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It Was 31 Years Ago Today...

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

... that disco died - or at least Steve Dahl had proclaimed that it was!

July 12, 1979. Better known as "Disco Demolition Night", as Dahl, then disc-jockey on WLUP-FM, encouraged White Sox fans to bring disco records down to Comiskey Park and watch it get blown up with others between games of a scheduled doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers.

The second game was eventually cancelled.

Relive with us now that magical day in 1979...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xsrz-6U_hc
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/unknown-chicago/2010/07/disco-demolition-night-7-12-1979.html
 
Easily the dumbest thing Bill Veeck ever allowed (it was his son Mike's idea), and what probably contributed to his decision to sell the Sox the next year.

The Sox were stinking up Comiskey Park and weren't drawing flies, so his thinking probably was "Hey, we need butts in the seats. Steve Dahl is a popular guy, and blowing up a few hundred disco records in the outfield won't damage the field too much. It'll get kids into the park, at least. And I trust my son."

Unfortunately, he misunderestimated both Dahl's popularity and the absolute hatred many Chicagoans had for disco. It was on the way out anyway, but in Chicago, you either loved it or hated it. The park was sold out with about 52,000 pot-heads teenagers and young adults there. It was those knuckleheads that wrecked the park, not so much the explosion (which was bigger than most people expected).

But I still wish I'd owned a VCR then - I definitely would have taped the "festivities."
 
This was the single most important event in Dahl's radio career at the time. Disco Demolition got him noticed and boosted his career big time at the White Sox' expense.
 
Mike is still up to the fun! Set off fireworks at The Trop in St. Pete. Opps!...dome stadium. Smoke everywhere!! And he still does really fun things at the small parks from El Paso to Charleston S.C., where he is partners with a friend of mine in the ad biz. Gotta love small town Ball........
8)
 
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