Hm....

I never thought the Black community hated Ms. Summer as much as they were indifferent. Looking back... you could count the number of Black's at her concerts on both hands. As far as the libellus comments made against Ms. Summer, I think it hurt her music career significantly: As always the lie is repeated often but the retraction, the libel suit, and montary/punitive damages being awarded don't get much pub.

Ms. Ross being the Beyonce of her generation? Please, don't don't go there.

_____
[Edited 7/23/09 9:48am]

tamewar said:

I like Gloria Gaynor but I never understood why she was sometimes called "The Queen of Disco".It makes no sense.Donna was the undisputed queen of that genre.

My dad and my male cousins both had Donna's albums, but then again, it could have also have been because she was fine.

tamewar said:

Uh, Chucky D better remember his music history. Cool, Chuck D doesn't have to like disco but disco/dance music and their DJ's had an impacted on early Rap music.

Chuck D's comment is reflective of pop-disco, but not all of it.

Disco is, in so many ways, a streamlined version of funk. The influence of black musicians within the context of disco is immense.

I still get pissed to this very day whenever I think of those stupid rednecks.

I agree in the case of disco but not in the case of shit hop. Those rednecks hid behind a lame excuse that disco had taken over everything and rock was going to be extinct. But the reality is, there was plenty of rock still being made throughout the entire disco era and rock wasn't going anywhere if disco had continued to exist.

With shit hop on the other hand, it's an extremely cheap form of music to make (hell, it's not even music) and the labels have ran every other form of R&B extinct that might cost more money to record. I have hoped and wished for years that an incident would occur to shit hop like it did to disco (which didn't deserve to die). I see it as revenge for it taking over and dominating R&B radio. I believe in "live and let live" but only if the other party abides by that rule also. Those damn shit hoppers haven't let any other form of R&B live.

I remember it well. The only media that let if affect them was white radio. Black radio still continued on jamming with disco sounding jams like "Firecracker", "All Night Thing", "Funkytown", etc. after this event occurred while white radio was having a complete backlash against disco and damn near any black artist. It was shortly after this event, that I switched over to black radio (which was the closest sounding thing to disco at the time) and never left it until the mid 1990s.

You got that right! Hell, just look at the difference in dancing on "Soul Train" and "American Bandstand" at the time. On "Soul Train", they were shakin' ass and throwin' down and on "American Bandstand", they were jumping around looking like they were on pogo sticks or something.

Of course. Lots of things about us exclude us from the dreaded heterosexual white male label. We're very loose and the only stiff things we like are what's between someone's legs.

Blacks, latinos, gays, and other minorities becoming more accepted by mainstream white heterosexual America. Hanging out together, becoming friends, and even dating each other.

Every single black person I knew at the time loved it. Just look how disco sounding a lot of black music from the year 1980 sounded while most white music from the year 1980 had gone completely rock/new wave and a few country songs were even making their way to pop radio.

Timmy84 said:

Totally uncalled for! It makes me sick to watch it.

That's because he made that slower duller type rap so of course he wasn't going to like disco. It was too fun and funky for him. But if you look at most of the rap from the early 80s, the majority of it (that made it onto radio) was even faster than funk. It was more at a disco tempo. Hell, early rap was party music which is what music should be to begin with.

It only made it harder for a black artist if they had hopes of crossing over. After the disco backlash, the early 80s had some of the best funk ever made. That's because those groups didn't give a damn about crossing over. A black artist was capable of crossing over after the disco era but the majority of them had to water their music down, slow the tempo down, and make it sound weaker because most white folks still associated all ass shakin' music with disco.

I'm sure her tickets were probably sky high. Every time a black artist gets a large white following, when they have a concert, their ticket prices are outrageously high. I remember watching the news back in 1984 and seeing that The Jacksons' "Victory" tour tickets were $35. That was unheard of at the time because most R&B concerts during that era were around $8, and hell, you even got about three groups on the show for $8.

I find this type of "light-hearted" take on this event strange...



damn... people celebrating the end of disco...

I always saw this as an "ugly" event... but the reporters make light of it...

It kills me that it got this SERIOUS. It was damn near like McCarthyism. I think it is very telling that Steve Dahl masterminded this after he lost his job at that radio station that went to a disco format. Was that widely known at the time? What is Steve doing now?

scriptgirl said:

I get the feeling he's been milking this event for years.

coolcat said:

Wow! That was strange You know whats also crazy is that Disco really didn't die, they just gave it a new name. I mean why not destory New Wave, Dance Pop. Oh cause it wasn't associated with Black unlike Disco.

Steve looks like an ass hole.

tamewar said:

You're right that disco didn't die... it was just a few years after Disco Demolition that Thriller was released... biggest album ever... and even though I wouldn't call it a disco album, the disco influence is definitely there on the album.
[Edited 7/23/09 12:57pm]

coolcat said:

It definitely had a lot of disco elements.

Timmy84 said:

Yep but being that disco is such a dirty word it's pop.

tamewar said:

Or "dance-pop", lol

vainandy said:

you are to hip-hop as moonbeam is to the beatles. i'd rather just leave you to your preconceived anathema than try to argue a damn thing, cuz you've got your blaster set on KILL and i'm not standing in the line of fire.

Anxiety said:

Kill, kill, kill!

Moonbeam said:

i swear to god you have an email alert that lets you know every time the beatles are mentioned on prince.org....cuz there you are every time, with your claws freshly sharpened.

Anxiety said:

:police: I (now) avoid topics that are merely praising the Fabs, but if there's a thread started with the premise of criticizing them, I feel that it's fair game.

errant said: