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Author
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Topic: Disco Sucks, Punk Swallows
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Felix Havoc
Punk Posts: 1629
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-05-2002 12:09 PM
   
Bill from Caustic Christ says he remembered seeing such a shirt back in the late 70's. I have a big (like 4" across) Death Before Disco button. Remember the anti disco craze? The Disco Sucks movement? The disco demolition riot in Chicago July 12th 1979? Was the anti disco movement racist and homophobic or just rock fans standing their ground against the displacement of live bands in clubs by recorded music? I used to be totally anti disco, but now, the stuff on the radio sucks so band I have come to appreciate it in comparison. IP: Logged |
trailerdiva
Punk Posts: 576
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 10-05-2002 02:59 PM
I hear ya. I'll take a little Knock on Wood Ami Stewart style or even some KC over that sappy mindless crap that gets played on the radio now...IP: Logged |
Daley
Punk Posts: 1406
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-05-2002 03:11 PM
I didn't like disco but i did like RnB, Funk, etc. so the racist part of disco bashing eluded me until i got a bit wiser and realized that yes, it was quite a racist/homophobic good ol' boy type thing. At that point i became a bit more accepting of the old thumppa thumppa (sometimes it's better to join the party than to sit outsice and bitch about it). Nowadays there is some techno that is, believe it or not, inovative and kind of interesting so i seem to have forgiven disco for being so sterile as it has led to some of the music i like in the here and now.And yes, any groove by CHIC is better that the ultra sterile crap on the radio today. IP: Logged |
Daley
Punk Posts: 1406
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-05-2002 03:35 PM
Since Felix asked a specific question i should clarify.My guess is that in the beginning the Disco Sucks movement prol'ly was just rockers objecting to pre-recorded music, but as it, or any other movement, grew there got to be more morons, sheep, and whatnot along with a couple ractists/homophobes who jumped onto a convenient bandwagon I should also point out that i had a large "Death before Disco" pin which i proudly wore around my Jr. High School. Oh, for the folly of youth. IP: Logged |
molly coddle
Punk Posts: 2546
Registered: May 2001
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posted 10-05-2002 04:26 PM
way back in the day, you were either a rocker or a disco dancer.
rarely were there those who were both.
ever see the movie "Detroit Rock City"?
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Ollie Stench
Admin Posts: 2386
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 10-06-2002 12:24 AM
I just heard a thing on "The World" on MPR last night about a disco revival in Scandinavia. They played a little of it and damn I thought I was hearing shit produced in 1977.Whilst not being a fan of 70's disco I DO appreciate "I Feel Love" by Georgio Moroder and Donna Summer. It laid alot of the groundwork for "new wave" a few years later. And not strictly disco, there is something infections about ABBA songs that make them stick in your head for days on end. I have a theory about Swedish pop bands and satanic contracts... ask me about it some time. IP: Logged |
Finn McCool
Punk Posts: 500
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 10-06-2002 01:02 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ollie Stench:
there is something infections about ABBA songs that make them stick in your head for days on end.
With a bit of rock music
Everything is fine
You're in the mood for a dance
IP: Logged |
owen
Punk Posts: 1499
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 10-06-2002 12:17 PM
One of the best shows I have ever been to was a KC and the Sunshine cover band in San Diego w/ AJA 6-7 years ago. And one of the best parties I have ever been to was the crusty/disco party at the Gannon/Rian/Dogfight house some 8...9...10? years ago. Disco fucking rules! What's better than dancing with cute girls? As No Means No once sang, "NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING. ZERO." Only a fucking moron would be lame enough not to like disco. And Zom could care less if you disagree. IP: Logged |
MoldyRamone
Punk Posts: 1005
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-06-2002 02:22 PM
I do not like disco one little bit. And I'm not a fucking moron, racist or homophobe. I like punk, glam, '70's metal, The Stones, dumb novelty songs, TV tunes, and I LOOOVE AEROSMITH!! Tough shit if you dont!IP: Logged |
stinkbot
Punk Posts: 1000
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 10-06-2002 07:54 PM
remember the glitter punx?
Kerry was a styling punk rockin' disco godfather for damn sure, and those nights at the roller disco joint over north were bitchin'.
