Posted on 05/17/2012 10:21:14 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
To brighten up your day, a guest on MSNBC just said (indirect quote) "I have never seen a movement in America to quiet a musical genre as the anti-disco fever which was a slap to Donna Summer. It is similar to today's marriage equality: get back in the closet."
He said this while an image of Donna Summer was on the screen. Liberals have absolutely no shame.
couth - Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; refined:
And yet the media will never point out the true history of the progressive mvoement and the democrat party when it comes to civil rights.
Lest we forget that the demcorats are the party of the KKK. What is not pointed out by the media (or by anyone) but is amazing when looked at within a historic perspective is that we are about to have the party of the KKK, who fought against civil rights for nearly their entire history, now redefine the meaning of civil rights in America.
They want to do it now while America has a black President for two reasons; a.) it gives them cover against their past history by letting them claim they are not racist because they elected a black man President, and b.) being that they lost the civil rights issue in relation to the rights of black Americans it is a symbolic victory for them to redefine ‘civil rights’ and regain control over the issue with a black man leading their party.
Why is it never discussed as to how this issue will redefine ‘civil rights’? Is precedent being set for a person’s sexual behavior to possibly be as important (or more important?) as their race or gender? If more forms of sexual behavior or sexual identification become recoginized as protected classes then how do all these different protected classes weigh against eachother? Is being homosexual more important then being black?
It amazes me that the party of the KKK is possibly near accomplishing the complete reconfiguration of the meaning of civil rights and no one even points out that fact.
I’ve heard time and again that the backlash against disco was racist and anti-gay, since the music it’s based on—funk and salsa—came from blacks and hispanics and gay people liked it. Well, what about all the white people that loved it so much from the mid-70s to the very early 80s? It was white people who put the Bee Gees and Donna Summer on top of Billboard, as much as it was white people who wore “Disco Sucks” t-shirts. Disco wouldn’t have annoyed white people enough for the to hold giant destruction rituals in baseball stadiums if other white people hadn’t overplayed it. Somehow you never hear that side of it.
A few other things to thank the Democrat Party for: Slavery, The Confederate States of America, Jim Crow Laws and Gun Control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4yWP6DMhgo
Disco was just EVERYWHERE (including Burger King commercials) and people got really sick of not being able to avoid it.
“I have never seen a movement in America to quiet a musical genre as the anti-disco fever ..”
When faced with adversity, American pull together to defeat the forces of evil.
Not to mention she died... no class.
There were many reasons for the anti-disco backlash...yes, there were the gay and racial issues, but there was more than that. Disco was the total antithesis of the rock movement...you had to dress up (no T-shirt and jeans rock uniform), you had to actually *learn* how to dance, you had to spend money and have all the *right* things, it was exclusive/exclusionary (the doorman and the velvet rope). And yes, it became very, very overplayed by the time of Disco Demolition in July of 1979.
There are backlashes against every type of music. Silly comparison.
Bands were replaced by DJ’s and don’t get me started on Drum Machines.
I’m sorry. I almost forgot.
DISCO SUCKS AND THERE’S THE DOOR!
Remember in Airplane...
“WZAZ...Where Disco Lives Forever” right as the plane clips the antenna.
I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that the first record I ever bought (and yes, it was a 12” vinyl record) was a Bee Gees album.
was this before or after summer died today ?
“Drum Machines.”
I played in a Country trio that used a drum machine for a while.
“Boop-a chicka,,,, Boop-a chicka!,,,,Boop-a-chicka,,Boop!”
A smart host would have asked how well disco is doing these days. BTW, who watches MSNBC?
After, it was during a “breaking news” segment.
Disco music AIN'T classical music. Classical music is still listened to because it is tried and tested, that is, still being listened to and played all over the planet.
Side-note: the Chinese are big into opera these days, thanks to the Great One, Luciano Pavarotti, who introduced opera to the Chinese. The crowds applauded LOUDLY whenever Pavarotti hit The High Note. Also, there are now Chinese tenors who appear in world-wide opera. Talk about WEIRD to look at...the famous operas are in Italian and German (with some in French and other languages). WEIRD, weird, weird.
And then “Get The Knack” came out, and killed disco for good.
what sleezeballs.
The funny thing that I’ve observed is, going to a lot of parties with people in their mid-40s is that once they put on some 70s disco, everybody immediately starts dancing....and I would suspect most of those people are the people who hated it back then. Like it or not, it was the soundtrack of our lives back then.
Hahaha, so true, so true.
Even more amusing is how many established rock bands delved into disco at its peak...even KISS put out “I Was Made For Loving You” in 1979.
“Disco was the total antithesis of the rock movement”
Rockers certainly thought so, but they forgot themselves. Rock and roll was originally dance music, and never lost that essence, no in its least danceable offshoots. You didn’t see very many people dancing to, say, Black Sabbath or The Ramones, unless you count headbanging and pogoing, which you shouldn’t. But consider one of the biggest surviving rock acts of the disco era, Van Halen, and you have a perfect model for danceable hard rock. You could look back to Led Zeppelin, as well, or sideways to Aerosmith. They weren’t made exclusively for dancing, but they do in a pinch. Heck, you can even dance to AC/DC if you want.
That’s what rock is made for, is what I’m saying, even when it isn’t readily apparent.
“you had to dress up (no T-shirt and jeans rock uniform), you had to actually *learn* how to dance, you had to spend money and have all the *right* things, it was exclusive/exclusionary (the doorman and the velvet rope”
Ah, here we get to the nub of the issue. I don’t believe you needed to learn how to dance, at least not as intensively as before rock. Disco is infinitely easier to pick up than swing, big band, or more advanced line/square dancing. There was the Hustle, and you could salsa, samba, lambada, etc. all you wanted. But they weren’t necessary to get on the floor. They weren’t all Travoltas out there. Most of what they did was as free-form as hip-hop is today.
Anyway, that’s beside the point. What do all the things you mention have in common? Think about it: clothes, structured dancing, club exclusivity...women, that’s what! Women like it when you dress up, show them off on the dance floor, and not have to hang around huddled masses of sweaty guys. Disco was chick music, before it was anything else. It was also gay music, naturally, since gays as you may have noticed are basically women. You, if you were a rocker, had to play along to get you know what. Which undoubtedly frustrated a lot of rockers, having to loitter around music they hated for the sake of something else.
That, more than race, class, or anything else is what seperated disco from the rock of the day. That is, the rock that wasn’t glam, which by the way came back in a big way shortly afterwards under the name hair metal, itself meeting a backlash similar to disco in the following decade.
“And yes, it became very, very overplayed by the time of Disco Demolition in July of 1979.”
Look no further for the cause of the backlash than right here, in my opinion. Disco had limited appeal and for whatever reason, call it popular delusion and the madness of crowds, outgrew its natural fanbase. It would survive under different names: new wave, pop, r&b, hip-hop, etc., to be enjoyed by its female, gay, black, and hispanic devotees as well as the mainstream. But it wouldn’t, couldn’t dominate the mainstream forever, just as heavy metal and punk couldn’t. Because they get old too fast for those who don’t love them exclusively.
“Don’t forget the drug culture that went with it.”
Oh, sure, no one did drugs in the 80s.
Very true, although I lumped the drug issue under “cost”, because rock of course had its own drug culture. Difference being, drugs with young rock fans mainly meant passing around some weed. Drugs in disco meant pills or cocaine, quite a bit more expensive.
It also popularized polyester as a valid clothing material, and also reintroduce the mixed drink instead of previous generation's wine and beer preference.
It restyled dirty-uncombed-hair to something more acceptable. In tern- this led to the zenith of hair styles we saw in the 80s!!
Disco has basically morphed into Techno.
Don’t apologize. The brothers Gibb are/were some of the best pop song writers of all time. There’s entirely too much guilt wrapped around memories of disco. Surely children of the 70s overdid it, but remember, it never actually died.
What they called “new wave,” with bands like Blondie and Duran Duran, is basically indistinguishable from disco. Michael Jackson and Madonna, whose music they dubbed, for lack of a more precise term, “pop” undeniably did disco. Ever listen, really listen, to “PYT” or “Into the Groove”? Rap and hip-hop endlessly recycle, literally, disco tracks.
I can hardly think of any popular music of the rock era that will be listened to as long as the classics. And I mean the real classics, now, the Mozarts, Beethovens, Bachs. At best Sinatra (yes, I realize he’s anchored in a previous era), Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson. But this is an unfair comparison. It’s like setting DaVinci beside doddles in a magazine ad. Classical music is high art, though often with great popular appeal. Rock and roll is all popular appeal.
“Heck, you can even dance to AC/DC if you want.”
I’ve been to a lot of parties where I’ve seen (and been among) people dancing to “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
“Disco reintroduced dancing & clubbing to the dating scene. It also rejected the scuzzy & dirty, and too much hair dress look of the previous generation to a more dressy look.”
Yes, that’s eminently believable as it was, like I said, chick music. We tend to look back at the entire era as one giant fashion travesty, but just think how sick and tired women must have been of hippies. If it took earth tones, pea green, platform shoes, liesure suits, and so forth to get away from body hair and dirt, so be it.
