Disco has always been a mystery because of its quick rise to global phenomenon it was loved by billions of people all over the world, then all of a sudden it fell just as quick as it rose, from when it reached its peak in 1971 when soul train was on national TV, to 1979 when disco records where blown up around a stadium full of cheering spectators (NBC 2020, BBC 2005). Disco meant so much to so many people not just for its catchy harmony but for the sense of freedom and its way of mixing different races in the time of disarray. From people of the gay, black and Hispanic communities this was a very open and welcoming time for them (BBC 2005). Therefore, when it was acceptable for them to be all together and have a common likeness, it was surprising when disco had a drop in popularity at the end of the’70s and beginning of the ’80s. To see how it was dropped in a decade it had risen to its height, so when searching through websites reading books and watching documentaries other reliable sources, I was looking for the truth behind its downfall.
The origins of disco can be difficult to discover because it was mainly an underground genre because of its openness to all types of sexuality and ethnicity. But at the time there was a law that men can’t dance with other men which started a riot outside of an inn in New York called the Stonewall Inn giving the name stonewall riots on June 28 1969. The point of this riot was to change the law between men dancing with other men and to many the same gendered disco was a genre that accepted everyone it didn’t matter if you were gay, black, Latino or different to people it was a safe place to be yourself and not feel bad if you was different from the eyes of “Christian America” ( BBC 2005, The Sheen Resistance 2021).
After the events of the stonewall riots, many disco clubs were opening up in New York like The Loft, Studio 54, The Gallery and many more clubs like these would allow people of different ethnicity and sexuality to forget about other people opinions (BBC 2005). In these clubs, people would express themselves with other like-minded people and during this time they would be on some narcotics which was a big influence and most clubs would perform sexual activities with each other regardless of race or sexuality breading into the idea of freedom and having the best time they legally can (BBC 2005). But after the fall of disco, people fell off from there high and began getting addictions which led to overdose and the people who would perform unprotected sex would contact HIV which led to AIDS and later killed a lot of people most of which was homosexual males (BBC 2005).
Disco music has been around since the mid-’60s but it was mainly underground until the 1970’s when it began to be recognized with artists like James Brown(Let The Boogie Do The Rest), Nile Rodgers(Everybody Dance) , George McCrae(Rock Your Baby) and loads more musicians who followed their music and inspired so many people as they did. Because of discos influence of sex, drug and fun album covers were very sexual and explicit to the point when disco musicians would compete for the most provocative album cover art so to many people disco would sell sex in a way (BBC 2005, The Sheen Resistance 2021) . At the time white musicians would also join in, a big example would be KC and the Sunshine Band where he would be the only white person in a black band and people loved it even in such a sensitive time. Along with a new audience with the rise of disco came a wave of new dance crazes like soul train founded on October 2nd 1971 by Don Cornelius the show to many people was a way of life they would tune in on every Saturday to watch it especially in the black and Hispanic community seeing people like them on the TV having fun and not getting judged because the people around them was dancing with them too (DAZED 2021).
During discos rein, most of its hot spots were New York, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia but in these areas, disco had a different sound. In Miami disco had more of a Latin sound to it with rhythm being at its centre and Philadelphia had more strings in disco music causing most people calling this classical disco (NBC 2020), in most places when disco was rising to its peak radio stations didn’t want to play disco music they just stuck with rock song’s so the popularity mostly came from DJs before the radio started playing disco and dance music (NBC 2020).
At its peak disco had many changes and like other genres disco had its own fashion and like the rest it was distinct look and when see it was infamous with the era like bell bottom pants and platform shoes. Along with fashion disco changed the world via technological advancements as mentioned from stokes (BBC 2021) “Disco helped to develop sound system technology, mixers, loudspeakers, lighting technology we still use today” and “Disco paved the way of contemporary dance music culture”(BBC 2021).
Disco was to many people their salvation from their everyday lives but once big businesses’ saw how nightclubs were getting more full and disco records sold more than rock song leading rock musicians making disco-influenced songs like Queen (Another One Bites The Dust) and David Bowie (Just Dance) (BBC 2005) . Disco got to the point when big movie companies started making movies influenced by disco-like Saturday night fever. Where Bee Gees would make the soundtrack for the film and later go on and win a Grammy for the soundtrack, after seeing the success of disco Big organisations started using disco as a marketing tool. For example Star wars made a disco album then Donald Duck made a disco album then products started coming out like the disco twister exercise equipment and soon disco was in more places than before and to a lot of people they where sick of hearing disco everywhere with the help of Steve Dahl so they planed a demolition for it (BBC 2005, NBC 2020). That was when a DJ presenter by the name of Steve Dahl would organise an event on 12th July 1979 at the Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago Illinois where the spectators were offered a discount if they brought a disco record and during the game, a steward reported that some of the records were not disco but were Motown and soul records(NBC 2020). during the break of the Baseball game, Steve Dahl would go onto the pitch and blow the records up giving the name disco demolition night after the demolition nearly all of the spectators would run onto the field and break all of the surviving records and course more damage to the field making the second leg of the game cancelled (The Guardian 2019).
After the events of disco demolition, night disco began losing people interest and some of the musicians began getting threatened and even the Bee Gees had to have the FBI check for bombs after they were getting bomb threats during their summer tour in 1979 (NBC 2020) . The radio stations would stop playing disco and even blacklist some musicians who had a history of making disco music (NBC 2020) . Many musicians were forced to change and adopt a different sound and for many musicians, they stopped making music for a while because of the backlash of people frustrations towards disco. Things worsened after the crowd of 50,000, rushed the field and continued to wreak havoc on the stadium and when the police tried to stop and after all that it ended in a riot.
In conclusion, the fall of disco music can be seen as a play of greed of bad organisations(NBC 2020), BBC 2005). Who in the end would buy into the idea of using disco as a marketing Ploy to sell more of their products by using the disco name and so many people who weren’t really a fan of disco, to begin with, was the ones who it really got to seeing disco everywhere. So when someone comes up with a disco demolition night people are on board with the idea of it going extinct. But the people who loved disco would see what these businesses are doing and feel the same way on how corporate greed ruined disco for their own gain not caring what overselling would do to the disco name. In my opinion, it was quite a surprise to see that it was the doing of such a high power selling into what some people thought was their freedom and what helped them come to terms with who they really are and a place where they can express themselves in ways where the public cant see them and away from there opinions (NBC 2020, BBC 2005).
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