When Rock Met Disco
The Story of How The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, KISS, Queen, Blondie and More Got Their Groove On in the Me Decade
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When Rock Met Disco
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Narrated by:
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Paul Bellantoni
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Written by:
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Steven Blush
About this listen
Disco began as a gay, black, and brown underground New York City party music scene, which alone was enough to ward off most rockers. The difference between rock and disco was as sociological as it was aesthetic.
At its best, disco was galvanizing and affirmative. Its hypnotic power to uplift a broad spectrum of the populace made it the ubiquitous music of the late '70s. Disco was a primal and gaudy fanfare for the apocalypse, a rage for exhibitionism, free of moralizing.
1978 was the apex of the record industry. Rock music, commercially and artistically, had never been more successful. At the same time, disco was responsible for roughly 40% of the records on Billboard's Hot 100, thanks to the largest-selling soundtrack of all time in Saturday Night Fever.
For all its apparent excesses and ritual zealotry, disco was a conservative realm, with obsolete rules like formal dress code and dance floor etiquette.
Rock stars who "went disco" crossed a musical rubicon and forever smashed cultural conformity. The ongoing dance-rock phenomenon demonstrates the impact of this unique place and time.
The disco crossover forever changed rock.
©2023 Steven Blush (P)2023 TantorWhat listeners say about When Rock Met Disco
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- ProfMac
- 2024-09-30
The Subtitle is not the story line
In a breezy, quick narration, When Rock Met Disco covers a seeming inventory of discotheques in America (how long does that chapter go on?), 70s era couture, and how styleless rockers rebelled against disco. With mostly description over detail and analysis, there's little here in its broad storytelling that will stand out for even casual genre aficionados. Despite the subtitle, the book barely touches on the disco offerings of rock artists such as KISS, Queen, the Rolling Stones, Stewart, and Blondie - if you've read their bios, you know everything that's in here, and likely more. The book isn't altogether disappointing, but it could have - should have - been so much more than a bullet breakdown of clubs, and extended accounts of how rockers hated disco. More on the roots of disco as a genre (it's more than just "four on the floor" as the book reminds us frequently), the appeal of the music at the time, the actual roots of disco in pop and rock *before* 1974, how disco lovers felt about rock (rather than the one-way story about rockers hating disco), and the inevitable revival of disco as a genre almost immediately (!) into the 1980s would have added grist to the tale. I like quick reads, but this is one that really needs more, more, more!
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