The Note Episode 4 | Disco Demolition: Riot to Rebirth
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- čas přidán 20. 09. 2016
- The Note is a new documentary series from Red Bull Music Academy. Watch all episodes here: www.redbull.tv/thenote
At the height of the anti-disco movement in the late 1970s, Chicago rock radio host Steve Dahl devised one of the most infamous promotional events in pop culture history, and in doing so unwittingly set the stage for a dance music revolution.
The Note is a new series that uncovers and examines the vital creative crossroads and engrossing personal journeys that have and continue to shape our sonic landscape in profound ways. Our intial four episodes include documentaries about influential soundsystem designer Alex Rosner, Eddie Palmieri’s politically-charged Latin-funk masterpiece Harlem River Drive, the pioneering artist and engineer collaboration E.A.T. (Experiments in Art & Technology) and Chicago’s Disco Demolition Night.
The Red Bull Music Academy is a global music institution committed to fostering creativity in music. We celebrate music, its culture, and the transformative minds behind it. Begun in 1998, the Academy has taken the core principles that underlie its annual workshop for selected participants and applied this curatorial approach to events, lectures, and city-wide festivals throughout the year.
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-Talks about how Rock Musicians don't dress fancy for performing
-Conveniently ignores the stage outfits of The Rolling Stones or David Bowie
And hair metal which was just as excessive as disco
and Elvis......
@@heinoustentacles5719 ) I've been looking into "hair metal" and you're on point.
Also funny how "hair metal fans" are at war agianst grunge ( for being too serious ), but I wonder how they really feel about Disco then?
Bowie started as “glam rock”, also big in the 70’s.
All of that was directly influenced BY disco. All the worst '70s rock was influenced by disco. That's why it HAD TO GO, and it should've STAYED gone. Hair metal is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to rock music, and EVERYONE knows it.
P.S. Funk is NOT disco. Disco is CASTRATED funk.
I was 18 going on 19 when this event took place. I was watching it with my parents and getting ready to go out dancing. As a Black teenager, I and my friends and those in the Black and Latino dance scene (NJ & NYC) our vibe and community were strong. The clubs/parties/events were always crowded and a lot of fun. It was about SERIOUS DANCING and MUSIC. We were dancing to uptempo R&B, Funk, Jazz Funk, R&B Disco, and Disco (Disco that was funky and had R&B/Jazz elements to it). Certain Eurodisco artists got mad play like Cerrone, Don Ray, Alec Costandinos, Rinder & Lewis, Gino Soccio. Come to think of it, a lot of Disco was made by white producers, American or European with the majority of the singers being Black female and the occasional Black male vocalist. Black people have been dancing since we got here, Before DISCO, were dancing to Motown, Philly Soul, Chicago Soul, Stax, Jazz Funk, James Brown was THE man for us in the early '70s. We weren't dealing with white people and cared less about what they thought. We went to school together, no racial issues, no fights, everybody stayed in their lane. The white boys & girls liked their Rock and we were into uptempo R&B, Funk, Jazz-Funk, and some Disco (Soulful & Funky Disco). The two groups NEVER fraternized beyond school. We didn't see those white kids until Monday morning. Once Disco got huge, every uptempo R&B tune that was released was labeled as a 12" "DISCO" single. From the Whispers to Diana Ross to Chaka Khan to Funkadelic-Parliament to the Gap Band to James Brown..they all had 12" Disco Singles and they are NOT Disco Artists!!!! The 4/4 kick was push up in the mix or songs were remixed for Disco dancing. However, it was still uptempo R&B and Funk. It is about race, but it isn't. White rock boys in 1979, looking at a Black artist they are going to automatically assume it's Disco. Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Isley Brothers, Jacksons, Chaka, Patti LaBelle, Phyllis Hyman, Brainstorm, Brass Construction...was probably scooped up in that pile of "Disco Records". Our scene was NOWHERE near the hyped-up Disco Culture. Good Black Danceable Music was played in OUR clubs and parties. We played a lot of Rock Dance songs too, Chicago's "Streetplayer", Skatt Brothers, "Walk The Night", Rolling Stones, "Miss You" & "Dance pt. II". New Wave joints were played like Talking Heads, "I Zimbra" and "Once In A Lifetime". The average white boy rocker has NO idea how many people of his nation played on some of the DOPEST danceable R&B, Funk, Jazz, Jazz Funk, Soul, and uptempo R&B. That's why I said that it is about race but isn't. I had to put my own biases about music aside growing up in the post-Civil Rights Era as I did. The Players' Association, an ALL WHITE jazz-funk outfit made some of the HOTTEST Jazz funk records OMG! On their jackets were Black female models and probably ended up in the Demolition Disco explosion. All they saw was a Black face....and said, "Disco! Burn it". At the end of the day, this didn't phase us, we carried on to House, Deep House, Afro-House, Soulful House throughout the 80s and 90s...all races, creeds, ethnicities, and colors making the music and vibing together. That's DOPE!!!! It is what it is. Also, btw, we look for those '70s & '80s rock records with that Jazz/Funk/R&B element in a B-cut on the LP and getting turned onto the other Rock oriented joints on the LP
I was in the Army in the early 1980s. There was a good mix among racial groups in my unit. But off duty, we did not mix much. Black soldiers and white soldiers had their own clubs, dress, choice of cigarette brands , choice of alcoholic beverages, and music. In those years, many of us bought large, expensive stereo systems. That led to "stereo wars," in which soldiers put their large speakers in the barracks windows and blast their music in order to drown out the other guy. It's been a long time, but I think the command cracked down on that.
We were all working class. I hung out with the working class white guys. And I can tell you, the was against disco was absolutely about. On duty was one thing, off duty another.
