Image from Daily Mail
Here's an interesting story about an event that happened during my 'tween and teen years. When I was going from single to double digits, disco music was born. The date is blurry, somewhere between 1974 and 1975. The genre is also fuzzy, with Donna Summer being definitely disco, but bands like ABBA being forced into the category. Also, as disco took over most American music, established stars like Barbra Streisand and Rod Stewart jumped in with both feet.
At first it was great. I was too young to know about Studio 54, the tackiness of polyester, and the concept of disco as a "lifestyle." I just dug the music. But even I could sift through it all to see the good stuff from the bad. I mean, when they set the theme from I Love Lucy to disco--Disco Lucy, naturally--you didn't need to be a critic to see it as crap. Saturday Night Fever was a phenomenon. Nearly everybody owned the double-album, and it was impossible to escape the music of the Bee Gees and KC & the Sunshine Band.
I remember when "disco sucks" became a war cry, mostly from older kids who were into "album rock" on Q-FM-96 in Columbus, where I grew up. Funnily enough, many of the groups they liked instead--Kiss comes to mind--were every bit as calculated and commercial as disco was. The anti-disco mood took root, though. So, from 1980 to 1981, disco as a genre truly died. Or rather, it morphed into something else. MTV was a music blender, mixing elements of disco, new wave, punk, rock, R&B, ska, reggae and more. There was truly an 80s "sound," but I don't know if there is a single genre name for it, beyond "top 40." Even the "alternative" bands of the time now fit right in with the #1 hits.
Other than (possibly) the mini British invasion (Culture Club, Duran Duran) in the 80s and grunge in the 90s, I don't think we've ever as a nation had a dominant musical genre with the power disco had.
[Excerpt]
When ‘Disco Sucks!’ echoed around the world
“Disco sucks!”
It was a catchphrase you couldn’t avoid hearing three decades ago when a backlash started to develop against the ’70s dance music genre that dominated Top 40 radio stations. The resentment culminated in an unexpected riot July 12, 1979 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was there fans charged onto the field during a promotional event called “Disco Demolition Night,” after Chicago DJ Steve Dahl blew up a box of disco records. . .
Read more at: MSNBC
At first it was great. I was too young to know about Studio 54, the tackiness of polyester, and the concept of disco as a "lifestyle." I just dug the music. But even I could sift through it all to see the good stuff from the bad. I mean, when they set the theme from I Love Lucy to disco--Disco Lucy, naturally--you didn't need to be a critic to see it as crap. Saturday Night Fever was a phenomenon. Nearly everybody owned the double-album, and it was impossible to escape the music of the Bee Gees and KC & the Sunshine Band.
I remember when "disco sucks" became a war cry, mostly from older kids who were into "album rock" on Q-FM-96 in Columbus, where I grew up. Funnily enough, many of the groups they liked instead--Kiss comes to mind--were every bit as calculated and commercial as disco was. The anti-disco mood took root, though. So, from 1980 to 1981, disco as a genre truly died. Or rather, it morphed into something else. MTV was a music blender, mixing elements of disco, new wave, punk, rock, R&B, ska, reggae and more. There was truly an 80s "sound," but I don't know if there is a single genre name for it, beyond "top 40." Even the "alternative" bands of the time now fit right in with the #1 hits.
Other than (possibly) the mini British invasion (Culture Club, Duran Duran) in the 80s and grunge in the 90s, I don't think we've ever as a nation had a dominant musical genre with the power disco had.
[Excerpt]
When ‘Disco Sucks!’ echoed around the world
“Disco sucks!”
It was a catchphrase you couldn’t avoid hearing three decades ago when a backlash started to develop against the ’70s dance music genre that dominated Top 40 radio stations. The resentment culminated in an unexpected riot July 12, 1979 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was there fans charged onto the field during a promotional event called “Disco Demolition Night,” after Chicago DJ Steve Dahl blew up a box of disco records. . .
Read more at: MSNBC
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