1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: back to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Let's give a big, big 4 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: shout out to the one and only super producer, Mr 5 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: Max Williams. Yeah, you can tell the energy folks were 6 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: so stoked, so stoked. I've got no I've got to 7 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: stop saying that in meetings because I think people can 8 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: tell and being sarcastic. Know what, No, that was me 9 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: being sarcastic, but about you being I don't know, it's 10 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: too many layers of sarcasm here to wade through. Um, 11 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: you know what's I'm not being sarcastic at all when 12 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: I say that I love disco baby pretty on ironically. 13 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: And that's the thing about like a craze or everywhere, 14 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: like what something that could be seen as like a 15 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: fat or like a like a moment and an explosive 16 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 1: moment in pop culture that then starts to feel kind 17 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,839 Speaker 1: of dated later if you live through it, it's gonna 18 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: temper the way you actually feel about it moving forward. 19 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: Like you know, a dear, dear, dear friend of mine 20 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: who was responsible for so much music that I was 21 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: turned onto. Um, he owned a record store. Harry, you've 22 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: met friend of the show, Harry grahams Um, he loves 23 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: Pink Floyd, as do I. But you know what he 24 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: hates by Pink Floyd The Wall. Well, the Wall is 25 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: an album he has a little overwrought and bloated, but 26 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: he specifically hates the song another Brick in the Wall 27 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: Part two. I think because it was such an inescapable, 28 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: ubiquitous smash hit, and it is, in fact a disco song. 29 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: It is and yeah, disco esque. If you were to 30 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: ask me, Ben, what would you be doing in the 31 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: nineties seventies. I don't know if I'd be partying at 32 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: Studio fifty four or anything, but I would definitely be 33 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: listening to disco because during that time it was the 34 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: biggest genre. Like it's it's hard to, as you said, 35 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: unless you lived during that era, during that craze, it 36 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: would be difficult to really understand just how popular disco was. Now. 37 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: I'm a lifelong ab A fan, for instance, I I 38 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: think some people just didn't like disco because they felt 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: it got overplayed, or maybe they were being a bit contrarian. 40 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: But today's story is it takes place kind of in 41 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: the context of disco, where you're gonna introduce you to 42 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: a DJ, we're gonna talk a little bit about the 43 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: White Sox, and you might be thinking, guys, how does 44 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: this all come together? You're promising me quite a bit 45 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: in today's podcast. Well, just you wait, fellow ridiculous historians. 46 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: We should maybe start with the name. It's called Disco 47 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: Demolition Night and shout out to our new researcher that 48 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: we teased earlier, Mr Zach Williams. Yeah, Zach Um did 49 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: a deep dive on a topic that I was pretty 50 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: familiar with because of a podcast that I worked on 51 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: called The Speed of Sound with the wonderful and talented 52 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: and storied Mr Steve Greenberg, who did He insisted on 53 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: doing a multipart episode. I think we talked him out 54 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: of four parts and al ended up down to three 55 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: on disco, and his argument was that it is a 56 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: cultural kind of high water mark, or the very least 57 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: represented a very important kind of crossroads in music, you know, 58 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: in the history of music and the history of genre, 59 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: in the history of fandom, and it all kind of 60 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: crested or you know, we can actually see the moment 61 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: that disco you know, or at least, the heyday of 62 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: disco essentially died. Uh, and it died in full view 63 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: of a a stadium full of around forty thousand baseball 64 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: fans at Kaminsky Park in Chicago. It essentially went up 65 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: in flames. Um demolition. Disco Demolition Night was a promotional 66 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: thing like sort of like you know, free bobble Head 67 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: Night or like two for one Beard night, you know, 68 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: at the ballpark. But this was a little more divisive, 69 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: and it was organized by a guy by the name 70 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: of Steve Dahl, who was on the forefront of a 71 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: movement that was happening at the time. Because any time 72 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: you have something as big as disco, something as big 73 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: as like, you know, let's say three D movies that 74 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: kind of came and went, but they were pretty popular 75 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: for a little bit, you're gonna have a backlash that 76 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: goes along with. Uh. And this backlash was collectively referred 77 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: to as the Disco Sucks movement right right, And uh, this, 78 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: you know, this is very common. I would say that 79 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: sort of mentioning contrarianism earlier, because if something reaches any 80 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: certain threshold of hype, then there will be people who 81 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: just say I'm not into it for one reason or another, 82 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: whether you're talking about star wars or a religious movement 83 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: or a genre of music. It's easy to understand, though, 84 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: why the Disco Sucks movement could have occurred, like why 85 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: people got less and less hyped about disco. It really 86 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: was ubiquitous. If you look at the first half of 87 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, then you'll see that of all the 88 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,239 Speaker 1: top singles on the US charts, all sixteen we're disco 89 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: except for three. There were three non disco songs, which 90 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: is nuts. That means anywhere you go on the radio, 91 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: you're virtually guaranteed to hear a disco song. And if 92 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: you look at the year before that, disco songs had 93 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: been number one for thirty seven weeks out of fifty two. 94 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: That's where we go to. Alice eccles, who is a 95 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: cultural historian and author of Hot Stuff, Disco and the 96 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: Remaking of American Culture. Ecl says that disco had kind 97 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: of pushed out the old standby of album oriented rock, 98 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: which she refers to as a o R, and live venues, 99 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: not just nightclubs, but live venues in general, were increasingly 100 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: switching over to disco. And record labels were making a 101 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: lot of money, but they didn't particularly love it. A 102 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: lot of music fans, a lot of rock fans also thought, 103 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: you know, disco was just the worst thing ever, and 104 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: they started to fight back against it. And here's the thing. 105 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: I mean, you're a record executive, you know, an A 106 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,720 Speaker 1: and R person whatever, like there's gonna be there's a 107 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: certain tastemaker quality to to being a record executive or 108 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: to running a record label, like you want to be 109 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: the ones responsible for the next big sound or whatever. 