Why Don't Roller Rinks Play Disco Anymore?
What is disco and where did it disgo?
Welcome back to another week of history class. I think we’ve all passed the period of time where disco had to be lame, so now it can be cool again (please). I personally love disco. It makes me wish I was around when it was actually happening. A few years ago I went to a pop-up roller rink called DiscOasis that was created by Nile Rodgers and it was amazing. I even did a Farrah Fawcett hairdo for the night. I go roller skating a lot, and that was the only time disco was ever attached. In my head, disco and roller skating just kind of go together, but I guess that isn’t really the case. I’m going to the rink this weekend and it inspired me to do a deep dive on disco. So get ready for lights, camera, disco.
The first question that should probably be answered is where did disco come from? Disco is short for discothéque which is French for “record collection” (Cambridge Dictionary). If you look it up, discothéque will translate to “disco”, which isn’t very helpful. English dictionaries usually describe discotheque (the é is lost) as a “nightclub with music for dancing” (Merriam-Webster).
Musically, the inspiration comes from all over the world. The genre is pretty broad. Some songs were more inspired by Motown funk. European disco was a whole new brand. Many disco songs went longer than the usual three or so minutes. The purpose of this was to inspire a dance party (Timeline of African American Music). Songs were often in a 4/4 time signature. Disco is also LOUD! Think of every instrument imaginable put into one song with influence coming from all over the world and that’s my description of disco. I tried doing some research on the qualities most common in disco but it’s kind of impossible to sum up.
When I started writing this, I was going to place a lot more emphasis on describing the musical characteristics of disco. In my research I learned that disco isn’t so much defined by the music but rather where it came from and how it got popular. A pretty common thought among people my age is that disco sucks because it was popular and people were tired of it. This overlooks the fact that the origins of disco were subversive and disco was considered counterculture. Disco really got its start in New York gay nightclubs and its roots are tied to the LGBTQ+ community. These clubs were most often frequented by Black and Latino individuals. Disco was more than a style of music; it was a way to find a community, love, and acceptance. The Stonewall Uprising happened in 1969 and is in some circles considered to be the start of publicized LBGTQ+ activism and the gay rights movement. Until 1971, two men were legally barred from dancing together in New York, so that tells you how the world was treating the idea that people might be gay. Disco was a form of self expression for several communities who were not given many opportunities to speak and move freely. The underground clubbing scene was a refuge for these groups that were nearly always overlooked and underrepresented in more public circles.
Around 1977, Studio 54 opened its newly remodeled doors to the disco crowd. The only problem is that its doors were in fact not opened to the disco crowd. Studio 54 was notorious for having a super strict door policy. Its guests were mostly celebrities. Like Saturday Night Fever, which I’ll get to next, Studio 54 whitewashed disco. A big part of existing disco culture was that everyone was welcome to take part in the dancing and joy. Studio 54’s heavy limitations on the guest list is a poor representation of disco culture. Also like Saturday Night Fever, Studio 54 is what’s remembered about disco despite its inaccuracies to the movement.
Here’s the part where disco gets ruined. The way it gets ruined is actually how a lot of other things get ruined. Guess what it is. Okay you won’t guess so I’ll just tell you: commercialism. Saturday Night Fever is really what did it. A lot of disco singers had identities that prevented them from topping the general music charts. Black singers were more or less shut out from topping the heavily segregated charts. This is why many Black singers turned to disco. Their audience was full of people who connected with them because the disco scene was predominantly run by people of color and the LGBTQ+ community who were much more open than the straight white public. So here’s where Saturday Night Fever comes in. There were tons of original artists who got their start doing disco. Tons of Black or gay artists. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack featured the Bee Gees. What’s worse, it featured completely non-disco artists too. A movie that’s plot heavily revolved around disco and the disco scene featured music not by original disco artists AND the main characters were white. Saturday Night Fever is still considered one of the most famous representations of disco to date (I actually learned the “Night Fever” line dance in middle school), which is unfortunate because of how inaccurately it portrays the disco scene. There is one scene in which John Travolta’s character gives the money and award he wins in a dance competition to the Puerto Rican contestants because he feels they earned it more than he did. That moment is ruined when he shortly after tries raping his dance partner, fails, and then witnesses a gang rape his friends are all involved in. Saturday Night Fever is actually insane. It’s kind of hard to watch. It’s even more disappointing knowing it doesn’t do disco justice either.
