The Disco Riots of 1979 - Disco Demolition Night

Do you think people are tough enough to do this to Hip hop?

Garry Meier

Steve Dahl

i remember thinking this was scary when i was a little kid, and i think it's still scary now.

i also think a large part of the hatred for disco was disguised homophobia and racism, since disco was essentially a byproduct of funk that sprung from the gay clubs, and of course that's going to be a threat when you want white hetero rock music at the top of the mountain.

and YES, there was a lot of crap disco coming out in the 70s. but there was a lot of crap rock music coming out then as well.

i have a hard time believing demonstrations like this were solely about the music. maybe that's why it scared me as a kid - i just wasn't old enough to connect the dots back then.

That was uncalled for then, uncalled for now. The best boycott into avoiding music you don't like is don't listen to it. Simple as that. That's what I'm doing with hip-pop.

Timmy84 said:

My music teacher showed this too us in high school. I also thought this an extremely racist act-i never considered the homophobic element at the time. Hey Org oldheads (no disrespect), do y'all remember this? Did the media give it a lot of attention back in the day?

Anxiety said:

Timmy84 said:

Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone


Lady Day

Harlepolis said:

Yeah, this is bizarre... for something like this to happen over a musical genre.

Here's the real story, if anyone cares. It was actually just started out as a sour grapes a promotional stunt by a very popular shock jock (the original shock jock) that got out of hand:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...tion_Night

Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. It was held during the twi-night doubleheader baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. During the climax of the event, rowdy fans surged onto the field, and a near riot ensued. It would ultimately prove to be one of the most notable promotional ideas and one of the most infamous since "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Cleveland in 1974. The event is regarded as the culmination of a backlash against disco music that had an effect on the decline of the genre.


Prelude
A backlash against disco music had been brewing in middle America, resulting in a media supported anti-disco campaign in the 18 months prior to the event.[1]

Popular Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl had been fired by local radio station WDAI when it switched from album-oriented rock to an all-disco format. Dahl was subsequently hired by rival album-rock station WLUP, "The Loop". Sensing the anti-disco backlash, Dahl[1] created a mock organization called "The Insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army" to oppose disco. Dahl and broadcast partner Garry Meier regularly mocked and heaped scorn on disco records on the air. Dahl also recorded his own parody, Do You Think I'm Disco? (a satire of Rod Stewart's, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?").[2][3]

Meanwhile, on May 2, the Detroit Tigers-Chicago White Sox game at Comiskey Park was rained out. American League rules called for the game to be made up at the teams' next meeting in Chicago. Thursday, July 12 was to have featured a single night game, to kick off a four-game weekend series, the last series before the All-Star Break. The single game date was switched to a doubleheader.

Dahl and Meier, in conjunction with Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck), Dave Logan, WLUP Promotion Director, and Jeff Schwartz, WLUP Sales Manager, devised a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records to the game in exchange for an admission fee of 98¢ (the fee representing the station's location on the FM dial, 97.9). The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl.


Event
The turnout for this promotion far exceeded all expectations. White Sox management was hoping for a crowd of 12,000, about the double the average for a Thursday night game that year. But an estimated 90,000 turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium. Thousands of people climbed walls and fences attempting to enter Comiskey Park, while others were denied admission. Off-ramps to the stadium from the Dan Ryan Expressway were closed when the stadium was filled to capacity and beyond. [4]

White Sox TV announcers Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. Mike Veeck recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana.[5] When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators, who soon realized that long-playing (LP) records were shaped like frisbees. Some began to throw their records from the stands during the game, often striking other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.

After the first game, Dahl, dressed in army fatigues and helmet, along with Lorelei Shark, WLUP's first "Rock Girl"[6][7], and bodyguards, emerged and proceeded to center field. The large box containing the collected records was rigged with a explosives. Dahl led the crowd in chants of "disco sucks" and a countdown prior to triggering the explosives. When detonated, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and a small fire began burning. Dahl, Shark, and the bodyguards hopped into a jeep which circled the warning track before leaving the field through the right-centerfield exit. Thousands of fans immediately rushed the field. Some lit more fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked,[8] and the bases were literally stolen, along with chunks of the field itself. The crowd, once on the field, mostly wandered around aimlessly,[9] though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass or ran from security and police. People sitting in the upper deck could feel it sway back and forth from the rioters.

Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but to no avail. Eventually, the field was cleared by the Chicago Police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct.[10] The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game couldn't be played, though Tigers manager Sparky Anderson let it be known that his players would not take the field in any case due to safety concerns. The next day, American League president Lee MacPhail forfeited the second game to the Tigers, on the grounds that the White Sox had failed to provide acceptable playing conditions. The remaining games in the series were played, but for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the poor condition of the field.