110 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: You know, even though disco was definitely super lucrative, it 111 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: was kind of starting to feel a little samy and 112 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: sort of like, well, it's all kind of bleeding into 113 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: one another, all these songs, and the executives and the 114 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: and R folks didn't really feel like they even had 115 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: a hand in it as much anymore. But of course 116 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: they're not going to turn off that money faucet. And 117 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: the way this fantastic article in The Guardian by Alex 118 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: Petro Titus puts it. The article, by the way, it's 119 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: called Disco Demolition, The night they tried to crush Black music. 120 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: That last part we're going to get into um in 121 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: a big way very soon. They make a really good point. 122 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: It's even the record labels were making a lot of 123 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: money off disco. They were holding their nose. They were 124 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: worried about it crashing, but they wanted it to crash 125 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: so they could go back to classic rock. There was 126 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: also a grassroots anti disco movement, a national effort on 127 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: the part of people involved, so that that's that disco 128 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: sucks movement. So Steve Dahl and the executives UH and 129 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: responsible for promotions at the ball field at Kamiskey Park 130 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: UH decided that this was something that could be capitalized on. 131 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: UM So Steve Dahl and Gary Meyer, who were both 132 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,679 Speaker 1: disc jockeys, actually at the w l u p radio 133 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: station in Chicago called the Loop FM. If you ever 134 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: been in Chicago, you know there's a part of the 135 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: city called the Loop where you can take the L 136 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: train kind of orbits um different neighborhoods on the outskirts 137 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: of the city and then various points kind of take 138 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: you more into the city. Chicagoans tell me if I 139 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: even remotely got that right, I think I'm closed. But 140 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: Dall had moved to w l u P U from 141 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: a rival station called w d a I, and that 142 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: was because that station had switched to an all disco format, 143 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 1: which was something that was happening all across the country 144 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: in nineties seventy nine in particular. So a lot of 145 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: rock DJs, We're getting their lunch eaten by the this 146 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: this format change, by these disc a dj So there 147 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: was a lot of resentment. There was a lot of 148 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: simmering kind of you know, um bitterness toward this movement. 149 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:11,960 Speaker 1: And again because this, you know, a city like Chicago 150 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: is like a rock city. You mean, there's a lot 151 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: of jazz there and stuff too, but you think of 152 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: chicagoan's kind of blue collar rock folks, and it's definitely 153 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: even still like that to this day. So this was 154 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: a place that made sense to be ground zero for 155 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: that's kind of like destruction of disco, because these these 156 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,319 Speaker 1: concerns were very real, not to mention, like you said, Ben, 157 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: the the the move away from the album format to 158 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: the single format and away from the live music venue 159 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: to the club was also busy, and people off Zanna Do. Sorry, guys, 160 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: that's what I was trying to think of. Zanna Do. 161 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 1: The nineteen eight film Remember Zanna Do Do? You guys 162 00:09:53,559 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: remember they had Olivia Newton, John Electra Light Orchestra. No, yeah, 163 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: you're yeah. Yes, it's a roller skating movie. Um, and 164 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: it is not very good, but it is as an 165 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: artifact of a time and place. It's such a specific, 166 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: such a specific genre, that I think it naturally becomes 167 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: number one in the roller skating musicals of the nineteen eighties. 168 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 1: But yeah, this is the Disco is not for everyone. 169 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: And there's this great article and Rolling Stone where they 170 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: recount some of Steve Doll's statements two newscasters of the day, 171 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 1: and he says he's listing out the reasons that he 172 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: doesn't care for disco. He's pretty humorous. He says, I 173 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: hate the taste of pina coladas. I'm allergic to gold jewelry, 174 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: so there's nothing there for me. You have to spend 175 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: so much time blow dry in your hair. It's a 176 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: waste of energy. And uh you can tell. Of course, 177 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: radio station personalities tend to we tend to be big personalities. 178 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: So he is be and humorous, but he is also 179 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: not He's also trying to find a creative way to 180 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: protest against the dominance of disco, and he and his 181 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: buddy Gary, he just mentioned At first, they said, all right, 182 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna just blow up a bunch of disco records 183 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: on the field between the games. And they also cooked 184 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: up this scheme with Bill Veeck, who was the owner 185 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,479 Speaker 1: of White Sox at the time. And Bill had another problem. 186 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: The season wasn't going super well and he really wanted 187 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: to increase attendance. He wanted those butts in the seat. Uh. 188 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,679 Speaker 1: And his son Michael, who was about twenty eight at 189 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: the time, was instrumental in talking his father into doing 190 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: this promotion because Michael, like Steve and like Gary, hated disco. 191 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: He thought it was a blight on the American music 192 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: scene and disco bashing, his mind, became a celebrity cause 193 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: just because there wasn't really anything else to do. And 194 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: you know, interestingly enough, the White Sox had experimented with 195 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: a themed disco night before. Two years before this event, 196 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: they had a disco night that was celebrating disco, so 197 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:24,559 Speaker 1: this one would be dissing disco. It's a disco disc. 198 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: Disco dis disastrous, dystopia demolition. We have them, We're demolishing 199 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: this this series of alliteration, alliterateate of terms. Remember that 200 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: movie demolition man there was what were they for? Were 201 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: there for wiping? It was unclear. It was on the 202 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: back of a toilet. Sorry, it was just foolish to 203 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: not know. And uh, Sylvester Stalone was haunted. But this, 204 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: so this seems like it could be kind of fun. 205 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: You go to the show or you go to the game, 206 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: you bring a disco record with you, and you pay 207 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: cents to watch the album's all get blown up together. 208 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 1: So it's a little spectacle, you know what I mean. 209 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: No one's getting hurt. The record companies probably don't care 210 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: because you've already bought the record, the band already got 211 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: their money, right, or whichever artists were mentioning. But soon 212 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: enough it became clear that everybody, from the owner of 213 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: the White Sox to the DJs involved, had no idea 214 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: how popular this concept was. Especially you're only charging people cents. 