After Saturday Night Fever, things took a turn for the worse with disco. The Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities felt that they were being pushed out of their own genre. So now to answer why everyone hates disco: racism and homophobia. The leaders of the disco movement were Black, brown, and often openly queer. The white public did not appreciate such openness. The reaction to disco is in some ways reminiscent of when Black artists of the 50s and 60s would have their songs “covered” by white musicians. I didn’t put “covered” in parentheses like how my grandma puts “every” other word “in” quotes. I did it because the covers usually involved altered lyrics. In fact the only thing I remember from my rock history class in 2019 is Pat Boone’s cover of “Tutti Frutti”, originally by Little Richard. In the original song, Little Richard mentioned two women, a Sue and a Daisy. Pat Boone keeps both women in the lyrics, but alters the second verse to confirm “But pretty little Susie/Is The gal for me”. This was done to make the song more palatable for white families. Disco got the same treatment. Worse still, this treatment continues toward Black and Latino artists. Anyway, the phrase “disco sucks” can actually be attributed to one person in particular. It’s all Steve Dahl’s fault. He was responsible for “Disco Demolition Night” which happened at a White Sox game in 1979. It was pretty much a record burning. This didn’t actually get rid of disco, it just made it go even more underground. Considering that disco pioneers were already pushed to the outskirts of society, the “disco sucks” take only emphasized that it was never really about the music. Dahl somewhat recently claimed the “disco sucks” mentality had nothing to do with racism or homophobia (“The War on Disco”, PBS), but considering the bias integrated into people’s lives, especially in the 1970s, it seems impossible that there were absolutely no undertones of racism or homophobia in the burning.
Now for the big question: is disco really dead? NO! Disco is very much alive and well. Disco eventually morphed into hip hop which morphed into house which morphed into EDM and it keeps on going. Disco influence can be found in lots of modern music as well. Some (probably only me) might even say disco is going to have a resurgence. Silk Sonic, the superduo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak released An Evening With Silk Sonic, an album with heavy funk influence. It’s pretty easy to figure out what vibe they were going for. They even have a song called “Skate” that comes with a video full of women roller skating around the duo playing the song with their band. It’s very, very cool. Nu-disco is a popular genre that has emerged from disco present in modern music. It combines 1970s disco, 1980s European dance music, and 1990s EDM. It really started in the 1990s, but has since reemerged. You know which industry absolutely loves nu-disco? K-pop. GFRIEND, who disbanded in 2020, released their final song “Mago” which is nu-disco but with a heavy emphasis on the disco. It isn’t as funk-heavy as a lot of the best disco is, but it’s good. Nile Rodgers actually produced a K-pop song in 2023 which is a cool fact. Dance pop is another genre to merge from disco. It’s really just disco but made more radio-approved. K-pop loves dance pop too, but so does Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga. Dance pop has become kind of a catchall for pop that people can dance to that can be played on the radio. I don’t think it’s a great representation of what disco was because at its core dance pop is simply general pop music.
Once disco became more mainstream, it lost its charm. Maybe this is because it just got too popular to be enjoyed. Maybe this is because people stopped liking the music. Maybe it’s because new stuff took its place. To me, disco’s appropriation is on par with how Black and Latino musicians have been treated for decades. It lost its charm because the people who took over the genre had no real reason to do it other than financial gain. When the feeling and emotion is taken out, a song doesn’t have much power. The white disco takeover did not come from a good place. Saturday Night Live took disco’s musical style and club vibes, but it wasn’t real disco. Studio 54 wasn’t a real disco club. The real disco clubs aren’t as popular by name, but there’s tons of real disco stars worthy of praise.
If you want a fun activity after reading this, try learning “The Hustle”. It’s the first line dance I was ever taught. My entire P.E. class in seventh grade had to take a full month of line dancing lessons. The hardest was “Night Fever” and the easiest was “The Hustle”, but we did a Japanese coal miner dance that was the most fun. To conclude, disco is hated for the wrong reasons and it never actually went away, it just went back underground. I still think disco is cool. The songs and dances are loud and colorful. They take up space in a good way. They have so much life and energy poured into them. I am really hoping disco makes a comeback at roller rinks across the country, because roller skating to Taylor Swift just isn’t right. Until then, I’ll keep listening to disco as it was meant to be listened to: LOUD AND PROUD!
“Never Can Say Goodbye” by Gloria Gaynor
“The Hustle” by Van McCoy
“Get Down On It” by Kool & The Gang
“In the Navy” by the Village People
“Car Wash” by Rose Royce
“Le Freak” by Chic
“Shake Your Groove Thing” by Peaches & Herb
“(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” by KC and the Sunshine Band
“That’s the Way (I Like It) by KC and the Sunshine Band
“If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman
“Bad Girls” by Donna Summer
“Disco Inferno” by The Trammps