On this date in 1979, two musical events happened (one sad, one ridiculous). The sad moment was that singer Minnie Riperton lost her battle with cancer at age 31. In April of 1975, she scored a #1, Gold-certified hit with Lovin You. Mariah Carey has even cited Minnie Riperton as being her major inspiration! She left behind her husband (Richard Rudolph) and two children (Mark and Maya). Maya Rudolph was a Saturday Night Live cast member, and she has appeared in movies such as Bridesmaids. The ridiculous moment happened at Comiskey Park in Chicago during a double-header baseball game. It was known as Disco Demolition Night. When the first game was over, a disc jockey named Steve Dahl made a pile of disco records brought in by fans explode. A riot ensued, and the second game was cancelled. After that happened, disco quickly started to lose its popularity. The name was even changed to dance music. Some disco artists (Donna Summer and KC & The Sunshine Band) continued to have hits into the 1980s, but others (The Bee Gees and Chic) saw their hot streaks come to an end. The Bee Gees would write and/or produce for other artists, and so did Chics Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. Disco haters tended to be racist and/or homophobic, because the genres original target audiences were Blacks, Latinos, and LGBT.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:02:14 +0000
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