Once upon a time, in the 1970’s, a vile and powerful darkness began to completely engulf mankind. It was everywhere you turned, manipulating people’s movements, maddeningly making the young want more and more.
Finally, a man who had watched the madness day by day, one day decided he could bear it no longer. Steve Dahl was that man.
And on July 12, 1979, he emphatically stated “DISCO SUCKS!!”
Disco was a genre of dance music that became popular in the mid-1970’s.
kc and the sunshine band
Some of the big groups in the disco age were KC and the Sunshine Band (Shake Your Booty) and the Village People (YMCA)
the village people
But none approached the lofty heights of the undisputed champions of disco: those brothers Gibb from Britain: the Bee-Gee’s
bee-gee’s
The Bee-Gee’s were the headliners and most prominent contributors to the iconic event of the disco era: 1977’s Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta
Even Goofy got in on the action:
Steve Dahl worked for a rock station in Chicago. He watched as disco took over music. It got crooner Neil Diamond (Forever in Blue Jeans), Rod Stewart (Do ya Think I’m Sexy). When he saw Mick Jagger “preening” in the Rolling Stone’s Miss You he had just about had it. Then, when his station announced they were going to a disco format, he knew he could wait no longer.
It was time for Disco Demolition Day.
disco demolition night
Steve arranged a promotion with the Chicago White Sox and Comiskey Park for a Disco Demolition Night. The White Sox were having a terrible season and weren’t selling tickets and agreed to the presentation in between double header games, hoping to boost ticket sales.
Steve promoted the stunt on his radio show, asking fans to come and bring disco records that he would “blow up”. He was afraid that no one would show up.
50,000 haters of disco arrived and quickly filled the 124 cubic foot crate. After the crate was filled, the fans took their disco albums with them to their seats. Security had to shut the gates as an estimated 20,000 more wanted to get in.
During the break between games, Steve Dahl gave a short speech in which he got the crowd chanting “Disco Sucks!” and then he blew up the crate, leaving a large hole in the field, and a roaring fire. Fans began throwing the albums and records they still had onto the field and then many poured out onto the field.
The field was un-playable after that and the White Sox had to forfeit the second game to the Tigers. Many music experts agree that it was the dramatic beginning of the end for disco.
Bondo- the real deal 