WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Disco Works 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.320 Hey there, it's me Josh and for this week's s 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:07.240 Y s KSE selects, I chose How Disco Works, which 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.720 is one of my favorite, all time favorite episodes. Um, 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:13.600 and you'll know what I'm talking about in a second. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:15.680 When I say that, I feel like if we all 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.400 band together, we could still get Chuck to do that 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.400 how to video on the Hustle also domus Chuck's big 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.319 presentation after his first trip to Max Funcan instead of 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.920 listener mail, It's a very special treat. At the end 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.680 of this episode, which was first released in July of 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:41.040 two thousand twelve, enjoy Welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:49.800 from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.279 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.040 getting on down with his bad self. Get on down, 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.800 mat to cow the Hustle. H Oh, is that what 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:05.240 you're doing? Actually looked up the Hustle because I wasn't 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.399 quite sure what it was specifically, and yeah, because no 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:11.200 one who does it now and knows what they're doing. Yeah, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.479 but then I saw it was like, oh yeah, sure, 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.560 like sort of the boogie night stance they did was 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.199 because they're like a hand rolling. Yeah, there's a little 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.400 step up, a little step back, a little like side 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.640 three sixty clap clap, little John Travolta Saturday Night fever 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.520 hand action, little little hand roll, the little uh what 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.440 do you call that? This would be much better visually. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.959 I'll tell you what. Why don't we get you just 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:41.160 a quick how to video and we'll post it? Sound good? Yeah? Sure? Okay, 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.679 well you'll be held to that. Great. I'm gonna go 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:50.320 start looking for clothes after um, so, chuck, you're doing well, 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:56.800 feeling invigorated by the Presidential Executive Orders episode as you 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:01.360 ready for this? Buires me up for disco, so forward disco. Um, 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.320 let's start at the end. I thought that Molly did 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:09.040 a very good job with this. Is that really edmans jam? Um. 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.639 There was a night uh in nineteen nine. It was 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.600 July twelve in Chicago, and it was the White Sox 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.359 playing the Tigers and both of them were lousy other time. Uh, 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.600 the night before there had been uh, fifteen thousand people 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.280 for the Tiger socks. There's a double header today and 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:31.680 um they expected something like six thousand. All right, the 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.680 the I guess the owners of the White Sox had 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.960 started to create these promotions, and one of them that 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.800 night on July twelve, UM had been created by rock 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.520 DJ named Steve Dahl, who was the Chicago DJ. Yeah, 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.040 it looked him up. Actually, he was fired. This is 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:48.960 why he was. He was so angry. He was fired 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.079 by a station that switched to disco. He got a 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.000 job at the competing rock station, w l u P 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.320 ninety eight FM, which is why it was cents the loop. 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:04.600 That was the loop actually the loop, yeah, not the loop, 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.920 the loop, the loop. Okay, yeah, so yeah, anyway, he 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.040 got fired and said down with disco. Well, he said 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:17.000 disco sucks. There was a whole movement against disco t 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.880 shirts that said Disco sucks. Is before memes. This was 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.399 this was the real, Like you had to like run 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:25.840 out of your house, go across the street to a 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.320 neighbor's house, tell them disco sucks. They had to run 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.440 out of their house maybe a couple of blocks over 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.200 to their their their friends. That's how things spread back then. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.320 And this thing was like virulent, right, I missed us 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.920 times honest night, even with this UM, this Disco Demolition 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.880 Night is what they called it. UM. They were expecting 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.480 like six thousand people, but they were going to put 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.400 on a heck of a show in between the two games. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.680 Doll was going to take all the records that people brought. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.600 If you brought a disco record, UM, you get in 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:59.520 for ninety eight cents, because that was points something. The 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:02.800 this is before his point. This is when it was 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.560 just ninety eight on your dial. Oh okay, I mean 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.000 technically it was, but it wasn't digital, so no one knew. