Having recently seen Love's Theme performed live with a full orchestra on a 50-year-old episode of Midnight Special, I concur. Glorious piece of music. Tho I'm not sure it counted as disco. Barry was his own thing to me.I'm reading a History of Rock Reader which essentially confirms this. The most popular disco of the '70s seemed more celebratory than political. Maybe that's why Rolling Stone, Johnny Fever or the other powers-that-be at the time failed to respect it.
I myself can't think of a finer musical piece than Barry White's ''Love Theme.'' I dug it permanently during a Friday morning radio play in the summer. Ally McBeal's got nothing on me.
Not exactly unheard of. Jazz and Rock n Roll were criticized for being "too black" in some quarters. Then they became mainstream. Similarly Rock n Roll was derided by fans and performers of other forms of Pop music as they saw it as threat. Rap and Hip Hop went through the same thing when Rockers felt threatened,WHAT!?!?!?
Give me a break.
Not what I said. Dismissing the entire genre as “it sucks” is what I was pushing back against.
And no one said “anyone” or “all” or anything like that about not liking disco = racist or homophobe. But that was certainly A component, among others (same with jazz and rap/hip-hop in their early days). I lived in a lily white (myself included) state (less so now than when I was there) and at a high school dance I asked the DJ to play some Motown (in 1983). His response to me was “Why? You’re not Black.” I answered back “Because it’s great fucking music, dipshit.” So while not everyone who dislikes disco or Motown is racist, some people definitely were (and there are still some around).
It does help to pay attention to what is actually being said rather than assume one is being accused of something. More than one thing can be true simultaneously.
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As I mentioned above.
But I still don't remember racism being applied to disco.
Rap and Hip-Hop are derided because, like disco, they suck.
He's probably referring to Maurice's comment, not something you said.
He quoted me.
Anyone ever noticed that Back to the Future makes it look like some of Chuck Berry's work was "inspired" by a white man?
But Marty didn't invent the song, he got it from Chuck Berry.
It's not an all-or-nothing. People can like or dislike things for lots of reasons, but to pretend it was all about one thing is reductionist. I said it wasn't "just" about the music, not that it was "just" about the culture. Both can be true. And the knee-jerk reactions to that idea, especially in light of the other reactions to music like jazz, is blinders time.
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Nor do I. And I grew up in Texas.
I also don't recall encountering the other side of that idea during any of my forays into the Castro or South of Market (in San Fran) in the 80s.
Is it possible that somewhere someone hated on disco because of those two groups? Maybe. "Much of America?" I seriously doubt it.
I just think it's another case of modern revisionism. Like claiming the moon landings were faked.
SNF is a great film.
And a funny thing: back in the actual day, I had next to no interest in disco. But of all things, that ridiculous yet life-affirming commercial a year or two ago with Santa strutting his stuff Travolta-style and just enjoying life led me to a brief flurry of interest in it.
Like any other kind of music that suddenly gets popular, disco ended up being dominated by a lot of bandwagon-jumpers, from nobodies who thought maybe this would get them a hit to already popular musicians who wanted to be more hep and relevant like Kiss, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, etc.
I wouldn't want to live in a world without George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" or Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," personally, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of utterly dire disco. But there was also at least as much utterly dire rock.
I wouldn't want to live in a world without George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" or Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," personally, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of utterly dire disco. But there was also at least as much utterly dire rock.
I think there was probably an element of homophobia or racism in the virulent "Disco Sucks" crowd, but I'd have to see more evidence that it was a primary motivator. The way it looked to me, disco had become a fad, was overexposed, and was headed for a fall. At the same time, the radio audience was fragmenting; the FCC's AM/FM non-duplication rule of 1976 brought AOR FM stations to many more markets. To differentiate themselves and claim their market niche, these stations adopted a narrower definition of "rock" that excluded many black acts that had been doing just fine on mainstream radio in the early '70s. Add in an adolescent male predilection for loud, hard edged and aggressive and you had the makings of a new rock gatekeeping that was sometimes obnoxiously applied. A few years later they would turn their sights on "new wavers" or "the second British invasion.”
For most of the audience, though, I think disco had just burned itself out and they wanted to hear something that sounded different.
For most of the audience, though, I think disco had just burned itself out and they wanted to hear something that sounded different.
Disco sucked and ALWAYS sucked.
Friends actually wanted to see that film on a Saturday after we were done with the Arcade; so yeah, I saw it with the but for me...
(YMMV
)
There were a lot of things happening around the same time. The more slickly produced end of soul turned into disco, some prog rockers went MOR or corporate rock, the '60s rockers who were still around were trying to figure out how not to be seen as over the hill, country absorbed a lot of pop, rock, and disco influences, punk and hiphop were coming into being, and synthesizers became more affordable and electronic music took off. The late '70s and early '80s were a heck of a time.
And I haven't even mentioned yacht rock, new wave, ska, goth, cowpunk...
And I haven't even mentioned yacht rock, new wave, ska, goth, cowpunk...
and, as is pointed out constantly in a BttF facebook group I'm in, Berry was already in the process of making similar music, couldn't hear it clearly over the phone, and only heard a short bit of it before it devolved into whatever else Marty was doing. They might have remembered some chord progression from the band that was, trying to keep up. It was just a fun gag, and Berry thought it was a good bit.But Marty didn't invent the song, he got it from Chuck Berry.
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