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Disco Forever!
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Article: Evren Aş›k
The 1970s were harsh,
weird and dark times for
the whole world…
USA was restless with
the Watergate scandal,
bad memories of
Vietnam and economic
hardships.
Eastern Europe was swarmed with
Soviet tanks. The Middle East was in
turmoil also back then and the world
was hit hard by the oil crisis. Turkey
was swamped with ideological
conflicts, the Cyprus Operation and
attempted coups. Our literature world
was under the influence of
Tutunamayanlar
(The Disconnected) by Oğuz Atay,
and our film industry of Y›lmaz Güney,
director and actor. We were getting
ready to be numbed by our
single-channel black-and-white TVs.
The generation of ’68 was wearied all
over the world. The Hippies, backed by
their Utopian culture, multiplied
quickly and changed our clothes,
our music and our perceptions.
...And the music world suffered one
blow after the other. At the onset of
the ‘70s, Brian Jones of the Rolling
Stones died, immediately followed by
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim
Morrison
as if on cue. Having become a legend
while still alive, The Beatles was
disbanded. Only several years later, an
era came to a definitive end when
Elvis Presley was found dead on the
bathroom floor, and three members of
Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash in
1977. The disco culture was built amid
such devastation and desperation,
and upon “pleasure”.
The legendary temple of this culture,
Studio 54 opened its doors in such a
mood. Despite this “sad” backdrop,
disco was actually born as a reaction to
the rock culture which had become the
territory of “white” men. It was an
escape from the sullen-faced world of
Rock that was immersed in rage and
testosterones. Disco started gaining
its true identity when gays,
transvestites, black and Latino people
emerged from the back streets and
conquered the nightclubs in New York.
Rage was replaced by pleasure,
the whites by the blacks,
and the male dominance by an
ambiguous gender...
AND DANCING BEGAN
with all its glory!
Studio 54 on the dance floor!
Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager opened
Studio 54 in Manhattan, New York in
1977. Soon after, people began rushing
to Manhattan, forming queues at the
gate of this world promising freedom
and pleasure. Celebrities including
Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, Cher,
Blondie, Mick Jagger and Woody Allen
were quickly gravitated toward the
club and became frequenters. Hot
models, fashion designers, and all
marginal people from all walks of life
with a style easily found themselves a
place in Studio 54. Although big
crowds waited in front of the club,
there was a meticulous screening at
the entrance, letting very few pass
through the doors.
The summer of disco becomes the
bummer of disco...
Studio 54 began attracting the
attention of the police due to various
stimulants and its growing fame. The
club had to close down in 1981, four
years after its inauguration. The
summer of disco became the bummer
of disco and the closure of Studio 54
caused sorrow. Slowly, disco totally
lost its character as a subculture.
Prosperous and opulent ‘80s that were
quick to consume everything put this
culture in the center, processing it.
Disco became a mainstream trend of
the era. Platform shoes, hippie
dresses, long hair and whiskers,
bell-bottoms and long skirts that
replaced the minis... Disco was by then
a fashion that engulfed everyone!
Disco is transformed...
From the second half of the 1980s,
disco was transformed with the effect
of totally new music technologies and
electronic music trends. The rhythms
got harsher as the pulses got quicker.
New trends ranging from House to
Trance gave birth to a new dance and
club culture.
The “Rave” culture in ‹stanbul
in the ‘90s
Converted from a car graveyard in
Maslak by Ceylan Çapl› in the ‘90s, the
club named 2019 was the highest
manifestation of this culture in
‹stanbul. Culturally, 2019 was a highly
successful replica of New York’s
legendary
Studio 54. The Club boldly brought
differences together and created a
“small-scale” revolution in Turkey with
its music, identity and club-goers.
Other Ceylan Çapl› clubs opened in
Taksim under the names 19, 20 and
14 survived until early 2000s,
giving ‹stanbul a highly innovative and
daring nightlife.
Where does this culture stand in the
world now? The disco culture is still
very much alive all over the world in the
new variations of electronic music and
new experiments. Attempts at
connecting with the past introduce
hope into our lives as did Madonna
with her 2005 album, “Confessions on a
Dance Floor”. In any case, who could
say no to dancing the night away, free
from all judgments and prohibitions?