The fail is rather strong in this article. Just for starters:

"Joined by a failed rock guitarist called Steve Veek, Dahl took "Disco sucks!" public when Veek secured the use of Comiskey Park, the home of the Chicago White Sox that was owned by his father."

The last name is Veeck. And his first name is Mike. Mike Veeck. Pretty well known guy, and easy to research.

Secondly if he thinks the gig was racist and homophobic, he clearly has no idea of what he's talking about. I assume he thinks this because he doesn't want to research it, and its very simple to call a negative response to something that has its roots in the black and homosexual cultures "racist and homophobic".

This author is apparently British and white. I don't like him. I guess that makes me racist?

If all disco was like this incredible display of dancing awesomness (new window) then it would not suck.


However, too many white people half-assed at it, and kinda ruined it.

/Doriana Sanchez is an evil, evil, woman. ;)

The author has no idea what he's talking about, and I'm going to go ahead and guess that he's too young to remember disco anyway.

The problem in 1978-1979 was that everything on the radio turned to disco over a brief period of time. Even "classic rock" groups like the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart recorded disco music. It alienated a lot of people who preferred their rock and roll to, well, rock. I don't recall it having anything to do with gayness or race. Yes, disco started in gay clubs and a lot of it was recorded by black artists, but by the time of the disco sucks period it was completely mainstream.

The scary thing is that a lot of 70s "disco" music is far better than a lot of the crap on the radio today, both in songwriting and in musicianship.

mekkab: If all disco was like this incredible display of dancing awesomness (new window) then it would not suck.

That only had a 30second clip: This Link (new window)has the full dance (starts at 2:00 in, so fast forward the initial B.S.).

ricewater_stool: The scary thing is that a lot of 70s "disco" music is far better than a lot of the crap on the radio today, both in songwriting and in musicianship.

True. Rick Dees' "Disco Duck" sounds like a symphony compared to anything on today's Top 40.

Ian Sevonius wrote a similar article a few years ago.

Lorelle: ricewater_stool: The scary thing is that a lot of 70s "disco" music is far better than a lot of the crap on the radio today, both in songwriting and in musicianship.

True. Rick Dees' "Disco Duck" sounds like a symphony compared to anything on today's Top 40.

Agreed. Some years ago, my electronic music teacher had a newsppaer letter about never heard of Madonna, had no interest. You compare her music and it is quite musical compared to the stuff today. On the interesting side, the stuff today is more like our old avant garde musique concrete, except the music concrete was far more musical...

I still listen to and appreciate the good old disco hump/dance party songs like Donna Summers "I Feel Love" Chic's "Good Times." And if George McCray's "I Get Lifted" doesn't stir something in your loins you need a crotch transplant.

What the hell is that author smoking?!
. "They wore Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath T-shirts," writes Knopper, then a 13-year-old disco-hater "smashed bottles on the ground, smoked God knows what and chanted their almighty rallying cry: 'Disco sucks'!"

If that's not enough to turn you into a disco fan, then I don't know what is.

No, disco would've still sounded like shiat. If anything, I would've joined this orgy of destruction.

The unspoken subtext was obvious: disco music was for homosexuals and black people.

Where the hell did this come from? Show your work.

Now I'm too young to have experienced this (born in 85), but since TFA points out that: Back in the summer of 1979, the Detroit rock radio DJ Steve Dahl was so aggrieved that his beloved Stones and Zeppelin were being dropped from playlists in favour of Village People, Donna Summer and Chic, I would've been right with him.

/Agree with the above. Today's music does suck.

I love disco.

Basically, disco became house music, of which there are now 18 thousand varieties. Some of it is really good.

A lot of disco music is beautifully arranged and impeccably performed and feels great. There's no mystery why so many of the disco classics have been repurposed for hip-hop beats - great grooves and well-played. You may not like it, but it's totally unfair to say it sucks.

vernonFL: I love disco.

Basically, disco became house music, of which there are now 18 thousand varieties. Some of it is really good.

And some of it is gabber.

/;)
//I still love the dark stuff and noisecore

"Disco sucks" was racist? WTF?

I was a kid in Detroit in the late 70s and was as into the burgeoning rap scene as much as I was into rock. But I still had my WRIF "D.R.E.A.D." card.

Ugh. Some people have to read "ism" into everything.

