The Backlash

The raid of Studio 54 by federal agents in December of 1978 was an ominous note for the dawning of the New Year. Although significant Disco hits continued to pour onto the record charts in early 1979, the business of Disco was on shaky ground. Additionally, a cultural backlash was steadily gaining steam. This backlash would culminate in a record-burning riot midsummer. Late in the year, members of the music industry began to abandon Disco in droves. However, the dancing did not end and neither did the recording of Dance music. By the end of the year new directions and new artists appeared that would carry Dance music into the next decade.

In the first months of 1979 major Disco classics continued to appear at a rapid pace. Gloria Gaynor returned to the peak of the Disco charts with her powerful tale of independence on I Will Survive. Rod Stewart became the latest mainstream Rock figure to try Disco, and he succeeded in grand style with Da Ya Think I'm Sexy. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic worked their magic as producers for Sister Sledge's He's the Greatest Dancer and We Are Family. Then in May Donna Summer released her latest Giorgio Moroder-produced album Bad Girls. The album was a smash hit, but it was filled with several cuts that blurred the distinctions between Rock and Disco. After conquering the Pop world was Disco threatening to overrun Rock as well?

A backlash against Disco had been building from at least as far back as 1977 when some questioned whether Saturday Night Fever would quell some of the opposition to Disco. The most vocal critics tended to arise from diehard fans of Rock music ironically defending the status quo. 'Disco Sucks' became a rallying cry for those who felt threatened by the Dance music industry. Steve Dahl, a Chicago DJ built the campaign to a fever pitch when he got baseball's Chicago White Sox to agree to let fans into a double-header in July of 1979 for 98 cents if the brought with them a Disco record to burn. Approximately 40,000 showed up. Dahl built a huge pile of the records on the field and blew them up with dynamite. The entire event ended up out of control and the anti-Disco crowd rioted.

At the same time the music industry began to have serious concerns about the future of Disco. It became apparent that although Disco had been dominating the music industry for the past two years or so, as a genre it had failed to generate a great number of blockbuster albums to financially benefit the major record labels. Hits like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and Donna Summer's Live and More were few and far between. In the fall of 1979 a new Power Pop/Rock band called the Knack soared to the top of both Pop single and album charts with My Sharona and Get the Knack respectively. They were hailed as the group to save popular music from Disco. As the year drew to a close Discos were closing or changing formats across the country. Disco radio stations changed formats as well. Music industry support for Disco eroded swiftly.

Although Disco was failing, it would be a mistake to assume the Disco ship was taking the rest of the Dance music fleet down with it. Artists and clubs had already begun to evolve and reach out in new directions by the end of the year. Robin Scott, a British musician/producer with connections to Malcolm McLaren, Adam and the Ants, and the Slits climbed the Dance charts as M. M's hit Pop Muzik combined a robotic, electronic beat with pure Pop melody pointing toward Electropop to come. A brilliant 21-year old musician from Minneapolis who called himself simply Prince drew attention to his first major hit I Wanna Be Your Lover. Funky rhythms played on synthesizers would dominate contributions from R&B artists for at least the first half of the 80's.

Finally, Sylvia Robinson, a minor figure in the history of 50's Rock and R&B, set out to make hit records from a trend becoming popular in some boroughs of New York City. The new trend involved reciting rhymes, or rapping, over a strong rhythm track. Robinson put together 3 local rappers, called the the Sugarhill Gang, and had them record Rapper's Delight, borrowing the bass figure from Chic's hit Good Times. The record was a significant success. Commercial Hip-Hop had begun. It would take some time to truly catch on, but the Hip-Hop nation was forming.