Eldergays: Tell Us About The "Disco Sucks" Movement

I wish they'd done the same thing with rap/hip-hop YEARS ago. It's far worse.

This is one eldergay topic I'm actually interested in hearing about.

People got fed up with the disco beat/sound and wanted to kill it off. Not so interesting.

Disco Luxe!

The Disco Demo in Comiskey was both.

It was also time for disco to die. It had run its course.

Disco was already morphing into Electro with the likes of "I Feel Love." Full orchestras would have been left behind anyway.

Steve Dahl was a major homophobe. Always bashed gay men on his radio show throughout the 80s.

It never died. It turned into house, and now electronic. There's always been dance music, at least for as long as there have been dancers.

Yes, it was racist and homophobic. And the bastards just thought they killed it. It just went back underground and later re-emerged as house.

Disco was fun and you could dance to it. What was the big deal? If you don’t like it go listen to jazz, country or rock ‘n’ roll.

[quote] What was the big deal?

It was black and gay.

It's funny how often latino is left out of talk about the disco movement.

Maybe it had something to do with this show........

I was only 13 at the time - and I hated it and knew it represented an anti-gay movement. I was so looking forward to growing up and moving to NYC and going to Studio 54. And saw it was being ripped away. Replaced by the 1981 equivalent of Deplorables - straight white people who couldn’t dance who envied those who could. I will always hate the 80s and everything about it.

Disco did suck. It was pathetic. What else can you say?

Disco = Madonna

It didn't go anywhere. It just became "dance music" instead.

There was a strong undercurrent of homophobia in it. People associated Disco with the Village People.

But why did people care about disco music? How were they even aware of it?

My understanding is that if you were a rock fan, you listened to the local rock station(s) and bought rock LPs and that was that. You would not go to an actual disco because you were not a disco music fan.

So why were people so threatened by it?

Rockers started going disco (Kiss, Rod Stewart).

Even at a young age I recognized this as the death knell of Disco.

Swing those arms, Mawma, and show the world disco the Ethel Merman way!

Can’t Stop the Music needs to take responsibility for some of the backlash.

[quote]How were they even aware of it?

There was this thing called a "radio" and it would actually broadcast disco songs on various stations.

Also see: "Saturday Night Fever".

They called me “Lady Bump” even though I had no tits

[quote]But why did people care about disco music? How were they even aware of it?

In the '70s, if you were gay and you wanted to go to a bar and meet other gays, disco is what was playing nearly everywhere. In the Village, the Ninth Circle and Julius' were among the few places you could hear regular music.

Disney joined the party when it was almost over:

[quote] It's funny how often latino is left out of talk about the disco movement.

And lovable furry monsters, too!

I thought you all called it "the wireless" R23

But why would someone who liked rock music listen to a disco radio station or even care that such a thing existed?

Were there just a limited number of radio stations and people listened to all of them?

Disco was everywhere. It was not limited to gays blacks and Latinos. Saturday Night Fever was a huge hit even with straight people. Thank God people realized that it was shit music and it went back underground. Fortunately punk started just then.

I just wish the same thing had happened with rap music as said above.

It was massive. Radio crashed, losing billions. Country music , heavy metal & conservative talk radio replaced many stations ‘disco/top 40’ format. Clear channel (now called i heart radio) rise to power happened- they decide what you hear on top 4o. (Bringing back payola) Women ‘s voice were blamed for the disco beat so you began hearing less of them on radio (the rule was only 5 girl voices every 2 hours- the avarage cycle of top 40). The beginning of the end of the fcc fairness doctrine was due to the huge financial losses the radio stations faced because of the disco sucks movement - now a single company can own multi media outlets in one market

I'm glad punk was fringe. Way more so than disco or rap.

I don’t think Steve Dahl was a homophobe. He offended everyone. He could also be hilarious and he should have had the career Howard Stern had.

If they were trying to revive what today we call "Classic Rock", well I guess that went on for a few years in the 80s, but that's about it. Dance music has lasted a lot longer than Classic Rock.

[quote]How widespread was it?

I remember this little sight gag at the end of AIRPLANE! (1980) got huge laughs & applause.

I saw a revival screening about 10 years ago on the East Coast and no one laughed at that. Of course, we had the benefit of three decades of hindsight.

[quote]Fortunately punk started just then.

Punk was absolutely shit, loathsome garbage music.

[quote] Punk was absolutely shit, loathsome garbage music.

They played better music on [italic]Punky Brewster[/italic] when they had a Lerner & Loewe song and a Rodgers & Hammerstein song in the same episode.

I had (still have) the Mickey Mouse Disco and Sesame Street Fever albums. As a little kid, I had no idea that Macho Duck was based on a "real" song playing on the radio. LOVE!

Shannon's "Let the Music Play" and Madonna's "Holiday" are credited with starting the revival of dance music in '83.

How silly.

Disco became so ridiculously mainstream and commercial It became a parody of itself and created a backlash.

And rock music got even more crassly commercial in the ensuing decade. Hair bands were not a step up musically.

The short version is that disco was becoming increasingly commercialized, and went from the clubs and R&B charts to a pretty visible place on the charts. And while I love a LOT of disco music, it was becoming sort of generic and washed out. The Bee Gees and Saturday Night Fever made it accessible and suddenly, instead of being cool, your old racist Uncle Ernie (and Ethel Merman, too) were latching on.

The longer version is that the overexposure would have maybe eventually cooled off....but there were a few things that happened that hastened the collapse of disco. New wave and punk was one thing....but there were also bullshit events like the Disco Demolition thing in Chicago. The organizers and participants swear up down and sideways that it was just letting off a little steam - but that was horseshit. Disco was music created by gay men and people of color for gay men (and women) and people of color, and the response was to get the f*g and n-word shit off the radio.

Disco never truly went completely away - high level creators like Chic did production work and new wave stuff, but it changed. There was obviously still club music and a club scene, and house and other kinds of music followed - which had success and had its fans. But dance music beyond disco never again reached a truly wide mainstream audience.

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure my mother started this movement.

And what was I, potted liver?

Thank you R43-- that's a great explanation.

OP, we already had a thread about this.

The troll who bumps years-old threads should be banned.

[quote]Can’t Stop the Music needs to take responsibility for some of the backlash. —Looking at you Caitlyn Jenner!

Since they had a relationship in the movie, does that retroactively make Valerie Perrine's character a lesbian?

R49 Well she looked like a muff diver to me!