Gangway Fathead,

If you do your research, a good portion of the records burned on that day were not JUST disco records. People brought any old "black" record they owned and burned it.

/just saying
//not black

Azz: Gangway Fathead,

If you do your research, a good portion of the records burned on that day were not JUST disco records. People brought any old "black" record they owned and burned it.

That would've been useful to put in TFA. But it's still strawman of an argument. It doesn't disprove the suckiness of disco or the alienation of rock fans.

Doctor Hooey: A lot of disco music is beautifully arranged and impeccably performed and feels great. There's no mystery why so many of the disco classics have been repurposed for hip-hop beats - great grooves and well-played. You may not like it, but it's totally unfair to say it sucks.

Disco was the hair metal of its time--everyone jumped on the bandwagon, good times were had for a few years, then something happens ("disco sucks", Nirvana) and everything implodes and careers comes to a screeching halt.

My best friend was the manager of a titty bar in DC back in the middle 70's, I listened to a lot of disco there while drinking free drinks pretty often. Still don't remember if disco was any good.

Of course disco sucked, but it got everyone laid...

Was there ever any doubt? Bravo, subby.

Doctor Hooey: A lot of disco music is beautifully arranged and impeccably performed and feels great. There's no mystery why so many of the disco classics have been repurposed for hip-hop beats - great grooves and well-played. You may not like it, but it's totally unfair to say it sucks.

Who said life's fair?

One of the best written songs EVER was "Disco:" Don't Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston.


/ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh BABY!!!!

Now that I've RTFA--as Knopper notes, in the disco era "to make it with a lady a guy had to learn how to dance. And wear a fancy suit!"

Bullshiat. On both counts.

Disco truly sucked & was a horrible aping of actual music, but the animosity towards it had nothing to do with gays or blacks. We were buying all kinds of Elton John, Queen, Bowie, Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Stevie Wonder, War, etc. What made it unbearable was that you couldn't avoid it on the radio at all, & it was murder on the ears.

The article writer is a putz. The "Disco Sucks" movement had NOTHING to do with the fact that it started in gay and black clubs but with the fact that you could not turn on a radio anywhere in the country and not hear disco. The Disco Sucks movement was a reaction to the music being forced down our throats whether we liked it of not.

The only good thing Disco produced was the Punk backlash. Punk has arguably had a greater influence then Disco ever did.

I like disco. The main themes of it are have fun and get laid. I can agree with that!

Disco never went away. They just stopped calling it that.

Dance music was part of popular music in the mid- to late-'70s, not its entirety. Sure, it dominated for a while, but there was a lot of Top 40 stuff during that time that was far from disco.

Hell, if you've ever been Rick-rolled, you've listened to disco.

I still like Italo Disco sometimes, and space disco is always awesome, and Balearic disco is not dead.

These guys had a big part in pushing rock back on the radio:

Saracuda: I like disco. The main themes of it are have fun and get laid. I can agree with that!

Rock and roll has the same effects and sounds better. A LOT better.

I was 14 before I realized that "disco sucks" was just one word.

haven't (and won't) read the comments or article, but there was some good disco. like daniel baldelli. he and his were all on smack in northern italy . . . making great, slow and cosmic disco.

yeah, i spent most of my life against disco

John Buck 41: Saracuda: I like disco. The main themes of it are have fun and get laid. I can agree with that!

Rock and roll has the same effects and sounds better. A LOT better.

When you think of disco, you hear the Bee Gees and the Village People, and you think "wow, how awful.

That's like saying rock sucks because of Winger and Megadeth. Get some class.

Winktologist: John Buck 41: Saracuda: I like disco. The main themes of it are have fun and get laid. I can agree with that!

Rock and roll has the same effects and sounds better. A LOT better.

When you think of disco, you hear the Bee Gees and the Village People, and you think "wow, how awful.

That's like saying rock sucks because of Winger and Megadeth. Get some class.

I've hated disco for 30+ years. If you think you can change my mind, think again.

//what's 'class' got to do with disliking a genre of music? Get some clues.

Doctor Hooey: A lot of disco music is beautifully arranged and impeccably performed and feels great. There's no mystery why so many of the disco classics have been repurposed for hip-hop beats - great grooves and well-played. You may not like it, but it's totally unfair to say it sucks.

I've said many times at least disco made clubs have to buy good sound systems that worked for rock as well.
/I have a "disco still sucks" shirt from a local radio station

Disco still sucks. Always will.

