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Listen To The Final Part Of Speed Of Sound's Epic Series on the History of Disco

This Week: Demolition + Demise: How The Disco Craze Collapsed Overnight

On iHeart's #1 Apple Music Podcast-charting Speed Of Sound, host Steve Greenberg — a Grammy-Award winning Record Executive/Producer and music historian — often refers to the Diffusion of Innovations Curve, which models the process by which innovations are adopted. Innovators and early adopters give way to mainstream adoption, which then often peters out as laggards begin to adopt.

In the 4th and final part of the show's epic series on the rise and fall of disco, we find the disco craze in this final stage: When rockers rioted in response to its radio dominance, and children, old folks, and even the United States Navy were caught dancing along to the relentlessly cheery (though gay culture-steeped) music of The Village People.

Greenberg goes deep on Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, the waning commercial prospects of disco's top stars, and the genre's prevailing influence as seen in house, post-punk and hip-hop music. Listen here: https://ihr.fm/3eZ81zO

On Speed Of Sound, Greenberg  "artfully treats every twist and turn as inspired shop talk” (AV Club) as he considers the sociological, technological, and musical contexts of some of music’s most remarkable and unlikely success stories.

Earlier this week, Greenberg appeared on KCRW's Press Play to discuss the connection between Chic's hit "Good Times" — one of the final smashes of the disco era — and "Rapper's Delight." Listen to that here: https://kcrw.co/3iUMOtr