The Death of Disco

By the late 1970s, the big-business mainstreaming and over saturation of disco led to an anti-disco sentiment in the US. After the huge success of the film Saturday Night Fever (1977), many record labels began to mass-produce disco records, which many people saw as turning the genre from something new and edgy, into something safe and homogenous. Disco was also accused of being elitists and vapid, especially in reference to many of the celeb-filled New York disco clubs, such as Studio 54.

In 1979, a Detroit rock radio DJ by the name of Steve Dahl launched his "Disco sucks!" campaign, in response to his favourite bands (such as Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones) being dropped from radio playlists in favour of disco artists such as Donna Summer, Village People and Chic. He invited listeners to phone in with their disco requests, which he would subsequently destroy on air. "Disco Sucks" slogans began appearing on tee shirts and in graffiti across cities around the US.

The Day Disco Died

Dahl organised a promotional event known as 'Disco Demolition Night' at Comiskey Park on July 12 1979, where people could gain tickets to the Detroit Tigers-Chicago White Sox game in return for an admission fee of 98¢ and any unwanted disco records. A normal crowd of 12,000 fans were expected at the 52,000-seat stadium, but an estimated 90,000 turned up, with thousands of people climbing the fences and walls in an attempt to gain entrance.

After the records were collected, they were taken onto the centre field, where they were rigged with explosives. Dahl urged the crowd to chant "disco sucks" during the countdown to triggering the detonation. When the records exploded, thousands of people immediately rushed the field, starting a small-scale riot - lighting fires, pulling down the batting cages and stealing the bases and chunks of the pitch. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested by the Chicago Police for disorderly conduct.

This event was seen as the emblematic moment of the anti-disco crusade, and within a few weeks, there were no disco records in the US Top Ten (there were 6 in the week of the riot), and disco music sales fell dramatically. Although many commentators think that disco was a fad that was probably on its way out anyway, the 'Disco Demolition Night' is thought to have hastened its demise.