215 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: Come on, that's like the cheapest day in town, and 216 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: I want to jump in here. It was ninety eight 217 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: cents for a double header two so you got eight 218 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,319 Speaker 1: pmatings of baseball, so you could just it's like an 219 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: all day thing. You to go to a game, watch 220 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: the stuff get blow up, get another game. Well at 221 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: least in concept, and so it's just like that, that's 222 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,839 Speaker 1: that's a really good deal. It's forty eight. It's like 223 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: less than fifty cents or game right, too good a deal. 224 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: In fact, they didn't expect the turnout they were going 225 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: to get because I think they were looking at this 226 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,679 Speaker 1: whole disco sucks thing is sort of a novelty, sort 227 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: of a way to be a little contrarian, like you said, Ben, 228 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: to sort of like support that whole of Chicago, you know, 229 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: rock mentality or whatever, and sell a few extra tickets 230 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: in the meantime. But it was way more popular than 231 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: I think anybody planned. And part of that was that 232 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: people were bringing records right that they were wanted to 233 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: see blown up. But it wasn't really clear to the 234 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: people that were taking tickets, you know, which ones were 235 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: disco officially and which ones weren't. And to that end, 236 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: I want to bring up an interesting point the genre, 237 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: the idea of disco it is referring to. I mean, 238 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: think about it. It's like a club is called a disco. 239 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: Maybe I'm not getting the order of operations here, right, 240 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: but I mean a disc is a vinyl record, So 241 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: it's just referring to playing records, so disco songs, while 242 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: it ended up being associated with a genre and kind 243 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: of a four on the floor, you know, kick drum 244 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing with percussion and stuff. A lot of 245 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: there's a lot of genre hopping within the supposed genre 246 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: that is disco. I would say the beat is a 247 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: disco beat, but then you can apply that to like techno, 248 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: you can apply that to toum house music or whatever. 249 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: But that's of course came came later, and we'll get 250 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: into that. Chicago played a big role in that as 251 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: well later down the line. But people were bringing all 252 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: kinds of records, but they were bringing like R and 253 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: B records music by black artists, and it became, you know, 254 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: a little bit clear that the whole disco sucks movement 255 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: some of the folks involved in that, we're using it 256 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: as a way of kind of participating in veiled racism, 257 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: not very veiled, not very veiled. But you mentioned abbas 258 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,040 Speaker 1: about as white as you can get, you know, with 259 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:01,440 Speaker 1: with a with a band. I mean, there are a 260 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: bunch of Swedes, you know, playing kind of disco music, 261 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: but a lot of the top hits, you know, of 262 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: the disco age were from black artists, and that was 263 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: not the case prior to that in terms of like 264 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: what was popular on the radio was a lot of 265 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: white you know, long hair kind of like rock and 266 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: rollers or whatever in the sixties and seventies. And of 267 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: course there was some you know, popular black sixties motown 268 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: of course and all of that stuff, but it wasn't 269 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: the same. This was very very mainstreaming, and I think 270 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people resented that and used as an 271 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: opportunity to be nasty towards these these black artists. So 272 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: people were bringing all kinds of stuff that wasn't quote 273 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: unquote disco, and they were told when the people taking 274 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: tickets as their supervisors, I don't know, this is a 275 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: really disco. That doesn't matter if they brought a record, 276 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: give him a ticket. Yeah, And that still wasn't enough. 277 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: Fans were busting down the gates, they were climbing over 278 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: the walls. More than seventy five thousand people. We're filling 279 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: the stadium, not even a lot of them. Not not 280 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: so much for the games, even though, as you mentioned, 281 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: max is a doubleheader. They just wanted to see the 282 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: records explode. And the crowd was especially during the first game, 283 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: they were already rowdy. They were throwing records, you know, 284 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: supposedly disco records. They were throwing cherry bombs. They were 285 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: throwing like anything they had at the players on the field. 286 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: So this is, as you can imagine, kind of distracting 287 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 1: to the guys who are there to play baseball. The 288 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: Socks lose the first game to the Tigers, and it's 289 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: four to one, and then right the game's over. So 290 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: the part of the show everybody really wants to see 291 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 1: is about to begin. Our DJ Dall comes onto the field. 292 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: He's wearing camo and a helmet, and uh, everybody still 293 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:57,880 Speaker 1: is throwing beer and vital records at him, and he's 294 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: cheering them on. He's like, this is the world largest 295 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: dance I Disco rally. We took the records you bought tonight. 296 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: We got him in a giant box. We're gonna blow 297 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 1: him up real good. And everyone's like, WHOA, yeah, how 298 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: do he blows them them up real good? Ye? Seeing 299 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: what this guy looked like at this time, I actually 300 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: haven't seen a photo of the guy describing to his max, Uh, he's, uh, 301 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: what you call it a military outfit? I mean it's 302 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: a it's a stretch. I would say, Uh, he's got 303 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: real big, like seventies early eighties glasses. The hair is 304 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: pretty scruffy to say the least. Um, it's an interesting 305 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: look to say the least, it looks like it looks 306 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: almost like a like a mix between a hippie and 307 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: a would be dictator. That's very appropriate given his you know, 308 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 1: what he's doing here is ultimately stirring up a mob 309 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: with rhetoric, you know, surrounding what is ultimately an ideological perspective. 310 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: You know, I mean it sounds silly now we think 311 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: about it, like dis go whatever. It seems so frivolous 312 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: and like this whole period of excess that was sort 313 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 1: of like an antithesis to this the free love of 314 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: the sixties and you know, psychedelics, it was more about 315 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,679 Speaker 1: cocaine and like longevity and just like endurance. You know, 316 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 1: you would just you know, party boogie woogie woog until 317 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: you just can't book you no more and all that stuff. 318 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: But it was it was all kind of surfacy, like 319 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: all of the like meaning and counterculture that was wrapped 320 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: up in the sixties and seventies, all of that kind 321 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: of went out the window with disco because it was 322 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,440 Speaker 1: just like all about looking good and like being hot 323 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: and having money, you know what I mean. It wasn't 324 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: that they didn't really have a cause it was it 325 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: was all just kind of this like vacuous surfacing stuff. 