Powerful Vibrations Underground Caused a Riot Above the Surface
How glitter and jumpsuits disrupted the Rock n’ Roll Fantasy of young white males in the 1970s
Written by Madison Targum, Contributing Writer
Illustrated by Riya Shah, Contributing Graphic Artist
Picture technicolor prisms bouncing off the walls. Bags of cocaine and dollar bills leak out of the bouncers’ pockets at the front door while celebrities sensually sway with common plebeians to Donna Summer. Hidden under the pavement of major metropolitan cities lay secret oases that cultivated a safe space for self-expression, sexual freedom and fostered unity through embracing diversity in sound and appearance.
This was the vibrant era of disco, in which quintessential clubs like Studio 54 and Xenon became fossilized in American history as symbols of a cultural revolution. Prior to the 1970s, rock ‘n’ roll dominated the music scene. Romantic themes of heterosexual relationships, the idea of sexy women in leather and an overwhelming amount of references to white suburban culture essentially fragmented music listeners (Frank, 2007). Disco, however, was a genre that enabled female, gay, Black and Latin artists to integrate the communal dancefloor with a more diverse demographic of listeners.
For Black musicians like Jocelyn Brown and Donna Summer, disco empowered them to go against “radio-friendly” standards and the stations that wanted to “tone down” soulful rhythm (Haider, 2018). Likewise, musical affiliation with the genre and disco clubs allowed individuals to explore sexual freedom in a modern way. Disco was the embodiment of celebrating new freedoms and the envisioned peace gay rights activists fought for in the 1960s (Shapiro, 2006). Inspired by openly gay celebrities that would frequent these clubs, men and women alike could bring their partners to discos without fearing discrimination (Frank, 2007).
However, above the surface, many opponents of disco internalized a fueled hatred towards the communities that the genre came to represent. A large portion of America felt disco was unamerican as it blurred binary lines of sexuality, appealed to the LBGBTQ+ community and elite celebrities. Glitter jumpsuits were the anti denim and leather for radio listeners who found comfort in the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll.
Although rock music was in no way dying, as bands like Fleetwood Mac and Queen were producing mega-hit albums in the 1970s, radio stations were gradually jumping on the disco bandwagon. New York's famous WKTU owned by iHeart media became the number one station in the country after its decision to take on an all dance music format in 1978 (Signorile, 2020).
But the most prominent figure in delegitimizing disco culture would come out of the firing of Chicago radio show host Steve Dahl from WDAI Chicago due to its rebranding. After being rehired at a rock-only station, Dahl amplified his bitterness to the changing music scene by routinely blowing up disco albums on his morning show. Dahl would begin playing a record, drag the needle across the vinyl and then sound a big explosion to resemble sounds of war. In a way, this was a battle cry to his listeners, monopolizing his white male audience by printing “kill disco” membership cards and encouraging “death to disco” rallies (New Visions, 2018).
Dahl’s “disco sucks” movement spread nationally and caught the attention of the Chicago White Sox Organization to promote a “Disco Demolition Night.” Fans were enticed to attend the 1979 doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers for just 98 cents as long as they brought their own disco record to burn in between games (New Visions, 2018). Dahl took pride in his turnout of 59,000 fans and rejoiced in igniting explosives while parading around the field in military gear. At the time nobody could have predicted how much influence a clown in a military costume could have on inciting violence based on satirical rhetoric, however, the fans that came to destroy disco came with vengeance.
Thousands of fans ran onto the field after the first game, tearing up the bases and pushing down the batting cage. Raging bonfires in the center of and surrounding the stadium made the evening look like a book-burning scene (New Visions, 2018). Sox player Steve Trout remembers being nearly wiped out by a record of the Village People—a group of racially diverse gay men whose lyrics reflected queer culture (Jackson, 2021). Vince Lawrence, a teenage usher at the game that night, recalls being one of the only Black people in the stadium that night out of 59,000 attendees (Signorile, 2020). In an interview with NPR, he recalls hatred being taken out on African American music specifically, with piling copies of Curtis Mayfield, Tyrone Davis and Otis Clay records being torn to bits (NPR, 2016). After disco demolition night, America would turn its back on disco and it would be reborn into house music decades later.
Dahl’s anti-disco army continues to defend itself against being racist or homophobic. In a co-authored book “Disco Demolition: The Night Disco Died,” Dahl wrote “I wouldn't have known how to go to a club and wear a suit. There was a lot of intimidation and disenfranchisement, especially if you were a male.” Threatened by the celebration of marginalized communities and the embrace of feminized sexuality, an undertone of hating what you do not understand is the reason why we continue to see extreme bigotry. A genre meant to commemorate newfound freedoms and expression was thus pushed back into the shadows and forced to reincarnate itself out of the sake of preserving the standards of a select few into house music.
Sources:
Frank, G. (2007). Discophobia: Antigay Prejudice and the 1979 Backlash against Disco. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 16(2), 276–306.
Haider, A. (2018, April 9). Why disco should be taken seriously. BBC.
Jackson, Z (2021, June). The Night Disco Died: The Racist and Homophobic ‘End’ to Disco. BlkGirlCulture.
John, D. (2016, July 16). July 12 1979: The Night Disco Died or Didn’t. NPR.
Miller, J. (2021, May 14). Drugs, Disco, and a Dead Body: Five Outrageous Studio 54 Stories. Vanity Fair.
New Visions (2018, Feb 14). When a loudmouthed DJ tried to kill disco, the homophobic and racist implications were impossible to ignore. Timeline.