“also reintroduce the mixed drink instead of previous generation’s wine and beer preference”
I never thought of it, but I suppose you didn’t see many hippies with martinis and old-fashioneds.
“I’ve been to a lot of parties where I’ve seen (and been among) people dancing to ‘You Shook Me All Night Long.’”
Have you ever been to a strip club? It’s basically their national anthem.
Thanks. Now I have “Disco Duck” running through my head and I can’t make it stop.
I have never, I repeat, NEVER been in a strip club. :)
Okay, maybe once or twice. But not in a long while.
didn't see ANY hippies or hip-wannabees. Disco gen rejected the hippie gen, which was lamented in liberal college papers at the time.
not martinis >> but screwdrivers, Sinapore Slings, pina coladas, gin&tonics, Sloe Gin Fizzes, & Daquiries.
yes the punk/crak bands killed disco WITH the help of Urban Cowboy . Jeans came back with a vengence and the forever disappearance of under $20 jeans became the norm.
“Disco gen rejected the hippie gen, which was lamented in liberal college papers at the time.”
Yay! This is something never brought up, and I thank you.
It’s 1 of the big problems with putting all those people under “Baby Boomer” umbrella - they were totally different.
I hate hippies and the ‘60s culture (which to this day they still can’t stop patting themselves on the back). Personally I see the ‘60s as the real fashion disasters, not to mention disaster in just about everything else. And I DO mean everything.
“Disco reintroduced dancing & clubbing to the dating scene. It also rejected the scuzzy & dirty, and too much hair dress look of the previous generation to a more dressy look.”
You are like a prophet. Saying things that are never said even in private discussions.
Heavens that people should have to look good and make an effort at real dancing (not that they HAD to). Polyester may’ve been a generally poor choice, but the principle of looking nice, not like a damned loser commie hippie, would’ve come through no matter what the material.
“It restyled dirty-uncombed-hair to something more acceptable. In tern- this led to the zenith of hair styles we saw in the 80s!!”
Amen! People looked good. Then we went ‘80s and it was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!
Or in the ‘60s.
Or in “rock & roll”.
My opposition to disco then as it is now is not a backlash against black or gay music performers, it is backlash against a vapid superficial cocaine fueled pop music field. The music plain sucks and the egoists who loved the era tell you of the wild drug fueled exclusive swinger parties at Studio 54. It wasn’t about the music, it was about living to excess.
The same is true of today’s hip-hop “stars” with their bogus “street cred” bios and massive ego driven music about anyone giving a cr@p when they walk in “da club”.
James Brown was far cooler than disco and you could dance to it. Same is true of gay-hispanic ? Mark and his brothers in the Mysterians.
“Rockers certainly thought so, but they forgot themselves. Rock and roll was originally dance music, and never lost that essence, no in its least danceable offshoots. You didn’t see very many people dancing to, say, Black Sabbath or The Ramones....
“That’s what rock is made for, is what I’m saying, even when it isn’t readily apparent.”
Absolutely. Real rock & roll was killed by the Beatles (hippie version, at least) and the like (any coincidence they’re British and not American?). It became less and less about dancing and having fun and more about “being cool” i.e., being current. The original ‘50s makes were largely conservative types, including DRESSING WELL, but the San Francisco hippie-drippy scene took over and it became rampantly liberal. Including looking like $#@%# and inhibitions about being fun - no dancing, just sitting around and “listening”. “Cool” started to mean absolutely no action that could make you seem like a fool. No fun.
“Disco had limited appeal and for whatever reason, call it popular delusion and the madness of crowds, outgrew its natural fanbase.”
I find that hard to believe. People must all be real fools, then, because Disco was “popular” or it wouldn’t have been on the charts so much.
Meanwhile, “rock” i.e. heavy metal and all that noisy twangy stuff, is/was really mostly underground fringe stuff. Lots of people talk about it and how they love it, but truth - didn’t make the Top 40 that much. That includes the ‘80s. (BTW, who the hell are the Ramones? It keeps coming up on the Internet but I have no clue what the hell they ever did that ever got played. Fringe. Overstated. That and “the Smiths”. Internet legends.)
Incidentally, I grew up under a metalhead (boy) and a disco queen (yes, a girl), only a year apart. Very different characters and behaviors to go with their favorite music. Of course, under the surface some of it was all the same!
"We are the Mods...We are the Mods...We are We are We are the Mods..."
Disagree.
Not everyone was at Studio54. There were disco clubs everywhere, 3000 mi away. Most of them were not quite like the epitome. Not much different from any average “club” today.
As if all the other “rock” music wasn’t filled with “excess”, especially in drugs and alcohol.
I also have no idea how anyone can make anything but a superficial comparison between hip-hop/rap and disco. Night and day.
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