Communiqué
It was untouchable in the 1970s, but a backlash led to its demise: the finale of DISCO: SOUNTRACK OF A REVOLUTION – July 2 at 9 pm
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Finale premiere on Tuesday, July 2 at 9:00 pm
Episode 3: “Stayin’ Alive”
Credit: Diane Alexander White / BBC
The final episode documents the wellspring of resentment from white, straight, male-dominated, rock-loving middle Americans, as they targeted disco for its hedonism, femininity, and queerness. A vocal “Disco Sucks” movement began to gain momentum, culminating in the “Disco Demolition Derby” at Comiskey Park Stadium in Chicago, where organizers destroyed thousands of disco records in front of a baying audience of baseball fans. In addition, the hedonism and sexual liberation embodied by disco found itself stopped in its tracks by the AIDS crisis. Pushed out of the mainstream, the pioneers of disco retreated and regrouped. Cult disco DJ Frankie Knuckles left New York for Chicago, where he remixed disco breaks with R&B to produce a new genre of dance music – house. He and other disco pioneers kept disco alive as it evolved into world electronic dance music.