62: Disco Demolition Night Didn’t Stop the Boogie

In the late 70s, disco was everywhere. Songs like “Disco Inferno,” “I Will Survive” and “Brick House” topped the charts. Disco had been created and embraced by Black people, Latino people, LGBT+ people, and women. It was fun and funky. It was freeing and empowering.

…but *some* folks didn’t like having disco balls shoved in their faces. So, when a 24-year-old Chicago shock jock began hosting “death to disco” rallies at local bars, he developed a loyal following of young, disgruntled dudes. The shock jock’s popularity soon caught the eye of the Chicago White Sox. They needed to sell tickets for an upcoming doubleheader. What if they ran a “Disco Demolition Night” promotion? It would be totally fun! Things definitely wouldn’t get out of hand!

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
The documentary, “The Saint of Second Chances”
The documentary, “The War on Disco”
“When ‘Disco Sucks!’ echoed around the world,” by Tony Scalafani for Today.com
“Disco demolition: Bell-bottoms be gone!” by Andy Behrens for ESPNChicago.com
“We rock ‘n’ rollers will resist – and we will triumph!” by Kirstin Butler for PBS.org
“Forty years later, disagreement about disco demolition night,” by Gary Waleik for WBUR.org
“Baseball’s showman,” by Nick Acocella for ESPN.com

Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.