Some say that Disco jumped the shark after the release of Saturday Night Fever in November of 1977. Others would say that Disco didn't sign off for good until Disco DAI bid farewell to the genre with 24 hours of Donna Summer in the mid 80s. But no matter who you are, you can certainly agree that the events of July 12, 1979 rendered a death blow to the genre.
That night, the Chicago White Sox were playing a game at Comiskey Park against the Detroit Tigers. Ever the showman, Bill Veeck decided that this was the perfect time to cash in on the growing distaste with the disco genre. And if you were going to stage an anti-disco rally, well there was simply nobody you could call who would be better suited to the job than Steve Dahl. Steve Dahl was the 24-year-old Chicago DJ who had most recently worked at WDAI before they switched to an all-disco format. This might be a good time to quickly detail the Two Rules of Radio: Number One, you WILL BE fired multiple times on your career. But don't fret, because Number Two, if you have any kind of a talent or following(preferably both), you'll be back on air in no time.
Back to the story now. Needless to say, Dahl soon left Disco DAI, but he soon found a new home at WLUP. Meanwhile, Bill Veeck came up with a rather, um, novel idea for the promotion. Fans could come to the gates bearing nothing except 98 cents(to symbolize the station that Dahl was now with) and the disco record of their choice, and they would be granted admission to the ballpark. From that point, the plan was to play the first game of the doubleheader, then take all of the condemned disco records, put them in a huge crate in the middle of the field, call out Steve Dahl to say some words, and then blow the conflagration sky high. That was the plan, but (obviously) that plan did not pan out.
First off, the White Sox were expecting the promotion to attract a few thousand extra fans to the game. Alas, word spread like wildfire, and eventually more than 50,000 people showed up at the gates(some unconfirmed eyewitness reports put the number at closer to 90,000). The sheer crush of people overwhelmed the gatekeepers, and so hordes of fans started streaming into the park unmolested. As the game was full already, all of the latecomers were standing around, making things quite crowded. Needless to say, many members of the crowd were under the influence of many substances, which always throws a wrench into the works. Also, all of the latecomers were holding disco records that had not been deposited.
So, the first game finishes, the field is cleared, Steve Dahl rolls up in a Jeep, decked out in full military garb, and proceeds to rile up the already rowdy crowd to an even higher degree. Dahl then blows up the records, and all Hell breaks loose. The drunken latecomers want to be in on the destruction as well, so they take their disco records and rain them upon the field. To further complicate things, what little security staff the Sox had on hand was down by the entrances attempting to keep even more people from coming into the already overstuffed ballpark. So in the absence of any supervision, the fans hopped the fence and rushed the field. By this point, chaos was winning the day as drunk, stoned, and disorderly fans were swarming Comiskey Park(including a 21-year-old actor named Michael Clarke Duncan). At some point, the fans are beseeched to return to their seats in a vain attempt at restoring order-made by none other than the one and only Harry Caray(who was still 3 years away from moving to the Cubs). Finally, the Police(no, not those guys) come in, close the entrance ramps to the stadium from the Dan Ryan, and clear the field.
By this point, the combined forces of the explosion and the riot have completely destroyed the field, and the game is postponed. The next day, the game is officially ruled a forfeit(as of 2013, it is still the most recent American League game to be forfeited). 34 years later, the game still goes down in history as one of the most infamous promotions of all time, and it all happened, right here in Chicago.
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