Disco "was being shoved down our throats;" "it was us versus them" tell me again how this isn't about anti-black and anti-gay prejudice.
Yeah, the public was so homophobic that they totally embraced a new genre of music (heavy metal) whose entire stage presentation came directly out of the gay club scene and whose biggest band at the time (judas priest) was fronted by a gay man whose homosexuality was a totally open secret amongst fans for 20+ years.
The fact of the matter is: even if this hadn't happened disco was still dead and buried and there was a new hotness waiting to kick in the door in 1980 and banish it in a year in which something like a dozen huge genre defining albums were released thus cementing heavy metal's place at the top of the heap where it rightfully belonged.
@@Hammerhead547 okaaaayyyy.... @@
@@artkdegil8852
What I said is the truth.
Lol. Not at all.
I love disco, rock and metal ... I just can't hate on it
To this day, I remember how upset our dad was about the field being ruined! Little did he know, his daughter would become a house head and I loved and still love Disco!
And some of these a walls claim to have had a "good time" o_0
Try doing this with rock Records and see what happens then....
I wonder how many people at the demolition in Chicago were in DC on Jan 6?
Little did we know that Hip-Hop will come out of the ashes of Punk, Disco, R&B, Metal, House, and more!
But hip hop sucks and has no problems doing new versions of disco demolitions ...
@@justinbeck4197 a lot of modern day hip hop does suck. I cant deny that. Especially mumble rap. Hip hop at this point has lost its meaning...
But back in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s hip hop was still pure and not as mainstream. By the 2010s is when it started to fall apart. And today its in a coma.
Disco died in 79.....
Yeah right, it went from strength to strength..
"Disco isn't like rock and roll, its phoney and flashy". Lol wtf you got to say about hair metal.
As a white kid who loved rock and hated disco I'll say this, THE WORST. HORRIBLE. Because of Hair Metal the Eighties was by far THE WORST DECADE in American Pop Music History. The irony about the whole thing is that late 60's early 70's Disco clubs were playing rock and funk music. The Funk that turned into "Disco" music was great but record companies ruined it. I'm afraid that people who think that the racism somehow emanates from or is influenced by what color the artists are or the perceived race of the genre, are just wrong. Jimmy Hendrix is the greatest rock guitarist of all time. Most white rock fans agree. All that being said, I think a lot of Steve Dahl's fans were absolutely racist assholes. I hated him and never listened to the LOOP anyway. To be honest, I was there and didn't realize that it was associated with racism and homophobia until like 5 years ago. I had no idea.
@@jahnsahn7695 Elvis is the King Of Rock Roll because Record companies would promote him and none of the many Black Artists who started before him. Jimmie Hendricks music and estate is controlled by the White Woman his father married years after he died. These industries are racist because how else are these white executives going to stay relevant and preserve their livelihoods.
So rock stars were not flashy and putting on? Are you sure about that. I love rock and roll too, but you would never fucking ever see Black people holding a show to down it, while threatening White people who enjoyed it. And it wouldn't be because Blacks started rock and roll either. Its just vicious and inhuman! Yet, you call us vicious, criminal, lazy and hateful! Disco was never at fault for rock stations switching from rock to disco, that belonged to management. Rock artist like Rod Steward or the Rolling Stones made good decisions to create disco music to remain relevant, while making millions, until things came back to rock.
Danielle Brown Hair Metal was destroyed and ushered in Grunge music and the return of Alternative music. People wanted real music not gimmicky nonsense. Same thing with Punk and New wave. People were sick of Disco and to some sense over indulgent rock music that lasted 15 plus minutes per song. They wanted to music to get back to its roots and pure. That’s why people hated disco. It was phoney, a fad. Hence why it didn’t last and had to morph into something else.
@@ledflaplin2001 Interesting that Disco is phony or a fad...so let the fad fade away. Destroying records and threatening black people at the baseball stadium...maybe that's over the top.
Plus the stuff that came after it Punk Rock...that shit was real. Just a bunch of angry white kids with no rhythm screaming how they were against the establishment than voting for Trump when they got old.
Dance music fans - too busy having a good time to criticize other genres...
True
Hating disco is confusing at the first place.
The bass is good, the guitar is funky, so i dont see any problems.
Saying disco is not hated because of racial issue is just a shield. The reality is they are really fueled by racism.
I hope disco is respected as a genre.
I was 15 years old back then. I didn't hate disco. But all my stoner friends just abhored it.
well said Bryan!
DISCO NEVER DIED
I can imagine by the time Staying Alive came out it was played so much in the radio it was becoming a nightmare.
5:00 - So, because disco groups had wardrobes and makeup, that apparently made them phonies? There were plenty of rock and metal bands that had wardrobes and makeup. KISS, for example, is an iconic rock band who thrived on their costumes and makeup.
40 years ago was Disco Demolition night...the first Straight Pride parade.
Bullshit asshole. I was there and for a large share of that crowd it had nothing to do with race or gays. We were young rock fans at the end of Classic Rock's golden era going out to get fucked up at a baseball game, just like we did for every game. I didn't know there was any connection between gays and disco other than some of the artists were gay. That's a fucking stupid comment. Millions of people love the stones, Queen, David Bowie. Your full of shit.
@Frank x I didn't use one exclamation point or all caps. I'm saying it matter of factly, calm as a cucumber, the guy's a dick
@@jahnsahn7695 ) how would you feel if a group of people decided to destroy some of your favorite albums and then start to party on the debris?
@@steamboatwill3.367 It already happened with religious groups destroying rock records and then celebrating.
I did not give a flying fig.
I hated Steve Dahl at that time anyway.
Disco sucks because it's boring and fake.
I went to see some baseball and get wasted in Comiskey Park on a summer night in Chicago during the 70's.