326 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: So this guy, who, like you said, represents you know, 327 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,200 Speaker 1: the the antithity, the backlash to what I just described, 328 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: is up on a podium, you know, working this group 329 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: up into a froth and then exploding these records and 330 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: this symbolic act, you know, with shards of wreck. By 331 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: the way, this does not seem very safe. You ever 332 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: seen a shard of a vinyl record? I mean he 333 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 1: cut somebody with one of those. I mean, you got 334 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: like shrapnell of this stuff flying everywhere? Or were people 335 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: wearing safety goggles? I mean, I know it was a 336 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: different time, but come on, when when I was a kid, 337 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: this is a true story, I did not understand that 338 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: breaking a record was a figurative thing. I thought that 339 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: you became a record breaker by physically breaking records. Uh. 340 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: Apologies to my parents, because I got renaissance tasty vital 341 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: and it came in. I told my mom I was 342 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: a record breaker. I oddly enough to not get in trouble, 343 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: but I did. I did hurt myself, so I know 344 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: exactly what you're talking about. The Vinyl Shards don't try 345 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: it molten and sharp, and it's all just shooting out 346 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: of the crowd and people are just like losing their minds. 347 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: You know. It's like all over the field, people start 348 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:57,879 Speaker 1: channing Disco sucks, school sucks, Disco sucks. And they're getting 349 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: out of their seats now and jumping over the barricade 350 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: down into the field and like cult like, you know, 351 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: dancing like around this this this dumpster fire literally while 352 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: being rained down, you know, by while the Vinyl Shards 353 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: are raining down from on high, they're stealing stuff. They're 354 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: starting to loot like bats and batting helmets and things 355 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: like that, and of course you know they're politely being 356 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: asked by the announcers to please return to their seats. Right, Yeah, 357 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: it's uh, it's increasingly ineffective that there's a there's an 358 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: interesting escalation here, like a back and forth, right, because 359 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: individual people are really really intelligent, but big groups of 360 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: people are really really dumb. So I learned about that 361 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,360 Speaker 1: recently at a hot air balloon festival. But anyhow, so 362 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: we know we see these people trying to talk down 363 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,920 Speaker 1: the crowd, like you said, noll the p A. Their 364 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: appeals are ignored. The owner of the White Sox gets 365 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: on the field, he grabs a microphone and it's like, hey, 366 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 1: come on, will you please sit down out and so 367 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: we can play play baseball. And then this goes on 368 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,360 Speaker 1: for like forty minutes. The crowd in the stadium divides. 369 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: There's still some fans who are in the stands right 370 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: there in their seats, and they start a counter chant 371 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: and they're just yelling back to your seats, back to 372 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: your seats, and then they start playing take me out 373 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: to the ball game. None of this works to the 374 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 1: crowd is just even more adamant about this protest. So 375 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: the Chicago police show up in full riot gear and 376 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: start clearing the field while the crowd in the stands 377 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: is starting to sing in kind of a petty spiteful way. 378 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,680 Speaker 1: Na na na na na na na na. Come on. 379 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: Every time I hear that, I always say. They're saying 380 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: gooden bye, like like a German like good bye, you 381 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: know not, So this becomes kind the rallying cry, right 382 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: because this is sort of like an anti disco anthem 383 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: sort of. I mean not not not because of the 384 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: content of the song. It's just saying like goodbye, ushering out, 385 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: you know, the age of discom But it also is 386 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: more of a more of a rock song. Yeah yeah, 387 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: by the band Steam, who has been described as pop 388 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: or psychedelic pop. But it's it's a good song. And 389 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: you know, in the three of us are big, big 390 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: fans of music across many genres. I don't know which, 391 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: I don't know which side we would be on in 392 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: this in this stadium. But here's the thing that's really interesting. 393 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,360 Speaker 1: It's something we've alluded to through this episode. Right now, 394 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: A lot of people may think of Disco Demolition Night 395 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: as a marketing stunt gone wrong, right, be careful what 396 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: you wish for when you say you want more people 397 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: to come to your stadium. But in the larger context, 398 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: this shows us um. I think it's indicative of some 399 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: growing intensions in Chicago and in the rest of the 400 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: United States. Like you mentioned the idea that people were 401 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: picking records by black artists and then we say we're 402 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: going to destroy those. I want to go back to 403 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:21,440 Speaker 1: that excellent Rolling Stone article that Zack pointed out, which 404 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:26,120 Speaker 1: is watch disco demolition Night devolved into a fiery riot 405 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: by Andy Green, and Green points out that for a 406 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: lot of people, for a lot of non white people, 407 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: this incident was very disturbing because everybody was aware that, 408 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the guys who were doing 409 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: this were white dudes who are like burning records and 410 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 1: rioting and whatnot, and disco as a genre was incredibly 411 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: popular among many non white groups and people from different demographics, 412 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,479 Speaker 1: you know, gay people. Oh not to mention people from 413 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,479 Speaker 1: the gay community, right was a big part of it too, 414 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 1: And there was a sense you know, and again the 415 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: DJs responsible for this event would go on to say 416 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: like I'm no homophobe, I'm no racist. I was this 417 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: was more just like a tongue in cheek kind of 418 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: stunt to you know, sort of like pok the finger 419 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: in the eye would have become the kind of like 420 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: prevailing you know genre in almost like in a in 421 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: a an egregious way, in a way that was like 422 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 1: seeming seemingly wiping out other culture. But that doesn't just 423 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,640 Speaker 1: because someone had doesn't have like an endgame in mind 424 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: that other people Glamanto as part of a movement doesn't 425 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: mean those other people aren't part of the movement too. 426 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:38,320 Speaker 1: And and there certainly were homophobes and racists involved. And 427 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: we'll get to a really fascinating story in a little 428 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: bit that Zach found as well, from the perspective of 429 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: of of of a black person who was actually working 430 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,640 Speaker 1: at the field the day of of this of this riot, 431 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: and the way he was treated. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I 432 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: mean there's a guy named Nile Rogers speaking about this 433 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: incident who said that for his yeah, yeah, he said 434 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: that for this community felt like Nazi book burning. You know, 435 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: Roger said, quote, this is America, the home of jazz 436 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: and rock, and people are now afraid to even say 437 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,400 Speaker 1: the word disco. And you know, I think we stumble 438 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: upon such an important thing about American culture here. Like 439 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: you said, nol Doll just said, Look, he said, we 440 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: were just kids who were basically taking the piss out 441 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,120 Speaker 1: of a genre of music. We're not. It wasn't meant 442 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: to be racist, it wasn't meant to be homophobic. But 443 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: I think you make an excellent point that just because 444 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: that guy didn't intend to do this, it doesn't mean 445 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: that other people involved, We're also not being racist or homophobic, 446 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: because a couple definitely We're so there's this idea. It's 447 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: mentioned in that Guardian article we sided earlier that disco 448 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,880 Speaker 1: is a threat to some kind of white status quo. 449 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: You know that there's a culture war brew Wing and 450 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,479 Speaker 1: d J's in Detroit. I didn't know this week out 451 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: in the story, DJ's in Detroit formed a disco themed 452 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: vigilante group called, and this is true, folks, the Disco 453 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 1: Ducks Clan. Because Disco Duck was was kind of a 454 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: a lot of people point to Rick D's Disco Duck. 455 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: We should actually play a little clip of it. It's 456 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 1: it's too silly, down too essentially a Donald Duck kind 457 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: of voice over at disco beats. It really signaled like 458 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 1: this is a joke. This has become a joke. Quack quack, 459 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,440 Speaker 1: you know it's I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's it's 460 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: it's just a total novelty song. And just showed that 461 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: this that bubble that the record labels were worried about, 462 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: it was. It was, it was there and and and 463 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: all it needed for it to burst was this moment 464 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: at com Ski Park. And that was literally like the 465 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: powder Keg moment that burst the disco bubble and then 466 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: made it just like straight up not cool because again, 467 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: it also represented kind of yuppie culture. It represented kind 468 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: of these like you know, but then then we're getting 469 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,880 Speaker 1: into the eighties and then the disco kind of molds 470 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 1: into like, you know, eighties kind of like you know, 471 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: electronic music, like things like you know, Culture Club and 472 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: Human League, which I love all of that stuff. But 473 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 1: if you watch a movie like American Psycho and you see, 474 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: you know, the way the serial killer Patrick Bateman is 475 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: sort of um portrayed as this eighties music loving, you know, 476 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 1: suit wearing, fine business card having psychopath, you understand what 477 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: how it's parodying that kind of yuppy culture that sort 478 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: of began with disco and didn't really go away. It 479 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: just started calling it something else and the sound changed. Yeah, 480 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: and and music should always be evolving, right, I think 481 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:01,080 Speaker 1: that's a very solid argument to make. But this is 482 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: a flashpoint for the American attitude about disco. And after 483 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: this moment, disco begins to encounter a really sharp decline. 484 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean that everybody all at once decided 485 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: they didn't like disco. It had just been so popular 486 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: that it was unsustainable, you know what I mean. So 487 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: if you go to that we mentioned the stat for 488 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: the first half of ninety nine, right, all but three 489 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: of the top hit songs or disco songs. But if 490 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: you go to the second part of nine, you'll see 491 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: there was only one disco song that made it to 492 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,600 Speaker 1: the top of the charts, and it only did it 493 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: for a week. It was Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till 494 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: You Get Enough. I'm falling into DJ voice, you know, 495 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: like we're back from the commercial for sure, which is 496 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: which is a stone called banger, and that song holds 497 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: up to this day despite you know, it is that 498 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: art from the artist the conversation, I think it's a 499 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: case by case basis. But for me, some of the 500 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: music of Michael jacks especially his classic error is unimpeachably great. 501 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: And don't Stop Till You Get Enough. Yes, it is 502 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: a disco song. It has a lot of hallmarks of 503 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: disco culture, those strings and that don't bank ant all 504 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: of the instrumentation of that, uh, is very much in 505 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: line with disco, but it also like what even is disco? 506 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: You know, I mean it really it was just it 507 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: just danceable music with like cool arrangements, with kind of 508 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: an airy uppeat quality to it. Like, I think that's 509 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: the issue here, is like it was more of a 510 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: culture than it was a genre, you know. Yeah. Denny Hilton, 511 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: writing Froxford University Press, he had this article called the 512 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: Birth of Disco and I learned some pretty interesting stuff 513 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: from that. I didn't know the etymology, you know, I 514 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: love etymology. Disco tech is a French word that just 515 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: means library of phonographic records, like tech. And I was, 516 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: I was, I was posing this question earlier, and a 517 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: conjectured that had to be disco is just the disc 518 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: and the disco is just a place where you go 519 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: to listen to the disc. Yeah. Yeah, it goes back 520 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 1: to it was a type of French nightclub emergent in Paris. 521 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: They had started playing these records during the Nazi occupation 522 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties, and eventually some clubs just started 523 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: calling themselves, you know, like the disco dick and and 524 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: uh then later it came over across the pond to 525 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: the US. But but yeah, it's tough to kind of 526 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: define it. And I like the point. I like the 527 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: supposition that it might simply be a matter of culture, right, 528 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:43,080 Speaker 1: as much as a rigorously defined musical genre, which it 529 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: kind of isn't rigorously defined. And so now we know 530 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: there's this mainstream push against disco, but it doesn't go away. 531 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: It kind of goes back underground where it was in 532 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: the beginning. There's a pretty interesting thing that I wanted 533 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: to ask you guys about. There's this argument that when 534 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: it went back underground and it wasn't as mainstream as 535 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: it happened in years past, that the artists were able 536 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: to become even more adventurous and creative. You think, so 537 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: you agree with that, Oh well, nineteen seventy nine was 538 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: a really important year for music in the underground in 539 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: terms of like indie which you might call indie music. 540 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: Like nineteen seventy nine I believe was the year that 541 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: like David Bowie's Low came out, and and Bowie certainly 542 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: would dabble in, you know, dance dancing music with stuff 543 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: like literally let's dance and uh fashion on Scary Monsters, 544 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: But he took dance music and kind of like flipped 545 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: it on its head and made it like sort of 546 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: subversive dance music where it was like yeah, it has 547 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: a fun disco b but it also has like a 548 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: Japanese woman like screaming of the top for lungs and 549 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: Japanese and like the sounds of glass breaking, and you know, 550 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: like Robert Fripp's guitar sounded like a chainsaw cutting down 551 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,040 Speaker 1: a forest, you know, and you can really I tried 552 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 1: to find a chronological list of of hit songs from 553 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, and it's true. It really does kind 554 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: of appear that the first part of it is a 555 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: lot of disco e type songs like Donna Summer, Herbie Man, Shalamar. 