Weisel: Students should revive disco

Now that Thanksgiving’s over, it’s time to kick back and relax before you attack finals week… Now that Thanksgiving’s over, it’s time to kick back and relax before you attack finals week head on. This is your last chance to go big before you lock yourself in your room or camp out at the library to study.

The best way to have maximum fun, of course, is to start a disco revival.

Yes, you read right, I said disco. Those sweet beats that graced dance floors during the 1970s need to be brought back. And you, to rocket yourself into finals week, need to start the revival.

As college students, we value, above all else, one thing: a good party. But how many times can we listen to the same party songs over and over again before fainting at the lack of originality? How much longer must we dully sway to the trashy lyrics and overused beats?

Disco offers a pure concoction of catchy lyrics set to an infectious beat, mixed together to create a disco inferno — the perfect party. Disco tells you that you should be dancing. Bedecked in garments covered in sequins and fringe, it is impossible not to have fun when shaking your groove thing to the disco beat. Not to mention that the reflection of the sequins off the disco ball create the perfect atmosphere in any dark basement or cramped apartment.

With its driving beat, disco is also easy to dance to. Everyone remembers the classic John Travolta move from “Saturday Night Fever.” You know the one: strike a pose in the middle of the dance floor, point to the ceiling, point to the floor, back to the ceiling, shake, shake, shake your booty. When disco is playing, there is no awkward lurking in the corner because you can’t dance. You can’t help but tap your toe and move your hips! And when everyone is dancing, it’s a good party.

If creating a good party isn’t enough of a reason to revive disco, we should bring it back just to be cool. Our generation keeps looking backward for current trends — from ’80s sunglasses to mod dresses. There are no new styles, only new ways to interpret them.

So, in the spirit of the fashion of our generation, why not turn back to disco? As part of the movement abounding in daring fashion statements to match the fun-time music, sequined styles are already sneaking back into our stores. Travel to the mall and you’ll discover short skirts and sparkly tops, wide lapels and white vests that recall the ’70s.

But the best reason to revive disco is also the simplest: It makes people happy. Despite the suspicious history of underground disco (as depicted in “Saturday Night Fever”), its songs have lasted through the decades and are still with us today. Just play the chorus from “I Will Survive” in a crowded room and count how many people sing along. These songs have survived not because they’re musically complex or culturally jarring, but because they inspire happiness in listeners.

Some of my fondest memories involve disco songs, including singing along to “Car Wash” with a past baby sitter and dancing to “It’s Raining Men” at a friend’s bat mitzvah. I’m sure I’m not the only one with memories like these. Our awkward school dances would have been in a sorry state indeed without at least one soulful rendition of the “YMCA.” Every little girl’s sleepover birthday party would have been incomplete without the A-Teens cover of “Dancing Queen.” These songs, these disco songs, have created lasting memories, even for our generation.

Listen to my jive talkin’ — it’s time for us to put on our boogie shoes and hop on the love train to funkytown. We need to play that funky music and let the magic of disco turn the beat around! Sure, once you start to shake your booty your friends might call you “le freak,” but just drink in the moment and live in it as a dancing queen. Then as you heat up with a night fever, you won’t be able to help declaring to your friends, “We are family!”

So start a celebration, rock the boat, and get down tonight!

Contact Elizabeth at eaw62@pitt.edu.