Disco Sucks!

Originally posted by Jean Paul Zodeaux
reply to post by kdog1982

 

I think Beezer tapped it into eloquently and briefly, only addressing his own personal concerns about the music, but that the backlash was not a reaction to the music itself, but to something deeper. I think on some level, not the music, but something intangible scared people. Blowing up a box of records was merely symbolic of a general attitude that was primarily a White America attitude, and it is as if Disco somehow scratched at that festering sore on the country.

My frustration, however, is not that people are not catching my point on the social issues, its that they're stupidly attempting to make this anti this or anti that, when all it is a reflection on a period in American history, through music that tapped into something that was always there, and still is, and that is a deep intolerance.

Ironic that those who would naysay this thread have only revealed the slip of their own intolerance.

Thank you for this thread.
Why is it that music can play such a big role,at times,in social issues?
A voice,an outlet of frustration?
Does it change how we govern our lives,or a reflection of our thoughts as a community.
The 60's was definitely a time of great change in social values,and it was reflected in the music.

Music plays a big role in my personal well being.
When I'm happy,I listen to happy music.
When I'm sad,I listen to sad music, and so on.

At this moment,I am at the WTF moment,so this is what I'm listening to.
That is ,if you don't mind me sharing.




I feel the video above reflects what we ,as those how grew up in the 70's and earlier are asking.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Does anybody remember this?

Oh yes. Very well. I was living in Chicago at the time not too far from the stadium. The day before this I drove my car to my parents in the suburbs, and rode my bicycle all the way back down to the city from Highland Park, for fear that the event would spill onto the streets where my car would normally be parked!

reply to post by Sulie


I asked Slaya to do that for me because I am a fool with posting images and only get that image link and I am too suspicious that not nearly enough follow the links. I am glad you got the point though. That title is not my invention. It is, however, germane to the topic.

Originally posted by Jean Paul Zodeaux
reply to post by Sulie

 

I asked Slaya to do that for me because I am a fool with posting images and only get that image link and I am too suspicious that not nearly enough follow the links. I am glad you got the point though. That title is not my invention. It is, however, germane to the topic.

Well, this one is for you, then. This is the sfuff that Dahl and Meyer hated to play. They created a near mass hysteria in attempts to keep their positions as AM Chicago gurus of the air waves.

reply to post by Sulie

There was no real statement made with what went on, other than it worked people up, and got more listeners to a failing disc jockey and his cohort.

I lived in Las Cruces New Mexico at the time. We were aware of Disco Demolition Night in New Mexico. The radio station I most listened to was 95.5 KLAQ. That radio station spent all of 1979 playing as their station identifier the opening bars of Stayin' Alive only to end it abruptly with the sound of a needle scratching the record. This was their way of distinguishing themselves from the Disco station in both El Paso, Texas and Juarez Mexico.

A statement was made, I assure you.

reply to post by Sulie


My Gosh! Part of the inspiration for this thread was talking hanging out with some younger kids these past few months and talking music. The Rolling Stones just celebrated their 50th Anniversary of still being together and this was discussed a few weeks ago and while these kids knew who the Stones were they had no clue really about their discography. I would sing some of their songs but none rang a bell. Recently, discussing music again, disco came up. My attitudes about K.C. and the Sunshine Band came out and they asked who that band was so I sang:

That's the way - uh-huh uh-huh - I like it.

Every single one of them recognized the song instantly! I was stunned. My adored Stones meant little to them, but they all knew that song. The revenge of Disco? It gave me some insight on that band. How bad could they be to be that recognizable today to kids who weren't around then?

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


Sad to say,but probably from a commercial....

Originally posted by Jean Paul Zodeaux
reply to post by Sulie

 

My Gosh! Part of the inspiration for this thread was talking hanging out with some younger kids these past few months and talking music. The Rolling Stones just celebrated their 50th Anniversary of still being together and this was discussed a few weeks ago and while these kids knew who the Stones were they had no clue really about their discography. I would sing some of their songs but none rang a bell. Recently, discussing music again, disco came up. My attitudes about K.C. and the Sunshine Band came out and they asked who that band was so I sang:

That's the way - uh-huh uh-huh - I like it.

Every single one of them recognized the song instantly! I was stunned. My adored Stones meant little to them, but they all knew that song. The revenge of Disco? It gave me some insight on that band. How bad could they be to be that recognizable today to kids who weren't around then?

Well, my take on it is that disco was always about "fluffy stuff." Just having fun and dancing, while some Stones stuff dealt with grit and grime, and some issues that are not too pretty. Songs like "Sympathy For the Devil" and "Paint it Black," might have meaning, but kids from today would never seek songs like that out. Oh, and hey, the Stones even had a try at disco....remember this one?


Blechhhhhh, out of desparation, and what the hell were they thinking? LOL

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux

50 Cent used it in 2011 in one of his songs called "I Just Wanna feat. Tony Yayo".

Toyota supposedly had an ad with it back in 2001.

Originally posted by beezzer
Disco was the platform for metrosexuality to gain a foothold. It grew in the eighties. Films, tv shows also embraced the new approach to this by reversing stereo-types that were portrayed by Archies Bunker et al.

The exceptions were th John Waynes and the Clint Eastwoods. (Thouh "Paint Your Wagon" was the sole embarrassment to Eastwood).

It's reversing though. A least that's how I see the trend.

