Studio 54 opened on April 26, 1977, in a former television studio (which earlier had been a theater) at 254 West 54th Street, New York City. The idea belonged to a popular model in NYC at the time, Uva Harden, whose role in the club’s operation was quickly cut with the arrival of Steve Rubell and Ian Scharger, two nightclub owners drawn into the project after the original financers, who were involved in the art world, pulled out when accused of theft by Mark Rothko’s widow.

Expense was thrown to the wind in order to build the number one hot spot. The best of Broadway’s interior designers, stage set designers and lighting experts were all consulted for the club’s construction. The style was to mimic Versailles for it was to be the most beautiful, the most unforgettable place in the world. But the real reason why Studio 54 made history was for the incredible number of VIPs and stars that PR agent Carmen D’Alessio managed to bring in night after night, leading to the notorious door policy that “normal” people were subject to in order to get in. Studio 54’s philosophy was devilishly simple: the “famous people” inside, everyone else outside desperate to be allowed in for their fifteen minutes of glitz & glamour with the names making headlines in society news. Andy Warhol, Calvin Klein, Grace Jones, Bianca Jagger…
“Since our clients here are people in the entertainment world, we have to be very selective about who we let in,” claimed Rubell at the time.

Read the interview with Tim Sweeney, the DJ of the radio show “Beats in Space” and listen to his playlist tribute to the 70s disco scene and Studio 54.

TIM SWEENEY

Part of the DFA record label (LCD Soundsystem, Juan MacLean, Hercules and Love Affair…), Tim Sweeney was born in Baltimore but moved to New York in 1999 to study music technology at New York University. It was there at the university’s radio station – WNYU, 89.1 FM – that Tim began broadcasting his show “Beats in Space” every Tuesday from 10:30 PM to 1 AM. The podcast version of the show (www.beatsinspace.net) is probably the most listened to dance radio show on the face of the planet!

What is the strangest place you ever DJed at?
“Probably at the Museum of Natural History in New York. But who knows what the future holds: considering that my program is called ‘Beats in Space’, obviously my dream is to play music in space one day…”

What has changed since you started DJing?
“The real change is that over the last ten years here in New York almost all record shops have closed. Vinyl records, I mean. Just a few used record shops have survived, fortunately, but now I buy almost everything online.”

Is there still a strong connection between New York and its club scene like there was in the 70s and early 80s?
“Living in New York is very expensive, and I think that this has made it so that fewer talented people decide to stay here than in the past. There’s no longer a sense of ‘community’ like there was – according to the stories of the people who were there – for example, in the East Village in the early 80s. Sure, today you can re-create a sense of community online, and that’s part of what I try to do with ‘Beats in Space’, but it isn’t the same. What the historic clubs of NYC taught all of us is that it’s the people – I mean real people, who live and work, who go out to clubs – that make a music ‘scene’.”
Text by Rolling Stone Italia

Chic Cheer
I Love the Nightlife
Love Sensation
Glad to Know You
Knock on Wood
Found a Cure
Dancer
Atomic
I Got My Mind Made Up
Street Player
He’s the Greatest Dancer

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