Feb 2, 2015
The antidisco backlash was consecrated on July 12, 1979, in Chicago's Comiskey Park when, in between games of a White Sox–Detroit Tigers double-header, a local radio station staged 'Disco Demolition Night,' a ritual burning of dance music records that turned into a rampage of out-of-control rock fans. It made television newscasts nationwide. The effect in the mainstream was nearly immediate: within months, disco as a genre fell from the Top Ten, and 'Disco Sucks' T-shirts were being sold in malls. Racism, homophobia, and sexism informed the backlash, no doubt, but so did a lot of terrible music churned out by hacks and promoted by aesthetically bankrupt broadcasters.
Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire
