It would be interesting to know how many of the stations that were convinced to be actively anti-disco were already espousing a no-disco policy. There was one program director that was quoted saying he wouldn't play rap either, in the 80s. Parikhal noted an undercurrent of homophobia in his focus groups, but race didn't come up. I think this was before they expanded the research to US cities because he mentioned the Canadians surveyed didn't exactly represent American audiences. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister noticed racist responses when they hanged a Barry White effigy, so they avoided that in the future. Prince was booed when he opened for the Rolling Stones. No doubt racist audiences took advantage.
I've got a lot more reading to do, but there's a lot of writing out there that covers this angle. I've got some memoirs on deck to learn more.
Dawson's Creek makes a hard pivot, in middle of the second season, from being a story about a boy choosing between two or more girls to being one about a girl choosing between two or more boys. I think that's part of why Jen hate might not have really caught on: the show quickly became Joey's story, Pacey was promoted from being Mr. B-plot to being a bona fide supporting character, and Jen sort of took Pacey's old place. The early episodes of the show are almost avant-garde, like an attempt at a Western live-action shounen romance manga, before the producers came to their senses and realized that most of its viewers were female.
It's funny you should mention the pivot-- Bunting said in the NYT interview that she wondered if it was their coverage that impacted the changes/improvements in the show.
I remember TWOP's Battlestar Galactica recaps - it took longer to read them than to watch an episode, and the 'latching on to a female character as a hate figure' also continued there (we were on livejournal at the time and completely mystified as to why recapper Jacob was absolutely frothing at the mouth over Cally Tyrol virtually every time the character appeared onscreen, we were familiar with people projecting but this took it to a level we didn't even know existed
(we'd done our share of hating but usually on like, Dolores Umbridge-type characters, not on a random supporting character who wasn't a villain)
I'm late to this party, but in the early-mid '90s after Nirvana took off, I'd say there was a significant anti-fandom against glam metal and the pre-grunge melodic/arena rock bands that were now perceived as "inauthentic". In Beaujour and Bienstock's Nöthin' But A Good Time, the closing chapters talk about phenomena like the Beastie Boys' "Mullet Head" and the loser kid on Beavis and Butthead wearing a Winger T-shirt: the cool thing to do circa 1993 wasn't just to lose interest in "hair metal" but to actively hate it. It wasn't as intense as the earlier backlash against disco, but it was there.
When I was doing research for my "sellout/outsold" post I noticed that the critics that heralded grunge were quite antagonistic to what came before in a way I didn't expect! Saying they "won"--it definitely contextualizes how toxic music discussion can be.
Also, I love that book! It was a great complement to Peneleope Spheeris' second film, imo. Will be reading more from the guys in that scene. Always so much to learn...
Seth Putnam's band had an unprintable name, abbreviated AxCx. Anti-fandom was part of their shtick ("311 Sucks," "Rancid Sucks and the Clash Sucked Too." etc). Idk if they ever made much money on it though.
In the UK there was an anti-X Factor campaign in 2009 to get Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number one in the charts ahead of the winner of the latest series, Joe McElderry; not sure whether that counts, though, because it was more of a reaction against Simon Cowell than McElderry or any of the X Factor artists as such: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/dec/20/rage-against-machine-christmas-number-1
I remember hearing about this! I definitely think it counts. Very interesting to see internet chart campaigns seem to be a thing for him. A bit like the stan approach except his loyalties are not to a particular fan object, usually in opposition to something
Yeah, I think it was the beginning of a trend for a few years, where every Christmas there would be a nominated song that was "chosen" to fight the X-Factor winner in the charts.
Sort of weird, in hindsight? Ironically (when comparing to fandoms) people made hating the X-Factor a big part of their personalities back then, but I think it was more motivated by a dislike of pop music (a bit like Disco Sucks) than some awareness of – as is much more talked about now – the cruelty and rapaciousness of Cowell's shows...
Weird, but simultaneously contextualizes the proliferation of treating charts as a social/cultural/political battleground! BBC nominated for man of the year?! It certainly worked out in his favor.
Good point re: pop being the disco in this situation.
I'm curious to hear more about how whiteness figures in all of this? In UK, rock vs disco is heavily inflected by white "I don't dance" masculinities.
