From the Wall of 45s - Disco Duck

September 7, 2025

It is widely acknowledged that DJs gave birth to disco, but it is also widely believed that a DJ helped bury it. DJ Steve Dahl ran the Disco Demolition Night promotion at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979, where he blew up a pile of disco records before 50,000 rabid anti-disco fans. The fans stormed the field after the explosion and the second bill of the doubleheader had to be postponed and eventually forfeited.

The fuse was lit on the death of disco by another DJ well before 1979. It could be argued that once vibrant music is dead when it becomes ripe for parody. In 1976, Memphis DJ Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots released “Disco Duck”, which suggested that the sublime of disco was, in fact, ridiculous. Dees’ parody was immensely popular. It hit number one on the Billboard 100 on October 16, 1976, for one week, stayed at number two for four weeks and was in the Top 10 for ten weeks. “Disco Duck” was huge, selling over four million copies but it also took the piss out of disco.

Dees appeared on numerous TV shows performing “Disco Duck” and those appearances even more than the song itself are priceless. His appearance on Solid Gold has a rockstar entrance and a deadpan introduction by Paul McCartney. On Top of the Pops, the dancers highlight all that is silly about disco dancing which the “Disco Duck” lyrics make clear. It is good stuff all around.

Vinyl Vogue has the 45 of “Disco Duck” by RSO Records, the record label of Robert Stigwood, who also helped kill disco on at least two occasions. Once with the mega-hit Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and movie, which made disco mainstream and destroyed any underground cred disco might have had and again with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, which not only damaged disco but killed the careers of the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. “Disco Duck” was initially issued regionally on the Fretone label but the song did not blow up nationally and internationally until distributed on RSO.

Less popular than the 45 was The Original Disco Duck album which failed to capitalize on the Rick Dees phenomenon. Songs like “Bionic Feet”, “He Ate Too Many Jelly Donuts”, and “The Peanut Prance” just did not register. “Dis-Gorilla” reached number 56 on the Billboard 100, a far cry from number one.

Despite what Steve Dahl and Rick Dees might suggest on the surface, disco is a major musical art form with deep cultural importance. Some of the greatest books ever written about recorded music were written about disco. If you want to understand just how monumental disco was and remains, check out Love Saves the Day: A History of America Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence, Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco by Peter Shapiro, and Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture by Alice Echols. Disco merits and supports such comprehensive and interesting history. It is a testament to disco’s importance that these books exist. The same could be said about the existence and success of “Disco Duck”. For a couple of bucks, pick up “Disco Duck” and listen to a piece of cultural history. And at the very least it will entertain the kids for a few minutes.