TonyVanDam said:

1981-1982 were some harsh times for music fans in retrospect. Lionel, Michael, AND Kool & The Gang made the adjustments post-disco just fine. Prince took a litttle bit longer till 1983.

But good f*** grief, FM radio was under a takeover by country crossover to mainstream pop. The Oak Ridge Boys, Juice Newton, Dolly Parton, & Kenny Rodgers (who I like for a few songs BTW!) were popular at the time. In the soft rock/adult contemporary genre, Air Supply were huge in that era, even competing against Daryl Hall & John Oates (who are a far better duo, without question) at one point.

And then there was THAT MF-ing Christopher Cross! Before Michael came out with the Thriller album, Christopher damn nearly became the King Of Pop because of his brand of pop songs.

But nonetheless, at least The Funk was still alive on black radio within that era. At least funk acts like Rick James, Cameo, Bar-Kays, & Roger/Zapp fought a good fight in those harsh times.

Disco never went away, it just evolved into other forms. Think of all the great 'dance' tunes we listened to during the summers of '81 & '82.

uPtoWnNY said:

TonyVanDam said:

1981-1982 were some harsh times for music fans in retrospect. Lionel, Michael, AND Kool & The Gang made the adjustments post-disco just fine. Prince took a litttle bit longer till 1983.

But good f*** grief, FM radio was under a takeover by country crossover to mainstream pop. The Oak Ridge Boys, Juice Newton, Dolly Parton, & Kenny Rodgers (who I like for a few songs BTW!) were popular at the time. In the soft rock/adult contemporary genre, Air Supply were huge in that era, even competing against Daryl Hall & John Oates (who are a far better duo, without question) at one point.

And then there was THAT MF-ing Christopher Cross! Before Michael came out with the Thriller album, Christopher damn nearly became the King Of Pop because of his brand of pop songs.

But nonetheless, at least The Funk was still alive on black radio within that era. At least funk acts like Rick James, Cameo, Bar-Kays, & Roger/Zapp fought a good fight in those harsh times.

Disco never went away, it just evolved into other forms. Think of all the great 'dance' tunes we listened to during the summers of '81 & '82.

Disco went into different names. I guess as a commercial standpoint in terms of what was deemed crossover pop you had to use another name (which people did = dance-pop or just straight dance music, or house music in the '90s but it was "disco" with different names).

I own their Nº1 hits compilations, that's all...

GREAT singles, uneven albums...

How Deep is Your Love is my third fav ballad of all time...

My favorite BG's tunes.

[Edited 8/18/10 11:51am]

Yeah they did receive a lot of backlash mainly because their music

was popular with the disco crowd at these guys were all over the music

charts as artists and songwriters and naturally some were just tired of

the Bee Gees. They were always cool with me. We even played some of

their songs in my middle school band.

Who hates the Bee Gees?

They were instrumental in influencing my musical taste as a wee child. One of my faves with Barry singing background on the track. I don't recall ever getting tired of hearing their music. There was a video, but it was cut off near the end, so instead here's a performance. It's soooooo 70's.

[Edited 8/18/10 12:28pm]

great harmonies

uPtoWnNY said:

TonyVanDam said:

1981-1982 were some harsh times for music fans in retrospect. Lionel, Michael, AND Kool & The Gang made the adjustments post-disco just fine. Prince took a litttle bit longer till 1983.

But good f*** grief, FM radio was under a takeover by country crossover to mainstream pop. The Oak Ridge Boys, Juice Newton, Dolly Parton, & Kenny Rodgers (who I like for a few songs BTW!) were popular at the time. In the soft rock/adult contemporary genre, Air Supply were huge in that era, even competing against Daryl Hall & John Oates (who are a far better duo, without question) at one point.

And then there was THAT MF-ing Christopher Cross! Before Michael came out with the Thriller album, Christopher damn nearly became the King Of Pop because of his brand of pop songs.

But nonetheless, at least The Funk was still alive on black radio within that era. At least funk acts like Rick James, Cameo, Bar-Kays, & Roger/Zapp fought a good fight in those harsh times.

Disco never went away, it just evolved into other forms. Think of all the great 'dance' tunes we listened to during the summers of '81 & '82.

House, Italo-disco, & Hi-NRG.

Hated?

Yeah, because of all the #1 hits they had not only pre and post-disco era, but throughout the 80s as well.

Great pop, soul, country, and dance songs that still hold up, and are constantly heard on tv, movies, and radio.

Hated? Nah.

Empress said:

I think many people don't care for them because of their disco period and Barry's high voice. Personally, I think they are all extremely talented writers and musicians and are severely underrated. I love their music.

It can be hilarious at times nevertheless it doesn't take away from some

of the quality songs they've done.

Harlepolis said:

vainandy said:

They also hated to see other white people listening to all that black music. The disco era was less than a decade away from the civil rights era of the 1960s and they just could not stand seeing all those white people listening to a form of music that was predominately black. Listen to black folks music and you'll eventually start hanging with them and seeing them as your equals. I can't tell you how many times I heard that. And then there was the gay aspect of disco that pissed them off even more.

During the disco era, white radio had just as many black artists getting regular airplay as white artists. Hell, black artists may have even been getting more airplay from what I remember during the era. But I remember in late 1979, when the backlash began. For years, you didn't hear any black artists on white radio unless they were the more toned down and safe ones like Lionel Richie or Michael Jackson.

I remember watching an HBO documentary about disco(forgot its title), anyway, writer Nelson George(who was among the interviewees) said something to the affect that "This genre which happens to be mainstream too, was largely dominated by black women & gay men in an all white boys club industry, it wasn't an issue when black audience and their kids embraced it, the trouble started when it sweeped all of the main clubs and most of the young white kids fully embraced and supported it with their parents hard earned money"

Your post reminded me of that. Come to think of it, ALL musical expressions that have been created by black people get treated with condescendence at best, and resistance at worst. Disco wasn't an exception, but I find it interesting that the rock & roll audience who have been through the same ordeal a decade earlier sided with the backlash when you expected them to sympathize. I don't know who were they fooling, like disco its another form created by black musicians too.

Overall, folks wasted their energy on condemning disco which was a pretty wholesome genre, esp comparing to rap music that invaded the 80s & early 90s,,,,,,I bet "Disco DIDN'T suck" when NWA and all of those west coast cats came in after all

Oh, that's easy. Sure enough, rock and roll was hated in it's early days for being black music but just because they lived through that resistance to rock and roll during their youth, doesn't mean they would sympathize with disco for being black music.

When you think about it, in the early days of rock and roll, yes it was white people listening to black music but the schools were still segregated and so were all the stores and everything else. The only thing they could do with their black rock and roll was just listen to it. During the disco era however, segregation was over. White kids were going to school with black kids. If a white child is so into this new form of black music and is being exposed to black kids in his school, he may eventually strike up a conservation with some of them and eventually find out that these people he has been told were so bad actually have may have something in common with him, even if it's nothing but discussing this music that they both like. Then, if they get to talking even more, they may discover they have even more in common and may even become friends and eventually go out and party and hang out together. Rock and roll didn't have that threat because blacks weren't allowed around whites during that era so there's no chance they could get together and become friends or heaven forbid, maybe even start dating each other. Oh, the horror!

As for the shit hop era though, no, their opinion didn't change of disco just because droves of white kids were listening to yet another form of black music. Remember, disco also later became known as "gay music" and I have never seen a more homophobic form of music than shit hop in my entire life. True, country music may have audiences full of homophobic rednecks but shit hop actually have artists themselves spreading the hate on the records and on the stages. I do see shit hop achieving what disco would have eventually achieved which is more and more whites eventually hanging with blacks and eventually dating them, but homophobia also was a major facor in the hatred of disco and shit hop just seems to be breeding more little black assholes than I've ever seen in my life. When I was growing up, I received 80% of hatred against me from white rednecks. Rarely did I receive any homophobic slurs shouted at me whatsoever from a black person until the shit hop era. Of course, that's just my experiences, but I'm just sayin'.

RodeoSchro said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Once again, vainandy speaks the truth. I remember the 'Disco Sucks' movement and anti-black/anti-gay mess attached to it. Bunch of pissed-off AOR mfers.

Who could forget the ugly incident in Comiskey Park, 'Disco Demolition Night'?

WTF?!? There was no anti-black, anti-white stuff associated with disco. At least, not here in Texas and we have no shortage of rednecks.

Hell, I can remember going to former NFL quarterback/Alabama alum Kenny Stabler's nightclub, and the dance floor was never more packed than when they'd play disco songs.

People said disco sucked because they thought disco sucked. Yes, there was gay stigma attached to the Village People, but that's because they were pretty flaming gay and were easy targets for bigots. It had nothing to do with disco per se.

