"Do You Think I'm Disco?" Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation - parody song

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AbortionOnToast
September 06, 2008

GO TO DAHL.COM FOR MORE!! Another Steve Dahl classic parody song from 1979. This song is a parody of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which for many rock fans signaled another rock artist se...

GO TO DAHL.COM FOR MORE!!

Another Steve Dahl classic parody song from 1979. This song is a parody of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which for many rock fans signaled another rock artist selling out to the largely commercial disco sound. "Do You Think I'm Disco" managed to be on the Billboard Top 65 for a few weeks and got national airplay as there were in many cases sharp divisions between disco and rock fans. The song also aired numerous times on the "Doctor Demento Show" which is a nationally syndicated radio show that features parody songs. "Do You Think I'm Disco" was the 'theme' song for the "Insane Coho Lips" which was Steve Dahl's anti-disco army made up of fans who sent in for membership cards, as well as attending some Disco Demolitions at different clubs around the Chicago area, and of course which later led to the "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park (explanation to follow). It is truly a timeless classic by radio legend Steve Dahl. Steve Dahl is truly the original of the inaptly titled "shock jocks" long before others like Howard Stern or Don Imus who most often get the credit. Steve was usually just brutally honest and open in talking about his personal life, as well as having very little inhibition in terms of comedy.

Part of the anti-disco fervor for Steve Dahl started when the station he was first on in Chicago, WDAI, decided to change formats and become "Disco DAI." Dahl was told he could stay, but responded by telling station management that it "probably wouldn't be a good idea to let him on the air on Monday." Therefore Mr. Dahl was released from his contract and went on to The Loop WLUP FM 98, the top of Chicago rock radio, and the station where Steve, and later his partner Garry Meier, went on to really make their mark in radio. Of course Steve began mocking the disco format of his former station and started doing a bit with smashing records over his head and playing part of a disco record on the air, then scratching the needle across the record followed by an explosion sound effect.

This later led to one of the greatest unintended publicity stunts ever when on July 12,1979 they had a Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park between a double header of a White Sox game. Inspired by Dahl the promotion was an idea of Mike Veeck, son of legendary Sox owner Bill Veeck, to replace "Teen Night." They had also had a disco themed night earlier in the season so Veeck decided they should have a rock night for the rock & roll fans. If you brought a record to blow up on the field you could get in for 98 cents (a reference to the dial position of The Loop.) After the demolition, and after Steve and crew had left the field, a large portion of the party crowd (that showed up more for Disco Demolition than for baseball) rushed onto the field and started small fires and tore up some sod and bases. At one point they even toppled the batting cage. It was called a riot even though there was really no fighting, it was more of just an uncontrolled and over-zealous crowd having a little too much fun at the expense of the White Sox. Later, Chicago police in riot gear cleared the field with very little incident. There were some disorderly conduct arrests, and some very minor injuries, but for the most part it was not the "tragedy" that some in the media tried to make it out to be. It was also later dubbed as being homophobic and racist, though it had nothing to do with that, the event was aimed at the lame commercial aspects of disco as opposed to all of the music in the disco category, some of which was really funk with a heavier beat. There was a segment of the disco crowd that really looked down on others if you "weren't into it" and so on, and that is what really caused most of the resentment. Most of the "Disco Sucks" attitude came from that narcissism and elitism, not from racist or homophobic notions, for the most part it was just a backlash effect. People seem to forget that it was comedic in nature as well, it's since been over-analyzed and taken far more seriously than it was intended.

(Search "Disco Demolition Night" here on YouTube, there are some great news videos and clips. This song is also available in 'high quality stereo sound' on the Steve Dahl & Garry Meier compilation "A Decade Of Service", and Steve Dahl's "20 Years In The Can" which are both available via Steve's website DAHL.COM.)

Category: Music

Tags:

Parody Song Steve Dahl Teenage Radiation radio personality legend 1979 Rod Stewart Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? Disco Demolition WLUP FM 98 The Loop Talk Radio AM Shock Jock WDAI 94.7 Comiskey Park police Chicago White Sox American League baseball Bill Mike Veeck classic rock record vinyl 33&1/2 45 RPM Howard Stern Don Imus Doctor Demento Promotion security Garry Meier

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Neptuneman07 (2 days ago) Show Hide

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I like both Rock and Disco, but more on the Rock side of things. But Steve Dahl did a clever mockery of the late 70s culture.

DoIGetTube (2 months ago) Show Hide

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If "disco s***ks," then rock reeks!

Those two phony genres are not true music!

MUSIC HAS DIED!

AbortionOnToast (2 months ago) Show Hide

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Commercial pop music does suck, it always did, but that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of other good music out there. Broaden your horizons, hell there's even some music that is considered disco these days (which was funk and R&B back in the old days) that I don't mind. But keep in mind that Disco Demolition and this song were more about the snobbery of the scene and some of the condescending assholes that were a little too into it.

yardking66 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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Any body have audio of Marcus singing "Dirty White Boy" ? If so please post Thanks

TheHappyHonu (3 months ago) Show Hide

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i still have this 45 at home... classic. steve and garry helped define my teenage years, and it's a travesty that steve's no longer on chicago radio.

NBLP7096 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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Sometimes real life mirrors parody.

Check out the ad for the Datsun 280ZX Black Gold.

youtube com/watch?v=kWF-hH1nloo

This song EXACTLY describes the guy in the ad. :) So funny it's hard to take the commercial seriously.

AbortionOnToast (4 months ago) Show Hide

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Too funny, thanks for sharing!

bluemax79 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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Thanks for posting this song. It deserves its rightful place in history! Hard to believe it was 30 years ago when Dahl did the unthinkable. I was all for it as the pop charts in '78 and '79 were dominated by disco music.

drmagic (4 months ago) Show Hide

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I AM A HUGE DISCO FAN!!!!

but...this was a funny parody. i like how the song segues from a typical disco sound to a typical rock sound. cool.

AbortionOnToast (4 months ago) Show Hide

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Hey, good parody is good parody. Plus I think it's been far enough away from the genre for most of the old 'school rivalry' type of attitude to fade (though I still say DISCO SUCKS! I can't help it!!) This really was a perfect satire in that it hit on some aspects of parts of the scene but was also a little over the top like good satire is.
Thanks for the comment.

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"Do You Think I'm Disco?" Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation - parody song

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