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| Disco Sucks: Steve Dahl, 1979 (Source: orlandocultureshock.wordpress.com) |
Why thousands of disco records were burned and why disco will never die
On 12th July 1979, an unprecedented 59,000 hard rock-loving baseball fans stormed Comiskey Park in Illinois for what would go down in history as Disco Demolition Night. Local radio DJ and Led Zep/Stones devotee Steve Dahl initially unleashed his ‘Disco Sucks!’ campaign during his slot on Chicago’s 97.9 WLUP-FM, based on the premise that “Midwesterners didn't want that intimidating [disco] style shoved down their throats”.
At a time when Studio 54 was in its heyday and stations were substituting REO Speedwagon and Black Sabbath for tracks by Sister Sledge, Donna Summer and the Bee Gees, Dahl decided to lash out at the soaring popularity of disco music in the wake of Saturday Night Fever in 1977. In an attempt to “eradicate of the dreaded musical disease known as DISCO” (which incidentally was filling discotheques across the country), Dahl recorded a bitterly satirical ‘Do Ya Think I’m Disco?’ and even invited his listeners to request disco hits which he would promptly destroy on air with explosive sound effects. However, his anti-disco antics peaked during the infamous events of a White Sox home game in the summer of ’79.
Steve Dahl was a chubby, shaggy-haired, Hawaiian shirt and aviator-wearing twenty-something who looked like a reject from American Hustle. His intolerance of all things disco manifested itself in his call for fellow rockists to attend the home game against the Detroit Tigers – where they would be admitted for only 98 cents - and bring a disco record with them, which would be stacked in a huge crate and blown up between games.
Organisers anticipated a crowd of 20,000, about 5,000 more than usual, but an overwhelming swarm of upwards of 50,000 showed up, Village People 12” in hand, ready for the Disco Demolition. Gatecrashers flooded the stands, throwing the uncollected disco LPs and singles; banners with such slogans as ‘Disco sucks’ hung from the stadium’s seating decks among drunken and marijuana-fuelled anti-disco chants. Rowdy fans rushed onto the field as Dahl announced he was going to “blow ‘em [records] up reeeeeeal goooood”, the explosion causing substantial damage to the pitch and necessitating the use of riot police, as well as the forfeiting of the second game.
On 12th July 1979, an unprecedented 59,000 hard rock-loving baseball fans stormed Comiskey Park in Illinois for what would go down in history as Disco Demolition Night. Local radio DJ and Led Zep/Stones devotee Steve Dahl initially unleashed his ‘Disco Sucks!’ campaign during his slot on Chicago’s 97.9 WLUP-FM, based on the premise that “Midwesterners didn't want that intimidating [disco] style shoved down their throats”.
At a time when Studio 54 was in its heyday and stations were substituting REO Speedwagon and Black Sabbath for tracks by Sister Sledge, Donna Summer and the Bee Gees, Dahl decided to lash out at the soaring popularity of disco music in the wake of Saturday Night Fever in 1977. In an attempt to “eradicate of the dreaded musical disease known as DISCO” (which incidentally was filling discotheques across the country), Dahl recorded a bitterly satirical ‘Do Ya Think I’m Disco?’ and even invited his listeners to request disco hits which he would promptly destroy on air with explosive sound effects. However, his anti-disco antics peaked during the infamous events of a White Sox home game in the summer of ’79.
Steve Dahl was a chubby, shaggy-haired, Hawaiian shirt and aviator-wearing twenty-something who looked like a reject from American Hustle. His intolerance of all things disco manifested itself in his call for fellow rockists to attend the home game against the Detroit Tigers – where they would be admitted for only 98 cents - and bring a disco record with them, which would be stacked in a huge crate and blown up between games.
Organisers anticipated a crowd of 20,000, about 5,000 more than usual, but an overwhelming swarm of upwards of 50,000 showed up, Village People 12” in hand, ready for the Disco Demolition. Gatecrashers flooded the stands, throwing the uncollected disco LPs and singles; banners with such slogans as ‘Disco sucks’ hung from the stadium’s seating decks among drunken and marijuana-fuelled anti-disco chants. Rowdy fans rushed onto the field as Dahl announced he was going to “blow ‘em [records] up reeeeeeal goooood”, the explosion causing substantial damage to the pitch and necessitating the use of riot police, as well as the forfeiting of the second game.
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| Disco Demolition Night (Source: bet.com) |
So why exactly have the unruly
actions of some thousands of straight white male rock fans, aging from about eighteen
to thirty-four, become so pivotal in popular culture? Well firstly – an rather unfortunately
for unashamed disco fans like myself – Disco Demolition Night had the desired
effect at the time: in the same year, disco record sales fell by 11% whilst major record
labels ventured into the burgeoning hard rock, new wave and power-pop scenes
for the next flavour of the month.
On a more ominous note, many have pointed out a darker subtext to the ‘Disco Sucks!’ movement: undertones of racism, sexism and homophobia. What on the surface was a hate-fest for disco music erupting from the collective psyche of a group of misguided rock fans, very possibly had its origins in a feeling of insecurity provoked by this music linked with black people, gays and lesbians and Latinos. Whilst it’s of course ridiculous to associate all rock fans with such bigotry, the sinister nature of Disco Demolition Night has led Chic man Nile Rodgers to liken it to a Nazi book burning. Disco songs were not the commercial soulless trash that Dahl and co. made them out to be; in fact, far from it, with countless disco acts displaying pure musicianship and talent. I’ve always though music should be taken for what it is; disco artists spanned the good, the bad and the downright terrible, as did countless seventies rock acts (ahem, Jefferson Starship). Unremorsefully, Dahl believes that disco was “probably on its way out… But I think it [Disco Demolition Night] hastened its demise”.
On a more ominous note, many have pointed out a darker subtext to the ‘Disco Sucks!’ movement: undertones of racism, sexism and homophobia. What on the surface was a hate-fest for disco music erupting from the collective psyche of a group of misguided rock fans, very possibly had its origins in a feeling of insecurity provoked by this music linked with black people, gays and lesbians and Latinos. Whilst it’s of course ridiculous to associate all rock fans with such bigotry, the sinister nature of Disco Demolition Night has led Chic man Nile Rodgers to liken it to a Nazi book burning. Disco songs were not the commercial soulless trash that Dahl and co. made them out to be; in fact, far from it, with countless disco acts displaying pure musicianship and talent. I’ve always though music should be taken for what it is; disco artists spanned the good, the bad and the downright terrible, as did countless seventies rock acts (ahem, Jefferson Starship). Unremorsefully, Dahl believes that disco was “probably on its way out… But I think it [Disco Demolition Night] hastened its demise”.
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| Anything by Sister Sledge is a personal fave (Source: discodelivery.blogspot.com) |
Although the dawn of the 1980s
saw disco music bothering the charts less and less, it never really has gone
away, from its roots in old American jazz, funk and soul to the house/EDM and
hip-hop underground which burst into the mainstream in the ‘90s. Ultimately, Disco Demolition was a failure; even rock n’
roll purists Kiss have ended up experimenting with disco. The likes of Steve
Dahl can attempt to destroy the genre as much as they can be bothered to try,
but the enduring legacy of the funky basslines, shimmering synths and soulful
sax continues to influence and be sampled. And I sure won’t be ditching my copy
of ‘Do Ya Wanna Funk?’ anytime soon.
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