© 2024 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Now at the Woody Guthrie Center, "Love Saves the Day: The Subterranean History of American Disco"

Aired on Thursday, June 22nd.
Aired on Thursday, June 22nd.

The newly-opened exhibit will be on view through October 8th of this year.

On this episode of ST, we're discussing a new show at the Woody Guthrie Center. "Love Saves the Day: The Subterranean History of American Disco" explores the birth, development, and cross-pollination of the oft-maligned yet highly influential genre of disco. The exhibition thus offers the full history of a beat-driven, propulsive style of music that dates back to the early 1970s -- and that became, much more than a mere trend or craze, an international socio-cultural movement. The exhibit also traces disco's links to the rise of contemporary DJ culture in New York City and other cosmopolitan locations -- along with the key roles that women, people of color, club-goers, and the LGBTQ+ community played in the creation of a whole new form of music. Our guests are the co-curators of this fascinating show: chloē fourte (the event and program manager at the American Song Archives) and Tim Lawrence (a cultural historian at the University of East London who's also the author of a book titled "Love Saves the Day").

Related Content
  • Donna Summer, who sang some of the most memorable anthems of the disco era from "Love to Love You Baby" to "Bad Girls," has died after a long battle with cancer. She had a top 40 hit every year from 1976 to 1984, including the song she once told NPR she'd perform till the very end, "Last Dance."
  • So many people trash disco music these days. But really, disco is the root of house music and the radio-friendly dance remixes. Liane talks to Jussi Kantonen, co-author with Alan Jones of Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco, published by Acapella Books.
  • NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Chilean musician Alex Anwandter about his new disco-influenced album El Diablo en el Cuerpo.
  • Disco. The very word conjures up images that some would like to forget — polyester, the Hustle, Saturday Night Fever, cocaine, Studio 54, all set to a throbbing 4/4 beat. But at the Experience Music Project, a music museum in Seattle, disco lovers can revel in a huge collection of the disco sights, sounds — and yes, even the clothes — at the biggest such exhibit ever mounted in America.
  • Director Malcolm Lee's new film is as much about family as it is roller skating. The film is set in the golden era of 1970s roller-skate jams, a coming-of-age comedy starring hip-hop star Bow Wow.
  • A version of the disgraced former first lady of the Philippines serves as the central character of Byrne's first foray into musical theater.
  • Wednesday is World Food Day, an occasion meant to strengthen the commitment to end global hunger. Across Europe, activists are throwing disco soup parties to turn leftover food into delicious food to give to the hungry. And as the name suggests, there's music, too.
  • One muggy Thursday, 50,000 rowdy rock fans packed Chicago's Comiskey Park to see disc jockey Steve Dahl blow up a crate of disco records. That evening's stunt helped birth a new musical movement.
  • In every school photo for the past 40 years, Texas gym teacher Dale Irby wore the same '70s-era sweater vest and wide-collared shirt. It began as a dare and become something much better. We knew our parents were awesome. He proves our teachers were too.
  • The HBO documentary struggles to define who the singer-songwriter actually was — despite knitting together interviews with family members, archival clips and home movie footage.