OT Disco Demolition 30 years after

At my DJ gigs I used to spin a mash-up called “Disco Sucks” which sampled Prince’s “Controversy” (the bassline and keyboard hook) and Steve Dahl’s rant from the Disco Demolition night. It was an ironic track in that it was an unabashedly disco tune complete with commentary from a man who had not even a basic understanding of disco.

 The funny thing about that time is that most disco records were actually high-quality soul records which survive the test of time. The stuff that finally started to tick people off was the pop dreck that was attempting to cash in on the disco craze. That wasn’t real disco. Disco went back underground, morphed into house, which begat techno, which begat electronica/big beat/drum & bass etc., and now it’s everywhere. You almost can’t escape it. The revenge of disco is complete.

Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper. He open the book with a long prologue that begins with a description of Steve Dahl and Disco Demolition night. He described Dahl as the guy who almost destroyed the record industry with that event as it signaled the beginning of the fast decline in disco’s popularity. As the record industry was so invested in disco at the time, they didn’t have any big superstars that could really keep the gravy train going. But then along came Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and that helped keep them afloat until CD technology became established. That may be a little simplified, but general record sales really did take a nose-dive with disco’s decline. I thought it kind of funny that an event that I remember real well (I wasn’t there for the event, but I absolutely hated disco) figures so prominently in the book.

A bunch of us were regular Steve Dahl listeners back then (“Another Kid in the Crawl”). We also were way up so we never even thought about or tried to get on the field. The thing I remember more than anything was the number of people. There were a lot that never even made it in the game.

because the White Sox had to forfeit Game 2 to my Tigers.

so I looked it up. It was an incredibly stupid idea, but it wasn’t as stupid as Cleveland’s 10 cent beer night.

…guess I can’t argue too much, however when you put it in the context with who was running it – Steve Dahl – let’s just say that’s par for the course.

There’s some okay stuff on youtube, but most of it is Dahl’s appearances on national TV afterward, including one with Tom Snyder and Meatloaf. After listening to Dahl’s monologue over an over I was so disgusted, I thought he truly believed in the cause…LOL!

… including some video I had never seen before. During the delay, Harry Caray (then the Sox announcer) tried to settle down the crowd by singing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

The weirdest part of the video was watching Sox pitcher Ken Kravec attempt to start warming up for the second game even while people were still running around in the outfield.