Editing Disco (section)

===1979–1981: Controversy and decline in popularity===
[[File:Rich Carey, 1977.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|A man wearing a "disco sucks" T-shirt.]]
By the end of the 1970s, anti-disco sentiment developed among [[rock music]] fans and musicians, particularly in the United States.<ref name=allmusicdisco/><ref>''Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture'', {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}} (2001) p. 217: "In fact, by 1977, before [[punk rock]] spread, there was a 'disco sucks' movement sponsored by radio stations that attracted some suburban white youth, who thought that disco was escapist, synthetic, and overproduced."</ref> Disco was criticized as mindless, [[Consumerism|consumerist]], [[Overproduction (music)|overproduced]] and [[escapism|escapist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/27/paranoia-at-the-disco|title=Disco Doesn't Suck. Here's Why.|date=May 27, 2014|website=Reason|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802123422/http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/27/paranoia-at-the-disco|archive-date=August 2, 2017|url-status=live}} Also see ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture'', {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-16161-9}} (2001) p. 217.</ref> The slogans "Disco sucks" and "Death to disco"<ref name=allmusicdisco/> became common. Rock artists such as [[Rod Stewart]] and [[David Bowie]] who added disco elements to their music were accused of [[selling out]].<ref name="Christgau">[http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj78.php Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1978: New Wave Hegemony and the Bebop Question] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004025459/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj78.php |date=October 4, 2009 }} [[Robert Christgau]] for the ''[[Village Voice]]'' Pop & Jop Poll January 22, 1978, 1979</ref><ref name=espn/>

The [[punk subculture]] in the United States and the United Kingdom was often hostile to disco,<ref name="allmusicdisco">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/disco-ma0000002552|title=Disco Music Genre Overview – AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019012752/https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/disco-ma0000002552|archive-date=October 19, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> although, in the UK, many early [[Sex Pistols]] fans such as the [[Bromley Contingent]] and [[Pamela Rooke|Jordan]] liked disco, often congregating at nightclubs such as Louise's in Soho and the Sombrero in Kensington. The track "[[Love Hangover]]" by [[Diana Ross]], the house anthem at the former, was cited as a particular favourite by many early UK punks.<ref>''England's Dreaming'', [[Jon Savage]] Faber & Faber 1991, pp 93, 95, 185–186</ref>
The film ''[[The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle]]'' and [[The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (album)|its soundtrack album]] contained a disco medley of Sex Pistols songs, entitled ''Black Arabs'' and credited to a group of the same name.

However, [[Jello Biafra]] of the [[Dead Kennedys]], in the song "Saturday Night Holocaust", likened disco to the [[cabaret]] culture of [[Weimar Republic|Weimar]]-era [[Germany]] for its apathy towards government policies and its escapism. [[Mark Mothersbaugh]] of [[Devo]] said that disco was "like a beautiful woman with a great body and no brains", and a product of political apathy of that era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://juicemagazine.com/home/devo/|title=DEVO|date=September 1, 2001|website=Juicemagazine.com|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620165319/http://juicemagazine.com/home/devo/|archive-date=June 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Experimental film|Experimental filmmaker]] [[Wheeler Winston Dixon]] called it "absolutely brain dead", around the clock disco-based radio as "just awful" and Studio 54 struck him as "really dull and elitist" and "everything I was against" (favoring CBGB, which he called "something of a haven", and New Wave acts like [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]], [[The Ramones]] and [[Television (band)|Television]]).<ref>Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey [http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/wheeler_winston_dixon/ "Community, Loss, and Regeneration: An Interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon"], Senses of Cinema. Accessed February 7, 2020.</ref> [[David Byrne]], lead singer of [[The Talking Heads]], remarked on the [[liner notes]] for the [[compilation album]] ''[[Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads]]'' about lyrics in their 1979 song "[[Life During Wartime (song)|Life During Wartime]]" ("this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around")<ref>[https://americansongwriter.com/talking-heads-life-wartime/ Behind the Song: Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime" - American Songwriter]</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first= Joel
| last= Whitburn
| year= 1997
| title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles
| edition= 
| publisher= Record Research Inc
| location= Menomonee Falls, WI
| isbn= 0-89820-122-5
| page= 869}}</ref><ref name=AllMusic>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/life-during-wartime-mt0031644471|title=Life During Wartime - Talking Heads &#124; Song Info &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref>

