Who Killed Disco?

by Don Boudreaux on January 31, 2010

{ 19 comments }

1 savetherustbelt January 31, 2010 at 10:05 am: What killed disco?

Coke-up white guys in bad clothes trying to dance like they had some rhythm.

There are plenty of clubs operating all over the country, the music is techno or hip-hop and whatever else young people are doing.
2 Huero January 31, 2010 at 3:41 pm: That is a bitter, racist comment. My guess is that black people enjoyed Disco music just as much as white people. The more freedom we have, the more crative we will be. That includes economic freedom and freedom from abusive regulation.
3 agnostic January 31, 2010 at 4:46 pm: Since the early 1990s, young people have stopped having a life in general, though, not just related to heavily regulated places, although that surely makes it worse.

Plus musicians have made any danceable music since that time either. You can get into the groove when disco music plays, but techno etc. is just sterile marching-in-place music. Thank god for the recent popularity of '80s night!
4 agnostic January 31, 2010 at 4:47 pm: That should read, musicians have *not* made danceable music.
5 brotio January 31, 2010 at 6:34 pm: If government regulation killed disco music, then it's probably the only positive accomplishment of bureaucracy in the last 80 years.

:-p
6 txslr January 31, 2010 at 7:13 pm: I myself did three tours in the Disco Wars. I still have my uniform (faded blue jeans and Led Zeppelin t-shirt) in a trunk in the attic. To this day I awaken in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking I hear the sounds of Boogie Oogie Oogie incoming. So, who killed disco? It was me, and a million others like me.

I am Spartacus!
7 brotio January 31, 2010 at 7:30 pm: LMAO!

I had a Disco Sucks T-shirt in 1978, and when there was hint of a disco revival some 15 years later, I got a Disco STILL Sucks T-shirt.

I wish I still had them, but I outgrew them. Time for a new shirt in my current size.
8 txslr January 31, 2010 at 7:37 pm: Sempre (high)-fi, dude!
9 vidyohs January 31, 2010 at 7:47 pm: Disco begat Techno, it is obvious that things can indeed always get worse.

You can even long for techno or rap when you hear a Pacifica KPFT drive-time DJ respond to the question of, “what are you going to play now?”, with the answer, “I think I'll play some noise and then go into industrial”…..this at 3:30PM…..and the dude was serious, he played freaking noise, random insane noise.

Almost enough to make a guy turn on some Nashville country whine.

BTW, what is muirduck's favorite wine?
10 brotio January 31, 2010 at 9:49 pm: BTW, what is muirduck's favorite wine?

I don't know. What's muirduck's favorite wine?
11 brotio January 31, 2010 at 10:02 pm: Seriously, though. It's not just the regulations on the start-up of a nightclub that is killing clubs.

In most jurisdictions, you can't smoke in public. If you drink even a modest amount of alcohol and drive home, you're at risk of a felony. Big Brother's boot heel is most conspicuous if you desire to have fun in a public place, and it still makes people uncomfortable. So they stay home.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make enough of those people so uncomfortable that they'll tell the government to butt out.
12 gregworrel January 31, 2010 at 11:12 pm: Whether one likes disco or not is really beside the point.

The point is that local, state, and federal rules and regulations are destroying small business in this country.

I once heard a city council person from a small suburb of Detroit on the radio discussing development along a major thoroughfare. She said something like “I don't think we need any more… in that area.” As if she were the dictator allowed to determine the type of business allowed to operate in any given spot in her city. Shouldn't that be up to the the property owner or lessee, and the customers that choose to frequent the business or not?

It is not just the federal government out of control, but state and local governments have become onerous in their regulations and draconian in their punishments imposed on small business.

One of the two businesses I own is a lawn fertilizing business. That means we use pesticides which puts us under the purview of the state agriculture department. We use nothing beyond that which any homeowner can pick up at the local hardware store and apply to his own lawn unmolested.

Because we have the crass audacity to do it for profit, we must be certified and licensed. That means that every technician must pass a state test to demonstrate knowledge that mostly has nothing to do with his daily work.

The state makes it a nightmare. They offer the test once a week in the spring but are sometimes booked two weeks in advance. Since it takes some potential employees 2 or more tries to pass the test, it can take a month or two to get someone through the process.

Of course when we need to hire someone in the spring, we usually needed them yesterday. The weeds do not wait. If we trained them ourselves we could have them working competently on their own and knowing more about lawn pests than any average homeowner will ever know in about 3 days.

I just recently completed the annual license application. The license is due by December 31. If any “t” is not crossed and or any “i” not dotted correctly, you can be subject to a multi-thousand dollar fine. The application looks fairly simple, but the agriculture department has found it necessary to include a multi-page instruction booklet because getting everything right on the form and accompanying paperwork is nearly impossible.

I submitted our application before the end of the year. I just last week had it returned, un-renewed, because I failed to fill out and have notarized a form which in bold letters and underlined at the top said: “For new licenses or when adding a new category only!” Neither of which applied to my business.

The instructions emphasize the large penalties if the license is not renewed by December 31. It does not matter that we will not be applying even a drop of pesticides until March. If you just answer the phone and act as if you are in the business of applying pesticides after December 31 you are in violation and can be subject to a $2500 fine per violation, which means $2500 for each phone call. Same if you operate a web site.

I mailed the missing form yesterday but since my license has not yet been renewed, I am expecting to get their extortion note any day now.
13 brotio January 31, 2010 at 11:58 pm: Great post.
14 vidyohs February 1, 2010 at 6:02 am: “Uuuuuregulated maaaarkets are killlllllling the eeconnnnnnnommmmmyy”
15 JohnK February 1, 2010 at 6:45 am: Unfortunately, it doesn't make enough of those people so uncomfortable that they'll tell the government to butt out.

Try it. I dare ya.
16 yetanotherdave February 1, 2010 at 11:00 am: Sadly, even as excessive regulations have seriously impaired freedom wrt clubs and so forth, disco music is alive and well even today – so government can't even claim that positive accomplishment!
17 Economiser February 1, 2010 at 3:15 pm: Great example of the unseen/unacknowledged drag that the regulatory state has on the economy. Thanks for posting this.
18 yetanotherdave February 1, 2010 at 4:00 pm: Sadly, even as excessive regulations have seriously impaired freedom wrt clubs and so forth, disco music is alive and well even today – so government can't even claim that positive accomplishment!
19 Economiser February 1, 2010 at 8:15 pm: Great example of the unseen/unacknowledged drag that the regulatory state has on the economy. Thanks for posting this.