Disco-Tech: Jukeboxes and DJs in Manhattan's Gay and Lesbian Discotheques, 1968–1975

My dissertation examines the transition from jukeboxes to DJs in Manhattan’s gay bars and discotheques from 1968 to 1974. I argue that, in combination with the demand for better social dance spaces amplified by activists of the late 1960s Gay Liberation Movement, the decline of the jukebox industry created some of the cultural conditions that led to the rise of the dance club DJ, a figure that would come to dominate dance floors across the United States by the end of the 1970s. When I say that it created some of the cultural conditions, I mean that dancers’ growing distaste for jukeboxes shaped their appreciation of DJs. Over this period, jukeboxes grew undesirable both to patrons and venue owners: they cost patrons to use and often had outdated music selections, could only play shorter-length songs from 45 rpm singles, and in many cases were forced upon clubs by New York’s organized crime families. DJs, however, offered something that no jukebox could provide: the continuous playback of thematically curated music that facilitated cruising, a secretive facet of gay sociality that flourished in reciprocity with disco culture. This dissertation focuses on the relationship between music, dancing, and technologies, engaging with existing discourse on the history of DJing and disco culture, the interpretive flexibility and closure of technologies, and world-making and utopian imaginings on the queer dance floor. I analyze Andrew Holleran’s 1978 novel Dancer from the Dance, advertisements, bar guides, and reviews from lesbian and gay entertainment and activist periodicals from New York City, articles and advertisements from music and coin machine industry magazines such as Billboard and Cash Box, and legal documents from the FBI’s investigation of the Genovese crime family, bringing these disparate sources together to examine cultural and technological change in Manhattan’s early 1970s discotheque scene. My investigation of the overlap and transition from jukeboxes to DJs on some of Manhattan’s queer discotheque dance floors reveals that the shortcomings of the jukebox fueled dancers’ rapidly growing desire for the club DJ’s profession and practice.