"Disco Demolition Night" was alcohol fueled. They blew up the disco records at the end of the game, after everyone was drunk.

And the radio airplay point? That's so incorrect it makes me shudder. However, MTV did not play videos from African American artists until Michael Jackson's "Thriller", but that was TV, not radio, and came way after disco's demise.

Of course not, while the disco era was actually going on. Hell, they really weren't paying too much attention to what they were listening to. All they knew was it sounded good and they were having a good time to it. And most people didn't know it's gay roots until after it ended. But when it did end, there was a backlash from hell and it was totally racist and homophobic. I haven't heard such racist remarks made about music in my lifetime as I heard about disco in the first few years after it ended.

Once again, head in the sand denial of racism. And how am I incorrect about the radio airplay of black artists after the disco era and the backlash began. Remember, disco ended in 1979. Take a look at white radio in the early 1980s and what they played. If there wasn't a backlash against black artists, then why do most white people to this very day not have any knowledge of folks like The Barkays, Con Funk Shun, Lakeside, Bill Summers and Summers Heat, Skyy, Brick, Fatback, Roger and Zapp, Midnight Star, Slave, etc. Go over to the Prince section and look at the responses when a lot of those people first heard of Prince. You'll see so many responses of "Little Red Corvette" or "Purple Rain" that it'll make your head spin. If there wasn't a backlash, why wasn't Prince known in most of the white world until "Little Red Corvette"? He was all over black radio. Every black person knew who he was before then. And why didn't most white people have any knowledge of Cameo until "Word Up". Hell, they had been all over black radio for years before that one. White radio certainly wasn't playing them but yet, white radio was filled with black artists during the disco era before the backlash....that is until someone told them it was no longer "cool" to play them. Like I always say, a child is not born racist, a child is taught to be racist. They were fine with this form of black music until they were told they shouldn't be into it and that rediculous record burning at that stadium was a major message to them that they needed to get with the program and drop that black gay stuff or be considered an outcast.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/18/10 15:02pm]

TonyVanDam said:

vainandy said:

They also hated to see other white people listening to all that black music. The disco era was less than a decade away from the civil rights era of the 1960s and they just could not stand seeing all those white people listening to a form of music that was predominately black. Listen to black folks music and you'll eventually start hanging with them and seeing them as your equals. I can't tell you how many times I heard that. And then there was the gay aspect of disco that pissed them off even more.

During the disco era, white radio had just as many black artists getting regular airplay as white artists. Hell, black artists may have even been getting more airplay from what I remember during the era. But I remember in late 1979, when the backlash began. For years, you didn't hear any black artists on white radio unless they were the more toned down and safe ones like Lionel Richie or Michael Jackson.

1981-1982 were some harsh times for music fans in retrospect. Lionel, Michael, AND Kool & The Gang made the adjustments post-disco just fine. Prince took a litttle bit longer till 1983.

But good f*** grief, FM radio was under a takeover by country crossover to mainstream pop. The Oak Ridge Boys, Juice Newton, Dolly Parton, & Kenny Rodgers (who I like for a few songs BTW!) were popular at the time. In the soft rock/adult contemporary genre, Air Supply were huge in that era, even competing against Daryl Hall & John Oates (who are a far better duo, without question) at one point.

And then there was THAT MF-ing Christopher Cross! Before Michael came out with the Thriller album, Christopher damn nearly became the King Of Pop because of his brand of pop songs.

But nonetheless, at least The Funk was still alive on black radio within that era. At least funk acts like Rick James, Cameo, Bar-Kays, & Roger/Zapp fought a good fight in those harsh times.

Oh, I remember well. Just look how far extreme they got away from disco after it died. You don't get no "whiter" than country and adult contemporary and that was all over white radio in 1980. I went desperately searching the dial for some good music in late 1979/early 1980 when the disco backlash first began and ran across some funky stuff like "Firecracker" by Mass Production and "All Night Thing" by Invisible Man's Band and kept that ass shakin' vibe going on on black radio for years. Hell, that was the only place to find it when disco died. I switched damn near completely to black radio and rarely heard any of that soft weak shit like white radio embraced directly following disco's death until years later when Shitney reared her little chicken neck and had to ruin things. When she first came on the scene and more and more people started making the type of music she made, I remember feeling the same exact feeling I felt years earlier when disco died except this time I was feeling it on black radio instead of white radio. It was like disco had actually finally died...that is until I discovered house music.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/18/10 15:18pm]

If anyone thought EVERYONE who said they hated disco only hated it without being racist, sexist and homophobic about it, do some more investigation. And believe me I do believe people who said that it was a motivation of hate. It's different from traditional pop/R&B artists who claim they didn't like it. They wouldn't hold no burning rallies or nothing silly like that.