People didn't hate disco because they were racist and homophobic. They hated disco because it sounds like shiat.

The fact that it spawned house music just compounds its crimes.

John Buck 41
I've hated disco for 30+ years. If you think you can change my mind, think again.

//what's 'class' got to do with disliking a genre of music? Get some clues.

What's a dislike of music got to do with an emotion so deeply rooted that words like "hate" are warranted?

probably the only two disco songs i like are:
"i wouldn't wanna be like you" by the Alan Parsons project, 1976[great beat, catchy as hell, cool vocals, wicked guitar solo]

and "staying alive" by the BeeGees. [*runs and hides*]

oh i thought of a possible 3rd one: "another brick in the wall part 2" by Pink Floyd [if only includable for that disco beat]

Weigard:

People didn't hate disco because they were racist and homophobic. They hated disco because it sounds like shiat.

The fact that it spawned house music just compounds its crimes.>

VTSquire: John Buck 41
I've hated disco for 30+ years. If you think you can change my mind, think again.

//what's 'class' got to do with disliking a genre of music? Get some clues.

What's a dislike of music got to do with an emotion so deeply rooted that words like "hate" are warranted?

Perhaps you're reading too much into the word. I don't/didn't go around beating up guys in white 3 piece suits or vapid brainless women who only fark guys who dance, and I don't/didn't go around setting discos on fire. Feel better now?

keep in mind that this (Magic Bird of Fire by The Salsoul Orchestra) is disco

Link

as well as Santa Esmarelda's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Link

and I'll be damned if anyone puts down those two songs

They killed disco but emo won't farking go away.

There is no justice in this world.

John Buck 41: VTSquire: John Buck 41
I've hated disco for 30+ years. If you think you can change my mind, think again.

//what's 'class' got to do with disliking a genre of music? Get some clues.

What's a dislike of music got to do with an emotion so deeply rooted that words like "hate" are warranted?

Perhaps you're reading too much into the word. I don't/didn't go around beating up guys in white 3 piece suits or vapid brainless women who only fark guys who dance, and I don't/didn't go around setting discos on fire. Feel better now?

Right. And Lincoln was a great emancipator.

When I was a little kid I was huge into KISS. Thought they were bad-ass and I burned through stuff like "Destroyer" and the "Alive" albums endlessly.

Then when I was about 10 they had a new album coming out. It was called "Dynasty" and I was so excited.

As I listened to "I Was Made For Loving You", I sat there like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he realized his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring was a crummy commercial.

I grew up a lot that day.

I guess no one told Lady GAGA.

Delawheredad: The only good thing Disco produced was the Punk backlash. Punk has arguably had a greater influence then Disco ever did.

I agree with the latter, though I don't recall punk being a reaction to Disco as much as Prog. Hell, even Blondie went disco...

I know, right? Rhythm-melody-funk-composition-and the ability to play an instrument and read music is totally lame compared to computers and autotune. It's just progress, baby.

The following links are proof of how lame and shiatty disco was:


wtf? BRASS instruments? (new window)ELL-OH-ELL

Boogie? (new window)What kind of language is that? LAMENESS

BOOGIE-OOGIE-OOGIE? (new window)ROTFLMAO, chicks playing guitars.

1975 on The Midnight Special (new window) Say What? The best version of this song evar. it's pure crap. Bonus: THE ROBOT LAME

GalleyWench: I know, right? Rhythm-melody-funk-composition-and the ability to play an instrument and read music is totally lame compared to computers and autotune. It's just progress, baby.

The following links are proof of how lame and shiatty disco was:


wtf? BRASS instruments? (new window)ELL-OH-ELL

Boogie? (new window)What kind of language is that? LAMENESS

BOOGIE-OOGIE-OOGIE? (new window)ROTFLMAO, chicks playing guitars.

1975 on The Midnight Special (new window) Say What? The best version of this song evar. it's pure crap. Bonus: THE ROBOT LAME

Wow, 10 or 15 seconds of each of those confirmed every negative thought I had back in the day. Thanks for the reinforcement.

Disco sucks night gave howard stern someone to steal from, all hail steve dahl the real king of shock radio, stern is just an imitator and deserves to be only second fiddle at best, at worst 3rd fiddle behind dahl and dave rabbit.