Finally watched The Bee Gees doc. I’ve always been a fan but I have new respect for their artistry.

I am *especially* glad that the doc explicitly called out the fact that the “death of disco” was pointedly homophobic and racist.

I do wish a bit more time had been spent on the fact that The Bee Gees, as hard as it was to survive the blowback, were able to do so both because of their musical & writing talent and because they were all white straight men. The latter doesn’t diminish their gifts.
But plenty of extremely talented Black and LGBTQ artists of color never survived the undermining of and blowback against (bad) disco.

Disco-and songs that are really R&B but got that commercial label-is rooted firmly in a Black tradition The Bee Gees always acknowledged.
And none of that can be separated from the attacks on it.

The scene of the Black former Comiskey Park usher is one I’ll think about for a long time. “It was a racist, homophobic book burning. That’s all it was.”

https://t.co/tcKqWDxHBE
True tea, which the doc also brilliantly explored: a lot of the “disco” folks hated was actually trash bc straight white men got greedy and commercialized it beyond recognition and quality.

So a bunch of artists who were talented beyond a genre-including The Bee Gees-were harmed
I grew up watching and loving “Behind The Music” and am an avid fan of @TvOne’s Unsung series because so much musical brilliance was either lost-or never fully elevated-because of racism and homophobia.
The amount of Black folks who should be global superstars and aren’t just because they are Black is still infuriating but I’m glad that the stories being told now have more nuance-even when the protagonists are white.
Glad The Bee Gees doc didn’t skip over those truths and glad to see their artistry getting the spotlight it deserves.
I wanna see a good Donna Summer doc next. And one on Sylvester too.
And high key, real disco is some of the best music ever made. Fight me.
.@naima link me to some good disco & 70s R&B music sermons pleassseeee

More from Society

You May Also Like

Margatha Natarajar murthi - Uthirakosamangai temple near Ramanathapuram,TN
#ArudraDarisanam
Unique Natarajar made of emerlad is abt 6 feet tall.
It is always covered with sandal paste.Only on Thriuvadhirai Star in month Margazhi-Nataraja can be worshipped without sandal paste.


After removing the sandal paste,day long rituals & various abhishekam will be
https://t.co/e1Ye8DrNWb day Maragatha Nataraja sannandhi will be closed after anointing the murthi with fresh sandal paste.Maragatha Natarajar is covered with sandal paste throughout the year


as Emerald has scientific property of its molecules getting disturbed when exposed to light/water/sound.This is an ancient Shiva temple considered to be 3000 years old -believed to be where Bhagwan Shiva gave Veda gyaana to Parvati Devi.This temple has some stunning sculptures.
This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?