556 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: You know, I believe that's uh. I believe that's a 557 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: disco e type song. But then you have like, you know, 558 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: Blondie with Heart of Glass, which is a disco song 559 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: by Blondie. Because even artists that were more punk, we're 560 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: getting into disco, like we talked about with Pink Floyd 561 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: in the Wall. You know, they were like kind of 562 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 1: a psych band, punk you know, whatever you wanna call it, 563 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,479 Speaker 1: experimental band, but they that song was a massive hit 564 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: for them, and even if it wasn't like anything else 565 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: they've ever done. And you know, Rod Stewart, if you 566 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: want my body and you think I'm sexy. Like his 567 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: earlier stuff was mega seventies and beautiful, like The Faces 568 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: was kind of you know, folky, punky kind of roots music, 569 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: you know. But then later when we get to that 570 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: second half, you have Blondie you with a hit with 571 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,719 Speaker 1: the song Dreaming, just a disco song at all. It's 572 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: much more of like what we would think now is 573 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: like a proto kind of indie dream pop kind of song, 574 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,240 Speaker 1: you know, like something that Beach House would do almost 575 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: you know. So it's a really interesting trajectory because then 576 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,879 Speaker 1: you have like Brian Eno and these artists that are 577 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: helping some of these disco e type artists make more 578 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: interesting stuff or take pieces of the disco sound and 579 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: turn into something a little more interesting something. I'm a 580 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: fan of that in every in every genre. That's one 581 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,279 Speaker 1: thing that I really love about hip hop as well, 582 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: is you can you can take pretty much any aspect 583 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,319 Speaker 1: of any other genre of music and you can put 584 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: it into a beat and it'll sound really good right 585 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: with especially the hands of a talented producer. I think 586 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,359 Speaker 1: that kind of evolution should be welcomed. You know. It's 587 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 1: always weird to me when I and I know, not 588 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,320 Speaker 1: all music is for all people, but it's weird to 589 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: me when I hear someone say I disc like insert 590 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:06,520 Speaker 1: genre here, whether that's like um marengue, or whether it's 591 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 1: you know, opera, or whether it's nineties alternative rock. The 592 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,680 Speaker 1: question is have you heard every song in that genre? 593 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,360 Speaker 1: Maybe you just haven't heard one that speaks to you. 594 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,800 Speaker 1: So it's such a weird broad brush to say, you know, 595 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,399 Speaker 1: I hate all disco. It seems like in this case, 596 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: these people were saying, I hate what disco in my 597 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: mind represents one million percents. Now that's that's that's why 598 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 1: I said it was much more of a a lifestyle 599 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 1: or like a brand than it was even a sound. 600 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: And you know, we we get into kind of more 601 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: modern times where now you know, like vapor wave for example, 602 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,800 Speaker 1: which is like a really interesting mash up kind of 603 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,799 Speaker 1: culture jamming sort of genre of music that will take 604 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: everything from like elevator music to like gum commercials from 605 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 1: the eighties to disco and like slow it down and 606 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,120 Speaker 1: kind of chopp and screw it to make really interesting 607 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: subversive psychedelic dance music. You know Arthur Russell, for example, 608 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 1: who's like, you know, he's he's an artist that's all 609 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: over the place. He put out a kind of a 610 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:12,400 Speaker 1: series of avant disco kind of records and that became 611 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 1: a thing too with DJs, and like, you know, then 612 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 1: you start getting into like the mainstreaming of Kraft work 613 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: and like German electronic or European electronic sounds, and that's 614 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: all kind of part and parcel with that Bowie era 615 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: that I was describing, because he went to Berlin to 616 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: get off of cocaine and other drugs and he ended 617 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,080 Speaker 1: up making these three albums while he was there, produced 618 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 1: by Brian you know, Low Lodger and Heroes, which are 619 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,880 Speaker 1: three of my favorite albums of all time and certainly 620 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,880 Speaker 1: of of Bowie's career. And then you start getting into like, 621 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: you know, DJ's like Frankie Knuckles in Chicago who's using 622 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: edits of disco songs and changing the speed and mashing 623 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: them up with other sounds and synthesizers and stuff. So 624 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,760 Speaker 1: it's like, this is the city that you know, burned 625 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,840 Speaker 1: disco to the ground, became a really important city for 626 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,840 Speaker 1: a burgeoning new kind of club sound, which is disco 627 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,920 Speaker 1: in a way, like neo disco. Yeah, and this is 628 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:15,320 Speaker 1: where we want. So I've been trying so hard not 629 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: to tell you guys bad disco jokes. But we're gonna get. 630 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,879 Speaker 1: We're gonna get a few days. We'll save for the end. 631 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: You say that now, my friend. But uh, but we 632 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,399 Speaker 1: we would be remiss if we did not follow up 633 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 1: on a very important story that we talked about just 634 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: a second ago. We said, we're gonna give you the 635 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: experience of someone who is a civilian not involved in 636 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: this riot. There's a guy named Vince Lawrence. It's the 637 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,239 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen seventy nine. He has acquired a part 638 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:49,240 Speaker 1: time job at Commitsky Park as an usher. And Vince, 639 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: you know, as a young black teenager, knew this wasn't 640 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 1: maybe the ideal job, but he like It was very 641 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: close to a neighborhood called Bridgeport, and at the time, 642 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 1: according to Vince, he said, quote, it was common knowledge 643 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 1: that you might not want to be hanging around after 644 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: dark because there were people there who for sure don't 645 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,320 Speaker 1: like you based on your color. That's right, And just 646 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,840 Speaker 1: just a little extra context, Vince Lawrence's father was a 647 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:20,400 Speaker 1: guy named Eddie Thomas who worked, or believe founded or 648 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: managed several funk acts who were on the label Curdam 649 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,360 Speaker 1: Records was the Chicago based like funk label artists like 650 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: Captain Sky who you know funk also was kind of 651 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,840 Speaker 1: in the disco realmant times, but it was again it 652 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: was lumped in. I would not say that it absolutely 653 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 1: actually was that what you would associate with the disco sound. 