# What did older people think of Disco back in the 70s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617 "2019-10-28T20:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/41 "2019-10-29T16:54:42Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > KC and the Sunshine Band were hardly one hit wonders. And that’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh. I’d forgotten that KC had other hits like Shake Your Booty and Get Down Tonight. I hadn’t heard those songs in decades. I probably won’t hear them again for quite awhile. 😉 They were more successful than I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/42 "2019-10-29T17:44:05Z")
My grandpa, who’s now 92, loved the Bee Gees and continues to love them. I don’t know how he feels about disco as a genre, he probably doesn’t know much about it, but he loves that particular band. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/43 "2019-10-29T18:14:09Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Donna Summer had a respectable pop/r&b career that bled over into the disco revolution. She was never in the pantheon of great R&B singers like Aretha Franklin or Whitney Houston. She had a very nice career. But her music was never revolutionary and game changing like an Eddie van Halen and she never had the worldwide fame that Metallica has to this day. “I Feel Love” is one of the most important and influential songs to come out of that era. It still sounds fresh to me today. Now, ok, I do think of that more as a Giorgio Moroder song, but everyone knows it as a Donna Summer track. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/44 "2019-10-29T18:20:04Z")
For young people disco was a way to meet the opposite sex at singles bars. The women liked to dress up and dance and drink, and the men liked women who liked to dress up and dance and drink. I’ll bet the women liked the men starting to dress better also. Note though, those were 70s style clothes, not sure it would be appealing today. The older folks, I’m not sure about. If they were old enough disco might remind them of when people danced to music, or just generally reminded them they could act young again without listening to old how tunes and Frank Sinatra. ETA: Anything from Donna Summer was fine with me. Otherwise, [Disco Duck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgPgavmY99U) was height of the genre for me. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/45 "2019-10-29T18:40:37Z")
> [@Crossbreed](#): > > It is now known as techno/electronica. Yeah, Disco never died. It just morphed. I’ve been in and out of dance clubs and events since the late 70s and once that that four on the floor beat hit, it never went away. I think my parents had it on ignore. The last dance they learned was the jitterbug. My dad was into opera and my mom was into some of the contemporary pop of the times, but never disco. Personally I found it fun to dance to when partying but never listened to it outside of a dance floor. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/46 "2019-10-29T18:53:32Z")
I’m afraid I didn’t take note, I was face-down in a bowl of cocaine at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/47 "2019-10-29T20:15:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “I Feel Love” is one of the most important and influential songs to come out of that era. It still sounds fresh to me today. Love to Love You Baby - OMG. Listening to that on the headphones was the closest I got to sex for a long time! is it hot in here? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/48 "2019-10-29T20:26:40Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > But her music was never revolutionary and game changing like an Eddie van Halen and she never had the worldwide fame that Metallica has to this day. You don’t listen to 80s synthpop, eurodance, EDM or pop, do you? Her music with Moroder _was_ unquestionably gamechanging, and I’ll happily bet money that more people worldwide would recognize (or enjoy) a Donna Summer tune than a Metallica one. Hell, most of them wouldn’t know who “James Hetfield” is. Donna Summer is still being referenced in modern pop, by such names as Beyonce and Madonna. Do Eddie or James have a currently touring Broadway biographical musical on the go? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/49 "2019-10-29T20:59:44Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d forgotten that KC had other hits like Shake Your Booty and Get Down Tonight. I hadn’t heard those songs in decades. I probably won’t hear them again for quite awhile. 😉 > > They were more successful than I remember. They were so popular, KC (aka Harry Wayne Casey) was even a guest on the Hollywood Squares. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/50 "2019-10-29T21:02:52Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > They were so popular, KC (aka Harry Wayne Casey) was even a guest on the Hollywood Squares. He’s got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the band is still on tour. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/51 "2019-10-29T21:27:00Z")