<blockquote>The line 'This ain't no disco' sure stuck! Remember when they would build bonfires of Donna Summer records? Well, we liked some disco music! It's called 'dance music' now. Some of it was radical, [[camp (style)|camp]], silly, transcendent and disposable. So it was funny that we were sometimes seen as the flag-bearers of the anti-disco movement.</blockquote>

New Jersey rock critic Jim Testa wrote "Put a Bullet Through the Jukebox", a vitriolic screed attacking disco that was considered a punk call to arms.<ref name="Testa">{{cite book|first1=Mark|last1=Andersen|first2=Mark|last2=Jenkins|title=Dance of days: two decades of punk in the nation's capital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU1jKq0TlvQC&pg=PA17|access-date=March 21, 2011|date=August 1, 2003|publisher=Akashic Books|isbn=978-1-888451-44-3|pages=17–|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522081459/https://books.google.com/books?id=CU1jKq0TlvQC&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Steve Hillage]], shortly prior to his transformation from a [[progressive rock]] musician into an [[Electronic music|electronic]] artist at the end of the 1970s with the inspiration of disco, disappointed his [[Rockism|rockist]] fans by admitting his love for disco, with Hillage recalling "it's like I'd killed their pet cat."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Steve_Hillage_feature.htm|title=Steve Hillage Terrascope Feature|website=terrascope.co.uk|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104140430/http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Steve_Hillage_feature.htm|archive-date=November 4, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Anti-disco sentiment was expressed in some television shows and films. A recurring theme on the show ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'' was a hostile attitude towards disco music. In one scene of the 1980 comedy film ''[[Airplane!]]'', a wayward airplane slices a radio tower with its wing, knocking out an all-disco radio station.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Foster |first1=Buzz |title=Disco Lives Forever! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtsQI2IeM5U | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/vtsQI2IeM5U| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|via=YouTube |access-date=November 4, 2021 |date=May 17, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> July 12, 1979, became known as "the day disco died" because of the [[Disco Demolition Night]], an anti-disco demonstration in a [[baseball]] double-header at [[Comiskey Park]] in Chicago.<ref name="Campion">Campion, Chris ''Walking on the Moon: The Untold Story of the Police and the Rise of New Wave Rock''. John Wiley & Sons, (2009), {{ISBN|978-0-470-28240-3}} pp. 82–84.</ref> Rock station DJs [[Steve Dahl]] and [[Garry Meier]], along with Michael Veeck, son of [[Chicago White Sox]] owner [[Bill Veeck]], staged the promotional event for disgruntled rock fans between the games of a White Sox doubleheader which involved exploding disco records in [[Baseball field|centerfield]]. As the second game was about to begin, the raucous crowd [[Pitch invasion|stormed onto the field]] and proceeded to set [[Bonfire|fires]] and tear out seats and pieces of turf. The [[Chicago Police Department]] made numerous arrests, and the extensive damage to the field forced the White Sox to forfeit the second game to the [[Detroit Tigers]], who had won the first game.

Disco's decline in popularity after Disco Demolition Night was rapid. On July 12, 1979, the top six records on the U.S. music charts were disco songs.<ref name="ComiskyThriller">[http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2009/jul/14/disco-demolition-night/ From Comiskey Park to Thriller: The Effect of "Disco Sucks" on Pop] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119085207/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2009/jul/14/disco-demolition-night/ |date=November 19, 2011 }} by [[Steve Greenberg (record producer)|Steve Greenberg]] founder and CEO of [[S-Curve Records]] July 10, 2009.</ref> By September 22, there were no disco songs in the US Top 10 chart, with the exception of [[Herb Alpert]]'s instrumental "[[Rise (instrumental)|Rise]]", a [[smooth jazz]] composition with some disco overtones.<ref name="ComiskyThriller" /> Some in the media, in celebratory tones, declared disco dead and rock revived.<ref name="ComiskyThriller" /> [[Karen Mixon Cook]], the first female disco DJ, stated that people still pause every July 12 for a moment of silence in honor of disco. Dahl stated in a 2004 interview that disco was "probably on its way out [at the time]. But I think it [Disco Demolition Night] hastened its demise".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5429592|work=NBC News|title='Countdown with Keith Olbermann' Complete Transcript for July 12, 2004|date=July 12, 2004|access-date=February 15, 2013|archive-date=September 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924003428/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5429592|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Impact on the music industry====
The anti-disco movement, combined with other societal and radio industry factors, changed the face of pop radio in the years following Disco Demolition Night. Starting in the 1980s, [[country music]] began a slow rise on the pop chart. Emblematic of country music's rise to mainstream popularity was the commercially successful 1980 movie ''[[Urban Cowboy]]''. The continued popularity of [[power pop]] and the revival of [[oldies]] in the late 1970s was also related to disco's decline; the 1978 film ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]'' was emblematic of this trend. Coincidentally, the star of both films was [[John Travolta]], who in 1977 had starred in ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', which remains one of the most iconic disco films of the era.

During this period of decline in disco's popularity, several record companies folded, were reorganized, or were sold. In 1979, [[MCA Records]] purchased [[ABC Records]], absorbed some of its artists and then shut the label down. [[Midsong International Records]] ceased operations in 1980. [[RSO Records]] founder [[Robert Stigwood]] left the label in 1981 and [[TK Records]] closed in the same year. [[Salsoul Records]] continues to exist in the 2000s, but primarily is used as a reissue brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/salsoul.shtml|title=Salsoul Records @ Disco-Disco.com|website=disco-disco.com|access-date=October 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014151424/http://www.disco-disco.com/labels/salsoul.shtml|archive-date=October 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Casablanca Records]] had been releasing fewer records in the 1980s, and was shut down in 1986 by parent company [[PolyGram]].

Many groups that were popular during the disco period subsequently struggled to maintain their success—even ones who tried to adapt to evolving musical tastes. [[The Bee Gees]], for instance, retreated from the pop mainstream in the early 1980s and spent the first half of the decade writing and producing successful material for other artists such as [[Barbra Streisand]] and [[Dionne Warwick]], finally returning for [[1987]]'s [[E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)|E.S.P]] which spawned the chart topping hit ''[[You Win Again (Bee Gees song)|You Win Again]]'' in their home country -  whilst in the US, they only had one top-10 entry (1989's "[[One (Bee Gees song)|One]]") and three more top-40 songs, and the band itself had largely abandoned disco in its 1980s and 1990s songs. [[Chic (band)|Chic]] never hit the top-40 again after "[[Good Times (Chic song)|Good Times]]" topped the chart in August 1979. Of the handful of groups not taken down by disco's fall from favor, [[Kool and the Gang]], [[Donna Summer]], [[the Jacksons]], and [[Gloria Gaynor]] in particular, stand out. In spite of having helped define the disco sound early on,<ref>''[[Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection]]'' (1996), liner notes.</ref> they continued to make popular and danceable, if more refined, songs for yet another generation of music fans in the 1980s and beyond. [[Earth, Wind & Fire]] also survived the anti-disco trend and continued to produce successful singles at roughly the same pace for several more years, in addition to an even longer string of R&B chart hits that lasted into the 1990s. Some popular disco tracks released after Disco Demolition Night include "[[Steppin' Out (Kool & the Gang song)|Steppin' Out]]" by [[Kool and the Gang]] (1981), "In the Middle" by [[Unlimited Touch]] (1981), "[[I'm Coming Out]]" by [[Diana Ross]] (1980), "[[My Feet Keep Dancing]]" by [[Chic (band)|Chic]] (1980), "[[Funkytown]]" by [[Lipps Inc.]] (1980), "[[Lady (You Bring Me Up)]]" by The [[Commodores]] (1981) and "[[All American Girls (song)|All American Girls]]" by [[Sister Sledge]] (1981).