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.200 Oh god, you know what I'm saying. Uh, And ninety 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:18.760 thousand people showed up. Ninety thousand people showed up. Stadium 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:24.279 held like fifty so there's like thirty eight thousand people 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.800 outside the gates. When you have thirty eight thousand people 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:32.000 who are there for to see something destroyed, um which 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.440 love which Doll was going to do these records in 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.240 between games. They don't usually stay outside of gates. Fences 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.160 don't usually contain people in that state in that many 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:45.039 larger number they broke through. Um. The apparently players on 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.719 both teams put on their batting helmets because the crowd 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.080 was getting crazy while they were throwing the records like frisbees. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.960 They were that's dangerous smoking weed in the stadium, like 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.640 Harry Carey, you know, a younger Harry Carey announced that, 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.919 you know, like he smelled me, I wanna this broadcast booth. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.839 And they got loaded and because they were mad, so 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:11.039 angry about the form of music. So the first game 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.520 ends and I guess what you would call halftime comes 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:19.760 and Johnny Fever, I mean Steve dohl Uh compiles ten 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.680 thousand and estimated ten thousand disco records and sets him 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.560 on fire. Well he exploded him first, which took out 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.680 like a chunk of the field. Yeah. I was wondering 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:30.719 how they did that. Yeah, they were. He was hooked 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.960 up the pyrotechnics and there was a big explosion and 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.280 ten thousand disco records went booming pretty much, and a 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.760 little fire started. People went crazy. They trashed the place. Yeah, 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.920 they stormed the field and um they the Socks had 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.520 to forfeit the second game to the Tigers because they 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.680 couldn't play. The field was just too trashed. And that 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.719 was the night July twelve nine that most people point 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.960 to when they say disco died. Right then, Yeah, chance 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.719 of disco sucks. People smoking weed for a Harry carry 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:07.400 Uh And consequently that was the last forfeited major league 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.520 baseball game in the American League. Oh is that right? 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.440 The most recent that is? That is an amazing story. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.160 But and and it makes a lot of sense. You 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.080 can find video this on YouTube. By the way, there 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:21.560 was that's awesome. There was definitely even I knew, like 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.520 there was an anti disco disco sucks sentiment. I remember it. 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.080 That's how old I am. Well, I remember it too. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.040 I was like eight years old when this happened. I 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.760 was like three, Yeah, yeah, I was three. I was 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.400 actually this is three days before my third birthday. This 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.240 all went down. I don't remember this happening. But like 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.039 I knew people said disco suck like an airplane, um, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.840 when the planes like making that crazy land and they 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.479 knock out a tower where the DJ's like saying, we're 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.560 disco lives forever. Right, I knew people hated disco. But 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.920 now reading this and figuring out that the disco was 0:06:54.960 --> 0:07:00.279 this amazing cultural phenomenon and in unpacking like this story 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.839 behind it and the motives of hating it and all that, 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.880 it's really really interesting. It's not as cut and dry 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.600 as like, you know, Ted Nugent thinks disco sucks. So 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:14.200 it just goes sucks. Maybe Ted Nugent is a homophobe. Huh, 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:16.920 that's what cultural critics would say. Now, and we'll get 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.400 into that. We will, not Ted Nugent specifically, but anyone 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.640 who thought just goes sucks. It's not so cut and dry. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.560 The music music, it was tent Yeah. Uh you know 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.520 what I would like in this to what zoot suits? 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.560 Oh yeah, good one. The interesting history. Then it turns 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.640 out there was like racial and misogynistic, well not misogynistic 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:45.480 and zoot suits, but in the case of disco, yes, homophobic. Yeah. Basically, Uh, 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.400 the straight white establishment does not like flashy dressing. Yeah, 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.720 and they don't like them them New Yorkers. Yeah, well 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.120 in their in their bars where they dance with their 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.920 shirts off. Yes, that kind of thing, e g. Gate clubs. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:02.800 All right, so let's get into the music and then 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.520 we'll get into the politics. Okay. So um, well it 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:13.200 was Chuck the first disco record. Do you think disco duck? No, 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.160 the Dolly parton No Disco Dolly No. No, she actually 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.200 did some disco tinged stuff. So did the Grateful Dead. 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.680 Everybody did it, sucking, Carol King, Barbara Streisand it's amazing 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:30.360 the people that got caught up in this disco way, Disco, Christmas, Disco, 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:36.000 star wars, dude. Um, yeah, disco was huge from when 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:41.040 from what seventy four or seventy nine, Oh well yeah, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.400 when it was huge, yeah yeah yeah. But um, some 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.760 trace of beginnings of disco to the early parties UM 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.000 in New York thrown by David Mancuso, these invitation only 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.280 parties that he had at his place called the Loft, 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.959 legendary first party called Love Saves the day they were 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.080 themed LSD. Yeah, and then there was a store in 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:00.679 these village called loups Is today. I don't know if 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.600 it's still there. It's like bric a brac, like everything's 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.720 coated and acid. That kind of like junk lands here 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:12.120 in Atlanta, that kind of Um. So a lot of 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.959 people trace it to Mancuso and in those early parties, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.600 which later on was sort of the precursor to what 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.840 raves would be, right, that's exactly right, um and Mancuso 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:29.280 um kind of created this, um, this foundation that would 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.520 become kind of the basis of disco, which was it 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:38.240 was DJ driven and UM, the DJ didn't just like 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.400 one song didn't just fade out and they're like, Okay, 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.400 it's time for the next one and put on another record. 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.760 Mancusa actually dropped a bunch of money on a sound 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.880 system that allowed him to cut back and forth between 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:53.640 records and UM. He also liked to basically just just 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.400 use all sorts of different music and and create this 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.120 whole really cool set and music never stopped basically, no, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.800 it didn't, UM and he So that was kind of 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.719 this this basis that you'll see turn up later in 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.440 hip hop, but first it appears in disco. But yeah, 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.840 he started throwing these parties in nineteen seventy, but I've 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.319 read sources that say it goes back even further than that. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.839 Nineteen sixty The club was opened in New York in 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.679 nineteen sixty five, Arthur was open. They were because they 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:25.920 were UM, they were DJ driven, and that was like, 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.960 that's one of the basis of disco is the DJ. 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.880 And there's this guy named Terry Noll and he went off. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.880 He became probably the first d J. I know that name, 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.320 don't I do? I maybe, I mean, he's pretty pretty big. 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.840 I mean he's like the godfather of DJing. I might know. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.160 I don't know. DJ so much though, but so that 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.840 he branched off in UM he started working at gay clubs, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:53.480 and gay clubs is where disco really started to emerge. UM. 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.640 So if you if you go back far enough, at 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.720 about the same time that Mancuso was throwing his parties, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:03.720 the gay clubs had like DJ's playing Philly soul. Yes, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.120 the New York City specifically, which is where they think 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.559 that disco originally came from. It's probably Philadelphia soul, Yeah, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.679 Philadelphia soul. If you listen to works by um like 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.760 some people claim that things like Barry Whites Can't get 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.000 Enough of Your Love, Babe or um his love theme 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:25.400 from Yeah does very much sound like disco, even though 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.880 they were R and B soul singers. The same with 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.959 like Isaac Hay's right, but that is funk, clear and simple. Right, 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.520 Isaac Hayes is definitely funk, And a lot of people 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.679 rightly attribute the death of funk to disco, like they 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.120 both had this moment and disco just one out. Yeah, 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.480 it's easier to dance to for one reason. Should we 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.480 listen to the Barry White Yeah which one? This is 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.520 Love's theme from nineteen seventy three, and you can hear 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.720 like the big orchestral sound with like the M four 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:12.080 on the floor beat. So that's people say that that 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.560 may be the first disco one. Another one is Jerry 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:19.839 Butler's UM one Night Affair and this guy this song 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:26.440 really shows that disco hybridized out of Philadelphia soul. That's true. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:44.240 Then this is the purest evidence of it. And then 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.319 one more do you mind? So this one is this 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.280 is from Cameroon, a guy named Manu Dabango from the 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.400 island of Cameroon. Does the island No, it's not, well, 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.839 you know if it was an island, right, yeah, but 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.360 it's just Cameroon. We're going with um. His name is 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.079 Manu Dbingo and uh. He released a track called Soul 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:12.560 Makasa and Soul Macasa. UM is noteworthy because a lot 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.480 of people say it's the first disco song. Well, it's here, 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.520 so you're here. It's like very clearly a Cameroonian. It's 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.839 very African, very it's got that tribal beat, but it's 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.640 also discoe. The reason why people point to that song, 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.040 which was released in nineteen seventy two, is because a 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:43.760 year later, UM, a Rolling Stone um rock critic or 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:49.680 music critic named Vinceletti put a paper pen to paper 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:55.240 and described that the the reason behind this obscure Cameroonian 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:59.280 songs popularity is because of this new thing that's going 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.120 on own Queens and the Bronx and all the hip 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.600 kids are doing it, and uh, we don't know what 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.640 it's called. So let's just call it disco. And that 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.960 was the first mentioned what he coined. The term disco 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.920 is is applied to this music, and it was the 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:19.720 first written description of disco, vincelet n So I think 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.640 we failed to mention that disco obviously is short for discotheque, 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.920 which is the French term for nightclub, for a nightclub 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.320 where you listen to cammed music rather than alive. And 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.520 you still hear that, and see that when you go 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:35.000 all over Europe you still hear like disco thick, yes, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.480 right right, guys, trying to get you in there, you know, yeah, 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.080 it's pretty great. That was a pretty good impression some 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.320 nameless country. I don't even know what that was, Eastern Bloc. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.280 Let's just go with that. Is that I would have 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.680 I would have guessed, like Morocco, whatever it sounded like, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:15:23.360 that's what I was doing. So the the the you 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.280 just kind of said something very important that a disco teque. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.600 One of us just said it that a disco teque 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.240 is a dance club where there's no band, And this 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.240 flew in the face of the rock establishment at the time. 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.600 We're still like very much entrenched in the sixties led 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:41.800 Zeppelin and like you went and saw them, that was 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.800 the point, Like you went and saw their show, and 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.200 when when they weren't touring, you listen to their records 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.520 at home and sat on beambag chairs and worshiped at 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.080 their feet exactly. Disco was different. And the reason discoes 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.920 different is because nobody cared. They didn't want to hear 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:58.800 your live band. They went to go see the DJ. 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:02.160 Yeah uh, And that had a big impact on record 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.560 sales because people weren't you know, it was one hit 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.760 wonder after one hit wonder. For for the most part, 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.200 there were you know, quite a few that had multiple 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.520 hits but summer, but they were still like and far between, Yeah, 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.200 and they were confined to the disco era. Not not 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:20.840 too many lasted beyond unless they were like crossing over 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.800 to begin with, like Dolly Partner, Carol King got you, 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.960 Barbra streisand but you will hear, you know, since nine 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:34.920 with Rock the Boat by the Hughes Corporation, which, speaking 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.440 of one hit wonder, a lot of people say, that's 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:42.480 when it really really took off. Um lak, I'm sorry. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.440 Left Freak by Chic and good Times by Chic Good 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.120 Times or did they do that? I will survive, of course, 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:54.200 the classic Anthem by Glory Gaynor, Funky Town Casey and 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.240 the Sunshine Band with their multiple hits. They were another 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.360 group disco group, Get Down Tonight, shake your booty, classic songs. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.280 But I'm your boogie man. Play that funky music. Wild 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.960 hate that song. No, I really do too. That's up 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.240 there with bad to the Bone for me. Hey man, 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.640 George Thorogood is a okay. There's nothing that guy did 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.920 that stunk except for that god play that funky music. 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.359 I told you, George Thorogood worked out with me at 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.919 the y m c A in Hollywood. Yeah, like not 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:27.760 with me the last time we had this argument and 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.080 you told me and you still and you still maintain 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.159 that these stinks even though you know I don't maintain 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.479 these stinks. I think, George, you still maintain these good 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:40.000 that's what I meant. Okay, well you're wrong. Philadelphia Soul, 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.280 Josh is where it was born. We talked about that, 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.680 I know, and uh, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Well, yeah, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.120 so like if you didn't have one hit, you didn't 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.560 have groups generally that people followed or whose records they bought. 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.240 You had one hit wonders. So singles were kind of big, 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.480 and you had um DJ's. People went to specific clubs 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.960 to see specific DJs, and you had pretty users. People 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.600 would would get would find out like what song a 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.439 producer was making, and then they go see and they 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.479 go listen to that, right, like Gamble and Huff Uh. 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.280 I can't remember the name of their company, but it 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.040 was Philadelphia something and it was all about Philadelphia soul. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.200 It started in the Philadelphia soul movement like previous in 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.800 the sixties and pretty much dwarfed Motown for a little while, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.240 which was a big, big, big deal at the time 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.040 and my time was two huge. Yeah, Barry Gordy and 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:31.879 Motown took a hit when disco came around. There was 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:36.919 also a Giorgio Marauder. He was huge. He was a 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:42.440 huge disco He actually um produced Donna summers and then 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:47.000 the case they created Saucel Records, which is a pretty 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.520 big disco label. Well Gamble and huff Um you know 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.800 their work if you don't know their names. And they 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.280 wrote songs like Ain't No Stopping Us Now, that's a 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.800 good one, Love Train, that's a great one. And the 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.720 Sound of Philadelphia t s Op which you might not 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.320 recognize by title, but you might recognize by the fact 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.840 that it is also the Soul Train theme. That is 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.040 a very very good song, very good song. That's surprisingly good. 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.639 I remember Fresh Air played that when Don Cornelius died. 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:21.119 Uh so. And also, can I just interject one thing 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.760 if you're if you're bored right now? Um or I 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.000 should say, of course you how bored right now? Friends? 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.640 After the podcast, if you find yourself forward, go check 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:36.120 out um Moon Shoes Boogie Land. I think those four 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.600 words are actually just two words on YouTube, and you 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.480 will be treated to an awesome new I guess acid 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:48.960 disco track over um just laid perfectly over the Soul 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.400 Train like the march, the procession thing, the lines they did, 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.280 just clip after clip of that, and you will be 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.240 surprised to see a young rerun in the first A 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.280 couple of minutes. I think I've seen that clip. I 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.280 think I've seen him on Soul Train. Yeah, or he 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.200 just falls on his butt. Yeah. Man, that stuff was good. 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:09.800 I mean, how do you move like that? I couldn't 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.600 do any of those moves. No, I couldn't either, Moon Shoes, 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.320 Boogey Land. Yeah. And you know what, Also, if if 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.280 you're a little young but you're a Star Wars fan 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.680 you don't remember the Mecco Star Wars and other galactic funk, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.400 go check that out. It's on YouTube. It's pretty amazing 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.479 to hear the Star Wars score orchestral arrangement to disco. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.400 And it was a big, big hit that Well, that's 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:36.840 not the only one. Arthur Fiedler from the Boston Pops, 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.480 he had a night on Bald Mountain to disco. There 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:41.320 was I can't remember who who made it, but it's 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.320 on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, fifth of Beethoven. Yeah, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.679 oh yeah, sure. People love to take classical stuff in 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.040 disco fight. They disco fight everything like you said, Dolly 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.440 parton Star Wars, Disco Duck Sesame street Head, not one 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.800 but two disco albums, Disco Christmas Albums, Discoes everywhere, And 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.960 even if you do say disco sucks, you cannot say 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:06.040 that musically disco sucks. Musically speaking, disco does not suck. 