Tattoo Shane won a Shaft CD for his stylin' roller disco hokey-pokey, duckshootin' know how. and Herr Havoc was MC for a few of those events as i recall.
i love the fashion, hate the music.[This message has been edited by stinkbot (edited 10-06-2002).] IP: Logged |
Pete Scholtes
Punk Posts: 329
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 10-06-2002 08:04 PM
In answer to Felix, I suspect it was a bit of both, but I was born in 1969, so I missed this fight. "Stayin' Alive" was the first 45 I ever bought (along with the Star Wars theme) and on my go-cart team or in my soccer league, there was no anti-disco sentiment to speak of. Abba was considered cool. The rock fans I knew weren't pissed that the Stones and Rod Stewart and Kiss ("I was made for lovin' you, baby!") were doing disco songs. Hell, I just thought that was what pop music sounded like.I also never got the sense that most punks were very anti-disco, at least not until macho assholes started swarming the scene and defining hardcore the way it's been imagined ever since. A lot of punks got Chic; the Clash admired them; PIL's second album was very disco; the Manchester scene embraced it, basically; Olympia kids loved it. And plenty of punks went on to become house DJs. Gabber is basically punk disco. And I think Basement Jaxx owe as much to the Clash as to Lil Louie. Personally, I hated a lot of disco, and thought it's influence on black music was terrible. I'm also only more recently revising my opinion is that outside of Thriller, American R&B basically sucked between the years 1978 and 1988, from disco's hegemony to Bobby Brown's first hits... This statement will get me in trouble, though... IP: Logged |
Felix Havoc
Punk Posts: 1629
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-06-2002 09:17 PM
Yeah, the glitter punx thing was hilarious. I thought it was really funny taking some thing that at the time was ridiculously out of style and trying to revive it to everyone's disgust. Then a few years later, there's disco cover bands and disco nights at every sports bar at the malls. I went to most of Spitball's disco parties and roller disco's but I was never MC, I just did the lights and picked out a few records. At one point they were showing movies on the roof of the parking garage at Calhoun Square. One night they showed Saturday night fever. A bunch of glitter punks were supposed to get decked out and go. I was only marginally associated with that mob (it was mainly Chris, Terry and Kerry) but I did have this great pleather coat, purple bell bottoms and loud polyester shirt. I put them on and showed up to the movie. It was pretty embarrassing because no one else showed up! It was all like yuppies and shit. Then this drunk dude fell on my girlfriend and made some really insulting comment so I roughed him up, in front of the movie screen, in full disco regalia, with an audience. It was ridiculous. I was sure someone was gonna call the cops. I lammed outta there right away. "be on the lookout for a punk rocker with a green mohawk in purple bell bottoms wearing a wide collared polyester leisure suit" How I stayed outta jail that day I don't know. IP: Logged |
Ollie Stench
Admin Posts: 2386
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 10-06-2002 10:16 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Felix Havoc:
"be on the lookout for a punk rocker with a green mohawk in purple bell bottoms wearing a wide collared polyester leisure suit"
THe sad thing is is that a few years later that's what all the rave kids looked like. IP: Logged |
Patti Pagan
Punk Posts: 1401
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 10-07-2002 08:41 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Daley:
[B]<snip> My guess is that in the beginning the Disco Sucks movement prol'ly was just rockers objecting to pre-recorded music, but as it, or any other movement, grew there got to be more morons, sheep, and whatnot along with a couple ractists/homophobes who jumped onto a convenient bandwagon <snip> [B]
In the late 1970s-1980 or so a Twin Cities anti-disco sentiment/pro live music was also expressed by a number of middle-aged jazz musicians--Morris Wilson, tenor sax man, prob. the most publicly vocal of them. Also, at least one disco in a Mpls suburb grew afraid of the number of blacks showing up at its doors so opted to play only "un-funky" music which actually wound up drawing more blacks in protest. Another tactic to keep blacks away from a club was to forgo the disco playlists/ambience & become a C&W bar. [This message has been edited by Patti Pagan (edited 10-07-2002).] IP: Logged |
zomzom
Punk Posts: 77342189
Registered: Mar 1920
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posted 10-07-2002 09:43 AM
I wore my "disco sucks" tee-shirt here in 1976, while rehearsing with my new wave/punk band "The Publick", not seen here are Flour and Jimmy Petroski.
It had nothing to do with racism at all, just the music. As far as we were concerned, disco was the antithesis of rock and roll and especially punk. The people that were the Disco Citizens were all about silk shirts, cocaine, Studio 54, bell-bottoms, feathered styled and hairsprayed hair, Angel's Flight clothes (anybody remember that?), everything we hated.
Early punk didn't dig the disco.