I paid full price because I didn't own a disco record. Too bad you weren't around back then, could have used one of yours to get in for 98 cents
@@jahnsahn7695 ) well if you did, I would DESTROY your entire collection of Rock Records ( Except for Queen, only the "fake & boring" stuff like Led Zeppelin.. )
Atleast that's one thing we agree on, couldn't we just tie him to a chair and blow him up with fireworks instead of bickering over music?
STEVE DAHL SUCKS, DISCO DOESN'T.
I don't like most of Heavy Metal cause it's loud and obnoxious, but religious right wingers destroying them is wrong but it's no different from destroying Disco records.
Btw: apparently you could have brought any kind of record as long as the artists on it was black! That should tell you everything....
The guys who hated disco didn’t know how to dance, and they were afraid to learn. Most cultures traditionally had music and dancing, polka, kolo, salsa, African dance, etc. dancing is fun and it connects you to the music. If you can dance you can meet females, what’s the problem. Maybe you are uncomfortable in clubs with other races and sexual orientations. I am not. I was on campus at IIT that day and saw the army of rockers with their long hair, earth shoes, dickies, concert T shirts and albums under their arm. I am a musician, play jazz and blues and love dance music as well.
Fuck disco
Ive listened to a lot of both rock and disco but at its best disco will always have my vote.
Real disco wasn't the Bee Jees and 'white polyester suits'.
I agree, but songs like, "Dance, Dance, disco Lucy" was silly and it was really hard to take disco seriously but when the Bee Gees came out, them buy were great!
Bee gees were really good.
@@88godson88 ) indeed, why were is there so much hate on them and Disco?
@@steamboatwill3.367I have no idea. I was born after the disco scene so I tend to look at it more objectively. Disco is a great form and music and the good news is that its coming back.
If it wasn’t for Disco, the US would have literally no dancing/pop culture. This was all racially charged. So sad
BULLSHIT! People were dancing before disco was even a thought. Try again!!
I didn't want to admit to my rock and roll loving peers at that time that I secretly liked disco music.
I was there the day after..the field was so torn up. The outfiekd grass was painted green. We waited for 2 hours but the players refused to come out..so we left. July 13th. 1979. My birthday.., i turned 14
People say that "Funkytown," which came out about a year after the demolition, was the final disco hit. However, "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Holiday" by Madonna, and "Blue Monday" by New Order sound like disco songs.
So was "Upside Down" by Diana Ross
Yep, those were all disco songs as those were all disco influenced as disco truly never died. It's 70s identity ended up going away like it was going to do anyways.
I'd also say "I Do Believe (I Fell in Love)" by Donna Summer has disco hints
And don't leave out "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz.
I say disco continued on a smaller scale.
I love Disco it the best music to dance to
I was there, it was epic. People where throwing records at Ron LeFlore who played center field for the Tigers and has spent time in the can. The Sox fans where relentless. Beer ran out after the first game, and people were climbing the chain link fence to get onto the second story. After the first game of the twi light double header, Steve, Gary and Lorelei came out and blew up a container full of records. Then all hell broke loose until CPD came in with the dogs.
Folk in favor of this so-called disco demolition can explain away til they're blue in the face. But the reality is clear: it was blatant! There were black soul and blues artists in that pile, that had nothing to do with disco! And folk can explain all they want how "The Bee Gees and Village People were in that pile, too!" But the disproportionate impact was clear: a lot of musicians and venues, black musicians and venues, couldn't get work! I strongly believe that Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who influenced much of the American pop scene of that period (not just disco) would be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, if not for that night!
Nile Rodgers was inducted in 2017
stayin aliiiive
I LOVE/HATE THIS!!!! 😄:PUMA CREW:
I grew up as a teen in the Rogers Park area in the '80s. I lived through the death of Disco and the birth of House Music.
Medusa's, Music Box, The Riviera, AKA, COD, Rainbo, Bumble Bees, La Mirage, Smart Bar, WNUR, WGCI, WBMX, WKKC... I thoroughly miss those days!!!
Cheers from a Chicago native/military veteran living in England. 🏴🇺🇸
I would like to see a today's music demolition.
No human intervention required with the coronavirus scare
Yes of music you can't recognize the lyrics
What music?????..........nowadays there is no music !!!!
There's always the racial and culture elements in music, it's an expression of who you are and feel. Privileged people don't really see. I don't see African-American people blowing up records. This looks like a demonstration of people that want to impose a change because their music is not popular... As far as music goes, well we know how the king of Pop started as and how music has evolved into different genres (some are not worth mentioning) but I'm glad I have choice to listen music now.
Wrong.
It was the elitism and snobbery of the people who were "in the scene" and the clubs that were "the scene" that killed disco with the public while the black community almost universally hated it because they saw it as a bastardization of RnB.
To be "with it" in the disco scene you had to have large amounts of disposable income to be able to afford the dance lessons clothing jewelry hairstyles and door charges that got you into the clubs which basically meant that the "trendsetters" within the scene were all the children of the wealthy who had trust funds that allowed them to afford spend $2-3000 attaining "the look" that would guarantee them entry while the common rabble were left standing at the door begging for table scraps.
The clubs themselves were hotbeds of pretentiousness where the glitterati and children of the wealthy could only attain entree while regular people were literally told to fuck off and never come back by the bouncers/doormen because they could risk it getting out that common working class slobs were getting into their glittering monuments to cocaine perversion and debauchery where "the beautiful people" went to drink drug and fuck.
Very well said d !!!!
I remember the event, like it happened yesterday.
WOW, a pic of the Stranglers.......anyway I was there on the field, great time. I guess I wasnt into disco fashion but I didnt hate the music. Not all of it. I now have a Punk Disco band.
