Even if Disco itself were preventable, there were enough other sounds that evolved into disco that there would have been something. There was the Philadephia Sound, which was a lot of acts like The O'Jays and The Trammps and producers like Tom Moulton and Gamble & Huff. Secondly, there were people in Europe, one example being Giorgio Moroder, who were playing around with synths. There would have been some form of "dance music" regardless.

I do think there was some racism and homophobia behind the Disco Demolition Night. Steve Dahl, of course, has gone on record denying it. Disco, in my opinion, was a very misunderstood genre that got sucked up by people like the Bee Gees. There was good music coming out that evolved into other styles (Chic, Grace Jones, Moroder were all influential). Sadly, people tend to associate disco with the Bee Gees, polyester shirts, and Travolta pointing at the ceiling. Which is a shame, really.

That's the big key to why people hated disco, IMHO. It's more latent than conscious - very few metalheads and punks even go about espousing rasism. But metal and punk started off and largely remain very white and have remained so.
 
Cheesy?

Mainstream disco is cheesy, but everything mainstream is made to appeal to the masses. True disco music contains slick bass lines, smooth synthesizer and funky drum beats. It's a religion once you dig a little deeper. One of my favorite disco songs for example:

Cocomotion is one of my favourites. This is also a good example of some solid disco that almost crosses over into HiNRG territory.
 
That's the big key to why people hated disco, IMHO. It's more latent than conscious - very few metalheads and punks even go about espousing rasism. But metal and punk started off and largely remain very white and have remained so.

Punk has a strong anti-fascist and anti-racist component, though.
 
As this will be the best place to ask... why Disco mega hated? that happened like 50 years ago and i think nobody here really lived it, for me is fine dunno the virulent hate, that is so childish.
I was there, and yes, Disco sucked.

And this is coming from someone who likes King Crimson, Kraftwerk and Hawkwind.

Much of the hate was that many of the acts were near as manufactured as the Archies or Monkees, but without the talent and ghostwritten songs by top notch writers. Top 40 pop acts were often hated for that, but Disco ...seemed worse. Far worse.
Glam Rock wasn't hated as much as Disco, and that had a lot more of the same stuff that supposedly made Disco so hated
 
I was thumbing through my records just now and was reminded of at least one case where a Punk band did go full Disco for an LP. Marie et les Garcons. After Marie left, the remaining three members became "Garcons", went to New York, hooked up with Ze Records and changed their sound. So, if you take away disco, you also take away labels like Ze that sort of mashed Punk up with Disco. Or the whole No Wave scene.
 
Other than putting anti-psychotics in the NYC drinking water in the early 70s I can't think of much. I do however support having the members of Abba having different careers, doing ANYTHING other than music, on general principle.
 
I was thumbing through my records just now and was reminded of at least one case where a Punk band did go full Disco for an LP. Marie et les Garcons. After Marie left, the remaining three members became "Garcons", went to New York, hooked up with Ze Records and changed their sound. So, if you take away disco, you also take away labels like Ze that sort of mashed Punk up with Disco. Or the whole No Wave scene.

The Village People went in the opposite direction for one season. Though I think that was more New Wave than punk. They were back in full macho regalia for their next album.
 
Marathag wrote:

Glam Rock wasn't hated as much as Disco, and that had a lot more of the same stuff that supposedly made Disco so hated


Actually, I got a fair bit of grief for announcing myself as a fan of Queen in middle school, mid 80s. The same sort of thing that was held against disco, ie. gay, bubble-gummy etc. This despite the fact that Queen did some of the hardest rock standards of their era.

I'm not sure what their rep was outside my school was, though. For the most part, when it came to Queen, I think most people focussed on individual songs, and didn't pay much attention to the band's image(not that that band didn't work hard to project a particular image.)
 
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All music genres eventually end up cheesy and manufactured. Heavy metal eventually evolved into the poodle rock of the mid 80's.

whitesnake-crufts-1987-poodle-champions.jpg
 

Archibald

Banned
Maybe it's because I'm an EuroFag, but I wonder why is disco so hated in the US. Okay, I think it's cheesy as hell, but it's hardly any cheesier than, I don't know, 1990s teen pop, contemporary East Asian pop music or musicals in general. And it's had a huge influence on contemporary dance and electronic music, too.

I had to endure freakkin' eurodance as a kid and I rate disco way, way above it. May Ace of base rost in hell and burn itself to ashes.

the world would be a saddest place if that song did not existed
 
The Village People went in the opposite direction for one season. Though I think that was more New Wave than punk. They were back in full macho regalia for their next album.

The Village People went briefly New Wave with a New Romantic image, but it was a year or two before groups like Culture Club and Duran Duran caught on in North America. The two tracks that became singles were straightforward pop, but actually decent enough to have possibly done ok for other artists.
 
Easy way is to stop the Eurovision song contest, but alas, they pre-date Disco. Some thing you just can't stop

They were unstoppable. People also forget that ABBA also had a fairly eclectic sound. Unfortunately, their biggest hit in the U.S. was "Dancing Queen". If you take away the dancier tracks, they could survive as just another pop act.
 
They were unstoppable. People also forget that ABBA also had a fairly eclectic sound. Unfortunately, their biggest hit in the U.S. was "Dancing Queen". If you take away the dancier tracks, they could survive as just another pop act.

And, actually, if you think about it, a lot of ABBA's songs, including some of their biggest hits, aren't really dance-able at all. I mean, Take A Chance On Me? Super Trouper?
 
Maybe not stop it, but have it evolve into New Wave faster (from what i've read and heard, New Wave was pretty much disco, but aimed more toward a "song" structure as opposed to just being designed to be the soundtrack to dancing, heck, some New Wave acts like the Cars (though they also had a big power-pop sound as well) even crossed over to rock).
 
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