Fernando Pessoa's sublime The Book of Disquiet (1982) is a work of art. However, it's often mistaken for The Book of Disco (1977) and that's not always a bad thing. Jive on!
This work of non-fiction is a historical tour through disco dancing, replete with postulations and pontifications on the human condition, nature of being, and strutting one's funky stuff.
The book also serves as a tutorial for how to wear a disco jacket over one shoulder, as per handsome hunk Barry Gibb here...
Getting Down With Postulations on Jive and Hertz Donuts in The Book of Disco
As seen in literary classics such as The Lion, The Witch, and the Disco Light Strobe, disco has a long and illustrious history relating to books.
That's where The Book of Disco comes in.
It's a vast (20,000 pages) compendium of everything disco from the 1970s. The book is embossed in neon flashing lights and its cover has been known to cause headaches for anyone who stares at it for too long. You've been warned.
The book's author, a disco enthusiast called using the pseudonym Disco Darling Diva Derek (DDDD for short) also encourages readers to play disco music as they read. And also to:
- Wear disco clothes (such as flares)
- Strut their funky stuff whilst reading
- Engage in copious breakdancing (such as spinning around on their head)
Additionally, the work covers ground such as how to not die from dehydration during a dancing fuelled disco frenzy.
The Controversial Anti-Non-Disco Dancing 13th Chapter
The controversial 13th chapter of The Book of Disco is famous for stoking controversy. That's why it's controversial. In the notorious chapter, right from the opening paragraph DDDD was firing on all cylinders.
"People who do not like disco ARE DICKHEADS!"
DDDD then clarified the following.
"Indeed, one has posited the following terminology to refer to these piece of shit in to perpetuity: DISCOHEADS. As in, the play on words so as not to debase ourselves with unnecessary bouts of profanity."
In 1977 the chapter outraged the non-disco community, most of whom considered the phrasing to be "bigoted", "just plain wrong", and "abusive".
However, there were also some stragglers who felt the wording was probably accurate. Interviewed in 1978 for a feature about The Book of Disco's incendiary language, one Charlie Smith (22) of Bolton of Greater Manchester told the press this.
"I'm more of a punk rocker and prefer gobbing over everyone and living under the belief at any second I'm probably going to die horribly from either a drug overdose or invasion of the country by marauding lunatics. Despite that, I don't mind disco and, yeah, maybe I should strap on some flares every now and then and hit the nearest disco venue. It'd give me a chance to clear all the gob out of my hair. That'd be a welcome change, I can tell you that!"
People like Charlie Smith were in the minority. Sadly, the reaction to chapter 13 became volatile and, in the UK, there were several nationwide riots due to the matter.
Thankfully, those cleared up after a few weeks for a return to some semblance of law, order, and disco dancing.
A Memento for Disco Posterity
The Book of Disco is a laborious, if meticulous, read. It documents every disco dance hall across the land right down to the most pedantic details. Including the number of:
- Coloured tiles on the dancefloor.
- Urinals in the male bathrooms.
DDDD also documented the availability of cheese sandwiches at any given moment (as it turns out, the author was very fond of white bread cheese sandwiches).
But the man hip thrust of this work is disco, strobe lighting, flares, and struts. With that, it delivered nationwide UK riots and a minor rise for cheese sandwich salesmen.
For that, this vast compendium did wonders for the British economy.
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