We are in a golden age of music. There will be a time when
technology becomes so advanced that we’ll rely on them to make music rather
than raw talent. Music will lose its soul. (Freddie Mercury 1946-1991)
(Music in the future) "might rely heavily on electronics, tapes, I can kind of envision maybe one person with a lot of machines, tapes, and electronics set up, singing or speaking and using machines.” ( Jim Morrison 1943 - 1971)
He never said that.
Anti disco movement wasn't racist at all. We all hated the music regardless the skin color. I had black friends who hated disco, no they weren't necessarily rock fans, they liked R&B, blues or jazz. It was so commercial and intrusively annoying. Radio stations changed formats overnight and then you realize the music you listen to was no longer playing anymore. As for today, I tolerate disco because at least they played their instruments and I realize that some were phenomenal musicians They also sang their songs, had real voices. Unlike today where everyone uses autotune.
The black and white people who hated disco were both off base. The majority (of all races) liked the music, disco was no music industry conspiracy, it's popularity was grass roots and genuine (at least in the early days). It brought races together. People like you and your black friends wanted to keep music segregated, like it is today, to the detriment of society. You probably live in a lily white neighborhood while most of your black friends probably still live in the hood. And as for technology in music, I believe history will look upon you harshly. Those arguments against "machines" in music are old and debunked, like you.
The black and white people who hated disco were both off base. What, u mean ordinary ppl can't have an opinion? RU brainwashed? Any1 can like or hate whatever. Who the fuck are these morons 2tell me that it's racist just because of disagreement? This godammed racist labeling is over used term.
You're right about disco bringing different cultures of ppl together, but, wrong about keeping music segregated is wrong. We didn't want to keep others from enjoying our music, we wanted more ppl 2listen 2our music, instead of that sleazy disco.
By the way, what's so detrimental about segerated music? Blacks 2day r demanding segregated dorms at colleges, did U know that? What's wrong about living in suburbs, what u call lilly white neighborhoods? Who wants 2 live with crime and the liberalism associated with that society? The decay, the war against police, criminals. Cops can't arrest criminals without fear of getting sued. Excess regulations etc....
As4 music these days, Christ, everything is fake. Artists like Beyonce, Britney Spears, Jenifer Lopez, Justin Beaver can't sing W/O autotune. It looks like they're acting to music coming out of the speakers. Utube videos show artists dropping microphones, on stage, and the sound doesn't change. With autotune, any1 can sing which is bullshit. Paris Hilton has recorded an album. I happen to like real artists who actually sing and play, write their own songs. But the controlled music industry doesn't. Every artist on radio today is phony.
I believe you are genuine, but you are way off about the reasons for the backlash.
The fact is that most people DID hate Disco because of what it represented, and the fact that it was a form of music that unified people of all colors and sexual orientations. It's not a coincidence that the majority of people who thought it was a good idea to destroy records in a country that is supposed to be AGAINST things like book burnings and destruction of ideas just happened to be white and "Rock and Roll" fans.
I'm a Disco DJ, I make a living playing Disco at clubs and festivals. I love Disco, but good Disco because I can tell you that about 80% of it sucks, it's really really bad. I can imagine in the late 70's it would have been very oversaturated. Just like how certain genres are now. When something gets popular a million producers jump on the bandwagon and churn out sub par material for a quick profit then jump ship when they've murdered the fad. I'm certain that some of the people involved in the disco sucks movement were racist or homophobic, I'm also certain that some of them just couldn't stand the sound.
i do remember that there were black musicians who hated disco and were pressured by record companies to do disco but they didn't want to. george clinton was someone who hated disco. a lot of the funk acts hated disco. i don't think the hatred for disco was racist. after all, once you have ethel merman making a disco record. that's when you know the genre hit the shark. once everyone and their grandmother made disco music, it was over.
i do like disco since you can dance to it and they did have musicians who can play their instruments. better than a lot of the bullshit music you hear today.
I take the gentlemen in this video at their word. "It was an us versus them" thing. It was a "lifestyle" that was "being shoved down our throats." Gee I haven't heard that said since.
They really did tell on themselves with those comments, didn't they
Well the gay thing really is shoved down people's throats. Heaps of slash fiction, ads virtue signalling even when it isn't June and here in Ireland when gay marriage was legalised the media wouldn't shut up about it for 2 whole years. I wish I was exaggerating.
I've never read slash fiction in my life. Also if you don't like virtue signaling ads buy another project.
Shit like the Bachelor is shoved down our throats more than that stuff.
Anyway the way those people reacted by burning records was over the top.
Nazis hate disco..a good Nazi like a broken clock is right once a day,.some disco does suck but Nazis suck more
disco forever!!!!
The Problem with Disco in 1979, is that it became too saturated and there was a backlash.
Rock N Roll fans hated disco because it was taking their peers away from Rock N Roll. Today, I hate rap for that reason.
@@jackyclaiborne2142 The fact that you even called it rap tells me you have no idea what you are talking about
And racism
That was not the problem. Growing was not the problem, it was not even a demand, but it was a time to make a hell of a lot of money, and rock bands did!
Thank God for WABC-AM in New York City circa 1979: here’s the roster of artists you would hear:
Donna Summer
Rush
The Beatles
A Taste of Honey
The Bee Gees
Luther Vandross
Evelyn Champagne King
Foreigner
KC and the Sunshine Band
Parliament
England Dan and John Lynn Coley (?)
Leo Sayer
Paul McCartney and Wings
Styx
The Whispers
Chic
Pink Floyd
Steve Miller Band
Prince
Michael Jackson
Bad Company
Marvin Gaye
Stevie Wonder
Linda Ronstadt
Dolly Parton
Bob Seger
Doobie Brothers (with and without Michael McDonald)
Sweet
Some David Bowie songs
George Harrison
Peter Frampton
Patti LaBelle
I think you get the idea
I just watched a terrible, two-dimensional piece on this event on 'Drunk History', and this nuanced, balanced and funky little documentary gave me the reality check I craved. House music forever, and Disco for life.
If you knew the power of radio since you were a kid how did you not see this happening.
The thing that confused me is that people who hated disco, which was started by black people was hating on it for the love for rock & roll music, which was also started by black people.
Jesse Saunders is such an incredible figure in music. He was literally there working as an usher during Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park when the "disco sucks" movement effectively killed disco off. He was there in the early days of house music and his song "On And On" was enormously influential. It got a lot of kids in Chicago to go out, pick up an 808 drum machine from the local pawn shop and start making house records of their own. How many guys are there at the death of a hugely popular genre and helped start another?
Are they the same sweet heart tolerant mates who entered into the capitol 41 years later january 6th 2021 USA?
Same crowd, different baseball caps.!!!!
This entire event can be summarized as "a bunch of young and stupid people doing and saying stupid shit".
I'll take his word for it when he says it wasn't about black or gay people. Suddenly our favorite music genre is not the most popular anymore, let's shit talk it to no end and blow up some records to show how funny and cool we are. Exactly what young and stupid people would do and say.
my music collection is diverse. It contains rock, reggae, disco, hip hop, dance gospel, dancehall, etc. Music is Love man!!!
Fair interview.
I was there but I stayed in the stands. By 1979 heavy metal had come out from the underground and was going mainstream but the disco craze was threatening to stifle that momentum. What this little documentary doesn't bring out well was that Steve Dhal had been whipping up anti-disco sentiment for some time before the concert and it finally just erupted. It was spontaneous. People just fed off each others' energy until it got out of hand. I am just now hearing about homophobia or racial undertones but that had nothing to do with it. It was just too many teenage without enough adult supervision.
BAM
You didn't bring any insight into the argument. So he's right.
So because you didn't see any racism that means it didn't exist
@@dubsideproductions2859 Why does everything have to be about racism? Flat out they just didn't like the damn shit!
Man I'm saying almost the EXACT same thing except Dahl didn't have to whip up anti-disco sentiment he just promoted it. I hated him at the time anyway. Classic Rock was becoming a parody with onset of the god awful "Hair" bands. Heavy Metal had been mainstream from the early Seventies so I disagree there. The popularity of Disco had no real effect on Rock. I just thought it was boring and the clubs were shiny and fake. But I was there. I didn't run on the field. I went to get wasted watch a ball game and blow up disco records. I also never realized that being "anti-disco" was associated with racism or homophobia until 5 years ago. Maybe it never crossed my mind because I love blues, jazz, soul, motown, stones and Bowie. Race and gender identity never entered the equation. It was a blast though. Did IL raise the drinking age back up to 21 right after this?
Illinois raised it from 19 to 21 in 1980
As stated,, from the end of Disco came House. And all the while, stirring in Bronx NY was the beginning of a genre that, to this day, dominates the music industry globally. With that said, its a RAP.
Is time to organize a "current mainstream music" demolition.
Funny how this event parallels Jan 6.
Before there was 4chan there was Steve Dahl. Seriously though, there are plenty of pop songs that annoy me, I don't go burning CD's though.
That is because you have no Understanding of the time. There are, at best, 10 TV Channels, most had 5. We in LA had 7. While there were more Radio Stations, 85% of them played NOTHING but Disco. There were no cassette players, obviously no CDs, no alternative place to listen to music.
If you did not have a A-Track you were forced to Listen to Disco on Radio AND TV for over 5 years.
You were also forced to wear disco style clothes or buy your clothes at second hand stores and army surplus stores.
This was a Fad that overtook most of Society, not a small section on CZcams.....
@@Papawill13 I was 15 years old back then and listened to both rock and disco. I lived in Miami, FLA and we had 3 rock stations and a few disco stations as well on the radio. And disco was big down in Miami. I didn't understand really why all my stoner friends just hated disco. But they seriously considered it uncool. Some things just are.
disco is still alive ah ah ah
Whats the song playing from 6.32 to 9.20 in the backround?
czcams.com/video/6Q3PkEjKMLc/video.html
Skatt Bros. Walk the Night
youre welcome 😎
Actually, the fire happened to some of the records because they were already had plentiful amounts of dynamite powder or gunpowder or something like that, and when the records went up, a few of them started to be on fire.
seriously one of the most polarizing moments in music history. it's like watching a lynching and it's like watching the big bang.
Interesting take. They didn't kill it, they galvanized it, and now it runs the world. 10 years ago, there was a stadium full of white Chicago kids watching Daft Punk playing disco music, and it's only grown from there.
Threecreation
No it wasn't. Disco was terrible, and I say this as a black man. I would probably be the ones there in the riot.
That's just stupid, the Bee Gees were the most played disco on mainstream radio at the time. It was the whole goofy dico persona that people disliked. It had NOTHING to do with race. Some black people will complain about anything. This is one of the reasons why most of you people don't get ahead in life. Idots
TheNinjaPicker if it wasn't racist...then why did one of the ushers say the people there were burning black records. Seems like a bunch of angry future Trump supporters burned music and destroyed a stadium because they didn't like a certain type of music. Seems like they were thugs to me.
@@tomstreet2859 one of the black ushers said they were burning black albums. So that makes everything and everyone there a racist?
5:52 perfect.
