A Land of a Thousand Dances
Dancehalls, Glitterballs and DJs - From the Pleasure Garden to the Discotheque - Bruce Lindsay
Bruce Lindsay [+]
Music Journalist and Social Historian
Description
These new entertainment venues soon drew the attention of the authorities and the mainstream press. Soon after it opened, La Discotheque was accused of being the centre of London’s trade in amphetamines and a haven for runaways and other undesirable types. Perceptions of La Discotheque were soon being applied by a ‘shocked’ press to any other venue that offered the nation’s youth a place to dance to the new style of music: discos had barely arrived on British streets before they were being seen by some as a debauched threat to the moral and physical well-being of Britain’s youth, just like the Pleasure Gardens and Penny Gaffes before them. On the other hand, the fashionable set, including members of the Royal Family and the aristocracy, took the discotheque scene to its heart and mobile DJ setups arrived in their thousands, some run by minor aristocracy, others by apprentice electricians, all devoted to music for dancing.