For White Sox outfielder Rusty Torres, Disco Demolition Night was actually the third time in his career he had personally seen a forfeit-inducing riot. He had played for the New York Yankees at the last Senators game in Washington in 1971 and the Cleveland Indians at the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland in 1974.

The event was deemed newsworthy worldwide.[1]

According to the 1986 book Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone history of Rock and Roll the event was the "emblematic moment" of the anti-disco "crusade" and noted that "the following year disco had peaked as a commercial blockbuster". Steve Dahl himself said in an interview with Keith Olbermann that disco "was a fad probably on its way out" but that the event "hastened its demise." Nile Rodgers, guitarist for the popular disco era group Chic said "It felt to us like Nazi book-burning. This is America, the home of jazz and rock and people were now afraid even to say the word 'disco'."[1]


Aftermath
Although Bill Veeck took much of the public heat for the fiasco, it was known among baseball people that his son Mike was the actual front-office "brains" behind it. As a result, Mike was blacklisted from Major League Baseball for a long time after his father retired. As Mike related, "The second that first guy shimmied down the outfield wall, I knew my life was over!"[5]

To this day, the second game of this doubleheader is still the last game forfeited in the American League. The last game to end in this manner in the National League was on August 10, 1995, when a baseball giveaway promotion went awry and resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers forfeiture.

Much later, on July 12, 2001, Mike Veeck apologized to Harry Wayne Casey, the lead singer for KC and the Sunshine Band, a leading disco act.[11]

Notable participants
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan, a Chicago native and 21 at the time, attended the event. He was among the first 100 people to run onto the field and he slid into third base. He also had a silver belt buckle stolen during the ensuing riot[12] and stole a bat from the dugout.[13]

^^ Michael Clarke Duncan was there!

Timmy84 said:

^^ Michael Clarke Duncan was there!

coolcat said:

Timmy84 said:

^^ Michael Clarke Duncan was there!

Michael Clarke Duncan doesn't like disco.

Timmy84 said:

coolcat said:

Michael Clarke Duncan doesn't like disco.

He's a buster.

coolcat said:

Timmy84 said:

He's a buster.

what's a buster?

Timmy84 said:

coolcat said:

Timmy84 said:

A fool, an idiot, lol.

agreed.

sorry I thought you might mean something else in this context, so I wasn't sure.

Lmao plain and simple white folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

IAintTheOne said:

Lmao plain and simple white folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

IAintTheOne said:

Lmao plain and simple old uncool and dumb folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

IAintTheOne said:

Lmao plain and simple white folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

ehuffnsd said:

IAintTheOne said:

Lmao plain and simple white folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

if i said, "all black people like fried chicken" and put a that isn't putting a stereotype up there cause i'm clearly joking,

kinda a double standard...

Timmy84 said:

ehuffnsd said:

if i said, "all black people like fried chicken" and put a that isn't putting a stereotype up there cause i'm clearly joking,

kinda a double standard...

I changed it for him. Folks of all races can dance.

ehuffnsd said:

Timmy84 said:

I changed it for him. Folks of all races can dance.

i think it's a sad day when someone realizes they have no rhythm.

Timmy84 said:

ehuffnsd said:

i think it's a sad day when someone realizes they have no rhythm.

Yeah, ask Lionel Richie. I love the dudes that dance anyway (even if they don't have no skills) because they don't give a fuck.
[Edited 7/22/09 19:54pm]

Timmy84 said:

ehuffnsd said:

i think it's a sad day when someone realizes they have no rhythm.

Yeah, ask Lionel Richie. I love the dudes that dance anyway (even if they don't have no skills) because they don't give a fuck.
[Edited 7/22/09 19:54pm]

ehuffnsd said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, ask Lionel Richie. I love the dudes that dance anyway (even if they don't have no skills) because they don't give a fuck.
[Edited 7/22/09 19:54pm]

or Whitney


i wish Rhytmless Nation was on youtube.

ehuffnsd said:

IAintTheOne said:

Lmao plain and simple white folks got mad when they found out they had no rhythm

if i said, "all black people like fried chicken" and put a that isn't putting a stereotype up there cause i'm clearly joking,

kinda a double standard...

IAintTheOne said:

ehuffnsd said:

if i said, "all black people like fried chicken" and put a that isn't putting a stereotype up there cause i'm clearly joking,

kinda a double standard...

Some of y'all known me for years and still get uptight n shit calm ya asses down