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On July 12, 1979, the White Sox hosted Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. The promotional event, however, resulted in chaos and a forfeited baseball game.

The once-popular music seemed to stir a lot of anger at the time. Even songs were written attacking disco. As many others have noted, the disco-hating trend of the late 1970s evolved out of a number of emotions. Some of the hate came from those who consciously or subconsciously attacked the music out of racism and homophobia.

In retrospect, it is hard to imagine how a type of music went from being so popular to being so hated. In fact, the White Sox had hosted a “Disco Night” in 1977, only two years prior to the 1979 Disco Demolition Night.

The Disco Demolition Night Promotion

It is also surprising in retrospect that nobody foresaw how Disco Demolition Night would be such a disaster. The entire idea was based on hatred of something, culminating with blowing up something (records) between the two games of a double header with Sparky Anderson’s Detroit Tigers.

Steve Dahl, a morning DJ for rock station WLUP-FM, was on a campaign against disco music. As part of his campaign, he helped come up with the idea for the baseball promotion where he would blow up disco records on the field.

Dahl’s animosity was both deep and personal. He had lost his job at WDAI-FM on Christmas Eve in 1978 when that station switched to an all-disco format.

As part of the promotion for the game, the cost of entry was 98-cents and a disco record. Thus, there were many in the sold-out crowd who were not there for baseball.

After the chaos, Dahl was surprised at the crowd’s reaction. But the notoriety of the event would help make him a dj superstar in Chicago.

This website hosts memories from folks who were at the stadium that night. And below is a short video about Disco Demolition Night.

The Effects Today

Regarding baseball, the event went into the record books. The unplayed game between the White Sox and the Tigers is the last American League baseball game to be forfeited.

Regarding the music, others have noted that while disco was dealt a blow, it lives on successfully today in various forms such as house music. You can try to kill music with hate, but it will survive.

Do you remember Disco Demolition Night? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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The success of the Detroit Tigers in making it to the World Series gives us several options for this year’s edition of World Series Songs featuring songs related to the championship team’s name or locale. There are several famous songs with Detroit in their title, such as “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss. Other songs mention the city, like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” (“Just a small town boy, livin’ in South Detroit”). For today’s feature, we go with another song set in Detroit about the city’s most famous industry: “One Piece at a Time,” made famous by Johnny Cash’s 1976 recording.

In “One Piece at a Time,” the singer tells us he left Kentucky in 1949 “An’ went to Detroit workin’ on an assembly line.” The product, of course, is cars, and since the worker is making Cadillac cars, we know that the employer is General Motors. Realizing that he could never afford the cars he was making, the singer decides to take parts home “one piece at a time” in his lunchbox and a friend’s motor home to assemble his own car. Eventually he begins assembling his car from the stolen parts, realizing that all of the pieces are from different models. But he perseveres and assembles his odd car (“Well, it’s a ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56 ’57, ’58’ 59′ automobile. It’s a ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67 ’68, ’69, ’70 automobile”).

“One Piece at a Time,” which was Johnny Cash’s last number one song on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, was written by performer and songwriter Wayne Kemp. Kemp’s other songs include “I’m The Only Hell (My Mama Ever Raised)” and “Love Bug.” But his “One Piece at a Time” may be the only song that has inspired a new type of car.

Although it is not unusual, Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch put together the 2012 team from different sources, keeping some players, getting some players in trades, getting some through free agency, etc. For example, in the winter he signed Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214-million contract. You might say the Tigers were put together one piece at a time. And while you may be surprised to see them in the World Series, the combination of the random pieces may be enough to take them down the road to the world championship.

What is your favorite song about Detroit? Leave your two cents in the comments. Also, check out our past Super Bowl Songs.