“Disco Stu does not advertise,” but I do. The Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast is back with episode number three, centering on Disco Demolition night. Part of the Hammer & Rails Podcast Network, which is under the SB Nation umbrella, the latest edition of LGWS is the most popular episode yet, with 4,150+ listens and counting!
And why not? It is a classic tale of a baseball promotion that worked “too well.” The Chicago White Sox drew too many people, and the event got too much “notoriety” as it was an absolutely cataclysmic night at the old ballpark back in 1979.
It makes sense too, as disco was a genre of music that really invited ridicule and backlash. Plus it’s ubiquitousness turned many people off, deservedly so. There are very few genres of music in which you can an infamous parody song, widely panned by critics as being a terrible tune, actually sounds just as good (or bad depending on your opinion) as almost every other song in the archetype.
I’m speaking of “Disco Duck” by Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots, and seriously, how does his joke tune sound any different from just about every other disco song? Well, Disco Demolition Night happened, and 40 years ago we’re still talking about it. That’s because a sh@3show like this will never happen again.
Listen to the pod below:
Be sure to check out the Shoeless Joe Jackson LGWS podcast as well, as it’s now over 1,000 listens.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.