Has anyone seen the billboards for around 1977/78? They or Andy Gibb (who had no big hits in the UK surprisenly) or Frankie Valli or anything Bee Gee's related was huge on the charts! Everything they did was hitting no 1. In otherwords, they were EVERYWHERE, particually in the US. A backlash was inevitable. Personally I don't like their disco era much. Classic pop songs they may be, but alot of them are overplayed, whilst some othes like "Tragedy" use Barry's falcetto way too much for my liking.

US pop music is much more akin to being "faddish" for lack of a better word. Once your not popular, thats it, it's gonna be hard to comeback. In contrast the UK and europe in general seem much more forgiving and willing to embrace artists like The Bee Gee's a 3rd time around. 1987's "You win again" was a massive hit in the UK and Europe, but did nothing in the US, who probably blacklisted the Bee Gee's for life after the disco backlash. Not saying it woulf of been a guarenteed smash in the US, but I bet US radio stations refused to play it.

In the UK they are or were made fun of, but they got their dues in the mid 90's with their "Still Waters" album and the acolades (legend awards etc..) that followed. They got their due.

thesexofit said:

Has anyone seen the billboards for around 1977/78? They or Andy Gibb (who had no big hits in the UK surprisenly) or Frankie Valli or anything Bee Gee's related was huge on the charts! Everything they did was hitting no 1. In otherwords, they were EVERYWHERE, particually in the US. A backlash was inevitable. Personally I don't like their disco era much. Classic pop songs they may be, but alot of them are overplayed, whilst some othes like "Tragedy" use Barry's falcetto way too much for my liking.

US pop music is much more akin to being "faddish" for lack of a better word. Once your not popular, thats it, it's gonna be hard to comeback. In contrast the UK and europe in general seem much more forgiving and willing to embrace artists like The Bee Gee's a 3rd time around. 1987's "You win again" was a massive hit in the UK and Europe, but did nothing in the US, who probably blacklisted the Bee Gee's for life after the disco backlash. Not saying it woulf of been a guarenteed smash in the US, but I bet US radio stations refused to play it.

In the UK they are or were made fun of, but they got their dues in the mid 90's with their "Still Waters" album and the acolades (legend awards etc..) that followed. They got their due.

well it was a huge backlash, that went on for most of the 80's till they had the hit with "ONE" and got cred back and a hall of fame induction. But what people miss is that backlash, it wasnt like a backlash today were people hate on you like we do on a Beyonce thread. The HATE for the bee gees was organized, there were radio stations ADVERTSING "we play no BEE GEES" days and weekends, there was the infamous "disco burning" in comiskey park, where albums of disco artissts (bee gees were lumped in) were burned in a PUBLIC specatcle that was organized! Imagine today if a baseball stadium sold tickets to burn Beyonce records, the cry of racism would be heard round the world, so any artist today complaining of BACKLASH needs to go to Bee Gees 101 and learn what that means.

vainandy said:

Of course not, while the disco era was actually going on. Hell, they really weren't paying too much attention to what they were listening to. All they knew was it sounded good and they were having a good time to it. And most people didn't know it's gay roots until after it ended. But when it did end, there was a backlash from hell and it was totally racist and homophobic. I haven't heard such racist remarks made about music in my lifetime as I heard about disco in the first few years after it ended.

Once again, head in the sand denial of racism. And how am I incorrect about the radio airplay of black artists after the disco era and the backlash began. Remember, disco ended in 1979. Take a look at white radio in the early 1980s and what they played. If there wasn't a backlash against black artists, then why do most white people to this very day not have any knowledge of folks like The Barkays, Con Funk Shun, Lakeside, Bill Summers and Summers Heat, Skyy, Brick, Fatback, Roger and Zapp, Midnight Star, Slave, etc. Go over to the Prince section and look at the responses when a lot of those people first heard of Prince. You'll see so many responses of "Little Red Corvette" or "Purple Rain" that it'll make your head spin. If there wasn't a backlash, why wasn't Prince known in most of the white world until "Little Red Corvette"? He was all over black radio. Every black person knew who he was before then. And why didn't most white people have any knowledge of Cameo until "Word Up". Hell, they had been all over black radio for years before that one. White radio certainly wasn't playing them but yet, white radio was filled with black artists during the disco era before the backlash....that is until someone told them it was no longer "cool" to play them. Like I always say, a child is not born racist, a child is taught to be racist. They were fine with this form of black music until they were told they shouldn't be into it and that rediculous record burning at that stadium was a major message to them that they needed to get with the program and drop that black gay stuff or be considered an outcast.

