Oh... How I miss the roller disco rinks of the 70's.  Back then I was there everytime the door was open.  If you've seen Roll Bounce, I could live in the rink they featured, Sweetwater.  I'm discouraged at how the rinks of today have devolved into little more than babysitters and birthday party venues.  At least in the Atlanta area, anyway.  When I requested a 70's song at a local rink, I was informed by the "DJ" that the song I wanted was "too slow" and the other people might not like it.  Boy was I steamed.  I would give just about anything to have a real bumpin' rink to skate at again.

I was never very good but I loved skating.  My dream house would be to buy an old roller rink, make the area where the lockers are the living room, renovate the kitchen the and bathrooms (but keep the dining area as is. turn the upstairs office into a bedroom...and then fill the arcade with my favorite games.  Seriously when the lotto got up 300 million I swore I would do it if I'd won... I didn't win  :\'(

Oh... How I miss the roller disco rinks of the 70's.  Back then I was there everytime the door was open.  If you've seen Roll Bounce, I could live in the rink they featured, Sweetwater.  I'm discouraged at how the rinks of today have devolved into little more than babysitters and birthday party venues.  At least in the Atlanta area, anyway.  When I requested a 70's song at a local rink, I was informed by the "DJ" that the song I wanted was "too slow" and the other people might not like it.  Boy was I steamed.  I would give just about anything to have a real bumpin' rink to skate at again.

Not sure of where you are DiscoSkater, but your wishes have been answered! :)

Actually they have been for a while now. Locally in the LA and Long Beach and Anaheim areas, Good Foot sponsors local old school funk shows (REALLY fun), disco Sundays (the REAL deal) and yes, DISCO ROLLERSKATING!

Its quite popular with the "hipsters" but its fun to go and skate or just dance and listen to the music. A lot of people "dress"  ::) for the part, so you can imagine how strange/bizarre it can be to see bell bottoms and Afros sliding about, but its all done in fun.

Check it out if you're in the LA area, the shows are usually once a month, only about $5-6 cover, and you can skate in rollerblades (but not sure why you'd want to...) 8)

I loved to Roller skate but not to disco, I did most of my skating in the 60s to Gary Puckett and such. It was such great fun.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h154/Brigitte_B/seventies/70sskates.jpg
I loved rollerskating, we had a couple in my home town - Rollerland & Lloyd's Rollercade
In 1976-1979 we went almost every weekend!
Years later (probably 1987) I got a bunch of coworkers together and went but was disappointed they only rented out rollerblades!
I remember 'speed skatin' to Ballroom Blitz and playing 'shoot the duck"

Was always a bit of a fan of the whole "space disco" genre, and a few of those tracks no doubt made it to the roller rink.

Does anyone remember a high-tempo (~130-140BPM?) instrumental that was played?  Lots of keyboards, and a bit of a drum roll effect.  Unfortunately, as it's an instrumental and I've never heard it outside of a roller rink, I have no idea what it was named.  Vaguely reminiscent of Johnny Harris' Odyssey and Amii Stewart's Knock on Wood.  Would have been 1981 at the latest, but more likely late-70s to 1980.  For my fellow video game geeks, Atari's Missile Command was in the rink's arcade, and the "drum roll"/"thunder" effect was about the same frequency at which one would fire when laying down a defensive "screen" of fire at the start of each round.

Was always a bit of a fan of the whole "space disco" genre, and a few of those tracks no doubt made it to the roller rink.

Does anyone remember a high-tempo (~130-140BPM?) instrumental that was played?  Lots of keyboards, and a bit of a drum roll effect.  Unfortunately, as it's an instrumental and I've never heard it outside of a roller rink, I have no idea what it was named.  Vaguely reminiscent of Johnny Harris' Odyssey and Amii Stewart's Knock on Wood.  Would have been 1981 at the latest, but more likely late-70s to 1980.  For my fellow video game geeks, Atari's Missile Command was in the rink's arcade, and the "drum roll"/"thunder" effect was about the same frequency at which one would fire when laying down a defensive "screen" of fire at the start of each round.


I remember that era of skating rinks.  Our favorite was set up much more like a dance club.  They didn't have a liquor license thank god!

Off-topic--
I was recently at a bowling alley with candlepin style!

I remember that era of skating rinks.  Our favorite was set up much more like a dance club.  They didn't have a liquor license thank god!


An, y'see, kids, we didn't have no lawyers like y'all have in the 00s.  You could go to a skatin' rink, an' if your folks was old enough to drink, why, they could skate drunk durin' the slow and boring "couples skates" tracks while you hung out at the arcade!

/Onion, belt, lawn, off, etc.

While I like the disco tunes, I can't skate to save my life. I tried skating when I was 12 in school and spent 8 days laid out on the floor,or clinging to one of the poles in the room to stay upright while all my buddies went zomming by me.  :(

Gimme a pair of platforms and some Bee-Gees tunes, I'll show you the real fun!  ;)

Oh wow, the memories!

I spent many hours at the roller rinks in the last 1970's and early 1980's.  In fact, my first real job was as a DJ at a roller rink in Boise.  By then Disco was largely dead, and instead I was playing things like Steve Miller Pand, Allan Parson's Project, Stars On and Hooked On Classics.

  By then Disco was largely dead, and instead I was playing things like Steve Miller Band, 


Speaking of which, was your rink one of those "funky kicks goin' down in the city", or was it "funky _audio_fades_out_ goin' down in the city?" when it came to Jet Airliner?

Mine was a "What's the principal doin' with her?  Who's that guy, is he _fadeout_ with her?" and a "She makes me _fadeout_ my jeans when she comes my way" rink when it came to Rough Trade's High School Confidential.

The funny thing was that when you're censoring words like "screwin'" and "cream", you just get the entire rink screaming out the censored word as loud as you can...

Speaking of which, was your rink one of those "funky kicks goin' down in the city", or was it "funky _audio_fades_out_ goin' down in the city?" when it came to Jet Airliner?

Mine was a "What's the principal doin' with her?  Who's that guy, is he _fadeout_ with her?" and a "She makes me _fadeout_ my jeans when she comes my way" rink when it came to Rough Trade's High School Confidential.

The funny thing was that when you're censoring words like "screwin'" and "cream", you just get the entire rink screaming out the censored word as loud as you can...


We were neither.  Like most places that deal with a younger crowd, we used "radio edits" of songs.