It would be interesting to know how many of the stations that were convinced to be actively anti-disco were already espousing a no-disco policy. There was one program director that was quoted saying he wouldn't play rap either, in the 80s. Parikhal noted an undercurrent of homophobia in his focus groups, but race didn't come up. I think this was before they expanded the research to US cities because he mentioned the Canadians surveyed didn't exactly represent American audiences. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister noticed racist responses when they hanged a Barry White effigy, so they avoided that in the future. Prince was booed when he opened for the Rolling Stones. No doubt racist audiences took advantage.
I've got a lot more reading to do, but there's a lot of writing out there that covers this angle. I've got some memoirs on deck to learn more.
Dawson's Creek makes a hard pivot, in middle of the second season, from being a story about a boy choosing between two or more girls to being one about a girl choosing between two or more boys. I think that's part of why Jen hate might not have really caught on: the show quickly became Joey's story, Pacey was promoted from being Mr. B-plot to being a bona fide supporting character, and Jen sort of took Pacey's old place. The early episodes of the show are almost avant-garde, like an attempt at a Western live-action shounen romance manga, before the producers came to their senses and realized that most of its viewers were female.
It's funny you should mention the pivot-- Bunting said in the NYT interview that she wondered if it was their coverage that impacted the changes/improvements in the show.
I remember TWOP's Battlestar Galactica recaps - it took longer to read them than to watch an episode, and the 'latching on to a female character as a hate figure' also continued there (we were on livejournal at the time and completely mystified as to why recapper Jacob was absolutely frothing at the mouth over Cally Tyrol virtually every time the character appeared onscreen, we were familiar with people projecting but this took it to a level we didn't even know existed
(we'd done our share of hating but usually on like, Dolores Umbridge-type characters, not on a random supporting character who wasn't a villain)
The length of the recaps were truly bananas. I wonder if part of it was the detail for those who consumed the snark in lieu of watching the shows.
Pacey (if real) is very lucky Dawson exists because he's an awful, awful person on that show, especially towards women
I never understood the obsession over him, and it persists to this day!
I'm late to this party, but in the early-mid '90s after Nirvana took off, I'd say there was a significant anti-fandom against glam metal and the pre-grunge melodic/arena rock bands that were now perceived as "inauthentic". In Beaujour and Bienstock's Nöthin' But A Good Time, the closing chapters talk about phenomena like the Beastie Boys' "Mullet Head" and the loser kid on Beavis and Butthead wearing a Winger T-shirt: the cool thing to do circa 1993 wasn't just to lose interest in "hair metal" but to actively hate it. It wasn't as intense as the earlier backlash against disco, but it was there.
No such thing as late in my book!
When I was doing research for my "sellout/outsold" post I noticed that the critics that heralded grunge were quite antagonistic to what came before in a way I didn't expect! Saying they "won"--it definitely contextualizes how toxic music discussion can be.
Also, I love that book! It was a great complement to Peneleope Spheeris' second film, imo. Will be reading more from the guys in that scene. Always so much to learn...
You should check out the book Anti-Rock. It’s profoundly dry but one of the best researched resources I’ve seen on backlash against certain popular music movements since the early-1950s, disco included https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/linda-martin/anti-rock/9780306805028/
This sounds right up my alley, thank you!
Seth Putnam's band had an unprintable name, abbreviated AxCx. Anti-fandom was part of their shtick ("311 Sucks," "Rancid Sucks and the Clash Sucked Too." etc). Idk if they ever made much money on it though.
I think that counts! Even if there's no profit, the angle suggests reliance on the anti-fan attachments/tendencies.
In the UK there was an anti-X Factor campaign in 2009 to get Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number one in the charts ahead of the winner of the latest series, Joe McElderry; not sure whether that counts, though, because it was more of a reaction against Simon Cowell than McElderry or any of the X Factor artists as such: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/dec/20/rage-against-machine-christmas-number-1
I remember hearing about this! I definitely think it counts. Very interesting to see internet chart campaigns seem to be a thing for him. A bit like the stan approach except his loyalties are not to a particular fan object, usually in opposition to something
Yeah, I think it was the beginning of a trend for a few years, where every Christmas there would be a nominated song that was "chosen" to fight the X-Factor winner in the charts.
Sort of weird, in hindsight? Ironically (when comparing to fandoms) people made hating the X-Factor a big part of their personalities back then, but I think it was more motivated by a dislike of pop music (a bit like Disco Sucks) than some awareness of – as is much more talked about now – the cruelty and rapaciousness of Cowell's shows...
Weird, but simultaneously contextualizes the proliferation of treating charts as a social/cultural/political battleground! BBC nominated for man of the year?! It certainly worked out in his favor.
Good point re: pop being the disco in this situation.