This three-part series, Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution, airs its second enticing episode “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now,” highlighting the empowerment of Black and gay icons during the influential Disco era.
Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution – “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” airs Saturday, June 29 at 4 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Set against the backdrop of Black power and sexual liberation, the second episode of Disco: Sound of a Revolution takes viewers to the high watermark of disco in the mid ’70s. As disco conquers the mainstream, it turns Black women and gay men into superstars and icons. It is a world where the drag queen Sylvester was king, and Black women found a powerful new voice – one that fused Black Power with a call for sexual freedom. It was the birth of the “disco diva” from Gloria Gaynor and Candi Staton to Donna Summer and Thelma Houston. However, mainstream success by The Bee Gees’ soundtrack album “Saturday Night Fever,” The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,”Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” and Studio 54 took disco further and further from its roots of inclusivity and freedom, as straight, white men started to embrace and repackage the sound.