Hendrix, Joplin, Jeffeson Airplane, Greatful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby Stills Nash And Young, etc...). It made it through the 80s thanks to the new wave bands and through the 90s thanks the Seatlle and the grunge thing.

It will be difficult to erase that from the public's mind.

I think disco the disco backlash was purely based on the conservative and religious revival that occurred in this country late in 1979.

What I was able to see here is that ROCK musicians, ROCK fans and the ROCK press are very conservative and faithfull. ROCK fans are very loyal: to them any music which isn't loud and agressive is rubbish. In the 70's and 80's they were very radical and offensive against black, pop or dance music.

I've watched on MTV interviews of some brazilian heavy-metal bands. Still today, the guys are very radical, conservative and full of prejudice against black and speacially against gays.

[Rugger57]

Very good responses!

You also have to remember, too, the way of calculating the "hits" were different in the day as well. Soundscan, I think it is, was not active much before 1990, I think. All Billboard had to rely on was what record store owners SAID was moving/selling/popular. So, if someone in a record store REALLY liked something, or wanted to screw with the actual numbers of records being moved or sold, all they had to do was SAY that they moved X number of a certain lp or 45, and that would up the numbers with Billboard. Really no way of actually getting a definate amount of what was moving, just word of mouth!