A real stretch here in this video (equating the disco demolition to racism or intolerance).....most of those drunk, pot filled fans were not from Bridgeport. There isn't enough people living there to fill Comiskey, let alone just the kids. Was Bridgeport racist in the 70's? Absolutely! But that is not what drew the anti-disco crowd there. They were suburban kids who were getting ticked off that all of the Chicago rock stations were switching to disco music in their programming. As Steve Dahl said, he simply tapped into a feeling that was larger than himself. My friends in Detroit felt the same way about radio there as well. They just didn't get that wild about it. But the "disco sucks" shirts sold just as well in Detroit as in Chicago. Later I found out St Louis was going through the same issue and KSHE was promoting "no disco" as well. Anyone who tries to equate "disco sucks" as a racial or homophobe thing is too lazy to actually figure out what drove it.
The footage from ddn looks like the end of a documentary. Like, a Disco group is preparing for their last concert on that night, but when they go on, instead of the audience loving them, they viscerally boo them and try to kill the band. The main singer then goes backstage and blows his brains out while saying "I guess I do suck"
We need to do this to today's music.
shitty pop music gotta go
Yes, today's music is 100% absolute garbage
Todays music???????.........there is no music.!!!!!
My teenage years aligned perfectly with the Disco Era. What I remember most at the time of this incident was, "Um, disco peaked about a year and a half ago. I can't believe these bozos aren't aware of that." I knew it had peaked when my mother wanted to see "Saturday Night Fever," because she had heard there were exciting dance scenes in it. She came away deeply disturbed by it. It truly is a depressing, violent, misogynistic movie. I was never a disco fan, but much of the music from an artistic standpoint has held up pretty well, and I enjoy listening to it and playing it. It's a credible sub-genre of rhythm and blues. It took music production far into the future. The disco culture lampooned by the strangely imbecilic yet likable Steve Dahl by 1978, agreed, was pretty insufferable. But the anti-disco movement was at its core about racism, sexism, and class warfare. The historical threads of it can be traced directly forward to the Donald Trump movement of 2016.
I enjoy your take on this moment, and I would love to listen to records with you.
That would be fun. I appreciate the message. I was driving home from Detroit just last Saturday, and Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" came on the radio. It was topping the charts in the summer of '79, when the "Disco Demolition" event was held. The shimmering mix and the use of compression in the production of that song is breathtaking, and from the moment it begins, it just jumps at you. Remarkable.
The way the club and the characters were portrayed in Saturday Night Fever had nothing in common to the actual discos at the time (from what i've read). The clubs were predominately black and gay and weren't playing what would be the commercial tacky disco that would follow. I watched the movie recently and it's total crap, including the soundtrack. I suppose if everyone in America/the world who hadn't been in the 'disco' scene only had this movie to go off, what else was going to happen?
@@Ciavdj ) say what you will about the film itself but you can't hate the soundtrack...
To all the old timers who still think disco sucks, ever heard of Dubstep? Or the pop music nowadays that music sucks. Not disco.
The hidden message of “DISCO SUCKS” in 79/80 era,I lived through it,I was shamed to like disco and I def knew what they meant when they said that phrase.I remember on corner traffic “STOP” signs the rockers would graffiti “Disco” under the letters “STOP”so it would read,” STOP DISCO” so the Disco heads would graffiti on top of the “STOP” and write “CAN’T” so it would read,”CAN’T STOP DISCO”. -LOL- Yea I’d admit there was some cheesy disco,it happens when things get too commercialized and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon but for the purist,disco was glamorous,the beat was infectious,the music made you forget your troubles and you’d dance all night. The funny thing is Disco never died. Rock did. Disco went underground and reformulated itself,it updated itself through a genre called high energy. It gave birth to HIP HOP. Disco reformed itself and shed all its glitzy,polyester self and got back to its roots and resurfaced in the late 80’s called HOUSE MUSIC. Just like hip hop which keeps changing and attracting the youth,Disco has managed to still be relevant today as it morphs itself into today’s electronic music. - dj Ernie Pearl
I never thought of Disco Demolition as racist. I actually attended the event, though I didn't run onto the field. I respected the game of baseball too much to do that. Plus, I didn't want to get in trouble. I didn't hate "disco music," but I wasn't a fan of the flashy culture that surrounded it. I did like "Saturday Night Fever." But that's a movie, not "life." "Intimidation" could be a motivational factor in "hating" anything. But that's not necessarily racist. It could be cultural bias. I'm not a fan of country music, for instance. Of the two movies, I prefer "Saturday Night Fever" to "Urban Cowboy." Steve Dahl is NOT a racist.
But like some of the records they were exploding were just black records
Glen DiCrocco But it was still racist in the sense that it was an aversion to “music associated with disco” which at the time was really just code for black music. Bee gees records weren’t being thrown in there because of their race but Stevie wonder and Ray Charles records? Why were they being thrown in? Why were Sub Ra and Marvin Gaye records being thrown in? That’s not disco that’s just black music.
I paid full price because I didn't have a disco record to bring. I've lived in Chicago my whole life and yes it is a very racist city, and Bridgeport is/was one of the most racist neighborhoods in the city. But the people who went to Comiskey came from all over the suburbs. I was a massive White Sox fan and I hated disco. "Rock" was only about 10 years old at that time and for young kids in the Suburbs it was our thing. I absolutely loved Motown, blues, reggae, Soul but I hated disco. All my friends were the same. Some (most in turns out) of my friends were racist but that had nothing to do with why we hated disco. It just sucked and we were there to get hammered. We did. By the way, I'm not friends with ANY of those people anymore.
jahnsahn76 But it did have to do with why they hated disco, that may not have been why you hated disco specifically but you already admitted that they were indeed racist
Music has many faces.... Racism has one face... I like my odds.. Dancing my ass off in front your face, racism! Psh... Thank you Red Bull for posting...
Disco has some great music, but it became overly commercial and ate itself. It's like Hair Metal. It's started off good with great bands and ended with completely shitty commercial bands.
How was Hair Metal possibly good? That was shit asf.