Six months prior to Disco Demolition Night (in December 1978), popular progressive rock radio station WDAI ([[WLS-FM]]) had suddenly switched to an all-disco format, disenfranchising thousands of Chicago rock fans and leaving Dahl unemployed. WDAI, who survived the change of public sentiment and still had good ratings at this point, continued to play disco until it flipped to a short-lived hybrid Top 40/rock format in May 1980. Another disco outlet that competed against WDAI at the time, [[WGCI-FM]], would later incorporate [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] and [[pop music|pop]] songs into the format, eventually evolving into an [[urban contemporary]] outlet that it continues with today. The latter also helped bring the [[Chicago house]] genre to the airwaves.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

====Factors contributing to disco's decline====
Factors that have been cited as leading to the decline of disco in the United States include economic and political changes at the end of the 1970s, as well as [[Occupational burnout|burnout]] from the [[Hedonism|hedonistic]] lifestyles led by participants.<ref name="BeeGees">[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3652|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic BeeGees bio]</ref> In the years since Disco Demolition Night, some social critics have described the "Disco sucks" movement as implicitly [[Machismo|macho]] and bigoted, and an attack on non-white and non-heterosexual cultures.<ref name=allmusicdisco/><ref name=espn/><ref name=Campion/> It was also linked to a wider cultural "backlash", the move towards conservatism,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks Ben Myers: "Why 'Disco sucks!' sucked"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320111407/https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks |date=March 20, 2021 }}, in: [[The Guardian]], June 18, 2009, accessed on March 26, 2020.</ref> that also made its way into US politics with the election of conservative president [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, which also led to Republican control of the [[United States Senate]] for the first time since 1954, plus the subsequent rise of the [[Christian right|Religious Right]] around the same time.

In January 1979, rock critic [[Robert Christgau]] argued that [[homophobia]], and most likely [[racism]], were reasons behind the movement,<ref name="Christgau" /> a conclusion seconded by [[John Rockwell]]. Craig Werner wrote: "The Anti-disco movement represented an unholy alliance of [[funk]]ateers and [[feminist]]s, progressives, and [[puritan]]s, rockers and reactionaries. Nonetheless, the attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, [[sexism]] and homophobia."<ref>Easlea, Daryl, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/disco-inferno-680390.html Disco Inferno] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913220555/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/disco-inferno-680390.html |date=September 13, 2011 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', December 11, 2004</ref> [[Legs McNeil]], founder of the [[fanzine]] ''[[Punk (magazine)|Punk]]'', was quoted in an interview as saying, "the [[hippie]]s always wanted to be black. We were going, 'fuck the blues, fuck the black experience.'" He also said that disco was the result of an "[[Unholy alliance (geopolitical)|unholy]]" union between homosexuals and blacks.<ref name="Reynolds154">Rip it Up and Start Again POSTPUNK 1978–1984 by [[Simon Reynolds]] p. 154</ref>

[[Steve Dahl]], who had spearheaded Disco Demolition Night, denied any racist or homophobic undertones to the promotion, saying, "It's really easy to look at it historically, from this perspective, and attach all those things to it. But we weren't thinking like that,"<ref name="espn">{{cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=behrens/040809 |title=Top Sports Searches – ESPN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504172447/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=behrens%2F040809 |archive-date=May 4, 2010 }}</ref> it was "just kids pissing on a musical genre".<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1979 riot that 'killed' disco |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230922-the-night-angry-rock-fans-destroyed-disco-music |website=BBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102120513/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230922-the-night-angry-rock-fans-destroyed-disco-music |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |date=September 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>  It has been noted that British [[punk rock]] critics of disco were very supportive of the pro-black/anti-racist [[reggae]] genre as well as the more pro-gay [[new romantic]]s movement.<ref name="allmusicdisco" /> Christgau and Jim Testa have said that there were legitimate artistic reasons for being critical of disco.<ref name="Christgau" /><ref name="Testa" />

In 1979, the music industry in the United States underwent its worst slump in decades, and disco, despite its mass popularity, was blamed. The producer-oriented sound was having difficulty mixing well with the industry's artist-oriented marketing system.<ref>"Are We Not New Wave Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s Theo Cateforis Page 36 {{ISBN|978-0-472-03470-3}}</ref> Harold Childs, senior vice president at [[A&M Records]], reportedly told the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' that "radio is really desperate for rock product" and "they're all looking for some white rock-n-roll".<ref name="Campion" />