Disco Sucks

"Rock had defined almost two generations of white, middle-class straight baby-boomers, particularly guys. It spoke to them and for them, and now it was in danger of being relegated to a niche market itself by a new style dominated by black musicians and gay promoters, producers and tastemakers. As the disco sweep turned into a tidal wave, a near panic set in. Beneath the bitter complaints that disco was mindless, hedonistic, repetitive, pounding -- exactly what critics had said about rock itself in its early years -- there was this depeer complaint: disco was black and Hispanic. disco was mindless and gay. Disco sucked."

Sadly, I still feel reverberations of this sentiment and this way of seeing music. When my taste is criticized by those who do not like house, "repetitive" is the main word used. Virtually ever type of popular music in the last 50 years has been very repetitive. I hear a deeper confusion underneath it. I hear criticisms of a lifestyle that I don't have.

Only one time did "repetitive" type criticisms seem to be only that. Bliss told me that I was a "simpleton" for liking electronic music. Offensive as that is, it's direct and honest. Most of the time, when someone accuses house of being repetitive, it comes off as a reflection on them -- that they do not perceive the repetitive qualities in their own favorite mainstream music -- and they do not care to. More importantly, it comes off in a "but that's what gay drug users like"


I got it almost directly in high school.

The response to a mixtape I made by a Streetlight employee who shall not be named was "You have the musical taste of a 24 year old lesbian." My friend quickly snapped back at him "i would rather party with a 24 year old lesbian than you!" Which was incredibly considerate and sweet of him, but overall, I felt the interaction was more honest than usual.

I still feel that many people I know and meet have a resentment towards feminized music and effeminate musical culture, as if house music is simply not very manly, especially with those keys and female vocals. I hear criticisms of Gaga's music from friends, but I don't hear anyone attacking it's weak points. Only that it's "vapid" "repetitive" "no message" "lame" "unoriginal"

Frankly, the music I love is about 100 times less original, and those same people give it a lot more credit. So what's up with that? Why is it so hard to appreciate the unapologetically feminine? Why does disco still suck?

Why do people that feel house music is mindless and stupid LOVE michael jackson's career and music? Have they listened to billy jean? That's a disco song. that's repetitive and vapid, and mindless.

I mean here only to point out that what makes people think something is not repetitive -- ironically -- is hearing it enough times. Airplay and popular dominance, combined with the same funky infectious dance feel that disco djs looked for in records, are the two ingredients that can cure a bad spell of "repetition"

How long will we carry guilty pleasures on our shoulders like a shameful, cultural albatross? How long will we refuse to acknowledge contributions of the actual pop musicians that made the 20th century amazing?

Cream, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Miller band, and Bon Jovi do not together create the kind of lasting influence and creative force that Madonna brought to the table. Somehow, liking madonna's work is still tricky around some friends. It's still gay in the world's eyes. And the fact that this is a bad thing -- and not a compliment to one of the most creative and interesting subcultures in existence -- is deeply sad. The expectation that I will not like "vogue" "holiday" or even "material girl" because It's not manly enough is smothering and stupid. It's dug into the homophobic past and I resent it.