You just described every genre that had 2 years of mainstream success ever.
Λ t h a r v nonsense soul ,RNB ,funk being going on for 50 years
What "bad/commericalized" disco songs?
@@gustavomelles1
The early stuff was actually quite good, it was only when they started manufacturing bands to fit the trend in '88, '89 and '90 that it fell on its face.
Legit guitar gods like George Lynch Robin "King" Crosby, Adrian Vandenberg, John Sykes, Nuno Bettancourt, Vivian Campbell, Brad Gillis, Vito Bratta and Warren Di Martini all made their names during that time and came out of that scene still having huge influence to this day.
Nothing racial about it. Disco wasn't hated because it was "black" music. It was hated because it had taken over the late 70's, and many people were tired of it. It was overexposed, saccharine, and nauseating to many, especially after several years of dominating the pop culture landscape. Disco was already in its death throes at the time of the infamous event.
Disco was very hated because of its blackness
Glen DiCrocco Your personal experience doesn’t negate the long running negative attitudes of black people and their culture and how that played into the backlash against disco.
Record companies took over a whole lot of the music market and promoted less talented White Disco Artists. The Disco Club atmosphere was promoting a certain unity between Whites, Blacks, Gays and etc. They didn't stop making Rock records or any genre. This was reactionary fear just like today when Movie studios Race bends Superhero characters.
@@WithoutRemorse12 ) exactly.
I don't like most '70s music in general, but the anti-disco movement is still a testament to how annoying rock fans can be.
It was all Steve Dahl’s fault for everything that happened that night. Mike Veck was fired and bared for life from all forms of MLB
Nonsense.
Rock musicians wore on stage what they wore on the bus? Bullshit.
Ever heard of KISS?
I don't get how people hated disco. I wasn't around during that time but my mom was. She said I loved disco and I like it as well. Those people were stupid by destroying disco records. That was good music they were destroying. I like rock as well but I like disco more. It always makes u dance. Dahl obviously had no taste in music.
Steve Dahl was *(and still is to this day)* a dumbass
Show Jamaham..
song at 0:43?
Skatt Brothers - "Walk the Night"
I think Steve Dahl has a point in saying that if everyone is equal than they should all be made fun of equally too.
Ok, But did anyone make fun of him shooting fire works at him?
Is there a Disco decorated with "Steve Dahl Sucks" and animations of him being tortured "Itch & Scratchy" style?
I have a brilliant idea myself but I can't share it now...
There is a good and bad side to every thing in mans point of view. Why hate something thats prt of the general culture just because of something you cant do? Disco was not the problem but the person who hated it. Shame on all of you.
song at 5:23?
hey, it's WAYNE FORD - Dance To The Beat Freakout
thnx Flall10
Why didn't they interview anyone that was there besides promoters and employees?
How do you hate a genre of music so much you wanna do this like just dont listen to it what a bunch of weirdos
9:44
Are you kidding?!
He said he couldn't wear something like that......
wondering if someone will make a movie out of it,maybe a dark comedy starring Jack Black,hehehe
It was the night that disco die.
So the guy who was a 14 year old usher gets the last word on this one ? I would have edited this one ending with SD claiming it was not malicious but hey ... I was 12 when DD occured , i was a dahl fan . i had a freind who was into disco but i did not care for it at all . as a matter of fact when i heard SD and his DD it was very funny but never racist or malicious. So the only problem with your video is that DD was it was NEVER racist or homophobic to me, but i am sure those (kkk) types embraced it for the wrong reasons. Steve seemed to be going against the watered down white disco, not so much the underground gay latino / black comunity. Thats how i percieved it, i never saw it as a racial thing, ever. I can see how you could easily make these connections but that wasnt what DD was about at all to be honest- i was listening every day BTW. I kind of cant even believe you would go after him on this one when he was known to play queen bee bbq comercials on air in the 90s. Oh and disco still sucks BTW , but so does bro country and pop punk , djent , hip hop , rap , reggaetone etc . the thing is i dont listen to that but it also isnt shoved in my face constantly like it was in 77-78 with disco . for every type of music i can enjoy there is 90 kinds that i do not enjoy , thats not racist its just having good taste .Now i just listened to the cameo album from 1978 and its excellent , its SO good i highly doubt SD would have had the balls to "blow it up". meaning SD was not going after the REAL dance music , he was going after the counterfeit white version.
6:44 But where did all those racists get all those 'black' records from? You'd think they wouldn't own any of that stuff.
I really believe this is the night that killed music or at the very beginning of it. One thing you hear is the word evolution and that evolution got misguided after disco fadeaway although it never truly died it evolved into what we just call dance music today, but is disco was able to live out its full life in the mainstream then music would still be great today, but it's not because overtime rap replaced it and we know rap music killed music, not the great rap music of the 80s and 90s, the trashy part of rap that the industry shoved in your face for the better of the 2000s. Disco was supposed to had turned into something great as I believe some of those rappers in the 90s would've had mainstream music setup for a great 2020s and we missed out on that because of the heavy backlash against disco in the late 70s and early 80s.
disco actually means record in spanish not the type of music being played, hello?
Ebb and flow. Alternative pushed out 80's rock too. Not racist.
So you're just gonna pretend white supremacy doesn't exist
@@dubsideproductions2859 Fuck off with your race card.
@@Bss_-eo9dn Thank you. He just keeps putting that same comment out again and again.
Did they blow AC/DC records?
I thought not.
Look at Twisted Sister and the glam rock bands, not too much different in a flashy way. I am not a big rap fan, that does not make me racist. When something goes mainstream, there will always be a counter culture. We should know this by now.
Disco lives!!
Disco died!
DISCO FOREVER!!!!
