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Seen by some as a radio promotion gone wrong, others now view Disco Demolition Night as “racist and homophobic.” Event host Steve Dahl responded in 2019 to the criticism of the event: “We blew up disco records, made fun of the Bee Gees and ‘Saturday Night Fever.’ It goes no deeper than that."
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Let me connect the dots for you bottom feeders: Disco music started in the underground NY gay scene. Gays listened to and liked disco. Many bands that made disco music were also black. To get into the park for the deeply discounted price, fans needed to bring a disco record with them to the park. Because WLUP listeners typically don’t own disco records and because they weren’t going to go out a buy a disco record to go to the deeply discounted baseball game, they brought records they may have had laying around the house of R&B artists that might… Read more »
Ah, let me think about it for a moment … no.
A riot? Hmmmmm WGN!
Racist and homophobic? Where the heck did that come from?
More garbage from the cult of perpetual whiners and victims.
Disco Demolition had nothing to do with race or anti-gay, it was people tired of or never liked disco and others caught up in the moment that stormed the field.
Bill Veek was known throughout his career for whacky promotions.
100% BS claim.
I wasn’t at Woodstock, but I was at Disco Demolition. I remember Bill Veeck pleading with fans to go back to their seats.
You had to live through disco to truly understand the event. By 1979, Disco permeated EVERYTHING. The Bee Gees occupied half of the top 10 songs any week in the late 70s. Everyone music artist had a disco song. Hard rockers went disco. There was no escape. Did some R&B artists wrongfully get lumped into Disco Demolition? Sure. But the world turned on disco, and it remained a joke for almost 20 years when people again became nostalgic for it. The 90’s equivalent of Disco Demolition was the release of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Glam rock and power ballads… Read more »
Yes, it was a stupid radio promotion, and race or homophobia were not even thought of in connection with the event. Recall the times, Suburban kids grew up on WDAI, a station which played TV spots blaring the Stairway to Heaven guitar riff. Those commercials were great. We taped them and played them at athletic practices. WDAI gave way to disco, and kids from the suburbs for the most part did not take to it. They worked for pocket money to go to rock concerts. The big ones, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones and the like typically required hitting up your parents… Read more »
WXRT’s promo commercial in the 80s featured Genesis’ “Turn It On Again,” so I don’t exactly recall what they were playing back then. Probably the same songs they play today. I don’t think Chicago had an alternative station until 1992 when Q101 changed formats.
Great write up, @willowglen. Teens back then were normal teens, and today’s artificial racism and homophobia was not a thought.