Disco and the remaking of american culture essay paper from 12. Alice echols reveals the ways in which disco transformed popular music, propelling it into new sonic territory and influencing rap, techno, and trance. Disco and the remaking of american culture is an interpretative rather than a comprehensive history, one that focuses on these very shifts in identity and representation and the debates they triggered. Access free hot stuff disco and the remaking of american culture hot stuff disco and the remaking of american culture when people should go to the book stores, search inauguration by shop, shelf by shelf, it is truly problematic. Although i draw on my experiences as a discofunk deejay, hot stuff is very much in dialogue with work in cultural studies, gay studies and musicology. Apr 04, 2010 but in her engrossing new book, hot stuff. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols article in journal of popular music studies 232. Disco and the remaking of american culture, she portrays that scene as a hotbed of social. As american studies professor and janis joplin biographer scars of sweet paradise echols succinctly states, nothing seems to conjure up the seventies qu. Even very butchlooking men take the passive role, he noted, and the only way to discern a gay mans sexual tastes is from the handkerchiefs and key chains. Disco thumps back to life in this pulsating look at the culture and politics that gave rise to the music.
Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols 2010, hardcover at the best online prices at ebay. She is a former disco deejay, and author of the acclaimed biography of janis joplin, hot stuff is a new book about disco, the music and its impact on worldwide culture by alice echols, who is professor of american studies and history at rutgers university. Hot stuff disco and the remaking of american culture. Alice echolss hot stuff is the third such work of note to appear in recent years, following tim lawrences oral history, love saves the day. Its a great look at the music and the effects on and by the gay and africanamerican communities. In the 1970s, as the disco tsunami engulfed america, the onceinnocent question. What was it about this music that made it such hot stuff. In this account, professor of american studies and onetime disco dj alice echols takes the accepted map of disco culture and overlays it with new routes and paths that offer fresh perspectives on an era that has been largely overlooked by a rockobsessed academy. The book charts discos trajectoryfrom its steamy beginnings in manhattans gay clubs through its bloblike takeover of pop. Hot stuff by alice echols overdrive rakuten overdrive. Apr 04, 2010 popular culture in general and disco in particular are topics echols knows well, and hot stuff pulsates with a style as relentless as the music it analyzes and the personalities who brought that. Disco and the remaking of american culture alice echols disco thumps back to life in this pulsating look at the culture and politics that gave rise to the music. Disco and the remaking of american culture cover interview of march 28, 2010. Readers will never say disco sucks again after reading this fascinating account of the music they thought they hated but cant stop dancing to.
Alice echols american studies scholar and former deejay alice echols captures the experience of the disco yearson dance floors, at the movies, in the streets, and beneath the. For a musical style once purported to suck and still decried as mindless, disco has. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols tim lawrence. Disco and the remaking of american culture hiroshi jin disco dance sexy disco. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols. The ironed chinos, cashmere sweaters, and penny loafers that had been favored by many gay men gave way to 501 buttonfly levis, flannel shirts, aviator fight. Alice echols american studies scholar and former deejay alice echols captures the experience of the disco yearson dance floors, at the movies, in the streets, and beneath the sheets.
Looking at the relationships between music, culture, identity and how it impacted previously oppressed communities she shows. Less skillful are her chapters on women and disco and the one on black masculinity both of which miss the mark and the. I found the beginning very slooooow the parts about the music technology were a snooze for me but then it became very interesting. A history of american dance music culture, 19701979 2003, and peter shapiros journalistic survey, turn the beat around. The book describes how as disco took hold, gay style shifted. I was never into the 1970s disco scene and didnt really know too much about it or how huge it really was socially or. Once dubbed a dreaded musical disease by the backlash brigade love saves the day, 374, disco has evidently regained something of its contagiousness. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols hot stuff. Echols look at the s and the rise and fall of disco is a beautifully nuanced study of s culture. Disco is a crucial element of our cultural heritage, and echols hot stuff provides an endearing platform with matching shoes to the music we cant and shouldnt forget. Disco thumps back to life in this pulsating exploration of the culture and politics of the glitterball world. Disco and the remaking of american culture on your kindle in under a minute.
Disco and the remaking of american culture about the birth of disco and its transformation of gay life. Request pdf on jun 15, 2011, tim lawrence and others published hot stuff. Mar 21, 2011 in hot stuff, she finds disco to be crucial for understanding what happened in 1970s america. The book charts discos trajectoryfrom its steamy beginnings in manhattans gay clubs through its bloblike takeover of pop music, to its apparent collapseprobing throughout what made disco so compelling to some and so troubling to others. In the 1970s, as the disco tsunami engulfed america, the onceinnocent question, do you wanna dance. Apr 28, 2018 hot stuff is a new book about disco, the music and its impact on worldwide culture by alice echols, who is professor of american studies and history at rutgers university. Disco and the remaking of american culture, she portrays that scene as a hotbed of social change for gays, for women and their sexual rights, for. Though most people probably think late 70s when they think of disco, the odd truth is that disco began about decade earlier. Christine stansell, university of chicago, hot stuff, disco and the remaking of american culture, alice echols, 9780393338911. Hot stuff disco and the remaking of american culture 70s disco books. She is a professor of english and gender studies at usc. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read hot stuff. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols find, read and. Thus invariably, echols provides a surprising take on familiar scenes by pointing out potholes and pitfalls of late twentiethcentury american culture, exploring regions of experience previously overlooked or discounted.
Hot stuff disco and the remaking of american culture alice echols author w. Mar 01, 2010 a historians examination of disco s impact on american society and culture, particularly how it affected both black men and women, women in general, and gay men. Echols look at the 1970s and the rise and fall of disco is a beautifully nuanced study of 1970s culture. Mar 22, 2011 in hot stuff, she finds disco to be crucial for understanding what happened in 1970s america. In hot stuff, she finds disco to be crucial for understanding what happened in 1970s america. Promiscuous and omnivorous, disco absorbed sounds and styles. Echols is a fantastic author and scholar, if you enjoy this book, you should check out some of her other works. Disco and the remaking of american culture by alice echols available from rakuten kobo. Disco and the remaking of american culture like the decade with which it is identified, the 1970s, disco music has been the subject of several recent efforts at revisionist history meant to invest the phenomenon with a new sense of cultural significance.
Disco and the remaking of american culture, published by w. Disco and the remaking of american culture ebook written by alice echols. Hot stuff is a cultural history of disco that is at once scholarly and popular. Disco and the remaking of american culture 1 by echols, alice isbn. Disco and the remaking of american culture alice echols on amazon. Disco may have presented itself as shallow and disposable the platforms, polyester, and plastic vibe of it allbut the disco scene carved out a haven for gay men who reclaimed their sexuality on dance floors where they had once been surveilled and harassed. Disco thumps back to life in this pulsating exploration of the culture an. Disco and the remaking of american culture 2010 alice echolss history of disco is a useful academic assessment of the state of disco and the many conventional wisdoms, often contradictory, that have clung to it since the 70s. Promiscuous and omnivorous, disco absorbed sounds and styles from all over, and in the process.
In this incisive history, alice echols reveals the ways in which disco, assumed to be shallow and. In the 1970s, as the disco tsunami engulfed america, the question, do you wanna dance. Disco and the remaking of american culture, she portrays that scene as a hotbed of social change for gays, for women and their sexual rights. She is a former disco deejay, and author of the wellreceived scars of sweet paradise. But hot stuffs discussion of gay sociability, sexuality, and masculinity is a case study of the way that music shapes us. Apr 10, 2018 as alice echols writes in her book hot stuff.
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