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:12.560 It is difficult to play. It includes generally tough orchestral arrangements. 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.000 And while it may be repetitive, and if you went 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.080 and saw your favorite disco performer playing a club, they 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:22.120 were just lip sinking, it's still Initially it was difficult 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.760 to make. Yeah, I think where disco takes the biggest 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:30.960 knock from from music rock music fans is lyrically right 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.080 and for good reason. Sure, so disco we were saying 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.040 it was. It flew in the face of rock, the 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.439 rock scene in Manhattan at the time, in part because 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.400 it was out in the Bronx out in Queens. It 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:49.119 was very popular among the working class, Yeah, Latinos, Italians. 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:53.879 It's spread out of the gay clubs UM so white 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:59.560 gay dudes in underground clubs dancing to music UM created 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:04.439 by black people, black groups UM. And then in her 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:08.520 mixed in with working class Italians and Latinos in that 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:11.440 same club that was disco and that is not with 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:13.400 the rich kids in Manhattan we're doing at the time 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.919 rocking out well, Yeah, and that's a point that a 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:19.399 lot of people, a lot of people were misguided and 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.080 saying at one point that disco was of the bourgeois 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:27.199 because Studio fifty four transformed from a dance club of 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.199 the people to a dance club of the elite and 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:34.600 everyone started grooming over grooming and dressing to the nines 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:38.800 and spin all this money. And well they did. Yeah, 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:40.600 but but once the rich people got involved, was like, 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:42.479 you can't keep up with that. Yeah, and it but 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.840 it started out as very much a music of the people. Um, 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:49.080 and like we said, disco Fever was like they were 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:54.600 doing the hustle in retirement homes, like disco classes. My 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.520 parents took disco dance lessons and my dad does not 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:02.080 take disco dance lessons, yet he did. That's pretty interesting, 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:03.879 Like that's how big it was. Well, I mean, if 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:06.840 you go back and watch like Sarah Nitye Fever for example, 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:10.119 that's some pretty good dancing in there. Yeah. Of course, 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.200 I'll bet your dad was like sexier when he was 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:17.639 taking disco lessons. So, um, we've got this thing and 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:20.280 it's weirdlet's I think it bears repeating, chuck, Like when 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:22.560 you think of disco these days. You think of Studio 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:26.280 fifty four, you think of cocaine, which is that there 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:31.520 there were symbiotic yeah. Um, you think of the beautiful 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:35.439 and the rich in in Manhattan, right that. But like 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:37.119 you said, that's not how it started out. It was 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:41.720 working class, across ethnic lines, gays were involved, um, and 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:45.520 it was it basically was co opted and usurped and 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:48.840 then all of a sudden, now there's a division between 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:52.960 it and the people who were criticizing it before really 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.880 started to speak up, meaning the rockers, and they really 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:59.360 had a point, Like you said, the lyrics fly Robin Fly, 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.359 who cares? Yeah, And the other part of the problem 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:07.440 was disco was meant for escape, like it was set 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:10.119 in this time of economic hardship. New York City was 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.600 hit particularly about getting out there and dancing your frustrations 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:16.600 out and forgetting in everything. The problem is is while 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:20.680 you're dancing, politicals don't dance, and while everybody else is dancing, 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:23.080 they're just doing whatever they want. No one's paying attention 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:26.640 because they're dancing. So um. Especially once it crossed over 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:29.640 to the rich and became like divided by class, rockers 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:31.800 really started to have some some ground to stand on 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:35.159 by saying just goes vapid and and politically and a 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:38.119 political and it sucks for those reasons. And it started 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:40.760