Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

We’re almost at the end of our 1977 series, but in true LITM fashion why have just one show on a topic when you could have two? Across this and the next episode we’ll be filling in a few gaps we haven’t touched on so far, and providing some broad economic and political scene-setting for this seminal year in both Britain and the States. In this episode we hear about the emergent neoliberal order, the oil crisis, austerity then and now, and OPEC. Jeremy and Tim consider escapism in music and film, Punk, Mods, the Silver Jubilee and the decline of the British Empire. They discuss the mighty Paul Weller, the Sex Pistols, Alice in Wonderland, and dig deep into the crates for the James Bond theme as you’ve never heard it before...Next time we’ll be looking to America for our final show of this run.Do check out the podcasts Jem shouts out in end notes of this show. We're listing them here, you can find them wherever you find this:Pro Revolution SoccerRed MedicinePolitics Theory OtherProduced by Matt Huxley.Become a patron for as little as £3 per month by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcastRemember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFsTracklist:Biddu Orchestra - James Bond Disco Theme (Journey into Fantasy) The Jam - In The City The Jam - Eton Rifles Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen Talking Heads - Don’t Worry About the Government 

In this episode, Tim and Jeremy complete our mini-series on Saturday Night Fever by looking at the film in its cinematographic context alongside two other huge movies of the late1970s. With reference to Rocky and Taxi Driver, the guys unearth the shared visions of class and race politics in the USA of the period. They discuss the particular place of Italian Americans in the culture more broadly, discuss particular forms of American-ness, and spend some time on the real life events that inspired the character of Rocky Balboa. After that, attention returns to Travlota to wrap up SNF with a look at how the film was received at the time and since, and reflect on how their own attitudes to the movie have changed down the years. Plus the Trammps, Jem’s Grandma, and the answer to the question of whether David Mancuso ever saw Tony Manero up on the big screen…Produced by Matt Huxley.We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcastRemember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFsTracklist:Bernard Herrmann - Taxi Driver (Theme) Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now Bee Gees - Night Fever The Trammps - Disco Inferno 

In this episode, Tim and Jeremy pull on their white suits for a full run-down rewatch of Saturday Night Fever. Starting with the iconic 'Stayin' Alive' opening sequence, they draw out the class, race and gender politics of the film, including Italian American stereotypes, consumer culture, Bruce Lee, meritocracy and male grooming. On the music side, they talk blue-eyed Soul, falsetto, an early drum loop, Bee Gees, Kool and the Gang, MFSB and more.Produced by Matt Huxley.We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcastRemember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFsTracklist:Bee Gees - Stayin’ Alive MFSB - K-JeeBee Gees - More Than a Woman Kool & the Gang - Open Sesame Yvonne Elliman - If I Can’t Have You

The day has finally come: after 79 episodes of Love is the Message, it’s time to talk Travolta. Saturday Night Fever was always coming down the pipe for us, and now we’re giving it the LITM treatment.In this episode, Tim and Jeremy establish some of the pre-history to the seminal 1977 film. With musical examples drawn from Vince Aletti’s Disco Files playlists, we hear about the rise of the suburbs in the USA, the dynamics between the different boroughs of mid-70s NYC, and consider the suburban disco scene. We ask again what makes disco disco, revisit the Hustle, tune up the Salsoul Orchestra and take a trip to a disco conference.Of course, it wouldn’t be Saturday Night Fever without the Bee Gees: often-derided and much-mocked but one of the highest selling bands of all time, it was their music which provided the soundtrack to the film. Are they a guilty pleasure? Listen along to find out.Produced by Matt Huxley.We are now on Youtube! Find series 6 here: https://www.youtube.com/@LITMPodcastRemember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs⁠Tracklist:Carl Douglas - Blue Eyed Soul Gloria Scott - Just as Long as We’re Together Babe Ruth - Elusive Tina Charles - Disco Fever Joe Bataan - The Bottle Van McCoy - The Hustle Salsoul Orchestra - The Salsoul Hustle Bee Gees - Spicks and Specks Bee Gees - Massachusetts Bee Gees - Jive Talkin’ Bee Gees - You Should be Dancing

Tim and Jeremy conclude our look at Eurodisco with a series of cuts from the mighty Giorgio Moroder. We hear the silky vocals of Donna Summer, the relentlessness of the 4-to-the-floor, the aesthetics of whiteness and what can only be called Prog Disco.Also in the episode Tim recounts a recent visit to the Philharmonie de Paris, Jeremy revels in a Star Wars rework, and we board the Trans Europe Express once again to spend some time with Kraftwerk.Remember, we have a rolling playlist of all the tracks discussed over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFsAnd you can hear plenty of bonus episodes by becoming a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.Produced by Matt Huxley.Tracklist:Giorgio - From Here to Eternity Munich Machine - Get on the Funk Train Donna Summer - Once Upon a Time Donna Summer - Back in Love Again Meco - Star Wars Theme Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express 

Tim and Jeremy are back on European soil for our second episode on Eurodisco. Examining their record boxes with a post-colonial lens they discuss the aesthetics and politics of race within the genre. We also here about homoeroticism, history-themed tracks, ‘the honky box’, and the life and times of two of the key players in the scene: Jacques Morali and Richie Rome.And of course… Village People.Next time – Moroder!Tracklist:The Ritchie Family - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)The Ritchie Family - African QueensVillage People - San FranciscoBoney M - Ma BakerBoney M - New York City

In the first episode of 2025 Jeremy and Tim attempted to understand a somewhat maligned genre: Eurodisco. What is it and where did it come from? We hear about the cross-continental currents that gave rise to the form, unpack its aesthetics and spend time with some of its key proponents like the French composer and drummer Cerrone. Tim and Jeremy also take time to unpack the Switched On Classics, play us an infamous Beethoven reinvention, ask what the Enlightenment has to answer for, and compare Eurodisco and another genre that riles people up, prog rock. Tracklist: The SalSoul Orchestra - Magic Bird of Fire The Walter Murphy Band - A Fifth of Beethoven  Kongas - Jungle Cerrone - Love in C Minor Love and Kisses - I’ve Found Love (Now That I’ve Found You) 

In this episode of Love is the Message Jeremy and Tim have packed a bag chock full of stone cold 1977 dance floor classics that share a Black Disco aesthetic. We hear a number of cuts from Tom Moulton and Walter Gibbons that can be pinpointed as some of the most important contributions to early remix culture (whilst still guaranteed to go off at a party). François K makes a fleeting appearance, alongside Boney M, Grace Jones, Miami, the SalSoul Orchestra and Henri Bergson. We close out the show with an all-timer in Lamont Dozier’s ‘Going Back to my Roots’. Enjoy this week listeners, as next time we’re taking on Euro Disco…  Due to licensing issues, we can only play short clips of the music discussed. If you’d like to listen along to the full tracks, we have an ever-expanding Spotify playlist hosting (most) of the tracks played in the show. You can find Series 6 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: CJ & Co - Devil’s Gun (Tom Moulton Mix) Elton John - Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance) (Tom Moulton Mix) First Choice - Dr Love (Tom Moulton Mix) Loleatta Holloway - Hit and Run (Walter Gibbons Mix) Rare Earth - Happy Song (François K Edit) T-Connection - Do What You Wanna Do Peter Brown - Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me? Sine - Keep It Coming Lamont Dozier - Going To My Roots

In this episode Tim and Jeremy continue the story of Frankie Knuckles first year at the controls of the seminal Chicago nightclub, the Warehouse. We hear an investigation of Frankie’s early musical aesthetic, how it would lend itself to the development of the House sound some years later, and whether stability or dynamism are better for a pumping dance floor. Elsewhere in the episode we hear about how Robert Williams came to know Frankie and Larry Levan, the experiences the two young club kids had at the Continental Baths, the understated role of social workers in the story of dance history, and what the PMC have to do with Afrika Bambaataa. Plus - stolen donuts, LSD in the fish tank, and Jeremy’s dreams of lamé… Produced by Matt Huxley. Due to licensing issues, we can only play short clips of the music discussed. If you’d like to listen along to the full tracks, we have an ever-expanding Spotify playlist hosting (most) of the tracks played in the show. You can find Series 6 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs Tracklist: The Osmonds - One Bad Apple The Originals - Down to Love Town Roy Ayres - Running Away  Pam Todd & Love Exchange - Let’s Get Together First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder Made in USA - Melodies 

This is the first of two episodes on another seminal club in the history of dance culture: The Warehouse. Jeremy and Tim begin by spending some time discussing the city of Chicago, a place that despite its massive musical output hasn’t really featured in out story so far. A crucible of industrial modernity, they consider its unique historical position, the move from Delta to Chicago Blues, and how it linked to NYC in the mid-70s. We hear about the several early locations of the club that would become The Warehouse, revisit Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, and give a shout out to another satellite of the US disco scene, Le Jock. Plus: singing bumblebees, Chaka Khan, and David Mancuso’s enduring love of Tescos. Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Muddy Waters - Trouble No More Rufus and Chaka Khan - Once You Get Started Titanic - Rain 2000 Bumblebee Unlimited - Love Bug 

We’re back from our summer break and getting straight back to business to examine what was going on in the Downtown party scene during the fabled year of 1977. We return to a favourite of the show - Nicky Siano - to hear how the Gallery wound down, check in on what’s happening back at the Loft, and unearth the very first iteration of the Paradise Garage. Also featured in this episode: a bit more Studio 54 wash-up, the decline of the New York Record Pool, Deleuzian sobriety and more on Jem’s breakdancing. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Books:Jonathan Mahler - Ladies and Gentlemen the Bronx is Burnin Tracklist:Salsoul Orchestra ft. Loleatta Holloway - Runaway Teddy Pendergrass - The More I Get, The More I Want Grace Jones - I Need a Man Sylvester - Over and Over C.J. & Co. - We Got Our Own Thing Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame

In this episode Jeremy and Tim complete our mini-series on the opening of Studio 54. They discuss links between underground and mainstream both generally and specific to 1977 NYC, consider the importance of celebrities to the Studio project, and interrogate the velvet rope. We hear about Bianca Jagger’s birthday party, spend more time thinking about Richard Long and his sound system designs, and ask who really is a native New Yorker? We’ll be away for the summer holidays, but will be back with more music, sound systems and counterculture in September. For now, why not dig into our back archive of bonus episodes on by becoming a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: Sweet Cream - I Don't Know What I'd Do  Olympic Runners - Keep It Up  Odyssey - Native New Yorker  Le Pamplemousse – Le Spank  The Trammps - The Night The Lights Went Out 

In this episode Jeremy and Tim walk us past the velvet rope and into opening night at Studio 54. They introduce us to Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, the two businessmen who owned the club, as well as to the often overlooked Carmen D’Alessio, who’s taste and art world connections were crucial to the look and feel of the party. Through these characters and more we get to learn about the founding of Studio 54. We also hear discussions on Muzak, eclecticism, returning champion Nicky Siano, and the aesthetics of ‘smoothness’. Tim and Jeremy interrogate the surprising links between Downtown and Midtown, explore how journalists tried to understand the Studio 54 phenomenon, and contemplate whether they even like disco anymore. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: The Ritchie Family - Brazil  Anthony Whyte - Block Party (A Walter Gibbons Mix)  Chic - Dance Dance Dance  Santa Esmeralda - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood 

In this episode Jeremy and Tim discuss the economic and social setting into which Studio 54 opened in 1977. They talk about the differences between midtown and downtown scenes, the antagonism (or lack thereof) between punk and disco, subcultural theory and escapism.  How did disco become so popular so quickly? The guys explore the commercial phenomenon as it exploded after 1975, including the first Disco Convention in 1976 (with awards ceremony!), the in-crowd vs the suburbs, and an extended meditation on the history and value of gimmick records. Plus: has Jeremy done the Hustle? Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Books: Sarah Thornton - Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital Anthony Hayden-Guest - The Last Party Thomas Delany - Times Square Red, Times Square Blue Tracklist: Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots - Disco Ducks  Van McCoy - The Hustle  Carol Douglas - Midnight Love Affair  Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Cherchez La Femme 

In the final episode of our three-parter on punk, Jeremy and Tim stick a pin through their ears and make their way down the Kings Road for the release of Anarchy in the UK. We hear about the mercurial Malcolm McLaren, Situationism, Symbolism and SEX in discussion with the Pistols project. We uncover why John Lydon knows what he hates but not what he wants, how a prime-time curse word scandalised Britain, and ask who wasn’t at the Manchester Free Trade Hall the night the Sex Pistols played. Elsewhere in the episode we dig deeper into what constituted punk as a structure of feeling, contrasting authenticity with irony and asking: how serious really is all this? With Blondie, John Waters, Rimbaud, the Mercer Street Arts Center and Patti Smith. Never mine the bollocks, here’s Love is the Message… Produced by Matt Huxley. Tracklist:New York Dolls - Personality Crisis Patti Smith - Horses Blondie - X Offender Books:Frith & Hall - Art into Pop

In this episode we continue our trio of episodes on Punk by examining some crucial mid-70s proto-Punk antecedents. Via the lean funkiness of Dr Feelgood Jeremy and Tim explore the interesting British formation of pub rock, with its R’n’B roots and distinct danceability. This leads to a discussion on the slipperiness of Rock’n’Roll as a term and its tensions with ‘rock’ proper. We also hear an early influence on Post-Punk and meet the influential Stiff Records at its foundation. In the second half of the show we make a second encounter on the show with the Ramones, and ask: what were they really up to? Authenticity, performance, historiography and hagiography all come under the microscope as we lead to the first definitively British Punk record: New Rose by The Damned.Join us next time for Blondie and the Sex Pistols.Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist:Dr Feelgood - She Does it RightDr Feelgood - Keep it Outta SightNick Lowe - So It GoesThe Ramones - Blitzkrieg BopThe Saints - (I’m) StrandedThe Damned - New Rose