While I certainly agree with most of your argument, there were some non-racist. non-homophobic reason for the huge backlash against disco circa 1979-1980. There wewre a lot of really cheesy songs like "Disco Duck" and "King Tut" that became huge disco singles even though they were meant to be parodies. Plus you had people putting out albums which redid jazz and big band classics to a disco beat, ultimately culminating in "Ethel Merman Sings Disco." You also had cheesy groups like Pink Lady, who were a Japanese feamle pop duo who sang disco songs in English, even though their actual grasp of English was suspect. Nevertheless, NBC decided to give them their own primetime variety show, which ultimately tanked. And of course, who could forget this classic disco album:

The Bee Gees were especially tainted with the backlash because they had the most successful disco singles of that era, even though technically they were a pop group. Even KC & the Sunshine Band, who were considered a quintessential disco group, were actually a funk band who played a lot of brass instruments. And a lot of other black and Latin artists were actually playing funk, soul, R&B, and Latin rhythm music that just happened to nicely dovetail into the disco scene.

The Village People may have been the biggest actual disco act, but they sang some very catchy and memorable tunes that everyone liked. They may have been hated by rock purists, but they would essentially be ignored by them. It wasn't until rock stars like Rod Stewart and Blondie actually had #1 hits with disco songs that rock fans began freaking out over disco. I began hearing people chanting, "Disco sucks. So does soul. All we need is rock and roll." By 1980, unless you were black, Latin, or urban, it was suddeny uncool to be listening to music that was good to dance to, so disco was essentially driven underground.

As for the Bee Gees, though they couldn't buy a hit song for themselves throught most of the 1980's, they wrote and produced a number of hit songs for other artists.

lastdecember said:

thesexofit said:

Has anyone seen the billboards for around 1977/78? They or Andy Gibb (who had no big hits in the UK surprisenly) or Frankie Valli or anything Bee Gee's related was huge on the charts! Everything they did was hitting no 1. In otherwords, they were EVERYWHERE, particually in the US. A backlash was inevitable. Personally I don't like their disco era much. Classic pop songs they may be, but alot of them are overplayed, whilst some othes like "Tragedy" use Barry's falcetto way too much for my liking.

US pop music is much more akin to being "faddish" for lack of a better word. Once your not popular, thats it, it's gonna be hard to comeback. In contrast the UK and europe in general seem much more forgiving and willing to embrace artists like The Bee Gee's a 3rd time around. 1987's "You win again" was a massive hit in the UK and Europe, but did nothing in the US, who probably blacklisted the Bee Gee's for life after the disco backlash. Not saying it woulf of been a guarenteed smash in the US, but I bet US radio stations refused to play it.

In the UK they are or were made fun of, but they got their dues in the mid 90's with their "Still Waters" album and the acolades (legend awards etc..) that followed. They got their due.

well it was a huge backlash, that went on for most of the 80's till they had the hit with "ONE" and got cred back and a hall of fame induction. But what people miss is that backlash, it wasnt like a backlash today were people hate on you like we do on a Beyonce thread. The HATE for the bee gees was organized, there were radio stations ADVERTSING "we play no BEE GEES" days and weekends, there was the infamous "disco burning" in comiskey park, where albums of disco artissts (bee gees were lumped in) were burned in a PUBLIC specatcle that was organized! Imagine today if a baseball stadium sold tickets to burn Beyonce records, the cry of racism would be heard round the world, so any artist today complaining of BACKLASH needs to go to Bee Gees 101 and learn what that means.

LOL, what about The Beatles record burnings over the Jesus thing. That was pretty scary considering how completely harmless and silly that whole debarcle was. Did they whinge like little bitches about it like todays pop stars probably would? Hell no.

Talking of controversy, around the mid 90's The Bee Gee's stormed off UK chat show Clive Anderson. Clive is a smart arse, and he knows it, but Barry was slowly getting more and more annoyed with Clive as the interview went on. Robin and Maurice are nice guys and you can see that, but Barry is no pushover.

Not to upset anyone from the US, but check around the 4 minute mark. When Clive mentioned to Barry he'd been living in the USA too long after Barry's cheesy and typically American explanation about how he creates music. Sorry Barry, but Clive got you on that one.

728huey said:

vainandy said:

Of course not, while the disco era was actually going on. Hell, they really weren't paying too much attention to what they were listening to. All they knew was it sounded good and they were having a good time to it. And most people didn't know it's gay roots until after it ended. But when it did end, there was a backlash from hell and it was totally racist and homophobic. I haven't heard such racist remarks made about music in my lifetime as I heard about disco in the first few years after it ended.

Once again, head in the sand denial of racism. And how am I incorrect about the radio airplay of black artists after the disco era and the backlash began. Remember, disco ended in 1979. Take a look at white radio in the early 1980s and what they played. If there wasn't a backlash against black artists, then why do most white people to this very day not have any knowledge of folks like The Barkays, Con Funk Shun, Lakeside, Bill Summers and Summers Heat, Skyy, Brick, Fatback, Roger and Zapp, Midnight Star, Slave, etc. Go over to the Prince section and look at the responses when a lot of those people first heard of Prince. You'll see so many responses of "Little Red Corvette" or "Purple Rain" that it'll make your head spin. If there wasn't a backlash, why wasn't Prince known in most of the white world until "Little Red Corvette"? He was all over black radio. Every black person knew who he was before then. And why didn't most white people have any knowledge of Cameo until "Word Up". Hell, they had been all over black radio for years before that one. White radio certainly wasn't playing them but yet, white radio was filled with black artists during the disco era before the backlash....that is until someone told them it was no longer "cool" to play them. Like I always say, a child is not born racist, a child is taught to be racist. They were fine with this form of black music until they were told they shouldn't be into it and that rediculous record burning at that stadium was a major message to them that they needed to get with the program and drop that black gay stuff or be considered an outcast.

While I certainly agree with most of your argument, there were some non-racist. non-homophobic reason for the huge backlash against disco circa 1979-1980. There wewre a lot of really cheesy songs like "Disco Duck" and "King Tut" that became huge disco singles even though they were meant to be parodies. Plus you had people putting out albums which redid jazz and big band classics to a disco beat, ultimately culminating in "Ethel Merman Sings Disco." You also had cheesy groups like Pink Lady, who were a Japanese feamle pop duo who sang disco songs in English, even though their actual grasp of English was suspect. Nevertheless, NBC decided to give them their own primetime variety show, which ultimately tanked. And of course, who could forget this classic disco album:

The Bee Gees were especially tainted with the backlash because they had the most successful disco singles of that era, even though technically they were a pop group. Even KC & the Sunshine Band, who were considered a quintessential disco group, were actually a funk band who played a lot of brass instruments. And a lot of other black and Latin artists were actually playing funk, soul, R&B, and Latin rhythm music that just happened to nicely dovetail into the disco scene.

The Village People may have been the biggest actual disco act, but they sang some very catchy and memorable tunes that everyone liked. They may have been hated by rock purists, but they would essentially be ignored by them. It wasn't until rock stars like Rod Stewart and Blondie actually had #1 hits with disco songs that rock fans began freaking out over disco. I began hearing people chanting, "Disco sucks. So does soul. All we need is rock and roll." By 1980, unless you were black, Latin, or urban, it was suddeny uncool to be listening to music that was good to dance to, so disco was essentially driven underground.

As for the Bee Gees, though they couldn't buy a hit song for themselves throught most of the 1980's, they wrote and produced a number of hit songs for other artists.

Now that is true. The mainstream music market knows how to milk a cow before it's dried up.

thesexofit said:

lastdecember said:

well it was a huge backlash, that went on for most of the 80's till they had the hit with "ONE" and got cred back and a hall of fame induction. But what people miss is that backlash, it wasnt like a backlash today were people hate on you like we do on a Beyonce thread. The HATE for the bee gees was organized, there were radio stations ADVERTSING "we play no BEE GEES" days and weekends, there was the infamous "disco burning" in comiskey park, where albums of disco artissts (bee gees were lumped in) were burned in a PUBLIC specatcle that was organized! Imagine today if a baseball stadium sold tickets to burn Beyonce records, the cry of racism would be heard round the world, so any artist today complaining of BACKLASH needs to go to Bee Gees 101 and learn what that means.