I started college in September, 1978. Because the rock world was in the process of falling apart, my new friends and I had extremely diffuse tastes in music. There were the Brian Eno and Talking Heads people. The Bach and Handel crowd. Avant-garde art music fans. Taj Mahal was big with blues/funk/Caribbean types. There were lots of Deadheads and Little Feat and Hot Tuna folks. The beginning of the Reggae fad. The Kinks were about to do their first Big East Coast tour, so there was a resurgence of interest in old British Invasion bands. The one thing that united us all was a loathing for disco. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/52 "2019-10-29T21:38:56Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You don’t listen to 80s synthpop, eurodance, EDM or pop, do you? > > Her music with Moroder _was_ unquestionably gamechanging, and I’ll happily bet money that more people worldwide would recognize (or enjoy) a Donna Summer tune than a Metallica one. Hell, most of them wouldn’t know who “James Hetfield” is. Donna Summer is still being referenced in modern pop, by such names as Beyonce and Madonna. Do Eddie or James have a currently touring Broadway biographical musical on the go? It’s a strange statement considering that most modern pop seems to be far more influenced by Summer rather than the rock of van Halen or Metallica. The latter seem far less influential to me (though at the time in the late 80s/90s they seemed like they would be giants). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/53 "2019-10-29T21:48:00Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > There were the Brian Eno and Talking Heads people. Speaking of Eno, according to David Bowie, when Eno heard “I Feel Love,” he described it as “the sound of the future.” (And my understanding is in a positive way, not just a “look what these kids are up to” sort of way.) > [@](#): > > In the liner notes to his ‘Sound And Vision’ retrospective collection, Bowie explains, “One day in Berlin, Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future’ … he puts on ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer … He said, ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.” > > He was right – the record would later influence acts like Depeche Mode and New Order. Even the Red Hot Chili Peppers covered the song on their ‘Live In Hyde Park’ album. Summer went on to have fourteen Top 10 hits, including four No. 1 records. [From here](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/donna-summer-dead-david-bowie-influence/). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/54 "2019-10-29T22:07:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You don’t listen to 80s synthpop, eurodance, EDM or pop, do you? > > Her music with Moroder _was_ unquestionably gamechanging, and I’ll happily bet money that more people worldwide would recognize (or enjoy) a Donna Summer tune than a Metallica one. Hell, most of them wouldn’t know who “James Hetfield” is. Donna Summer is still being referenced in modern pop, by such names as Beyonce and Madonna. Do Eddie or James have a currently touring Broadway biographical musical on the go? Do a fast YouTube search and Metallica plays stadiums around the world right now, in 2019 and has for the past 35 years. Eddie van Halen revolutionized how the guitar is played. I like Donna Summer and I enjoy her music but she could rise from the grave and put on a tour at midsized venues and not fill them, at the end of the day she was a niche artist. Now if you were talking about The Pet Shop Boys who are still recording and touring and have been for decades you would have a better argument. I would bet that you could show her pic, say her name and play her music to almost any 20 year old on the planet and they wont have a clue who she is. Her music never touched the same cross generational audience that hard rock has. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/55 "2019-10-29T22:27:08Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > It’s a strange statement considering that most modern pop seems to be far more influenced by Summer rather than the rock of van Halen or Metallica. The latter seem far less influential to me (though at the time in the late 80s/90s they seemed like they would be giants). > **[Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgullo,_Pasi%C3%B3n,_y_Gloria:_Tres_Noches_en_la_Ciudad_de_M%C3%A9xico)** > > Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México (or Orgulho, Paixão e Glória: Três Noites na Cidade do México, in the Portuguese version) (English: Pride, Passion and Glory: Three Nights in Mexico City) is a live video and album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, recorded at Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico, on June 4, 6 and 7, 2009, during the World Magnetic Tour. It was supposed to be released in Latin America only, but it is also available in Northern Europe. The record was... Three nights in Mexico City at a packed stadium World release Still filling stadiums to this day Like I said, I like Donna Summer but she was a pop singer whose music was producer driven and niche. She was talented and popular but she was never a massive international star. People hare also have very short memories. Disco was massively unpopular with working class young people. Disco was hipster shit and co-opted more complex funk and r&b. George Clinton was massively more influential in the history of music than Summer, even if few recognizes his name. His music still reverberates through sampled bits in Hip Hop and rap. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/56 "2019-10-29T23:36:33Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Who said anything about rap and hip-hop? Also, and somewhat crucially, the music was Georgio Moroder’s. Donna was of course the perfect vocalist for it, a strange happenstance that they were both in the same part of Germany at just the right time. Yeah, I’d say Moroder’s production was the big influence. Yes, bigger than Van Halen and Metallica. > [@madsircool](#): > > But her music was never revolutionary and game changing like an Eddie van Halen and she never had the worldwide fame that Metallica has to this day. I Feel Love was far more game changing than Van Halen and Metallica. Rock had become niche music. The influence of Moroder is everywhere in music today. > [@pulykamell](#): > > “I Feel Love” is one of the most important and influential songs to come out of that era. It still sounds fresh to me today. Yep. People like Moroder and Kraftwerk have been for more influential that Eddie van Halen. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/57 "2019-10-29T23:38:50Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Like I said, I like Donna Summer but she was a pop singer whose music was producer driven and niche. Rock music is the niche music nowadays. > [@madsircool](#): > > Disco was massively unpopular with working class young people. You’re joking, right? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/58 "2019-10-30T05:18:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You don’t listen to 80s synthpop, eurodance, EDM or pop, do you? > [@madsircool](#): > > [Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgullo,_Pasi%C3%B3n,_y_Gloria:_Tres_Noches_en_la_Ciudad_de_M%C3%A9xico) > > Three nights in Mexico City at a packed stadium > > World release > > Still filling stadiums to this day 10 years ago is not “to this day” Right now,[they ain’t filling jack](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/metallica-cancel-tour-james-hetfield-rehab-892158/). > [@](#): > > Like I said, I like Donna Summer but she was a pop singer whose music was producer driven and niche. How old _are_ you, that you think disco was _niche_, or that Summer was a sideshow in disco? Disco was ubiquitous, not just in music but fashion and film. And Summer was a big star in it. > [@](#): > > She was talented and popular but she was never a massive international star. Of all the disco divas, I’d argue she was by far the biggest international star. Given how most of her big hits were produced in Europe, for one. Then there’s all those Grammys and metallic records… > [@](#): > > People hare also have very short memories. Disco was massively unpopular with working class young people. Bull Shit. Disco [began with working class youth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco#Timeframe_and_social_context_for_the_rise_of_disco_culture_in_New_York), and remained popular with them. Even hard rock groups were desperate to get into the act, so how unpopular could it have been? [Look at these fucking hipsters.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhIsAZO5gl0) > [@](#): > > Disco was hipster shit What, exactly, are you using as your definition of “hipster”? > [@](#): > > and co-opted Now there’s a loaded term. > [@](#): > > George Clinton was massively more influential in the history of music than Summer, even if few recognizes his name. Again you’re using superlatives like “massively” without any substantiation. But even if so, it’s irrelevant to whether Summer is herself influential. > [@](#): > > His music still reverberates through sampled bits in Hip Hop and rap. You think Donna Summer isn’t still [sampled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvv6AD8mmPc)? Like, a lot. Including by people like Dr. Dre and Nas. You seem stuck in some kind of rockist ghetto. You could just have answered “YES” to my question. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/59 "2019-11-04T14:50:20Z")
> [@Crossbreed](#): > > It is now known as techno/electronica. It is now known as EDM. Electronica was a marketing term. “Techno” is a shibboleth. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617/60 "2019-11-04T15:04:03Z")
I’ll try to emphasize the important points here: 1. Disco is not about the music, it’s about dancing and hooking up and feeling good after an era of turmoil. 2. Donna Summer was a talented singer. She would have been in any music genre. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-older-people-think-of-disco-back-in-the-70s/842617.md?page=4)