Disco rules (in a sucky sort of way)

A friend of mine swears that I select music based primarily on how much it will irritate him. That's not true, of course. My tastes in music are very eclectic and you might find me listening to anything from techno to jazz to industrial to opera. In truth, I do have a soft spot for the unusual and gravitate to genre defying acts like Ned Sublett or Steve Tibbets. But I also have no problem with the most popular, even lightweight acts. I find that I can discuss music with most anyone, because while they may not like everything I like, chances are I like something they like. Music gives me a common ground of discussion, even if that discussion is about how "weird" my tastes are.

So lately I've been listening to a lot of disco.

I vaguely remember the "disco era". Mostly what I remember about it is how much I hated disco music. Like most young males trying to come to grips with their own testosterone, I wanted to rock. I didn't know that disco came out of the gay bar scene, but there was something about the music that seemed very un-masculine to me. So I shunned disco with a passion traditionally reserved for things you don't understand.

As the years went by, I explored every musical genre I could find; jazz, classical, punk, country, opera, Prog rock, funk, metal, electronic... you name it, I was into it at some point. Ultimately, disco was all that was left.

I've heard some people describe disco as "anti-music," and in some ways, they're not all that far off. There is a mechanical aspect to it that is anathema to what we normally respond to in music. It's only real purpose it to provide a beat for dancing, so it seldom deviates from a steady pulsing tempo (hence the mechanical aspect).

Does that make it bad music? Well, there was unquestionably a lot of bad disco music shoveled our way in the 70s. But in actuality, not all of it was bad. There were some genuine innovations that came out of disco production that are commonplace now and even accepted as hip in a plethora of dance genres (trance, house, acid, etc.). Even a lot of the bad stuff is now kind of fun in a kitschy trash sort of way.

So now, I couple of decades later, I don't find disco music so threatening. Maybe I am now far more secure in my masculinity.

Or maybe I just don't care any more.