The Hypocrisy of Disco

by Clane Hayward

Born in San Francisco just before the Summer of Love, Clane Hayward grew up on hippie communes throughout the west. Her poignantly funny, sometimes melancholy, and always riveting memoir recounts her extraordinary life up until her thirteenth birthday. School was a particularly happy eventit meant a hot lunch and clothes that matched! But Clane's mother warned her that schools are just zoos run by the government. From a world of complex relationships, uncertain rules and constant surprises, Clane forged a childhood, sometimes with, sometimes without her bong-puffing, Buddha-quoting, macrobiotic mother and her wild-haired, redneck father. The Hypocrisy of Disco is an honest, direct, and truly unforgettable tale, and a tribute to the resilience of youth.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Counter Culture, Book Club, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2007

About the author

Not a nail-biter, scared of the dark, hates scotch. A library is my favorite place in the world. I have a large collection of pre-1965 Harlequin romances which I re-read when depressed. I have recently self-published a second memoir, the follow-up to "the Hypocrisy of Disco" and it is available only at

www.cafepress.com/clanehayward

Reviews

[Tom Steinberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remarkable book is written with the voice of a precocious 11/12 year-old child in the present tense recounting a year (or so) of her life to her thirteenth birthday, spanning summer 1978 into March, 1980. The narrative also touched upon her earlier years in sufficient detail to frame the current story. Since this was written with a couple of decades' retrospective, there is necessarily an adult voice behind it, but the literary device works -- Clane Hayward writes vivid prose with an eye for detail, an ear for dialog - a-and there's a soundtrack, too.

This book will evoke a lot of emotion on account of her unflinching description of Child Neglect in the First Degree. It's not a horror story -- there are moments of intense, lyrical beauty and tenderness. And, honestly, there's genuine unforced humor. She had me caring deeply about her siblings and cohorts -- those passages were positively wrenching. I was left pondering their possible paths and fates.

What, did somebody say hippie? Yeah, here's where it gets sort of lurid. "Hippie" is a protean term. You will find thoughtful, creative, open minded folks in this book but they are not the central characters. The portrayal of Claude Hayward (no, not a redneck -- a Digger) and H'lane (LNU) reminds me why "hippie" can be an epithet.

In fairness: (a) Diggers declared Death of Hippie (October 6, 1967). (b) The far-seeing, hard-working Claude certainly ain't shiftless so one might wonder about the totality of his scene. (c) He's reported to be supportive of Clane's work -- so his feet are held to the fire. Many of us have had to consider the redemptive path, one way or another. One of the strengths of this book is that the author uses real names and real places & in these netted days that's a gusty move, and valuable if the reader wants to consider extra dimensions of this thought-provoking story.

This review is incomplete and will be edited and expanded. To me, this book has personal, social, and cultural implications and it deserves a dispassionate disquisition.

Cue, for now, to "Ship of Fools."

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is frightening. For someone from my generation, hippies mean free love, peace and pot. What could go wrong, right? Well, this memoir, written by a child of a hippie, exposes the ugly shadow side of that generation's idealized world. There have been irresponsible parents and neglected children in every generation, I'm sure. But in this case, the adults explain and even justify the situation with the beliefs and fads of the time. The author is a sensitive child and throughout the book I kept feeling like I just wanted to smack someone! So why read it? Because it is masterfully written in the voice of a pre-teen and teenage child. As much as this book angered me, saddened me, I desperately hope she writes a sequel.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal memoir that’s so potently portrayed in lyrical prose as a specific time and place. You can breathe the air of this book. Shows the true social costs of weaving in and out of mainstream life and the alienation and loss that comes with a hyper-hippie lifestyle.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended/loaned to me from a couple of friends in San Francisco who know Clane in a different context.

It's a gripping account of the author's early adolescent life, without being overly self-indulgent in the way that many modern popular memoirs seem to be (Angela's Ashes, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Glass Castle). The language employed is easily reflective of Clane's mindset while entrenched in these experiences, and though represents a cursory glance of events, at the same time is detailed to a degree easily appreciated.

The Hypocrisy of Disco is a relatively quick read and shines light on a subculture with which I've always had a fascination. I was especially grateful for a brilliant moment where the book takes a tiny turn, from the constant reinforcement that the author and her siblings stand out from their classmates for one reason or another (not all of the time, just most of the time), to the moment she recognizes the very weird sameness of everything else (i.e., not-her). Excellent.

