Disco In The Music Industry

1. Dyer is literally doing what his title expresses and is attempting to defend disco from those who accuse it as a capitalist form of music. He also lists the positive aspects of disco, not only the music but also the culture surrounding it. Through the ‘debunking’ of capitalism and almost humanizing and describing the characteristics of disco that relate it to other forms of music, including those that oppose the nature of disco, and to human experience, including queer movements, he makes his defense. He is arguing that disco is just as valid as a genre, that it is not solely focused on capitalism but instead has its own unique elements. Some particulars of his argument, like materialism and consumerism, are not very clear, but in general, …show more content…
A lot of Dyer’s evidence is conceptual. For example, he uses the theories of economics, that the goal of capitalism is to make a profit, produce commodities, and focus on the exchange values rather than the use-values. His arguments for rock versus disco are purely concept based and have no statistical backing, stating that rock is ‘quite expensive…. Largely by middle class who could afford electric guitars, music lessons, etc.’. I understand that it might be difficult to obtain numbers on this, as he instead states to refer to many biographies of professionals who have the same background. These still feel very observational and possibly subject to bias, even if most people agree, but it is still a small nitpick. The same idea of purely observational arguments could be made with the folk argument, how Gaelic sounds ‘don’t mean much to English speaking people today’. As true as it might be, it feels very off and generalized. It might mean a lot to a certain group of people, and seeing how disco began as a culture very important to marginalized identities, this feels almost contradictory. His most solid evidence comes from his discussion on capitalism and disco, as he goes into capitalist theory strictly by defining it and its purposes and relating it to disco. His other solid ‘evidence’ comes from his interpretations of rock, pop, and disco songs and sounds to describe the three characteristics of disco. For example, he examines some Diana Ross songs, such as Ain’t No Mountain High Enough through the lens of romanticism, with its ‘heavenly choir and sweeping violins’ that one can listen to and interpret for themselves. He provided examples of readings, such as One-Dimensional Man, song lyrics, and sonic elements, like the phallic, pounding sounds of