Episode #58 | 5.26.20
Studio 54: Disco Decadence, a Dead Body and Bags of Cash
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In this episode
In the late seventies, Studio 54 was the place to be for musicians and celebrities alike. John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and others all famously hung out at the notorious club where hedonism was part of the venue’s allure. The success of Studio 54 was sudden and massive, resulting in mountains of cash, cocaine, jealousy, revenge, an FBI raid and an ironic ending for one of its owners.
Sources
Sex, Coke, and Disco: A Brief History of Studio 54, by Yeoman Lowbrow
The Hollywood Legend, the Mob, and the Jukebox Racket, by Jeff Burbank
7 Businesses You Probably Didn’t Know Were Controlled by the Mob, by Kelly Bryant
‘It Almost Destroyed Me’: behind New York’s greatest night club, Studio 54, by Nadja Sayej
Rollerina, Legendary Queen of Studio 54, by Lady Clover Honey
Daily Style Phile: Disco Sally, the Grandmama of NYC Night Life, by Ross Kenneth Urkin
10 Crazy Things That Happened at Studio 54, by Stacy Conradt
An Angry DJ: The Inside Story of Studio 54’s Steve Rubell’s Wild Last Night, by Magnetic
Chic Le Freak stats, by Billboard
US Corporate Income Tax Rate, Its History, and the Effective Rate, by Kimberly Amadeo
Mafia Math: Calculating Italian Organized Crime’s Illicit Income, by Gangsters Inc.
Obama Pardons Former Studio 54 Owner, Baseball Hall of Famers on Tax Charges, by Kelly Phillips Erb
Studio 54: 10 Wild Stories From the Club’s Debauched Heyday, by Jordan Runtagh
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Score by Jake Brennan.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak