Steve Dahl's assault on
disco was an attack on the forced belief that "if you aren't into disco, than you aren't cool" and not a
racist or
homophobic attack. This notion is not only inherently prejudiced and closed minded itself, but historically inaccurate. Never once was a word uttered against
blacks,
gays, or even just people that liked to
dance. It was a cultural backlash against the complete sell out that disco had become and the fact that you were told what to think and how to dance and what to wear. Granted, many racist people that were unaware of Dahl's reasons took it up as a banner for their own agendas.
What was once black dance music had become a homogenized pop culture that did not allow for any other ways of thinking, or for that matter any other types of music to be considered acceptable. The same as happened to blues when it was dubbed "rock n roll" by Alan Freed and done by white people like Elvis Presley. Only then did it start to reach the mainsteam and become a watered down version of what it once was. Sadly this is what it took for the conservative elements of our society to not consider it "black pot smoking" music.
It was not only "white people" that considered this new arrogant society offensive, it was anyone that was snubbed for either not having enough money to buy a white three piece suit and a gold belt buckle or wanting to do cocaine and dance all night long. Granted, that is somewhat of a stereotype itself but has a basis in reality in this instance.
Steve Dahl's group The Insane Coho Lips were fighting against things like Margret Trudeau on the cover of People Magazine and ten billion Donna Summer interviews telling us that we were no longer "cool" because we didn't listen to or like disco.
As far as Steve Dahl's personal reasons, they were many and varied, mostly starting with the fact that he was told that his station at the time (WDAI 94.7) was soon to be "Disco DAI" and that he would be forced to play a certain amount of disco records an hour. He wasn't "scared" of disco winning the ratings as his show was mostly a talk format (Steve Dahl is the originator of what is now wrongly called "shock radio" and credited to Howard Stern.) He then quit the station, realizing that this was to be a fad and a short lived one at that, and went to The Loop WLUP FM 98. It was there that he started The Insane Coho Lips and had a number of smaller events at local clubs that culminated in "Disco Demolition Night" at Comisky Park. There was never any real violent attacks on gays or blacks, just 70's stoners venting, sometimes a bit out of control, but never anti-gay or anti-black.
When Disco Demolition Night happened it was then called a "riot", but was really nothing more than an uncontrolled crowd, as no one was fighting, only running around on the field and ripping up sod, lighting bonfires on the piles of disco records that had already been blown up, and various other 70's party mentality that was not exclusive to this event. The World Series one year before had similar activites.
So to say that "Disco Sucks" was racist is not only wrong, it is out of context and historically innacurate. To this day people have been reading much more into "Disco Sucks" than what was originally intended as a giant FUCK YOU to this supposed upper echelon telling us what we should be. Obviously many people have not gotten over Disco Sucks, and that is amazing after 23 years.