The Disco Turn Is Not Just Profitable

Mike tells Sarah how a silly sports promotion galvanized a reactionary movement. Digressions include “Charlotte’s Web,” Jane Fonda and German-language musicals. Songs are dissected; the honor of David Bowie and late-night salad bars are defended.

Huge thanks to historians Tavia Nyong'o, Eric Gonzaba, Luis-Manuel Garcia and Gillian Frank for helping Mike with this episode!

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Where else to find us:
Sarah's other show, Why Are Dads
Mike's other show, Maintenance Phase

Links!  

• Tavia Nyong'o's "I Feel Love: Disco and Its Discontents"
• Gillian Frank's excellent article on disco and his delightful podcast
• Luis-Manuel Garcia's alternate history of club culture and dissection of the gay left's opposition to disco
• Alice Echols' "Hot Stuff"  
• Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton's "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey"   
• Tim Lawrence's "Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979" 
• Peter Shapiro's "Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco"
• Undone did a great episode on Disco Demolition Night
• “The Flip Sides of 1979”
• “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” the (fabricated) New York Magazine story that inspired “Saturday Night Fever”
• Tony Smith interview
• "Disco and The Queering of the Dance Floor"

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