LOL, what about The Beatles record burnings over the Jesus thing. That was pretty scary considering how completely harmless and silly that whole debarcle was. Did they whinge like little bitches about it like todays pop stars probably would? Hell no.

exactly and John Lennon stood his ground, did not apologize technically, he even re-stated it again and said it was fact, no more "real rebels" anymore taking stands, everything now is a "hype-stand"

lastdecember said:

thesexofit said:

LOL, what about The Beatles record burnings over the Jesus thing. That was pretty scary considering how completely harmless and silly that whole debarcle was. Did they whinge like little bitches about it like todays pop stars probably would? Hell no.

exactly and John Lennon stood his ground, did not apologize technically, he even re-stated it again and said it was fact, no more "real rebels" anymore taking stands, everything now is a "hype-stand"

And therein lies the difference.

Timmy84 said:

lastdecember said:

exactly and John Lennon stood his ground, did not apologize technically, he even re-stated it again and said it was fact, no more "real rebels" anymore taking stands, everything now is a "hype-stand"

And therein lies the difference.

exactly today everyone says soemthing then runs to Oprah or Dr Phil to apologize and have there bitch moment and beg the public for forgiveness, oh god im so glad the artists i listen to and respect have not gone into that climate of BS.

lastdecember said:

thesexofit said:

Has anyone seen the billboards for around 1977/78? They or Andy Gibb (who had no big hits in the UK surprisenly) or Frankie Valli or anything Bee Gee's related was huge on the charts! Everything they did was hitting no 1. In otherwords, they were EVERYWHERE, particually in the US. A backlash was inevitable. Personally I don't like their disco era much. Classic pop songs they may be, but alot of them are overplayed, whilst some othes like "Tragedy" use Barry's falcetto way too much for my liking.

US pop music is much more akin to being "faddish" for lack of a better word. Once your not popular, thats it, it's gonna be hard to comeback. In contrast the UK and europe in general seem much more forgiving and willing to embrace artists like The Bee Gee's a 3rd time around. 1987's "You win again" was a massive hit in the UK and Europe, but did nothing in the US, who probably blacklisted the Bee Gee's for life after the disco backlash. Not saying it woulf of been a guarenteed smash in the US, but I bet US radio stations refused to play it.

In the UK they are or were made fun of, but they got their dues in the mid 90's with their "Still Waters" album and the acolades (legend awards etc..) that followed. They got their due.

well it was a huge backlash, that went on for most of the 80's till they had the hit with "ONE" and got cred back and a hall of fame induction. But what people miss is that backlash, it wasnt like a backlash today were people hate on you like we do on a Beyonce thread. The HATE for the bee gees was organized, there were radio stations ADVERTSING "we play no BEE GEES" days and weekends, there was the infamous "disco burning" in comiskey park, where albums of disco artissts (bee gees were lumped in) were burned in a PUBLIC specatcle that was organized! Imagine today if a baseball stadium sold tickets to burn Beyonce records, the cry of racism would be heard round the world, so any artist today complaining of BACKLASH needs to go to Bee Gees 101 and learn what that means.

Probably not because there would probably be more blacks

burning those records than any other demographic.

To an extent, they represent the white, homogenized, pop image of disco, which essentially ushered what was once an underground scene for gays and minorities...

...to its capitalization, demise and homophobic trashing.

But as far as I'm concerned, they wrote some damn great pop songs with some damn good hooks.

I'm partial to their early stuff too. Odessa is a hot indulgent mess but I love it.

Harlepolis said:

vainandy said:

They also hated to see other white people listening to all that black music. The disco era was less than a decade away from the civil rights era of the 1960s and they just could not stand seeing all those white people listening to a form of music that was predominately black. Listen to black folks music and you'll eventually start hanging with them and seeing them as your equals. I can't tell you how many times I heard that. And then there was the gay aspect of disco that pissed them off even more.

During the disco era, white radio had just as many black artists getting regular airplay as white artists. Hell, black artists may have even been getting more airplay from what I remember during the era. But I remember in late 1979, when the backlash began. For years, you didn't hear any black artists on white radio unless they were the more toned down and safe ones like Lionel Richie or Michael Jackson.

