# Would disco not have been so hated had so many rock stars not gone disco? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 2, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070 "2022-01-02T06:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/1 "2022-01-02T06:01:51Z")
In an alternative universe, let’s say that disco becomes big in the 1970s, but there’s no Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney or Rolling Stones disco influence. Disco is limited to artists such as the Village People, A Taste Of Honey and The Trammps. Is there still such a backlash? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/2 "2022-01-02T06:16:59Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > let’s say that disco becomes big in the 1970s, but there’s no Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney or Rolling Stones disco influence. Disco is limited to artists such as the Village People, A Taste Of Honey and The Trammps. What about the Bee Gees? They were already a well-established pop/rock act before they became one of the linchpins of disco. In your hypothetical, do they never go disco, either? Anyway, even if rock stars hadn’t “gone disco,” I don’t think that there’s much of a material change. Many rock fans hated disco, whether or not their favorite rock acts were recording disco-influenced stuff. Punk rises up, Steve Dahl does Disco Demolition Night, and disco quickly fades at the end of the '70s, whether or not Rod records “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy.” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/3 "2022-01-02T06:17:19Z")
That depends. Let’s say I was living in Albuquerque at the time, and listened to KRST rock on the automobile radio. In your alternative universe, does my radio station start playing disco? Does KC and the Sunshine Band and Donna Summer supplant the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd? ---
**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:** [January 2, 2022, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/4 "2022-01-02T06:22:04Z")
I didn’t think “so many” rock stars went disco. Rock fans already didn’t like the Bee Gees. What did McCartney and the Rolling Stones do that was disco? Coming Up? Miss You? Hardly disco. The things that made disco “suck” had nothing to do with rock crossovers and everything to do with Saturday Night Fever and Donna Summer. And Disco Duck. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/5 "2022-01-02T06:31:55Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > What did McCartney and the Rolling Stones do that was disco? Coming Up? Miss You? Hardly disco. I don’t consider “Miss You” to be an archetypal disco song, but [the Wikipedia entry on the song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_You_(Rolling_Stones_song)) quotes Keith Richards and Charlie Watts as saying that it was definitely a disco song, or at least influenced by disco: > [@](#): > > Jagger and [Ronnie Wood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Wood) insist that “Miss You” wasn’t conceived as a [disco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco) song, while Richards said, “‘Miss You’ was a damn good disco record; it was calculated to be one.” In any case, what was going on in [discotheques](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightclub) did make it to the recording. [Charlie Watts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Watts) said, “A lot of those songs like ‘Miss You’ on ‘Some Girls’ … were heavily influenced by going to the discos. You can hear it in a lot of those [four-to-the-floor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_on_the_floor_(music)) and the Philadelphia-style drumming.” As far as McCartney, I’d say that “Goodnight Tonight,” rather than “Coming Up,” was his hit which was most disco-like. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2022, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/6 "2022-01-02T06:33:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > quotes Keith Richards and Charlie Watts as saying that it was definitely a disco song While I would disagree, I guess they would know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/7 "2022-01-02T06:52:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I didn’t think “so many” rock stars went disco. Rock fans already didn’t like the Bee Gees. > What did McCartney and the Rolling Stones do that was disco? Coming Up? Miss You? Hardly disco. > > The things that made disco “suck” had nothing to do with rock crossovers and everything to do with Saturday Night Fever and Donna Summer. > > And Disco Duck. I was thinking Emotional Rescue as a Stones disco song. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/8 "2022-01-02T07:44:56Z")
I think disco is one of those things where a lot of say they hate it but they actually don’t. Guys liked it bc it brought the girls into the clubs. Girls liked it bc it was easy to sing along to and fun to dance to as well. And disco had some staying power Heck they were doing “Disco Sucks?” Nights at the clubs I went to in the 90’s when I was just a 20-something. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/9 "2022-01-02T09:09:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I don’t consider “Miss You” to be an archetypal disco song, but [the Wikipedia entry on the song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_You_(Rolling_Stones_song)) quotes Keith Richards and Charlie Watts as saying that it was definitely a disco song, or at least influenced by disco: As I said a long time ago in an old Cafe Society thread I’m too lazy to dig up, “Miss You” is disco_ish_ as opposed to Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy” which is _full_ disco. If you’re a rock star who wants to be respected several decades later, you never go full disco. That’s one reason why the Stones have a better rep than Stewart. On a related and completely subjective note, I like [Philly Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_soul) which is also discoish but not full disco. FTR, “discoish” was a not-quite-disco song that was sufficiently danceable not to be hooted off the dance floor at Studio 54 in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/10 "2022-01-02T11:39:41Z")
In this alternative universe should I love Blondie more or less? Do we still get the introduction of a greater suite of electronic music and recording and completely brilliant European producers into rock, even though disco doesn’t raise its beautifully coiffured head there? Would we love disco more because rock music resolutely held on to its late 60s form and became even less relevant to the world than it already was during the 1970s? Would that speed up the arrival of punk and its desire to put a bullet into the head of 70s rock? I wonder why people hated disco. Was it so much the actual music as the superficial co-option of elements to look relevant [macarena / reggae lite / rapping politicians and TV talk show hosts anyone?] or the moral panic of its expressing hedonism and self-absorption with fulfilling individual desires, which now is the basic standard position of American culture. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/11 "2022-01-02T12:34:13Z")
