Menergy: San Francisco's Gay Disco Sound

Disco was declared dead in 1979 due to a backlash, but gay men in San Francisco started their own small dance music record labels to make up for the lack of new, danceable music. This music reflected a new way of life, a world apart, and a culture of sexual liberation for gay men, and Menergy is a project of reconstruction to restore these lost figures to their rightful place in the legacy of 20th-century popular music.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 08 February 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Disco, a vibrant and influential genre that emerged in the late 1970s, faced a sudden decline in popularity in the United States in 1979. This decline was sparked by a series of events, including the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 12, 1979. This event, which saw a group of disco enthusiasts destroy dance floors and equipment, led to a widespread backlash against the genre. Major record labels quickly dropped disco artists and producers, and many mainstream musicians who had jumped on the bandwagon abandoned it as well. However, gay men, who had been heavily involved in the disco scene, refused to let the music fade away. In the gay enclave of the Castro District in San Francisco, a group of enterprising gay DJs, record producers, and musicians took matters into their own hands. They started their own small dance music record labels, such as Megatone Records and Moby Dick Records, to provide new and danceable music to their community.
The music produced by these labels quickly gained popularity beyond the Bay Area, reaching audiences worldwide. These labels achieved unprecedented success, creating the world's first gay-owned, gay-produced music for a dancing audience. The music reflected a new way of life for gay men, one that was characterized by sexual liberation and a rejection of traditional gender norms. Menergy, a groundbreaking book by Louis Niebur, aims to reclaim the legacy of these forgotten disco artists and producers. The book is the result of years of extensive research, including dozens of personal interviews with the San Francisco artists themselves. Niebur has scoured archives, contemporary journals, photographs, bar rags, diaries, nightclub ephemera, and recordings to piece together the story of these artists and their contributions to the disco era.
Menergy combines popular music theory, cultural analysis, queer theory, and gender studies to provide a comprehensive understanding of the disco era. The book appeals to readers with interests in queer history, popular music history, and electronic dance music. By restoring these lost figures to their rightful place in the legacy of 20th-century popular music, Menergy offers a fresh perspective on a genre that was once considered taboo and marginalized. The book is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to learn more about the disco era and its impact on popular culture.

Weight: 566g
Dimension: 241 x 161 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197511077