Although the language is somewhat academic, as per these sorts of journal essays/articles, it's well worth reading for his analysis, especially on the physicality of disco (vs. rock), as well as his three characteristics of disco - eroticism, materialism, and romanticism. For me, one of the things I found especially interesting about this essay was the way the author examined disco in terms of 'capitalist music' and the hostility around it which flowed from that mode of thought.. In other words, analyzing the criticism of disco as inherently and irredeemably capitalistic while effectively deconstructing the basis of those very criticisms..
Some choice passages:
...The second kind of argument based on the fact that disco is produced by capitalism concerns music as an ideological expression. Here it is assumed that capitalism as a mode of production necessarily and simply produces ‘capitalist’ ideology....
... What all this boils down to, in terms of disco, is that the fact that disco is produced by capitalism does not mean that it is automatically, necessarily, simply supportive of capitalism. Capitalism constructs the disco experience, but it does not necessarily know what it is doing, apart from making money...
Read the full article at History Is Made At Night or as a .pdf file at the Gay Left issue archive.
There are also some other very interseting articles at History Is Made At Night relating to disco (see "The House the Kids Built: The Gay Black Imprint on American Dance Music") as well as other subjects (see "Privatized sound? - from the Walkman to the iPod") that are all well worth a read..
LINKS:
HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT
WIKIPEDIA - GAY LEFT
GAY LEFT - A SOCIALIST JOURNAL PRODUCED BY GAY MEN 1975-1980
CATEGORIES: ARTICLES & RAMBLINGS