654 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 1: It was the kind of artist that you'd see on 655 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:46,080 Speaker 1: Soul Train. But Vince himself went on to become a 656 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: pioneering electronic music producer in the genre that I was 657 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: describing earlier, like the synth kind of like mash up, 658 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: you know, neo future disco and and and funk kind 659 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,040 Speaker 1: of sounds. But yeah, so he's he's there, he's working 660 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,680 Speaker 1: at the stadium while this event is taking place, and 661 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:07,319 Speaker 1: um he sees some things that are pretty ugly. Mm hmmm, yeah, 662 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 1: he really does. And bridge Board itself could be could 663 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,400 Speaker 1: be an episode you know, all its own. This area 664 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:20,359 Speaker 1: was very, very notorious for racial tension. There was even 665 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: one white sox player, a guy named Thad Boseley, who 666 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: was surrounded while he was driving through town. He was 667 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: surrounded by a mob of people because he took a 668 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:35,440 Speaker 1: wrong turn after going home from a game, and the 669 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: situation only ended, or like only diffused really when one 670 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,919 Speaker 1: of the people in the mob recognized him and said, oh, hey, 671 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 1: you with the White Sox. We love that team, you 672 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:52,399 Speaker 1: know what I mean, which is terrifying. Lawrence, though knew 673 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 1: that this job was an opportunity. He said, look, if 674 00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: there are people who were wealthy enough to sit in 675 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 1: the stadium boxes, then they're probably gonna tip me. All right, 676 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 1: I can get a good view of the game. And 677 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: there are always these promo events, these theme nights, right 678 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: like Elvis Knights, Country Music Nights, etcetera. And Vince Lawrence 679 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 1: was aware of Steve Dahl. He liked them. He wanted 680 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: to see this band called Teenage Radiation. They had recorded 681 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,680 Speaker 1: a parody single, I don't know if we mentioned this 682 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:32,839 Speaker 1: yet called do you Think I'm Disco? Yeah, that led 683 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: up to this, you know, to this event. And when 684 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,840 Speaker 1: you hear Lawrence's account of this, you can tell that 685 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 1: he quickly clocked something wasn't right. He noticed firsthand because 686 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,279 Speaker 1: he was there. He noticed that people we're coming with 687 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 1: disco records, but a lot of people were, just as 688 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,960 Speaker 1: we said earlier, picking any music that was made by 689 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,799 Speaker 1: a black artist, and he told his boss. He said, look, 690 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,440 Speaker 1: they're not These aren't all the disco records obviously, R 691 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 1: and B. I see funk. Should I make them go 692 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,040 Speaker 1: home and come back with a disco record? And then 693 00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,319 Speaker 1: that's when the decision was made. Now they if they 694 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,320 Speaker 1: have a record, take it, give them that, you know, 695 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: give them that ticket. And he says, quote, I want 696 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,560 Speaker 1: to say, maybe the person bringing the record just made 697 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: a mistake. But given the amount of mistakes I witnessed, 698 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,400 Speaker 1: why weren't there any cheap trick records or air supply right? 699 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: No Carpenters records. Yeah. I was talking to Zach um 700 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:31,600 Speaker 1: or any researcher who whodug a lot of this stuff up, 701 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: who is a very thoughtful, smart and um have her 702 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: of great taste, And he pointed out this section we 703 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,799 Speaker 1: were talking about in particular, like there are a lot 704 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 1: of like kind of um, I guess you could call 705 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:46,360 Speaker 1: it easy listening or like kind of like you know, 706 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:52,840 Speaker 1: maybe adult contemporary artists that you could potentially more easily 707 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 1: blur the line between what they are and what disco is. 708 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,920 Speaker 1: But none of those were even making it. And like 709 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,839 Speaker 1: things like air supply are things like you know, Hall 710 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: and Oates or something like that. Not that they're adult contemporary, 711 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,000 Speaker 1: but like you know, they've got some songs that you 712 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,120 Speaker 1: could construe with a discoe type vibe. So it started 713 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,200 Speaker 1: to seem like there was intent. Yeah, I think it's 714 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:17,879 Speaker 1: what we're getting now, absolutely, And Lawrence's account I think 715 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 1: is really important to keep in mind. He says, quote, 716 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,520 Speaker 1: I was one of the few African American people in 717 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:26,600 Speaker 1: the stadium. Steve Dahl said it wasn't discriminatory. He was 718 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:30,800 Speaker 1: an equal opportunities offender or whatever. But Steve didn't invite 719 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:35,520 Speaker 1: brothers to commit ski part. So once the scenes starts 720 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:39,120 Speaker 1: kind of veering towards more like full blown riot, and 721 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:42,520 Speaker 1: we've got estimates as high as fifty thousand people rushing 722 00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:47,200 Speaker 1: the field, absolutely more chaos than the meager, you know, 723 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: police presence that was there could deal with. Lawrence started 724 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: to feel really unsafe, like because he was being targeted 725 00:42:55,920 --> 00:43:00,200 Speaker 1: by these folks. What he did, according to him, how 726 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,759 Speaker 1: he felt was because he was black, and he's he's 727 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,759 Speaker 1: a black kid, you know, living in Chicago. He was 728 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,880 Speaker 1: wearing a loop T shirt, so he was what's it 729 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: inter between me and the next usher trying to get 730 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 1: back to his locker. So at one point you have 731 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: a guy that walks up to him and looks him 732 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:18,240 Speaker 1: right in the face and says, hey, you, disco sucks 733 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,200 Speaker 1: and just snaps a record in his face, like in 734 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,879 Speaker 1: his face. Well, now, of course, vinyls right, yet eye 735 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,160 Speaker 1: level that could easily hurt you. We're not even, I'm 736 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,680 Speaker 1: not even. It's more about the gesture. It's almost like 737 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 1: spitting at somebody, you know. It's like I'm targeting you 738 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:37,719 Speaker 1: with this act of aggression. It's not like, hey, we're 739 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: on the same team. Disco sucks. It's like, hey, you 740 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:45,520 Speaker 1: person who I associate with this what you represent sucks. 741 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:48,040 Speaker 1: And in this situation, it's almost like disco is a 742 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,480 Speaker 1: stand in for like being black or something or just 743 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: being different, you know, right exactly. And this also is 744 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:00,360 Speaker 1: only one example of how things can go raw in 745 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:03,799 Speaker 1: big sporting events. Uh, this is also, I would say, 746 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,680 Speaker 1: even more importantly, it proves to us that there's always 747 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,480 Speaker 1: more to the story behind the headline. And Max, we're 748 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:14,279 Speaker 1: talking a little bit off air, you my friend, to 749 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:17,120 Speaker 1: have your own first hand account of things going a 750 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,880 Speaker 1: little south at a ballgame. Huh yeah, yeah, yeah. As 751 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:23,200 Speaker 1: It's been noted multiple times here on the show. I 752 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:28,520 Speaker 1: am a dispassionate sports fan on Dispassionate again, and I 753 00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:31,920 Speaker 1: went to the first ever and Al wild Card game 754 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:35,239 Speaker 1: back in twelve between Atlanta and St. Louis. And for 755 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,600 Speaker 1: people who know that, um Sam Holberg had one of 756 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,640 Speaker 1: the most egregious calls in baseball history, called an infield 757 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,920 Speaker 1: fly on a ball that was in the outfield. He 758 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 1: was the outfield umpire. It doesn't make any sense any 759 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 1: of it, and it very much changed the game. So 760 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,800 Speaker 1: for nineteen minutes, Atlanta fans showered the field with beer bottles, 761 00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 1: just screaming. It was very, very similar to this. There's 762 00:44:56,719 --> 00:44:59,520 Speaker 1: a million videos of it and stuff, and so we 763 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,800 Speaker 1: were in it was I'm like, yeah, I've experienced this before. 