Rock and Roll was rebellious….disco was not rebellious.
Funfact: Disco is still alive and kicking🕺
Yeah the music itself just evolved (think of house and dance-pop)
You can like all kinds of music - but Disco was so big, overexposed - so oversaturated that it pushed aside a lot of up and coming music until the backlash gave enough room for Synthwave, Punk and New Wave to appear. That was the real motivator for 'Disco Sucks'.
I don't think this event had anything to do w/killing disco in Chicago - it was just the tail end of a fad where all the music sounded so similar it could never have had staying power. Personally, I hate disco and always have. As a kid in the 70's I always felt left out of the popular scene of the day. And the Judas Priest crowd were all 20 yr old guys that would pick on me when I was 12. When I discovered Punk, I knew I was home - and the Disco and hard rock crowd could both go drop dead
I can't believe there's people actually calling people who don't like a particular type of music racist. So that would mean that every black person that doesn't like AC/DC, Twisted Sister, Motley crew a racist. Some years later, Rap got popular. And I didn't like it. But guess what - Eminem is white. But he played that rap music. And Kid Rock? I didn't like him until he started playing rock. This is about music, not skin color.
Turning the Disco Demolition into a racist riot is a moronic thing to do. Stop race baiting everyone into thinking that was rooted in racism. There were tons of white disco groups, and even rock musicians were playing disco back then. Groups like KIss, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and more were all turning to Disco to make a quick buck. THAT is what this event was against. It was against the genre of music that was cheap, saturated, and corrupting the singer/songwriters of the world. It WAS NOT about race. It was about a style of music. Period. There were black people who liked rock n roll, and black people in this country actually INVENTED rock and roll. The Blues is the truest form of music in Black America, NOT disco. Disco was over saturated, over played, and people rebel against what they are force fed by the powers that be. Plain and simple.
Maxxx Modelz Well put!
So you're just gonna pretend white supremacy doesn't exist
Would you have destroyed Rock too?
I can this just another Reactionary junkie who cries anytime some protests racism, well if you're "non racist" why are you even annoyed by people "anti-racist".
REACTIONARIES are the real snowflakes....
and you prove always their point by still hating on Disco, just like people defending Nazism....
i wish we could do this with hip hop !
Haha seems like you're the only one.
@@starluxstudio619 Nope but truth is most of the people in the world are idiots and they deserve to be shot !
Thanks for divulging for sense of white privilege. We really should do this for rock & roll and see how THAT flies.
@@georgecrenshaw6309 come and see my white privilege while working shitty job for 550$ a month !
@@dzonnyblue3065 and your boss is an LGBT person of color who likes R&B, hip hop, AND disco? I rest my case.
Showing their true face… 'Disco' was just a Cover-Up for what they really hated, which is the culture and the people. Disgusting.
They were just a bunch of stupid Cleitus for me.
"Steve Dahl's Rude Awakening" (Dahl's previus radio program) never achieved solid ratings despite media attention. Ten months later, on Christmas Eve, 1978, WDAI changed formats from ROCK to DISCO and FIRED Steve Dahl. He was angry with that. But now, who the fuck is Steve Dahl ? Disco will never die. Steve yes.
He only made an ass of himself by doing this.
Fustrated moron, that never learned to dance.!!!!
Yes, Steve Dahl .......You.!!!
Thankful this is on youtube. Your own media player on your website is shit. Stop using it and just embed these youtube videos.
I remember that night very well, I was 17. I'm not racist or homophobic, I wasn't at the time.....BUT I hate and hated disco.....I was glad it ended.....It makes no sense that disco haters are racists.....The biggest, chicest clubs were 100% white, or nearly so....most blacks were excluded from those clubs, most whites as well.....only the wealthiest people frequented those clubs....blacks were not among the wealthiest people.....nor was I, growing up in a housing project in Sw Georgia, Albany Georgia......which was 90% black(I am white).
This had NOTHING to do with race….. it was all about music loyalty….PERIOD.they don’t talk about the neighborhoods where rockers were attacked by disco thugs!!!
This has EVERYTHING to do with racism and homophobia. This event was spearheaded by a bunch of white heterosexual males who felt they were becoming inferior to a culture they're not a part of. It is exactly the same as a politician who states we need to "take back our country."
Disco sucks came from a white man if he only new that it’s still here and I play them all the time and still have disco party and it will never go away and they are expensive now and it will never never go away
It is certainly true that there are vast realms of prejudice and homophobia present in Chicago and other cities. But the hysteria over disco demolition, and the scapegoating of Steve Dahl as having lead some sort of racist or homophobic event is completely ludicrous.
To the people who attended disco definition, the primary cultural representation of disco music was the white heterosexual Bee Gees. The fact that people got into the stadium just carrying any old R&B record had more to do with the fact that if you presented a record you got in for $.98 then with racism.
Disco music and disco dancing still exist. But that music isn’t really on the radio anymore. There’s not a whole lot of rock music on the radio anymore either. But disco became so much more than just a style of music. It was a pop-culture phenomenon that got watered down and resulted in a whole lot of shallow garbage, yes including disco duck. It’s hard to disagree with the assertion that it was a candidate for a parody attack.
i can't stand when someone says " why were they afraid of disco? why scared of something different? it's not that at all ... shit is shit
i used to love house music but got into techno real fast in 94, also because most house music sounds too fluffy happy joy joy to me. some people like hard hitting raw in your face music and we can't stand the cheesiness of certain songs so we hate. because i'm passionate about techno music ... and techno is 70% shit... 20% great songs and 10% of fuck yeah !!
today i shit on EDM because it sounds awful and cheap like the 90s dance music was to the underground electronic (tech) scene
,,Disco isn't like rock and roll"
me ,,okay boomer"
because that's what a boomer would say