The Joy of disco
Disco started in the late 1960's it was aimed at the people who were valued less in society. An example was the homosexuals who found life very hard by being discriminated from the law, society and the general public. It was said that homosexuality was a mental illness and was very shameful. This was reflected from the bible as it states that "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination."
Not only did homosexuals have no rights but also women didn't have equal rights as men did. This was because of the whole 'housewife' image still being taken as a view by society. It was almost as if homosexuals, women and black people where in the same boat with not having equality.
Disco was a dancing music culture that accepted those who wanted to get away from the critical world. By dancing it was an easy form of expression and it was a necessity for crowds that needed escapism for the judgmental public.
For a while disco and gay liberation enjoyed a synergistic relationship. Years later Stonewall, gay clubs, which had been sites of repression and supervision, became something related to liberated zones. Through Disco, gay men felt sexually legible to each other. There was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights. They took drugs such as cocaine, poppers and Quaalude etc. The drugs caused a lot promiscuity and public sex. Disco became kind of a main reason in a hedonist's menu for a night out.
Histories of disco emphasize the antagonism between rock and disco. But just like disco that was used to express and escape from an oppressive society by those who were oppressed, Punk was also invented by working class people so they could escape the Thatcher government. Nevertheless, unlike disco which was a dancing joyous genre for expression, punk was an escapism of anger.
The reason why the working class punk rockers were so angry was because the Thatcher government had caused a recession which meant there were no jobs so there was no source of income. Punk rockers also hated disco because everybody enjoyed and danced to it whilst rock was going down the drain at the time. The era of disco ended in 1979 when an event called 'Disco Demolition Night', which was held at the Chicago White Sox stadium. It quickly became one of the worst sports disasters of the century when disgruntled rock fans wrecked the stadium screaming "Rock Sucks!" while racing to get the disco records burned and blown up.
Disco can also be compared to a more recent movement in music, to censorship in Iran. There are many similarities within this field. With Disco, homosexuals were segregated by there own American government and weren't allowed to express there sexuality. The Iranian government censored all the music that was not cultural to the Iran's, the government were not giving them rights to express themselves and listen to popular music. The similarities they have is not being able to have rights as the government stopped them.
Also both Homosexuals of America and Iranians stood up to their oppressors. The Stonewall riots began in 1969 on June 28th. This was a riot by the gay members against a police raid. It started at 1:20am in the morning where four undercover cops entered the bar and started arresting people for performing homosexual behaviour. The homosexuals refused to go to the police and thats where everything became explosive. They stood up to the police and fought for equality.
Till this day from the 1980's popular music is still banned from Iran. Reasons being is that the government fears the radical spread of western music, therefore they think it will invade the cultural revolution. They fear the people of iran will start a political revolution which would mean a war against the government. However, Iranian musicians still rebel and sneak in popular music instruments in order to play them. They also throw private gatherings to show their music which is very risky as Iran's are not allowed to be in groups. Furthermore, they wait days to download JUST an introduction to a song because the government controls the internet to the country which means that all software available to download music works very slow. The Iran's are rebelling which they believe is fighting the oppression.
Both movements show that it is important to fight for your rights, equality and most importantly FREEDOM.