764 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,200 Speaker 1: I will say my one regret though, is I had 765 00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:06,760 Speaker 1: just turned twenty one at the time. I had finished 766 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:11,879 Speaker 1: my beer already. I didn't have anything to throw. It's 767 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,799 Speaker 1: like that old Mitch Hedberg joke where they say who 768 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,719 Speaker 1: here's feels like a human being in he cheers, and 769 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,359 Speaker 1: they say, who he feels like a monster. I did 770 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:23,200 Speaker 1: not know there was another choice. Yeah, And I mean 771 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,280 Speaker 1: I will say the one lucky thing for both teams 772 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:29,000 Speaker 1: was that it happened in the eighth inning, and it 773 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:32,160 Speaker 1: cut off selling beer at the seventh inning stretch, so 774 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:37,640 Speaker 1: there was a finite amount you could have. Okay, this 775 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:40,120 Speaker 1: this has nothing to do with anything, but I just 776 00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:42,320 Speaker 1: want to deliver on what we promised here. Towards the 777 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:47,719 Speaker 1: end of the episode, what did the cops say when 778 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,839 Speaker 1: he entered the disco club? Hold On, hold on, hold 779 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,960 Speaker 1: on a good classy, cheesy joke, like this is almost 780 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,319 Speaker 1: like a riddle. Um No, I don't what is he say? 781 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:09,800 Speaker 1: Get down? So I didn't write that one. Yeah, I 782 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,720 Speaker 1: will say though, I kind of miss the dance moves 783 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: of the disco era. You know, the one finger kind 784 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,040 Speaker 1: of like cross chest thing, and then you alternate lots 785 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:22,960 Speaker 1: of very big moves. I like the one where you 786 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:24,640 Speaker 1: kind of get down. Well a lot of these were 787 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 1: James Brown moves to they were just slowed down and 788 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,560 Speaker 1: made like palatable for people that weren't really that good 789 00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:32,719 Speaker 1: at dancing. But then you know, there was certainly it 790 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:34,400 Speaker 1: was a big dance scene. There were a lot of 791 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:36,319 Speaker 1: dance It was all about the dance moves and being 792 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,160 Speaker 1: seen on the floor. There's a really cool movie that 793 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,720 Speaker 1: a buddy of mine turned me onto called The Last 794 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,200 Speaker 1: Days of Disco. I think it's what it's called. It's 795 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:49,000 Speaker 1: a Slim Whitman movie. It's got Chloe Seve Agney in 796 00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:51,200 Speaker 1: it or set seventy. However you say that name, I 797 00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,600 Speaker 1: least get it wrong. And Um, who's the actor that 798 00:46:54,760 --> 00:47:01,440 Speaker 1: plays the vampire hunter in the Underworld movies? Who Kate Beckinsale? 799 00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 1: Kate Beckinsal in it? No, it's just Kate beck and Stale. 800 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: Um what that Isaac's guy that Max Links. There's a 801 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:14,080 Speaker 1: handful of other smaller bit part actors that are in 802 00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:15,879 Speaker 1: that I recognize, but I can tell you what their 803 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,520 Speaker 1: names are. But it's it's a little bit stilted. It's 804 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,279 Speaker 1: got this kind of like fly on the Wall kind 805 00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,400 Speaker 1: of perspective, and there's some definitely definite cringe moments. But 806 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:27,800 Speaker 1: I believe there you'll see some parts where there's some 807 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: dudes roaming through the streets with leather jackets and there's 808 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 1: an altercation with them shouting disco sucks at some of 809 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:35,759 Speaker 1: the main characters. So I think the movie is meant 810 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:38,200 Speaker 1: to take place in nineteen seventy nine. So uh, if 811 00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:40,440 Speaker 1: you want to see kind of like a crystallization of 812 00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:43,160 Speaker 1: what the heyday of this whole would have been like. 813 00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:45,840 Speaker 1: And then um, I think even there's like a post 814 00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:48,759 Speaker 1: mortem thing where it's like, well, that was fine while 815 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:50,520 Speaker 1: it lasted, and now we all have to go get 816 00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:54,759 Speaker 1: real jobs, like, you know, grow our hair out. I 817 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:58,080 Speaker 1: think it was just such a creative time to musically. 818 00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:01,319 Speaker 1: There were these amazing salts that probably wouldn't have been 819 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,399 Speaker 1: made in an any other environment or in any other 820 00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,359 Speaker 1: kind of cultural soil, you know. So we should all 821 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:14,560 Speaker 1: be grateful for disco, even if it's not particularly your jam, 822 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:19,200 Speaker 1: because it tells us a lot about American society. And 823 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,160 Speaker 1: this is this was one heck of a story. I 824 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,000 Speaker 1: know we went a little long today, but really enjoyed 825 00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:29,120 Speaker 1: this one. So thank you. Dear Ridiculous Historians were coming 826 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:32,919 Speaker 1: on this journey with us. What's your favorite weird disco song? 827 00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 1: Can't wait to hear tell us all about it on 828 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:40,400 Speaker 1: our Facebook page Ridiculous Historians. You can also find us, 829 00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:44,000 Speaker 1: you know, just we're around. We're everywhere on the internet 830 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:48,279 Speaker 1: these days. Big big thanks to our super producer, Mr 831 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:56,040 Speaker 1: Max Disco Williams. You like that nickname, it's an acronym 832 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,560 Speaker 1: though it's a it's a. It's an acronym that stands 833 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:03,360 Speaker 1: for discover are of interesting curling organizations? There it is 834 00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,640 Speaker 1: well done. Now did we work on that a little 835 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:11,000 Speaker 1: bit off air? We didn't. Yes, we didn't question about that. 836 00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:17,160 Speaker 1: Let's be behind the curtain peak, behind the v I P. 837 00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:20,799 Speaker 1: Discotheque curtain. No, I had a great time with this one. 838 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:24,880 Speaker 1: I feel like we all did. Yeah. So also, as always, 839 00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:27,399 Speaker 1: thanks to Christ Frost you know it is Eves, Jeff Coche, 840 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,640 Speaker 1: thanks to our research associates Zach Williams and Jeff Bartlett 841 00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:34,759 Speaker 1: and no thanks to you man. We are like, we 842 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,400 Speaker 1: should go do a disco thing. Is is there any disco? Well, 843 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:40,600 Speaker 1: nowadays they just call them dance parties, you know, and 844 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:43,680 Speaker 1: you can certainly have themed ones or maybe there's ones 845 00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:45,480 Speaker 1: with We didn't even get into that. We believe we 846 00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,280 Speaker 1: briefly discussed the film Zanna Do. But like roller, disco 847 00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:51,000 Speaker 1: was a whole thing, you know, And that's hard, man, 848 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,440 Speaker 1: that takes some stamina and um coordination and that is 849 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:58,200 Speaker 1: not for me. But no, I would gladly attend a 850 00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:00,840 Speaker 1: night out dance party with that. With the two of 851 00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:05,000 Speaker 1: you find fellas leisure suits, need leisure suits. That game 852 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:08,959 Speaker 1: leisure suit, Larry. Yeah, it was just I'm actually just Google. Yes. Yeah, 853 00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:13,120 Speaker 1: silly silly, silly game, silly character. See you next time, folks. 854 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,239 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I 855 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,200 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 856 00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: your favorite shows