Disco Demolition Night (Episode 57)

05/02/22 • 51 min

On a hot July evening in 1979, thousands of Chicagoans gathered in Comisky Park for a double-header between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. After a lackluster season, White Sox owner Bill Veeck was hoping to fill seats with a promotion called "Disco Demolition Night", in which spectators could get a discount ticket if they brought a disco record to be blown up by local radio celebrity Steve Dahl.

On this all-American episode, we're discussing the national game (baseball) and the national music (rock 'n roll, baby), along with riot police, disco, explosions, radio talk shows, blow-dried hairdos and one very pissed-off radio DJ.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Disco Demolition Night" by A. Behrens for ESPN Chicago, 2004

“When Fans Wanted to Rock,the Baseball Stopped: Sports, Promotions, and the Demolition of Disco on Chicago’s South Side" by C. J. Young for The Baseball Research Journal, 2009

"The Death of Disco Did Not Take Place: Disco Demolition Night and The Rhetorical Destruction of Disco" by J. Williams for the Richard Macksey Journal, 2021

“Disco Demolition 25th Anniversary: The Real Story", 2000

"Disco Demolition Night was Not Racist, Not Anti-Gay" by S Dahl for Medium, 2016

"Disco Demolition: The Night They Tried to Crush Black Music" by A. Petridis for the Guardian, 2019

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Disco Demolition Night" by A. Behrens for ESPN Chicago, 2004

“When Fans Wanted to Rock,the Baseball Stopped: Sports, Promotions, and the Demolition of Disco on Chicago’s South Side" by C. J. Young for The Baseball Research Journal, 2009

"The Death of Disco Did Not Take Place: Disco Demolition Night and The Rhetorical Destruction of Disco" by J. Williams for the Richard Macksey Journal, 2021

“Disco Demolition 25th Anniversary: The Real Story", 2000

"Disco Demolition Night was Not Racist, Not Anti-Gay" by S Dahl for Medium, 2016

"Disco Demolition: The Night They Tried to Crush Black Music" by A. Petridis for the Guardian, 2019

Previous Episode

The Demon Core Incidents of 1945-1946 (Episode 56)

Who knew that a ball of plutonium could be dangerous? We were surprised too!

At the end of World War II, the United States' Manhattan Project was left with an extra plutonium core, intended for an atomic bomb that was never built. What does one do with a subcritical ball of plutonium? Experiment, of course. At Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, scientists and physicists performed a number of criticality studies and tried out various neutron reflector materials on "Rufus".

On this episode, we're discussing the Los Alamos Laboratory, proper use of a flathead screwdriver, lab cowboys, the strengths and flaws of Rufus: The Demon Core, and the two tragic and preventable deaths associated with Rufus. As a special bonus, Greg drops the worst pun that Ella's ever heard.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"The Demon Core and the Strange Death of Louis Slotin" by A Wellerstein for the New Yorker, 2016

"The Third Core's Revenge" by A Wellerstein for Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, 2013

"The Blue Flash" by A Wellerstein for Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, 2016

Next Episode

Two Arctic Ghost Ships, the HMS Terror and the SS Baychimo (Episode 58)

It's an Arctic Ghost Ship Double-Header! First up is the HMS Terror, which carried Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition all the way to King William Island in the very far north of Nunavut, Canada, before freezing into the pack ice and being abandoned; and in the second half, we've got the SS Baychimo, a cargo freighter lost in pack ice off the coast of Alaska in 1931. Although they were abandoned at either end of the Arctic and nearly a century apart, both the Terror and the Baychimo were repeatedly spotted - and in some cases, boarded - by locals multiple times before disappearing again.

On this episode, we're talking about how interesting the Arctic Ocean is, why so many people died looking for the Northwest Passage, pack ice fun facts, and whether kraken have bathtub toys. Put on your winter gear, pop those drinks in a cooler, and get your icebreakers ready - it's going to be a chilly one.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"HMS Terror and Erebus", Royal Museums of Greenwich website

"Arctic shipwreck 'frozen in time' astounds archaeologists" by R Smith for National Geographic, 2019

"Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt" by P Watson for The Guardian, 2016

"Arctic 'ghost ship' found -- Sir John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror" by B Jones for CNN.com, 2016

"Baychimo: Arctic Ghost Ship" by A Dalton, 2006

"SS Baychimo: the Ghost Ship that sailed alone for 38 years and disappeared...", staff writer for Random Times, 2018

"Rediscovering the S.S. Baychimo at the UA Museum of the North" University of Alaska Museum of the North webpage, 2016

"No traces found today of SS Baychimo, the “Ghost Ship of the Arctic” that roamed the seas unmanned for decades" by M Chalakoski for The Vintage News, 2018