Still fond of the infamous Disco Demolition Night at the White Sox game in Chicago. I can't really ever support riots and vandalism, but a nation under the disco yoke yearning to breathe free can't be totally condemned.
I don't know if it's accurate to say that the event was explicitly racist. The guy who organized it was Steve Dahl, a shock jock (radio DJ who said wild things to build an audience), and he often criticized disco. He did imply that disco was full of effeminate men, though, on numerous occassions. There were undoubtably many racists/homophobes who hated the music and emphasized the link that gay and black culture had with disco culture who attended, though. I think the historical consensus is that there was definitely homophobia and racism involved in the disco backlash in general, but this event is open to debate. FYI, interesting evidence I found of the general homophobia of the anti-disco backlash: the 1979 issue of New York "Punk" magazine (an influential publication in the rock scene) titled "Disco Maniac", has blatantly racist and homophobic connotations.
This is the first time I've heard the claim that it was somehow racist and I think it's totally without merit. I went looking for any proof and all I can find is a couple people who say the popularity of disco somehow threatened white males and that was the reason for the event. Occam's razor applies though; baseball used to do crazy promotions like this all the time (and lots of minor league teams still do). By far the easiest explanation, even in our current climate of blaming everything on racism.
Apologies - it's not considered particularly offensive where I live. I've deleted the comment and will repost without it. Feel free to delete this comment if you wish.
In a time and place where racism and homophobia were rampant, you can't spot the racism in an event devoted to destroying black, gay-friendly music that turned into a riot? Ask yourself why not.
This article and your insinuation are preposterous. There is so much oversimplification, conjecture, and empty hand-wringing that it's hard to know where to start. And as for your ad hominem suggestion that I am somehow deficient or complicit in racism because I don't buy into your cockamamie position...well, Quizmaster doesn't permit profanity. But it was totally uncalled for.
I suppose cellular phones weren't in use. But thousands Mobile phones were available as "car phones" in the 1970 in USA and Europe. Seems to me to be splitting hairs, mobile verses cell. Kind of like a cell phone is now obsolete giving way to the smartphone.
I was all set to correct QM on "Band Aid", telling him that it was "Live Aid" and not really a supergroup, but I learned something today. :-) I guess that was the actual name given to all the stars who recorded "Do they know it's Christmas?"
I know, right? The 70s did have video games.. Pong, Computer Space, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Breakout... but Tetris is planted firmly in the 80s in my brain.
this is hard to believe because I am certain I saw ET IN THE 1970's... I almost don't even want to bring it up because it could be thought of as dumb... but I know it came out in the 70's....
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/19/disco-demolition-the-night-they-tried-to-crush-black-music
I was all set to correct QM on "Band Aid", telling him that it was "Live Aid" and not really a supergroup, but I learned something today. :-) I guess that was the actual name given to all the stars who recorded "Do they know it's Christmas?"