The Stones may have a better rep as a rocker. But Stewart grew out of his "Rocker stage decades ago. As a musician, Stewart’s rep far exceeds the Stones. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/12 "2022-01-02T13:39:24Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > On a related and completely subjective note, I like [Philly Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_soul) which is also discoish but not full disco. PS is proto-disco, no doubt about it, and by 1973 had evolved into full-fledged disco when the Gamble and Huff produced MFSB’s _TSOP: The Sound of Philadelphia_, featuring the Three Degrees (another Philly Soul mainstay), became the first disco song to hit #1, as well as the anthem to Don Cornelius’ _Soul Train_. In short, no matter the later cultural appropriation, disco is a Philadelphia sound, not a New York one. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8axwM3_APaI/hqdefault.jpg "The Three Degrees - TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8axwM3_APaI) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/13 "2022-01-02T13:40:43Z")
Anyway, disco didn’t kill rock and roll. Rap did. But disco never died, either. It just morphed into Madonna. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/14 "2022-01-02T13:48:34Z")
I always call that song “that Stones disco tune.” It’s filtered through their lens, but it’s pretty clearly disco to me. Four to the floor kick, bass guitar often emphasizing the second half of the beat, hi hats opening in small parts to do the same (more cliche would be “pea soup” hats where a closed-open hat pattern would go through the song), the funk based keyboard part, the main riff and the falsetto “oo”s. It’s all sooooo 70s disco to my ears as played by a blues-and-country based bar band. The feeling is looser and airier than your usual disco track, but it doesn’t hide what it’s trying to be, ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/15 "2022-01-02T14:05:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I don’t consider “Miss You” to be an archetypal disco song, but [the Wikipedia entry on the song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_You_(Rolling_Stones_song)) quotes Keith Richards and Charlie Watts as saying that it was definitely a disco song, or at least influenced by disco: In Keith Richard’s autobiography (great read, btw) Keith says (paraphrasing from memory of having read it maybe 5 years ago) that Mick came to him with the idea of incorporating disco influences to keep up with the times. Keith thought it was a stupid idea, but went along with it as a sop to Mick, and “Miss You” came to be. I always liked the song and had no idea it was supposed to be disco-influenced until I read the Richards AB. I always thought the song was more R&B influenced. Which, I suppose, was also an influence to disco. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/16 "2022-01-02T14:13:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Miss You] doesn’t hide what it’s trying to be, For the most part, disco songs weren’t a secret code. You never had to ask, “Is this a disco song?” Was there any doubt about Boogie Wonderland, Boogie Oogie Oogie, Disco Inferno? The entire collection of KC and the Sunshine Band? No. While I am not trying in vain to move Miss You out of disco, lest it give me disco cooties, clubs would find some crossover songs just to keep the guys who hated disco in the clubs for the ladies that loved it. You all get me to reanalyze why “disco sucked”. I was a veteran of the Disco Wars. I was there for the armistice, the negotiated settlement that allowed new wave/alternative to assume the disco mantle without the disco baggage ([You’ll Dance to Anything](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGhHdRZJZc&ab_channel=tiptoeburglar)). I think the hatred was because it was formulaic, designed for dancing, not for listening. In those days, rock purists were just that - pure. Disco was designed, in our opinion, as a crass monetary grab. It wasn’t music, it was simply a consumable in clubs, like liquor. Get 'em in, give 'em what they want and take their money. Over the years, I’ve come to terms that it wasn’t all bad. And, if it weren’t for disco, we wouldn’t have punk. And (classic) rock is still there. When you go into a restaurant or store, and the place is playing “old fogey” music, it’s rock, not disco. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/17 "2022-01-02T14:19:15Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > disco didn’t kill rock and roll. Rap did. Rock was killed by a one-two punch: rap _and_ grunge. Rock historians tell us the rock era died around 1992. I believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/18 "2022-01-02T14:25:08Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I think the hatred was because it was formulaic, designed for dancing, not for listening. In those days, rock purists were just that - pure. Disco was designed, in our opinion, as a crass monetary grab. It wasn’t music, it was simply a consumable in clubs, like liquor. Get 'em in, give 'em what they want and take their money. I agree with this. Rock is like traditional and fine beers; great to consume, but it also has a lot of history, with serious connoisseurs and aficionados. Disco is like malt liquor. Or wine coolers. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/19 "2022-01-02T14:55:28Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > > I don’t consider “Miss You” to be an archetypal disco song, but [the Wikipedia entry on the song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_You_(Rolling_Stones_song)) quotes Keith Richards and Charlie Watts as saying that it was definitely a disco song, or at least influenced by disco: > > As I said a long time ago in an old Cafe Society thread I’m too lazy to dig up, “Miss You” is disco_ish_ as opposed to Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy” which is _full_ disco. If you’re a rock star who wants to be respected several decades later, you never go full disco. The best version of _Do Ya Think I’m Sexy_ is this one: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbW-L\_xt18](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbW-L_xt18) ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070/20 "2022-01-02T14:56:21Z")
I remember when the album _Shakedown Street_ by the Grateful Dead came out, my group of friends labeled it as “Disco Dead”. I must admit the title track does have a kind of disco vibe, but IMHO is more closely aligned with funk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-disco-not-have-been-so-hated-had-so-many-rock-stars-not-gone-disco/957070.md?page=2)