Who Vividly Remembers the DISCO BACKLASH ?
10-06-06, 01:46 AM
#1
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Who Vividly Remembers the DISCO BACKLASH ?
I was too young. Id be interested in hearing from people who vividly remember the backlash against Disco firsthand. Was it really the case that one day Disco ruled the charts, next day it was gone ?
Was it an event bigger than the music industry itself ? or did it only cause a small ripple ?
Cheers
Was it an event bigger than the music industry itself ? or did it only cause a small ripple ?
Cheers
10-06-06, 05:38 AM
#2
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I grew up in Indianapolis and mostly listened to the rock station Q95. I was in Jr. High at the time. They had an anti-disco promotion and I got this t-shirt saying, "Disco Destroyer". Proudly wore it. There definitely was a backlash, but it's seems kind of stupid today because many of those disco hits were way better than some of the rock music on the radio (Styx, Journey, etc.).
I remember going into a record store and purchasing the 45 of "Knock On Wood". I told the guy at the counter it was for my sister and he said, "Suuuure". Still love that song.
I remember going into a record store and purchasing the 45 of "Knock On Wood". I told the guy at the counter it was for my sister and he said, "Suuuure". Still love that song.
10-06-06, 01:40 PM
#3
DVD Talk Gold Edition
The big thing I remember (I was high school age in the mid-late 70s) was rock performers who "sold out" and "went disco". I'm thinking of the Rolling Stones ("Miss You"), Rod Stewart ("Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"), I seem to remember other "rock" acts with similarly disco-ized songs (ELO? Kiss?). As if these were icons of artistic integrity anyway, and even if not, that incorporating new musical ideas into their own work was tainting it in some way.
10-06-06, 01:55 PM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
The Events Leading Up To The Night
Radio station, WDAI, went to an all-disco format and fired their DJ, Steve Dahl. In retaliation, Dahl, quickly hired by WLUP, created a mock organization called "The Insane Coholips" to oppose disco, and promoted it on the air.
Dahl and his on-air partner, Garry Meier, devised a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records to the game in exchange for an admission fee of 98 cents, representing the station's location on the dial. It would prove to be the most ill-conceived promotional idea since the infamous "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Cleveland in 1974.
The Event and Results
This promotion apparently encouraged attendees who were not "typical" baseball fans. White Sox management was expecting an additional crowd of 5,000, but instead, 50,000 turned out. Thousands of people were climbing walls and fences in order to get into Comiskey Park and others were locked out of the park.
Sox TV announcers Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. In Slouching Toward Fargo, Mike Veeck, son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck, recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana. Many spectators, realizing that long-playing (LP) records were shaped remarkably like flying discs, threw their records from the stands during the game.
After the first game, Dahl came out to center field with the records in a box rigged with a bomb in a mock demolition of disco music. When it exploded, the bomb ripped a hole in the outfield grass surface and thousands of fans ran onto the field, some lighting their own fires and starting mini-riots.
Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but this failed, and eventually the field was cleared by police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct [1]. Sparky Anderson, the manager of the Detroit Tigers, refused to field his team citing safety concerns, which resulted in the forfeiture by the White Sox to the Tigers. The remaining four home games were postponed due to unplayable grounds, and for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the condition of the field.
To this date, this forfeited game was the last such in the American League.
Radio station, WDAI, went to an all-disco format and fired their DJ, Steve Dahl. In retaliation, Dahl, quickly hired by WLUP, created a mock organization called "The Insane Coholips" to oppose disco, and promoted it on the air.
Dahl and his on-air partner, Garry Meier, devised a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records to the game in exchange for an admission fee of 98 cents, representing the station's location on the dial. It would prove to be the most ill-conceived promotional idea since the infamous "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Cleveland in 1974.
The Event and Results
This promotion apparently encouraged attendees who were not "typical" baseball fans. White Sox management was expecting an additional crowd of 5,000, but instead, 50,000 turned out. Thousands of people were climbing walls and fences in order to get into Comiskey Park and others were locked out of the park.
Sox TV announcers Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. In Slouching Toward Fargo, Mike Veeck, son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck, recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana. Many spectators, realizing that long-playing (LP) records were shaped remarkably like flying discs, threw their records from the stands during the game.
After the first game, Dahl came out to center field with the records in a box rigged with a bomb in a mock demolition of disco music. When it exploded, the bomb ripped a hole in the outfield grass surface and thousands of fans ran onto the field, some lighting their own fires and starting mini-riots.
Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but this failed, and eventually the field was cleared by police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct [1]. Sparky Anderson, the manager of the Detroit Tigers, refused to field his team citing safety concerns, which resulted in the forfeiture by the White Sox to the Tigers. The remaining four home games were postponed due to unplayable grounds, and for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the condition of the field.
To this date, this forfeited game was the last such in the American League.
10-06-06, 05:46 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
We have a DJ in Kansas City named Max Floyd. During the disco era he was "General Max Floyd" leader of the Rock and Roll Army, dedicated to the destruction of disco. I don't remember the details but you could join the army and get a Rock and Roll Army T-shirt and memembership card. At least once, he came out on stage at a big outdoor stadium concert all decked out in uniform like George C. Scott in Patton, revving up the crowd. The station he was on, KAAY(KY102) would also play a disco record once a day. About 30 seconds into the record you would hear the schreech of the needle dragged across the record followed by an explosion. He's still on the air cranking out classic rock.
10-06-06, 09:29 PM
#8
DVD Talk Hero
Disco music makes it possible to have disco entertainment centers. Disco entertainment centers make it possible for mellow, laid-back, boring kinds of people to meet each other and reproduce.
Frank Zappa
My favorite music store had this posted on the wall. I still cringe when the company Christmas party DJ plays "YMCA" or "Shake Shake Shake Your Booty".
Frank Zappa
My favorite music store had this posted on the wall. I still cringe when the company Christmas party DJ plays "YMCA" or "Shake Shake Shake Your Booty".
10-08-06, 02:58 AM
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Originally Posted by obscurelabel
The big thing I remember (I was high school age in the mid-late 70s) was rock performers who "sold out" and "went disco". I'm thinking of the Rolling Stones ("Miss You"), Rod Stewart ("Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"), I seem to remember other "rock" acts with similarly disco-ized songs (ELO? Kiss?).
Although, for those that way inclined, much of their music would be regarded as "danceable", Abba's "Summer Night City" probably could be included in that list.
Last edited by benedict; 10-08-06 at 03:00 AM.
