Disco’s Revenge – Hot Docs 2024
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April 25 to May 5, 2024
Content Advisory: Needles or drug addiction, Racism, Homophobia
FILM FESTIVAL
Hot Docs
Hot Docs 2024
The history and continued influence of disco is examined in Disco’s Revenge. Beginning in underground nightclubs following the 1969 Stonewall riots, disco grew from a niche within the LGBTQ and African American communities to a commercially exploited, and publicly derided, trend throughout the 1970s. Despite disco being declared dead at a 1979 rally put on by radio DJ Steve Dahl at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, the music would evolve into modern house and techno and be homaged in songs, such as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.”
Disco’s Revenge Synopsis
Disco’s Revenge is a documentary about the history of disco directed by Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara. The film features interviews with many of the pioneers of disco, including DJ Nicky Siano, whose club The Gallery was considered the first discotheque, and guitarist Nile Rogers of the band Chic, known for the hits “Everybody Dance” and “Le Freak,” and later collaborated with Daft Punk on “Get Lucky.” The film details disco’s evolution, beginning on the heels of the civil rights movement and the Stonewall uprising to its mainstream peak with the exclusive club Studio 54 and the film Saturday Night Fever.
My Thoughts on Disco’s Revenge
The ultimate thesis of Disco’s Revenge is that despite a very public 1979 backlash and many of the pioneers dying during the AIDS epidemic, disco never really died. Instead, the music evolved into modern house and techno, thanks to DJs such as Kevin Saunderson and Frankie Knuckles. Today, younger generations still enjoy the music of the era, meaning the disco most definitely got its revenge.
