#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 **** 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 **** 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]

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]

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.

[QUINNY]

Hey c'mon fellas.
Is it so difficult to accept that the club scene is just as vital to those people who go clubbing today as it ever was to us 25 - 30 years ago. How a 20 year old can make any valid judgement about what happened before they were born, I'll never know, but.... Perhaps you're just a lost cause who wouldn't have found the scene any better all those years ago? Not everyone who went clubbing then, had the time of their lives. Many ended up completely screwed up, as the average punter would only ever like a relatively small number of the records played and there were just as many vices that were being tapped into. As for people just standing around posing etc....all of that used to be a regular feature 25 - 30 years ago. If anyone tells you any different, don't believe them. As for the sex aspect. What do you think discos are/were all about? Give me a disco where sex was high on the agenda (Gay or straight) and it would be a damned good one. Why? Because everyone knew they stood a good chance of making out that night. That's what discos are/were all about. Forget the music, except in a small number of places. Music was only a (an important) sideshow to the real business of the evening. My job as a DJ was to create the right ambience for the punters to get off with each other. I was never under any illusion that my role was anything else.

People still have a good time in disco clubs (in the UK), although it has to be said that the club scene is somewhat in decline at the moment. That might not altogether be a bad thing, eh?

[Studio74]

I have to agree with lots of stuff Spellbound said...The night in Setubal is almost like Spellbound said in his post.The people like to watch and be seen,the music is crap, too comercial,the owners of the places interfere a lot with the Dj´s work,a lot of people worry too much with what others are wearing,and if you dance in a empty dancefloor,people stare at you like you were nuts or something...there´s a lot of social pressure that sometimes it´s so intense it can´t be ignored,and there are people that are pretending to have a good time,when in fact they´re not having a good time, and there´s also the "pick-up" element in those places,and the girls in Setubal like to pretend they´re hard to get...Of course there are places in Setubal that i feel good at,but they´re the exception...But if you go to Lisbon (Portugal´s capital),it´s different,you can dance in a empty dancefloor,and no-one cares,the music is better (of course there are places in Lisbon that are like the places i hate in Setubal...but in Lisbon i have a wide choice of places to go,wich doesn´t happen in Setubal...).

About the music,i like this new Electro revival, and also like a lot of the Disco-influenced House...They have the feeling of the good music of the 70´s and the 80´s,but i only get to hear these types of sound mostly in Lisbon or in casual parties in some place of Setubal (House isn´t 100% implemented in Setubal...and let´s not speak of Electro...)

[DISCODISK]

STUDIO74 ah your from setubal i stayed there last december :P
and talking of lisbon i know it has great nightlife,but not the club i went to some years back it was the worst night out i ever had in my life, dont even ask as im still distressed :lol:

[Videoskooter]

Well, there still are good clubs where you can enjoy da rhythm.

But, like all you guys, I must agree that the general vibe is way below zero.

And like Marky said: it's the music. Most of the clubs here are playing hard-techno or gangsterrap. Are clubowners surprised when they "discover" that most of the audience is high on drugs, are carrying knives and guns, are drunk after 15 minutes and begin to ennoy each other and fight?

It's the attitude also. Where is the great time when we went to da Disco and got high on music. Laughing, enjoying and dancing WITH each other?

Those times are gone my friends and I doubt if they'll come back.

And for people who know Belgium. Where is the golden age of the "Manhattan", "Le Garage", "The Palace", "Palm Beach",
"Pebbles" and other dreamdisco's. Gone, gone, gone :(

[DiscoMan]

I imagine we must all accept the fact that the '70s saw a wave of nightlife that in all likelihood will never ever be repeated. Those of us who are baby boomers, who enjoyed Disco and who made the '70s what they were are truly unique. :D

Perhaps THAT is the only legacy we will pass on.

[Videoskooter]

I imagine we must all accept the fact that the '70s saw a wave of nightlife that in all likelihood will never ever be repeated. Those of us who are baby boomers, who enjoyed Disco and who made the '70s what they were are truly unique. :D

Perhaps THAT is the only legacy we will pass on.

4 lines, 1 truth!

Well said :D !

[vienne]

I have to agree with much of what has been said before regarding the Club scene everywhere. Things just ain't what they used to be. Oh yeah, I may have been privileged enough to have experienced the heady days of 70's discos and after-hour joints. But I must say, the disco's were good, but the gay after-hour joints were far, far better. For one thing albeit I am a female and completely enjoy dressing up and looking good, when I went out to party, I wanted to PARTY! This I could do at places like The Loft, The Garage, etc., I would slip on a my jeans, a nice T-shirt and some ballet slippers and I was done! The vibes and the music were utterly out of this world. In fact, it was another world.

My son, does the Club scene now and poor thing, he is still looking for that illusive vibe that I have described to him on countless occassions during my clubbing days lol.

Another thing, I remember that whilst I was living in NY and partying every moment God sent - my brother who was still living in the UK came to visit me. He is as straight as they come, so I was in trepidation when I took him out with me on his first Saturday night in NY. I took him to The Loft and he just loved it - following Saturday, The Garage and then on to Buttermilk Bottom. He thought it was wild - he totally loved it - said there was nothing like these clubs ever in his experience.

Hey, let's face it, females still dance round their handbags here in the UK lol :o

Vienne

[efunk_adelic]

So much has changed in the last 30 years.... It is or has been for quite a while to dance by yourself on the dance floor.

Back in the day.... it was unheard of to not pick someone from the opposite sex and enter the dance floor.

Plus today's songs are missing good lyrics, emotion, etc... etc... etc...

Too many distractions.... cell phones on the dance floor... omg!!!! :roll: :roll: really???? I just learned something today...

I remember going to a techno oriented club around '97 and was sorta disappointed. Couldn't find any one to dance with... plus and older than dirt... lol so I danced by myself for a couple of songs with my DJ friend next to me doing the same exact thing... lmfao :lol: :lol:

I also went to a black/r&b/rap oriented club around '02 was the last time I stepped into a club and was more impressed with the mixing skills of the jock on duty. At this club (straight) everyone had a partner and I felt more at home. :P

[paul]

Quinny, I absolutely 100% disagree with your take. Conversely I totally agree with Marky.
One indicator of the difference between today and the disco days of yore was the multigenerational appeal of discos back then. I remember seeing people over 50 in those clubs. That's a fact that can't be ignored and I believe not only reflects on the club/sex scene but the quality of the music. Now I'm a part of that older demographic and I have absolutely no interest in the club scene. The today's music is horrible for the most part. Believe me, I give it a listen from time to time. As I've said before, the music industry is suffering from quality. Who the hell wants to buy this crap.
I'd be willing to admit that perhaps we were hedonistic when it came to the whole disco scene. I don't see anywhere near the same enthusiasm with today's young people, do you? You admitted at the end of your post the scene today is in decline.
As for the sex at the discos, it was nice. However as long as people are on the planet, in fact as long there living creatures on planet, sex will be a part of everything. I'm always amazed that with your rather dim view of disco that you stayed involved with it Quinny. Tell uncle Paul. Did you fall passionately in love with a disco queen, got burned by her, and now have bitter sweet memories of the whole period? It's OK dude, that's what I Will Survive is meant to cure

[judydoggie]

When I was first dipping my big toe in the vast, warm, decadent swimming pool called "the club scene," the drinking age was 18, there was no AIDS, Nancy Reagan and the cops weren't spending millions on TV ads that said "just say no," and the dance music industry was so big that a decent disco hit could make money on its own; and God forbid it should cross-over into major market pop radio and you've got a gold record. These days, the music biz is much, much more commercial. I'm predominately in the jazz business and so much of our material is published on independent labels. ASCAP and BMI are remarkably unfair in paying royalties (how often do you walk into a restaurant and they're playing jazz?)

Now let's look at the psychosocial element. In Disco's heyday, club-goers actually looked forward to going out and moving and shaking like there was no tomorrow. For some reason, my unscientific observations saw dancing plummet until night spots became "listening" venues. The worst time was about 1996. Then, slowly but surely, dance returned slowly. There are indeed artists out there that turn out very, very good dance material now (albeit spaced among the "love jams" or "groove jams" on the albums -- once again, gotta get those singles out there on major FM airplay). However, the members of the crowd who are "on the fence" about dancing fall victim to their shyness because they're intimidated by others who are sooooo "hip" they'd never get caught dancing and are so busy on their cell phones, raspberry devices, or worse, using their camera-phones to take pictures.

I recall discos and after-hour clubs being genuinely friendly places, far from the distant and competitive venues I hear some accuse them of being. I genuinely enjoyed going out for coffee (and sometimes breakfast) with a gang from wherever we were and discussing the evening's peak experiences (the best mixes, who spilled a drink on whom, which celebrities were where and how foolishly they acted).

There are kids these days who're into swing dancing (ballroom dancing to jazz standards) and I find that quite refreshing. I think that all the pressure to stay away from "dens of iniquity" from the parents and the pressure to be "cool" from their peers is starting to relent. Thus, the pendulum, is swinging the other way. (I'm a firm believer that trends and behaviors are sine waves; in other words, "what goes up must come down.") These days, I find, the kids are good, as a whole, according to the NEA, intellectualism as a trait is more valued by students' peers than in the last 45 years (thank goodness "dumb is cool" is dead). And as a result of statistically high self-confidence levels, they're willing to try new things, and "be silly."

I think that the psychosocial trends described above, combined with the "retro" trends in fashion (with the '60s and '70s well-represented) combine to equal fertile ground for the disco seeds to be planted and grow tall.

We took the risk and went out onto the dance floor and focused on the karma of the mix and the feel of the moment and nothing else. Perhaps it's time for us to actively pursue promoting "retro nights" at clubs and seeing who bites. If you're in Connecticut, get ahold of me at plewis08@snet.net and I'll provide the space and pay you to boot if you've got the talent and the records. I want to begin in mid-September.