I remember watching an HBO documentary about disco(forgot its title), anyway, writer Nelson George(who was among the interviewees) said something to the affect that "This genre which happens to be mainstream too, was largely dominated by black women & gay men in an all white boys club industry, it wasn't an issue when black audience and their kids embraced it, the trouble started when it sweeped all of the main clubs and most of the young white kids fully embraced and supported it with their parents hard earned money" :loll:

Your post reminded me of that. Come to think of it, ALL musical expressions that have been created by black people get treated with condescendence at best, and resistance at worst. Disco wasn't an exception, but I find it interesting that the rock & roll audience who have been through the same ordeal a decade earlier sided with the backlash when you expected them to sympathize. I don't know who were they fooling, like disco its another form created by black musicians too.

Overall, folks wasted their energy on condemning disco which was a pretty wholesome genre, esp comparing to rap music that invaded the 80s & early 90s,,,,,,I bet "Disco DIDN'T suck" when NWA and all of those west coast cats came in after all :loll:

Mr. George is correct disco scene & clubbing started out with gay men (black, brown, white & other) and straight black women. I would however disagree with why the backlash against Disco occurred, race was an issue to some degree but mainly it was white heterosexual men feeling threatened about a scene, a culture, and music genre emerging for which they weren't apart of and weren't needed to sustain it. The fact that gay men (gay white men in particular) emerged, organized (post Stonewall), and weren't willing to take anymore shit that was the issue. I do recall the Rock & Roll scene feeling threatened about losing their audience, radio play/stations, and audience when disco music became the rage. It was the straight white kids who started "slumming" - - as many white had always done to Black Clubs -- to those disco clubs to enjoy the music and the scene, and there was always a scene to be watched. Later when white club embraced the music those clubs still were exclusionary.

The joke was "What killed disco? Straight men showed up'.

What was different, it was all about the music and about the fashion. Yes, the artist/performers were loved and worshipped but most importantly is was about music, dancing, and putting on your own show the performer was a close secondary. Disco audience for the most part weren't standing, swooning, worshipping, and screaming at singers/musicians playing on stage, they/we were too busy dancing and enjoying the music. In many aspects gay men did they very same thing as rappers would do later, create and established record companies, business, and clubs to support and sustain the music on their terms.

Needless to say the Bee Gees were more than disco music, they need not explain themselves they've made a lot of damn good music. In my opinion, the Bee Gees later Disco stuff fell into the same boring meandering trap disco music became.

P.S. Some Black artist/musicians never liked Disco either.

[Edited 8/18/10 21:28pm]

Empress said:

I think many people don't care for them because of their disco period and Barry's high voice. Personally, I think they are all uextremely talented writers and musicians and are severely underrated. I love their music.

Agree

because they sucks, actually they killed disco !

^ go clean your ears

they composed some fantastic songs

outstanding harmonies etc

[Edited 8/19/10 8:00am]

TD3 said:

Harlepolis said:

I remember watching an HBO documentary about disco(forgot its title), anyway, writer Nelson George(who was among the interviewees) said something to the affect that "This genre which happens to be mainstream too, was largely dominated by black women & gay men in an all white boys club industry, it wasn't an issue when black audience and their kids embraced it, the trouble started when it sweeped all of the main clubs and most of the young white kids fully embraced and supported it with their parents hard earned money" :loll:

Your post reminded me of that. Come to think of it, ALL musical expressions that have been created by black people get treated with condescendence at best, and resistance at worst. Disco wasn't an exception, but I find it interesting that the rock & roll audience who have been through the same ordeal a decade earlier sided with the backlash when you expected them to sympathize. I don't know who were they fooling, like disco its another form created by black musicians too.

Overall, folks wasted their energy on condemning disco which was a pretty wholesome genre, esp comparing to rap music that invaded the 80s & early 90s,,,,,,I bet "Disco DIDN'T suck" when NWA and all of those west coast cats came in after all :loll:

P.S. Some Black artist/musicians never liked Disco either.

Stop that disco music, play my favorite song

Another troubling factor you make a point by bringing the homophobic factor but Ms.Trina, we as a collective are not strangers to disowning a musical style once a music expression created by us get embraced by white people, lets be real.

I mean, rock & roll and blues were looked at with contempt when the 70s emerged and any black performer(who have the god giving right to sing that music) gets the side-eye whenever she or he dabbles on that style.

Of course, not all black people feel this way, but the bulk of them do,,,,,remember that Dave Chappelle skit where only white people supposedly love hearing the guitar while black folks love hearing the drums? And thats only for comedic affect, I have heard with my very own ears that Jimi Hendrix' music is "white people's music". If there were quotations above my head, you'll see clouds of "WTFs" floating around, child