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The Revenge of Disco

"Disco music is a disease," said Steve Dahl in Last Night A DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton. "We must do everything possible to stop the spread of this plague."

A radio DJ out of Chicago in the late '70s, Dahl is responsible for the infamous "Disco Sucks" bumper sticker you may still see occasionally. He launched an anti-disco campaign that was as much a protest to the music as it was to homosexuality.

In many ways, disco was a musical catalyst and cultural stigma for homosexuality to cling on to and come out into the public sphere with. Because of the overt hetero-backlash that occurred largely after John Trovolta threw down his polyester-wearing dance moves in front of millions of Americans in Saturday Night Fever, many were to forever throw away their polyester regalia-along with their disco records.

And as musical histories across the board began to blot out this era of music's impact on what was to follow, it has become largely unknown that what we listen to today is largely a continuation or direct influence of disco.

Getting the most obvious out of the way, when people ask me to define what house music is, I tell them it is a continuation or evolution of disco music. And in fact, techno, which sprung out of house (and not the other way around) draws its roots from disco as well. Hence, you can trace drum and bass, break beats, trance, techno and house all back to disco music.

That's all dance music, though. I'm sure you could all make that connection, but what is even more unknown is that hip hop was largely influenced by disco. In fact, all your founders of the celebrated "hip hop hooray" genre DJ'ed disco music. Yes, it is true. Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa all threw down the hustle. This may come as a surprise merely because some have written hip hop off as a retaliation or antithesis of disco, when in actuality, the two scenes were very much merged at the beginning.

And I don't even want to get into the '80s dance music scene. I'll just say that you can view that whole era as disco music slightly altered and repackaged through clever marketing and fashion trends. Disco was just too infectious to completely throw away since it was just a matter of the social issues attached to the music.

But as for electronic music, you go to most clubs these days with the four-to-the-floor-beat, or even any of the post-rave era raves, and you'll see straight Caucasians, while blacks are often where the hip hop is at. What is ironic about this situation is that from the roots, dance music (house, disco, techno) was dominated by black and gay artists and appreciaters. The founders of house music, Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, were both brothas but from different mothas. Larry Levan, the resident DJ at the Paradise Garage, which was the cornerstone of underground disco culture in New York, was black and flamboyantly gay.

Somewhere along the way, the majority of black culture moved away from contemporary electronic music and whites moved in. Gays largely gave up on following all the new forms of music that were inspired by their clubs (i.e. underground house, drum and bass, break beats, trance, etc.) and straights moved in and segmented the scene.

"I view house as disco's revenge," said Frankie Knuckles in Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. And why I mention all of this historical information on music is that many, many members of the dance community in Omaha are very disassociated from their roots. Being a participant in music doesn't necessarily mean they are obligated to know the history, but undoubtedly, the history can deepen appreciation and give a fuller understanding. But for Omaha, there is no tangible resource for people to access this information. And when speaking of the technical side of DJ'ing, there is absolutely nothing out there, apart from a friend or casual conversation, to teach people or inspire the youth to DJ'ing and know its culture and history.

The Resolution

In an effort to remedy this situation, I've taken it upon myself to organize a four-week course on the ins and outs of the wheels of steel. If you're looking to learn what DJ equipment you should buy, where to get music, how to use what you buy, philosophy on playing music, the history of it all and basic steps in promoting yourself, I have just the thing for you. I'm renting a studio at Hot Shops, tracking down lots of equipment and putting together multi-media presentations to break down the lofty concepts. For more information and registration, visit Ultramusique.com/v3/arts.

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