It's just part of the continuous cycle. There was a time when Beethoven was "that new fangled stuff"... of course they used different terminology.
Now the music our grandparents were so opposed to are referred to as "Classic Rock" and we hold our ears at what this generation is playing. The same thing will happen to them down the road. (humming the Lion King's circle of life sound in my head now )

The one and only thing you can count on is "change". Really makes you wonder what the next new thing will be doesn't it?

Not dead. Just evolving.

Click here for more information.

it seems if the rave sceane is the new disco

Originally posted by Jean Paul Zodeaux
I lived in Las Cruces New Mexico at the time. We were aware of Disco Demolition Night in New Mexico. The radio station I most listened to was 95.5 KLAQ. That radio station spent all of 1979 playing as their station identifier the opening bars of Stayin' Alive only to end it abruptly with the sound of a needle scratching the record. This was

Born and raised in Deming, NM (Though I was 3 when Disco Demolition Night happened... ). Deming got 3 music stations clear enough to listen to while I was growing up. 2 were country (KOTS and KGRT *K-GREAT COUNTRY!) the other was golden oldies (KDEM). It was not until I was a senior in high school that Deming, briefly, risked damaging the moral fabric of our youth by piping in the syndicated alternative/metal station Z-Rock. This experiment lasted all of a year and a half and, thanks to complaints from parents, the contract was voided and the station reverted over to soft "rock" crap.

After I started college at NMSU, I became a huge KLAQ fan (Buzz & Patty morning show was audio crack) and fondly remember "Magic" Mike, the old dude who had been with the station back in their classic (50's & 60's) rock days and had managed to evolve with the station to spin metal records. I even shelled out nearly a hundred bucks to buy a somewhat illegal radio antenna with a booster for my truck so I could pick up KLAQ all the way back to Deming every day when my classes were over instead of losing it to fuzz just before passing the Akela Flats general store & tourist trap.

I say that to say this... If you're raised in a fishbowl, your perspectives tend to be different. My parents listened to two types of music my entire formative years...
1) country and
2) western

We did not have cable TV. We had Rural TV service which picked up a total of 5 stations, one of which was the Nashville Network and none of which were anything MTV/VH1/pop. I had one friend who was aware of heavy metal's existence and, through his stereo, I heard my first real rock & roll. We had a weekend flea market in Deming which usually had a table of bootleg cassettes for sale for a buck apiece. The jewel cases were crappy and the liners were cheaply Xeroxed just enough for the cassette to appear legit until you looked inside the case and saw plain white paper staring back at you. The tape itself was somehow stamped with a track listing which, if you had even the slightest hint of perspiration or moisture on you hands, instantly smeared and was forever unreadable. I bought 10 or 12 tapes from the dude, GnR Appetite for Destruction, RATT, 2 Def Leppards, I believe I may have picked up a couple Hank Williams Jrs in there as well... (Not even a week later, I got home from school and my dad had the shoebox I was using as a tape keeper sitting on the front table. Aside from the Hank Jr. tapes, my collection was used for 12 Ga. skeet shooting in the back yard.)

I'm not going to say that people are wrong saying music style XYZ begat music style 123, etc. However, while the development of music may have been a process driven evolution, taste in music is not. Nobody in their right mind would expect someone to go from having only listened to old country, to suddenly relishing in Reign in Blood with their speakers turned to 10. But it sure happens a lot. Amazingly, I was in my mid 20s before I even learned to appreciate bands like U2 and The Police. I heard them when I was first in college, of course, but their sound and character didn't speak to me until later in life. That's another aspect of music, I think, you can either grow into a genre or, conversely, outgrow a genre fairly easily. I believe that, in the case of disco, it was probably outgrown by enough people that the commercial aspect of having dedicated disco radio stations became the driving force behind its commercial "death."

I wasn't aware of what happened to disco just that it vanished around the time I finished high school. I was a New Romantic New Wave teen and sadly photos still exist with my hair spiked and gelled up to very strange positions.
It least it gives my 17 year old daughter a laugh. God I hate the Flock of Seagulls for that.

I am never one to argue with Dr. Zodeaux so I will just say that the music has lasted a helluva lot longer than Steve Dahl.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

Explain KISS, please.

Not only did KISS dress funny. But they tried to capitalize on the disco fever too.

Remember this old cross over song?

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I was a teen in the 80's, when break-dancing and MC Hammer hit the stage. Yet, my favorite was and continues to be country. However, I do appreciate all forms of music in the arena of their own genre. I've even come to tolerate rap these days other than the constant blasting of vulgarity, some of it isn't too bad. Just my personal preferences: Jones, Conway, Cash, Nelson, Williams, Haggard... and Mrs. Patsy Cline goes allllll over me! But still, I do appreciate the entire spectrum

Anyway... Disco is definitely not "dead" in any way, shape or form as can be seen by the popularity of the show "Glee". If anything in the world represents today's "Disco", it would be that show. The teens love it, some of the older folks do as well. It speaks to those who would have been in the middle of the Disco craze.

It seems that today's teens have more choices than we ever did and they have an appreciation of a wider range than we did. They've evolved to be more accepting and more appreciative of what is around them. For all the faults of those in their late 20's and early 30's, the next generation down seems to be compensating. Just as all things are, it continues to be an expanding cycle, the theoretical spiraling cone as it continues to move forward.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone

You want to know the real reason it died? Many of those performers were gay.

I dont get it. Who gives a flying donkey if they are gay or not. Along as they can sing...