Welcome to Series 6 of Love is the Message! We hope you enjoyed the series of conversations with writers and academics that comprised Series 5, but now we are returning to our usual format to examine a watershed year: 1977.  In this first episode we are unpacking Punk. What is it? A musical style, a subgenre of rock, a fashion sensibility, an attitude, a structure of feeling? In the first of three shows on Punk, Jeremy and Tim unfurl a general genealogy of the term as we build towards the release of Anarchy in the UK in two episodes’ time. They discuss where the term came from and how it was codified; the importance punk placed on realness and spontaneity; and contrast Punk’s nostalgic and avant garde modes.  Tim and Jeremy make reference to three bands not immediately thought of as Punk - The Seeds, The MC5 and The Stooges - to uncover what musical work was taking place in the late 60s and early 70s that could be viewed as proto-punk, and use these bands to show the problems of rock historiography in recounting the history of Punk. And, this being LITM, we of course spend some time untangling the Punk vs Disco dichotomy.  We hope you’ll join us as we continue our long march through the 1970s and beyond! Become a patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist: The Seeds - Pushin’ Too Hard The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams The Stooges - Funhouse

In this episode Jeremy and Tim are joined by writer, historian, and friend of the show Simon Reynolds to discuss British musical trends of the 1970s and his life as a music journalist. Simon is arguably the most important music critic writing today, having penned seminal books on post-punk, electronic dance music, feminist rock and much more. In this interview he mostly talks about his most recent book, ‘Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century’, sharing stories from his childhood interest in the decadent world of Glam. The three discuss how so many artists came to aestheticise a rejection of suburbia, the purply gauze of Top of the Pops, and thinking the Situationists were a band. They unpick how Punk is imagined and historicised versus how it was experienced, how Simon came to reappraise the 60s against a hostile critical culture, and consider the role of the music press historically and today. For patrons, our extended edition also includes a discussion around Simon’s 2011 book ‘Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past’. Tim, Jeremy and Simon recount the particular conjuncture from which the book arose, tease out its key theses, and apply those to contemporary music culture. Simon Reynolds is the author of ‘Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock’, ‘The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock 'N' Roll’ with Joy Press, ‘Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture’, ‘Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984’, ‘Bring The Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip-Hop’, ‘Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past’ and ‘Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century’. His next book, ‘Futuromania: Electronic Dreams from Moroder to Migos’ is forthcoming. Tracklist: Scott Joplin - The Entertainer Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Plaistow Patricia The Rezillos - Top Of The Pops The Specials - Ghost Town Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

To hear an extended version of this conversation, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. In this episode Jeremy and Tim are joined by historian and New Yorker Kim Phillips-Fein to discuss a crucial event in the Love is the Message story: the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. Kim’s book ‘Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics’ is widely regarded as the definitive text on the matter, so she was the perfect person to talk to, and she brought some great music recommendations to boot. The three discuss both the long- and short-term backdrop to the crisis, charting how the city’s unique social democratic municipal system of rent controls, hospitals and education changed across the twentieth century, before examining how the centre of international capital came extremely close to bankruptcy. Kim explains the financial mechanisms which animated the crisis and the political choices that precipitated it. She elucidates President Ford’s predicament during the crisis, the effects of ‘white flight’, and reminds us that New York was itself an industrial city rapidly de-industrialising.  This being Love is the Message, naturally we also hear about the extraordinary cultural creativity of the time and examine its material causes, including changing democraphics and the transformation of Soho. Finally, Tim Jeremy and Kim consider what happened next, and how the fiscal crisis has been historicised to serve a particular ideology. Kim Phillips-Fein is the Gardiner-Kenneth T. Jackson Professor of History at Columbia University. Her book ‘Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics' was named a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History. She is also the author of ‘Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan’. Tracklist: Television - Venus The Dils - Class War The Rolling Stones - Shattered Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy are joined by writer, critic and academic Emily J. Lordi to discuss her 2020 book The Meaning of Soul (and much more besides). Emily talks about how she got into writing about Black music and the particular status Soul held in academia at the start of her career. The three consider changing historiographies of Black culture, talk over some key canonical texts, and contrast Soul with scholarship on Blues and Jazz. Emily explains how her analysis looks beyond lyrics in its appraisal of the political content of Soul, and how through an evaluation of a shift between sacred and secularised notions of the genre, we can see an articulation of a collective subjectivity representative of the congregational traditions from which the music draws on. Elsewhere, Tim, Jeremy and Emily consider ‘the crew’ in Soul and Hip Hop, Disco’s relationship to Soul, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Minnie Ripperton. For patrons, the three dig into Emily’s concept of ‘Afro-Presentism’, Beyonce, Janelle Monáe, contemporary R’n’B, and the affect of resilience. Emily J. Lordi is a writer, professor, and cultural critic whose focus is African American literature and Black popular music. She is professor of English at Vanderbilt University and the author of three books: Black Resonance (2013), Donny Hathaway Live (2016), and The Meaning of Soul (2020). Produced by Matt Huxley. Check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/