“Stayin’ Alive” at Disco Demolition Night: Song of the Day for July 12th

This falls under the category of “what the hell were they thinking.” Let’s sponsor Disco Demolition Night during a baseball doubleheader, where fans can get in for less than a dollar, drink beer, and watch a DJ blow up a bunch of disco records.

On July 12, 1979, the idea worked all too well. The Chicago White Sox usually drew about 15,000 fans, so the Sox expected to get 20,000 for the promotion. Instead, more than 50,000 people showed up, mostly people who hated the most popular music at the time, disco.

“Saturday Night Fever” won the Grammy for “Album of the Year.” Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and other disco entertainers dominated the charts.

Even before the first game of the doubleheader was over, trouble was brewing. Mistake number one: There weren’t enough police to control the crowd. Disco records flew like Frisbees through the stadium and onto the field.

DJ Steve Dahl, who lost his job at a Chicago station when it changed its format to disco, promoted the evening and blew up a large box of records between games.

Mistake number two: He used too much dynamite and left a crater in center field. About 7,000 spectators ran onto the field, threw records, lit fires and fireworks. Even the bases disappeared.

The White Sox lost the game. Disco won, the White Sox won nothing.

“Stayin’ Alive” is a fitting song of the day, because that’s exactly what Detroit’s outfielders were trying to do while records were flying by. The Bee Gees wrote and recorded the SOTD for “Saturday Night Fever” in 1977. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1978, staying there for four weeks.

Song of the Day was created by Sheldon Zoldan and produced by Pam James for WGCU. To receive Song of the Day in your inbox every day, email [email protected] with the subject line “ADD ME TO SOTD”.