Ah, it all goes in waves. Me and a buddy who had seen (and loved) that last abortive Sex Pistols show at the Winterland Ballroom in 1978 were once walking along Ocean beach in SF in the 1990’s when we came across a contingent of bronzed jocks and their pretty bikini-clad girlfriends. They were blasting Black Flag and my friend was outraged 
. “Punk and hardcore are for ugly people! How dare these fucking frat-boy douchebags steal our music?”
I was pretty young at the time, but I remember the anti-disco movement and I think many people in this thread are overthinking it.
The anti-disco movement was primarily started by fans of rock music. These were fans of “cool bands” like Zeppelin, Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, etc. Stuff you wouldn’t normally dance to.
When disco came along, rock fans thought it was corny, stupid, and insipid. But they didn’t really care about it until two things happened: 1) some radio stations stopped playing rock music and switched to disco, and 2) it became a mainstream fad, which annoyed them.
That’s a bit of an oversimplification, as there were a number of nuances to it. But that’s essentially it.
Not just rock fans. I was into bands like Simon and Garfunkel, Gorden Lightfoot, Fleetwood Mac. I also thought disco was corny, stupid and insipid. Worst of all, my girlfriend liked it and wanted me to go to school dances (which were 90% disco in the late 70s)
The fucking Eagles were cool in the seventies? Never would have guessed that… (don’t get me wrong, I love some of their stuff, but I never considered them a cool or hip band).
I remember thinking in surprise hearing the ‘anti-disco was racist’ argument for the first time: ‘it wasn’t that we hated black people, it was the gayness that bothered us!’
Which is not a surprising attitude coming from a 12yo Atlanta suburban kid at the time. Pretty sure 12yo boys are calling each other f*g nowadays like they did back then (and in 2014, when Sophia was 12 and constantly complained about this.)
Anyway, since we are taking our personal experiences and making them universal, it wasn’t about African-Americans as it was about gays. 
The only time I witnessed any kind of anti-disco sentiment display in public was at an Ian Hunter show at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1979. In the middle section of “Cleveland Rocks” he exhorted the crowd to bellow out “Disco Sucks!” in place of the original lyrics and it got a very amused, enthusiastic response.
I was in Junior high at the height of disco. The idea that people hated disco because of racism and homophobia is ridiculous. The people who liked disco tended to be the popular kids and the bullies. They didn’t really care about music, they just wanted something to dance to. Nerds and hippies liked rock and roll. We generally cared a lot about music and many of us at least tried to pick up an instrument. That was the social division, between popular kids and weirdos. We didn’t like the Bee Gees or KC and the Sunshine Band, but we liked Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) and Queen and idolized Jimi Hendrix. TIL that makes us white racist homophobes somehow.
I was listening to Sirius last night when Disco Clash (Magnificant Seven) came on. I dare anybody to deny/defend that!
Ah crap. Never mind. got a song confused.
Oh, not only “The Magnificent Seven”, which also was the first rap song by a white rock band, but also “Lost In The Supermarket” and “Overpowered By Funk”. That’s what I like about the Clash, they never were snobbish and embraced a lot of musical styles that were taboo to most of their contemporaries.
Are you referring to “The Magnificent Seven”? That was a Clash tune from the album “Sandinista” and a single.
ETA: just saw your edit, so forget this post.
I really like The Magnificent Seven 
. Sandinista is a kinda uneven album, but that’s one of the good tracks IMO.
Lots of truth here. Just because they aren’t racist or homophobic, there’s no way racism or homophobia was at the root of the anti-disco silliness. Sounds like modern day Republicans. They don’t think they’re racist or homophobic today, so they feel insulted that white people were homophobic and racist in the past.
I was there. I was in the anti-disco camp at the time. There may even have been some racism or homophobia informing my opinion. I sure didn’t think I was racist/homophobic, but a lot of racism is, well, CRT style racism, subtle and unconscious. I grew out of it by the time punk, new wave and rap came along.
Yep.
You remind me of a quote from one of those old Mississippi Delta bluesmen, when asked about the 1960s British blues bands: “Those white boys want to play the blues so bad. And they do. They play it so bad.”
Somebody in the British music press coined the spelling “blooze” to disparage poor examples of the trend.
And whoever it is, they’re welcome to their opinion, just like the people who think disco sucks in this thread. I’m welcome to continue to disagree.
I’ll counter whoever that is with John Lee Hooker describing Alan Wilson as “the greatest harmonica player ever.”
ETA: And I disagree with Hooker, that’s Lee Oskar
Oh man, where would I start? Being a Chicagoan, Junior Wells and Little Walter have a special place in my heart. Sonny Boy Williamson? Less blues and more jazz? Toots Thielman? Howard Levy? So many hot players to choose from.
One of the anomalies of the early post-Disco era was the rise in popularity of reggae. The same people who complained that disco was repetitive were now bopping to reggae, which has the same beat in damn near every song. (I’m probably over-generalizing here, but from the perspective of a nerdy white suburban teen, it seemed like if you heard “Pass The Dutchy” by Musical Youth once, you heard every reggae song.)
Reggae, unlike disco, tended to be socially and politically conscious. Also,
it was considered more “authentic” than disco. (Popular music criticism during the late 20th century was deeply in thrall to the “cult of authenticity.”)
Agreed. Never meant to suggest that reggae was anywhere near as vapid as disco.