Once Blondie had a disco hit, everything changed, and the "disco" beat showed up everywhere. By then it didn't matter anymore.
I liked disco initially when I was in high school, since I got exposed to some of the good stuff while staying in Chicago in the mid seventies, and I liked the funk. I had a cousin that introduced me to Funkadelic's music in '75.
But when I heard punk, out went my platforms and flares, and I became anti-disco.
Now of course I appreciate disco music, but never liked the "lifestyle".IP: Logged |
Guy
Punk Posts: 520
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 10-07-2002 10:24 AM
Interesting topic .. I wonder how much of today's "Heck No to Techno" is a similar reactionary movement to the Rave lifestyle vs. absence of clubs playing "live" music (no offense to DJs)IP: Logged |
danpeterson
Lil Punk Posts: 15
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 10-07-2002 12:25 PM
I spent a fair amount of time hanging out in a disco in Austin, MN in 1978, mainly because the live music options were lame to non-existent. Yes, I remember my roommate wearing Angels Flight and feathering his hair... I was open minded enough to find a few interesting songs/artists at the disco, most of which have already been mentioned here ("I Feel Love"; "Flashlight" by Parliament), but loved the B-52's/Talking Heads/Devo stuff that I was seeing on Saturday Night Live way more.When I returned to Minneapolis in 1979, I was hanging out at the Longhorn and the Entry and immersing myself in live music, and it took me quite a while to venture over to Sam's main room, where I remember hearing a couple cuts from the ZE Records "DanceZeDance" compilation ("Bustin' Out" by Material and "Wheel Me Out" by Was Not Was) that made me reassess/reappreciate dance music. Also remember being introduced to Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" by Drew Gordon of the Psychenauts when it was brand-spankin' new, and dancing to Teena Marie's "Square Biz" with Lori Barbero back when that was first out. Thing is, I can remember most of those songs (and others) as *songs* - whereas techno to me is a big, monolithic headache. IP: Logged |
m o n k
Punk Posts: 873
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 10-07-2002 12:37 PM
I love the disco beat!...n Tss...n Tss...n Tss...n Tss...n Tss...n Tss... IP: Logged |
stinkbot
Punk Posts: 1000
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 10-07-2002 12:42 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Felix Havoc:
I went to most of Spitball's disco parties and roller disco's but I was never MC, I just did the lights and picked out a few records.
AHHH i remember seeing you behind the dj booth a couple a times thats why i pinned the MC thing on you. sorry.
you do look quite good in polyester though, except that you had long hair at the time.  IP: Logged |
RC
Punk Posts: 859
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 10-07-2002 02:44 PM
I worked as a barback for Scotties on 7th. I remember sitting on the edge of the roof wearing a tux n' tails smoking pot and hucking loogies on the fools waiting to be selected for admission below. I also worked at Sheiks when it was a disco. Scott Smith had told me that I would be made a bartender when I was old enough. I'm not sure if was the disco, Scott Smith or the nightly bar fights with Iranians that made me quit. Lori B was working at the Longhorn and told me I could get a bartending job at the Longhorn even if I wasn't old enough. A short 2 minute meeting with Mr. Frank and I was an underage bartender  Bye Bye DISCO. IP: Logged |
Patti Pagan
Punk Posts: 1401
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 10-07-2002 03:45 PM
....and helloooo Hartley! From the frying pan into the fire, eh??!IP: Logged |
trailerdiva
Punk Posts: 576
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 10-07-2002 04:43 PM
the amigos at work really like disco alot and MADONNA!!!IP: Logged |
Chuck
Punk Posts: 98
Registered: May 2002
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posted 10-08-2002 01:50 AM
DISCO SUCKS
i was walkin', walkin' around walkin' round, round round downtown saw some people stompin' round sayin' disco sucks,like shit lots of plastic people building a plastic steeple
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Pete Scholtes
Punk Posts: 329
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 10-08-2002 01:58 AM
A note on disco-baseball history:The Disco Demolition Night of July 1979 at Comiskey Park in Chicago was organized by Michael Veeck, son of legendary White Sox owner Bill Veeck, and fun-loving co-owner of the St. Paul Saints. Bill had set up a radio promotion with WLUP, telling listeners they could get into the White Sox-Tigers doubleheader for 98 cents if they brought a disco record to be destroyed. Some 90 thousand sports fans turned up, and between games the records were blown to bits or set ablaze in a bonfire. The crowd rushed the field, though, and a riot ensued, leading to the fourth forfeiture in baseball history. The younger Veeck couldn't get a job again until Bill Murray and Jimmy Buffet handed him the Saints. A recent interview on HBO found him unrepentant, laughing about how he got rid of a lot of "bad vinyl" that day...
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Felix Havoc
Punk Posts: 1629
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-08-2002 02:14 AM
That was July 12th, 1979. 90,000 sounds kind of exaggeratted, I think it was more like 30K. Veeck had started up the "anti disco army" and appeared on the filed in a camo fatigues and helmet. He had some model in a skimpy camo outfit detonate some crates containing tens of thousands of disco 12"s (probably actually old cut outs) The fans went wild, it had been promoted as a "teen day" and there were special discount tickets for people under 18. Thousands also stormed some poorly guarded gates and packed the arena, bringing drugs and booze with them. The kids rioted and ripped up the backstop, trashed the field and started numerous fights with each other and the cops. It took all night for the cops to regain control of the area. I'd love to someday write the definitive account of the disco demolition riot!IP: Logged |
Scotty
Punk Posts: 1848
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 10-08-2002 12:26 PM
You were there? How old were you? Must have been sumthin to see.IP: Logged |
Chelsea40ozBondage
Punk Posts: 2284
Registered: May 2000
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posted 10-08-2002 12:32 PM
Smash the discos, smash them up,
smash the discos, smash them up!IP: Logged |
Felix Havoc
Punk Posts: 1629
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-08-2002 05:04 PM
NO I wasn't there. I was ten years old. But I did some research at the U of M library a few years ago about it. I was hoping to go to Chicago and do more research, then interview Mike Veeck and publish an article on the event. This seemed like a great idea at the time, but as fascinating an event as the disco demolition was, there was little or no punk rock music involved, so it's on the back burner for now as punk is more important than everything else. IP: Logged |
Pete Scholtes
Punk Posts: 329
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 10-10-2002 02:33 AM
Don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but the Suburbs are way disco.Oh, and I love the disco versions of Pistols songs in The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, unless I dreamed that part... IP: Logged |
owen
Punk Posts: 1499
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 10-10-2002 08:18 AM
I worked with Michael Veeck this summer, what a fucking nut! Disco Demolition ruined his career. The guy couldn't get hired for almost 10 years after that. In terms of music, he's into Dylan and all that.
If you would like to hear those radio shows, here's the link. Just scroll down to Curveballs, Changeups and Sliders for July 15-19: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/radio/mlb_radio_archive.jsp?month=07&year=2002 quote:
Originally posted by Felix Havoc:
NO I wasn't there. I was ten years old. But I did some research at the U of M library a few years ago about it. I was hoping to go to Chicago and do more research, then interview Mike Veeck and publish an article on the event. This seemed like a great idea at the time, but as fascinating an event as the disco demolition was, there was little or no punk rock music involved, so it's on the back burner for now as punk is more important than everything else.
IP: Logged |
zomzom
Punk Posts: 77342189
Registered: Mar 1920
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posted 10-10-2002 08:57 AM
I was in Chicago during the summer of '79.
WLUP, (The Loop) was a "rock and roll" station, catering to a similar crowd that KQRS does. There are similarities between the main shock-jock, Steve Dahl and KQRS's boorish clods.
Steve Dahl (and his "band" Teenage Radiation) made such funny novelty tunes as "Another Kid in the Crawl", sung to the tune of "Another Brick in the Wall", about John Wayne Gacy's then-fresh serial killer story.
Besides being anti-disco, he was distinctly anti-punk rock or anything else other than the usual stale Aerosmith to Zeppelin rock standards.
Besides, by 1979, 70's style Disco was pretty much done with, so the prank/demolition was a pretty lame idea.IP: Logged |
RC
Punk Posts: 859
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 10-10-2002 01:55 PM
I agree with zomzom, being anti-disco in 1979 was like taking a punch at a drunk blind man. It was a fad that was loved and hated by the mass...who signed up for the next big thing ie; country line dancing. I don't think many of us cared about disco anymore than we cared about KQRS playing Supertramp "Breakfast in America" over and over. Hee-haw. IP: Logged |
Felix Havoc
Punk Posts: 1629
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-11-2002 07:54 AM
Hmmm. thanks for putting it into perspective. But along with incidents like the massacre at the who concert and the various drug overdoses and scandals it's sort of a manfstation of the larger than life decadent world of 70's rock. Like I said, I dropped my research project on this to work on punk stuff anyway. IP: Logged |
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