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Pacha New York’s host Erick Morillo displayed a surprisingly inadequate grasp of New York’s nightlife history this week, in a revealing polemic about the soon-to-be-opened superclub’s VIP facilities.
“When this Pacha opens there will be opulent VIP areas but I’m sure we’ll see VIPs on the dance floor too,” Morillo told DJ magazine, “There will be a real mixture of people from all manner of different backgrounds, and that’s something that hasn’t been seen in New York since Studio 54.”
The Subliminal chief’s failure to acknowledge subsequent seminal New York nightspots including Paradise Garage, Danceteria, Area and even Sound Factory was compounded by the fact that he was clearly unaware of Studio 54’s perennially naff reputation as being known for just celebrity and its accompanying cocaine culture of the time, instead of music or anything positive.
“Rubell and Shapiro (Studio 54’s owners) were never particularly precious about their music,” says Peter Shapiro in his definitive new book on the history of New York clubs Turn The Beat Around.
“They simply wanted someone to play what effectively was background music- music that kept people dancing but wouldn’t get in the way of the ‘scene’.”
The club’s ridiculous door policy also famously inspired disco legends Chic to write their biggest hit record ever Le Freak after Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were refused entry on New Year’s Eve in 1977, forcing them to return home despite being massive clubland stars of the time.
“Bernard and I started jamming, just guitar and bass. We were just yelling obscenities: ‘Fuck Studio 54 . . . Fuck ‘Em . . . Fuck Off . . . Fuck Those Scumbags . . . Fuck ‘Em’. And we were laughing, entertaining ourselves,” Rodgers told journalist Anthony Haden-Guest.
“And we wrote a whole obscene song about fucking Studio 54 and those assholes. But it had melody and texture and form. So we recorded it,” he added.
Pacha New York/ Studio 54 Links:
http://www.pachanyc.com (‘PACHA JOB FAIR Saturday, November 19, 2005 | 12pm– 7pm 618 W. 46th Street (bet. 11th + West Side Highway) PACHA IS HIRING FOR ALL POSITIONS, Please bring resume and headshot.’)
http://www.thecityreview.com/anthony.htm (‘Studio 54 was a disturbing and important phenomenon that raised dire issues of duplicity, corruption, immorality and media irresponsibility - issues that permeated and reflected a culture change, one whose notoriety would help fuel the fundamentalist upsurge and the coming conservatism of a Ronald Reagan and the country . . .’)
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=1643 (‘I quickly learned why coke was the preferred drug of choice during the 1970's New York, Studio 54 years: coke can be glamorous . . .’)
Article by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
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