[Teree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shouldn't have waited so long with it in my nightstand drawer, indecisive about what to read next. I am loving it. Before I knew it, I was on page ninety-six and absolutely couldn’t put it down! I spent half my Sunday reading this book, regardless of the obligations requiring my attention.

While exploring young Clane’s world, I discovered (with both reverence and disdain) emotions, fragrances, tastes and textures not previously contemplated by myself. I will not look at a field, a riverbank, a picnic table, a forest, a creek, a chicken coop, or an abandoned shack in the same way ever again. I will also not be craving a tofu sandwich on lumpy homemade bread anytime soon.

When a book asks the reader to use the senses of smell, taste, hearing and touch, as well as the obvious, then you know you have quite a read in store. Hypocrisy of Disco is that book and indeed quite a read.

[Bronwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A distressing memoir of the author's hippie childhood, complete with spaced-out macrobiotic mother and redneck father. While the book only spans two years, from the time the author is 11 until her 13th birthday, it was enough to completely quash any of the romantic fantasies I had as a child about living the carefree life of a flower child.

Clane and her brother suffered various degrees of abusive neglect under the care of parents, grandparents and family friends. I was amazed by the author's maturity and survival skills. By the end of the book I truly cared about the fate of the children.

I have to say, though, that it bugged me that the author mentioned watching the He-Man cartoon on TV prior to 1980, when the show didn't debut until 1983.

[Abbie Lenning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sucked into this memoir immediately. The author is sharing a year or so in her life just coming into her teens, the daughter of hard core hippies. She is my age, so maybe that adds a connection though I didn't have anything close to her life. What impresses me about her writing is, though she will share her frustrations and anger, she stays away from a diatribe or judgments against her mother. There is a second book, though I'm not sure of the title.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting things about this book, to me, are that I met Clane at a summer barbecue at a friend's house (and she seemed very sharp and well-adjusted) and that she writes about living in Monte Rio and elsewhere in Sonoma County during the 70's.
Having lived in Monte Rio myself, it's really fascinating to hear about how it was then. Being the strangest place I've ever lived, Monte Rio has a sort of ghost town feeling to it.
Aside from summer river-goers, the regular population of tweakers, rednecks, gay couples, and old hippies is hard to duplicate. Maybe I'm just jealous that there was a health food store when Clane lived there.
Clane's book is good - she captures the feeling of being 13 and not feeling normal.

[Qi-Kor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad/humorous story all at once from a little girl growing up in a very interesting part of the country. I was glued to this book the moment I started it. It made me really want to take her side and defend this girl.

[Sara Bohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book made me think of a friend, but this is extreme living on a whole nother level. Makes you think about capitalism too and how you can't escape it, even if you live in the f'ing woods.

[Andie Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite writers. I reread this one about once a year.

[Ed Wagemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disco Rock

At the 21st Grammy Awards in 1979, Saturday Night Fever (The Original Movie Sound Track) was named Album of the Year.  The album's featured group, the Bee Gees, received the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. By the end of 1979, the disco industry was estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, that meant that it was generating more money than the movie industry, television or professional sport. It was so big that The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences added Disco as its own category for the 22nd Grammy Awards. Nominated works for the award included "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? by Rod Stewart, and "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer.

An anti-disco sentiment had been building for sometime however.  By early '79 this sentiment was witnessed in the "disco sucks" and "death to disco" T-shirts and graffiti seen around the towns and cities of the USA.  Rock fans were particularly fed up with watching one "Rock" act after another fall to Disco's influence, from the Rolling Stones to Rod Stewart to David Bowie to Kiss

The anti-Disco movement hit critical mass on the night of July 12, 1979 (just weeks after Newsweek had declared that Disco had "taken over" the music industry) when a promotional event called Disco Demolition Night was held at Chicago's Comiskey Park.  It took place during intermission ata  double header where a young local radio disc jockey named Steve Dahl set ablaze a bin full of disco records and thereby ignited complete mayhem. The Chicago Police were called in with riot gear as 50,000 rioters took over the field, the ball park and an entire city block, forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit the second game of the double header.  An excellent discription of the Disco Demolition at Comisky Park is given in Josh Wilker's book Cardboard Gods, where he writes:

“That night, in Chicago, the sky had rained flat black discs and lit M-80s. By the late innings, the visiting Detroit Tigers outfielders were wearing batting helmets in the outfield. A vendor reported selling forty-nine cases of beer, more than double the number he’d sold on any single night in his many years on the job. Smoldering bongs were passed from hand to hand like change for a hot dog, giant glossy airplanes made of promotional posters featuring a sultry blonde model known only as Lorelei swooped and dove amid the hail of explosives and Frisbeed LPs and 45s, and inebriated throngs in the parking lot jumped up and down on cars and set fire to white-suited John Travolta dolls and searched for illegal entry into the slightly more focused mayhem inside the packed stadium. As game one of the scheduled doubleheader progressed, this search gained urgency, for between games a local 24-year-old disc jocky named Steve Dahl and the aforementioned Lorelei were going to detonate a mountain of disco records.

Almost immediately after this detonation, a stream and then a gushing wave of longhaired attendees flowed onto the playing field…The revolution, the pointless, hysterical revolution, had come. Some lit bonfires in the outfield. Some wheeled the batting cage around like it was a stalled car that needed a running start. Some performed hook slides and headfirst Pete Rose plunges into where the bases would have been if they hadn’t already been ripped from the ground and stuffed between giggling rib cages and the fabric of Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith T-shirts. More than one person reported seeing couples fornicating…”

The Disco Demolition garnered national headlines that seemed to unleash a backlash against Disco.  Public support for disco music faded alarmingly fast.  At the time of the Disco Demolition (July 21, 1979) the top six records on the U.S. music charts were disco songs. By September 22, just two months later, there was not a single disco song in the U.S. Top 10 chart. Within months the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (that had just added Disco as it own catagory) reversed itself and eliminated the award category all together. Disco was officially pronounced dead and July 12, 1979 has forever since been known as "the day disco died".

This Aint No Disco!

I remember sometime around 1985 my good friend Ray gave me a mixed tape that included 90 minutes of Rock songs that were largely disco influenced.  He called it Disco Rock and to the best of my memory, here are the songs that were included on that mixed tape:

Rolling Stones - "miss you"

Kinks - "superman"

Elton John - "philadelphia freedom"

kiss - "I was made for loving you"

David Bowie - "fame"

Grateful Dead - "shakedown street"

Jefferson Starhip - "miracles"

Queen - "another one bites the dust"

Pink Floyd - . Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2

Eagles - "one of these nights"

ELO - "xanadu"

Exile - "kiss you all over"

Paul McCartney - "goodnight tonight"

BeeGees - Staying Alive



Blondie - Heart Of Glass

J Geils - Detroit Breakdown

Frank Zappa - "dancin fool"

King Crimson - "sleepless"

Talking Heads - "air"

Chicago - "street player"

Led Zep - "Carouselambra"

roxy music - angel eyes

Rick Dees - Disco Duck



Special mention should be made of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Message to Love" (1969) which is arguably the first disco song ever made.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes You Think

I liked this book -- though I didn't really feel that way initially because it didn't feel all that compelling and it moved rather slowly. Perhaps the slow - moving part was intentional though? Maybe it was meant to mirror the slow pace of time when you are adrift with no solid foundation and no real way to differentiate between one day or one place and the next.
The parents of the author and her siblings were both irresponsible and neglectful. They seemed way too self involved and ironically, the mother was VERY focused on eating healthy while at the same time it was obviously okay to her that her kids were going hungry, unwashed and uneducated at times and living with neglect and dysfunction. I feel they should have been taken from her by the state OR, the parents should have been taught to BE parents and made to follow a little more conventional lifestyle that at least involves enrolling your children in school, bathing them at least two or three times per week, providing adequate and well fitting clothes, shoes, pajamas, teaching them to brush their teeth and wash their hands before meals, wash their face daily. I think they should have been given opportunities for learning everyday things like setting a table, socializing, and been taught how to ask for help if you don't understand something. As important if not more so, when something as simple as a beautician or another adult washing a child's hair reminds the child that no adult ever lovingly touches them in a safe way , that they don't get affection and love it is heartbreaking to say the very least!
Over all, a well written book. Not fancy writing, but solid, much like the floors or ground outside these kids slept on in old dirty sleeping bags at night. I am curious now...wondering what became of Clane, Haud, Ki and Random. (I can't imagine naming children names like that! I'd suggest changing them to "Lane/Layne/Laine or even a first name beginning with " C" and using Lane as a middle name. For Haud, I'd change it completely. Ki isn't too outrageous but perhaps a "Ki" name like Kinsley, Kindra, Kiley/Kilea. Random maybe an "R" name --"Roman " includes many of the same letters as does "Norman" , "Ron", " Dan..."

[Carmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend had left this book with me years ago. It rested on a bookshelf for years. I usually check books out of the local library but during this time of COVID they are closed. I revisited my bookshelf for anything at all to read? I found this book and gave it a try. I liked the writing. The story was interesting and sad since it was a true story. My heart really went out to Clane. I so wanted to hug that little girl and take her in. At times it was like being raised by wolves. Not to mention every other kid in the story. I just wish the book title was something else. I would have named this book, Spaces Between Places. I think that would be way more fitting for this book. I still want to hug you, Clane. Thank you for your story.

[B. Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hypocrisy of Disco certainly has an assortment of reviews. Good and bad. I enjoyed Clanes story, her writing, losses and triumphant. Her use of music lyrics was especially well done, and I never expected Clanes memoir to be specifically about communes. I expected what I got, a heartwarming journey of a preteen American girl and her wild family. Clanes natural descriptions were awe inspiring with her ability to describe lost forgotten places once especially important to someone. Abandoned towns and parks. A windswept lost high or a summer trodden beach in the winter. This autobiography is an important piece of literature and tells that no matter where we find ourselves, life is simply life. Enjoy little offerings that make us happy.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just made me sad. The most mainstream people in her life still thought it was OK to celebrate a 13th birthday by smoking a joint. Her upbringing only went down from there. I am a California hippy child, born in the same year as the author, and thankfully I couldn't identify with most of her experiences.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I warmed up to the writing style I didn't want to put this one down. Clane survives a childhood being passed around to different adults and disorganized home settings, leaving a sister behind on the way. She survives the hippie lifestyle that is forced upon her and survives a childhood where it seems she doesn't get a lot of love. It's a sweet, sad and descriptive memoir.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was magnificent and deeply disturbing. Clane and her siblings were horribly neglected. Her parents, in their different ways, were too self-absorbed to understand or supply the care children need - including food, shelter, basic hygiene, and attention. Clane was a smart and resourceful kid, but she was fending for herself and her little brother and sister, under rather bleak circumstances. Just reading about these couple of years, ages 11-13, was excruciating.

The week after reading the book, I got to see a screening of the new film made from it, called Lane 1974. It was nicely done, though it covered only a small part of what was in the book. Clane and the filmmaker were present and took questions after the showing. Clane is a delightful small dynamo of a person, and it was good to see her doing so well.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The writing was so good and her descriptions of being raised by hippy parents in the 70s and 80s was so vivid. And Disturbing. I just didn't like the ending as I want to know more about her brother and her. I am looking to see if there is a sequel.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for writer’s ability to immerse the reader into the environment and voice of the main character without judgement or pretension.

[Kelly Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read for me. A first ever memoir that I enjoyed. However, there are some parts of the story I didn’t quite get. There’s also some piece that I want to find in the story line.

[Tesilyaraven · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was just "ok." While I was totally drawn into the account of her life with her mother who decided to "live outside" and eschewed all cultural norms (the bulk of the author's childhood seemed to be dictated by her mother's horribly bland macrobiotic diet and Clane's hunger); and though I really felt the loneliness and isolation of her existence--both her mother and father seemed completely self-absorbed in their own lives, I wanted more of the author's perspective on all of this. Apparently her parents were part of the 1960's counterculture that even had overlap with our own Black Bear community, but none of that is in the book. You don't get a peek into what motivated her mother to "live outside." We don't understand her father other than to see that he is a solitary bachelor living in New Mexico in destitute conditions, is an auto mechanic, and doesn't have any concern for feeding, bathing or caring for his kids. So, while I was moved by the author's strength--her ability to care for herself when others didn't--I felt that the story needed more context--of the times, of her parent's motivations, and how this childhood affected her worldview. We don't get any of that. Nonetheless, kudos to Clane Hayward for getting her story down and sharing it with us--there are some real gems in the writing.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born of hippie parents before the Summer of Love. This Generation Xer describes her life up to the age of thirteen. She bounced from living with her mother who cared more about herself and her male du jour. Clane had to fend for herself with very little formal schooling, little food, and a pigsty for a dwelling. Her mom moved from city to city. The only interest she took in parenting was to make sure they were eating macrobiotic. Her type of 'macrobiotic' left Clane with very little nourishment and many times the same food day after day. Her dad also left Clane to fend for herself with an even bigger pigsty and again no schooling. Her dad clearly did not want her. He would abandon her day after day, not telling her where he went. He too only seemed to care about her when it came time to eat, not wanting her to eat junk food. Then she goes to live with her paternal grandmother who gives her the life she craves, but still requires her to be somewhat independent. On her thirteenth b-day she learns she will be shuffled again back to her dad. Clane's memoir is brutally honest without placing blame on anyone. Hard book to read, but necessary for anyone who idealizes this time period.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second reading of this book. The first time I read it, I had a small baby and now I have two school-aged children who attend public school. Through their school connections, I've met a number of kids who come from families unlike my own, unstructured situations full of neglect. And I so want to understand them. This book makes me hopeful for kids who come from rough backgrounds, whose parents are absent. Having become familiar with such a case in my neighborhood, I picked up this book again out of a need to understand what that experience is like, to hear a voice from this world of neglect and I have hope that something will provide a lift-preserver--books, sports, a certain teacher, a connection somewhere along the line that will result in the child being more than they ever thought possible.

The sequel is in my book queue.

Clane Hayward should be deservedly proud for what she pulled herself out of and made of her life.

[McGuffy Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest and raw memoir, Clane Hayward takes us on a journey through the landscape of a turbulent time in the world which was also her childhood.

She tells us of growing up in communes, being shuttled between two parents, both free spirits, and trying to make sense of a world seemingly without boundaries or roots. Oftentimes Clane and her brother were left to their own devices to raise themselves, and each other.

Clane never blames the adults in her life, nor does she ever make excuses for them. She accepts them as she does her childhood. She takes what she was given and makes the very most of it. She is to be admired for this, and for the many things she imparts through her story.

Clane’s memoir will make you feel many things, and stay with you long after you close the book.

[Joe Rodeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a part of the New Mexico hippie experience, I was curious. The funnest part is the child's point of view gentle mockery of astrology, macrobiotic diets, and the usual hippie cliches. Otherwise, the author should be glad she found a publisher for her lightweight journal. (Four chapters with food titles.)

Amazon reviews: When there aren't too many, when there are too many five stars, when too many say "I can't wait until the sequel"; be skeptical.

Note: Call me a cultural moron for sticking up for Disco, and I'll tell you it was no accident that "Saturday Night Fever" as one of the best selling albums of all time was no accident.

Disco Sucks t-shirts have to be 10 times more stupid.

Granted, Disco never aimed higher than the belt. Now I'm going to listen to "More Than a Woman" on spite.

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Diary of A Teenage Girl and now this. What is happening to me? It is all female memoirs remembering the 70s. Thus far, this book is rather interesting especially in the way it confuses the reader with the chaotic anonymity of the hippie commune, the sensual details of a child's perspective, and the intense invasion of the individual by the social inherent in communal life. This is a different 70s, deeply hippie influenced. I find the dogmatism of the parents very funny although I feel the author has considerable sympathy for them in spite of their excesses. I've never seen food used in quite the same way before!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by this story of growing up with the hippies. I had no idea at the lack of parenting by this culture. these kids were neglected and left to fend for themselves while their parents were stoned or did their own thing. Clane's writing and descriptions are often times beautiful and my heart breaks for this girl who needed someone to care for and love her. Time after time she and her brother are shuffled to someone else until she has no idea who she is or if she belongs anywhere. I admire her tenacity, because despite all she was deprived of, she grew up, wrote this book and teaches school, good for her!

[Myr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have FINALLY finished this book !!
Not to say it was bad, the memoir itself was pretty interesting, how Clane escaped from the hippie life of her mother and later her father during her youth, and she was pretty brave at her age. But as a not native english speaker, it was kinda hard to read a book without quotation marks. When there was a dialogue I had to read several times the page to understand what's going on in the chapters etc. But that is only my personal opinion, as a non-english speaker.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me the book was a cross between the Glass Castle and Hypocrite in a Poofy White Dress. I love coming of age stories and memoirs. I inevitably always discover that it's good to look at the world through a child's eyes whenever we can. What seem like great lifestyle choices for ourselves may not always be healthy for us or others. It seems children always bear the brunt of our mistakes. I was happy to learn the career path the author took.