Disco - History - Backlash and Decline

Backlash and Decline

By the late 1970s, a strong anti-disco sentiment developed among rock fans and musicians, particularly in the United States. The slogans "disco sucks" and "death to disco" became common, Rock artists such as Rod Stewart and David Bowie who added disco elements to their music were accused of being sell outs.

The punk subculture in the United States and United Kingdom was often hostile towards disco. Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys, in the song "Saturday Night Holocaust", likened disco to the cabaret culture of Weimar-era Germany for its apathy towards government policies and its escapism. Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo said that disco was "like a beautiful woman with a great body and no brains", and a product of political apathy of that era. New Jersey rock critic Jim Testa wrote "Put a Bullet Through the Jukebox", a vitriolic screed attacking disco that was considered a punk call to arms.

Mainstream rock pushed back as well: Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" (1978) contained a slight against disco in Anti-disco sentiment was expressed in some television shows and films. A recurring theme on the show WKRP in Cincinnati was a hostile attitude towards disco music. In one scene of the comedy film Airplane!, a city skyline features a radio tower with a neon-lighted station callsign. A disc jockey voiceover says: "WZAZ in Chicago, where disco lives forever!" Then a wayward airplane slices the radio tower with its wing, the voiceover goes silent, and the lighted callsign goes dark.

July 12, 1979 became known as "the day disco died" because of Disco Demolition Night, an anti-disco demonstration at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rock station DJs Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, along with Michael Veeck, son of Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, staged the promotional event for disgruntled rock fans between the games of a White Sox doubleheader. The event, which involved exploding disco records, ended with a riot, during which the raucous crowd tore out seats and pieces of turf, and caused other damage. The Chicago Police Department made numerous arrests, and the extensive damage to the field forced the White Sox to forfeit the second game to the Detroit Tigers, who had won the first game.

On July 21, 1979, six days after the riot, the top six records on the U.S. music charts were disco songs. By September 22 there were no disco songs in the US Top 10 chart (although a few disco songs within the next year would later enter the chart). Some in the media, in celebratory tones, declared disco dead and rock revived.