Disco Fever

Overview

The Bronx nightclub where Sal Abbatiello and his father Allie brought hip-hop indoors from the park jam. For much of its run it was the only New York club booking live rap DJs nightly. It sustained a record label and ran community programs before a missing cabaret license ended its ten-year run.

Disco Fever occupied a converted storefront at 1218 Jerome Avenue near 167th Street in Highbridge, the Bronx. Albert 'Allie' Abbatiello, an Italian American who already operated two South Bronx clubs serving primarily Black and Latino patrons (the Golden Hour and Pepper-n-Salt) took over the space and opened it in 1976. His son Sal, who had run clubs since his teens, recognized that the room was underperforming disco bookings and in 1977 persuaded his father to let him try a Tuesday hip-hop night. Grandmaster Flash headlined the inaugural show at $50; two MCs were paid $25 each. With a $1 door and mandatory $1 drinks the night grossed $1,000, and within months the format expanded to all seven nights, making Disco Fever the only New York nightclub offering live rap DJs nightly. Capacity was roughly 350, though accounts of a multi-floor layout suggest the building held considerably more across rooms; hours ran 10 p.m. to dawn. In 1983 critic Bill Adler told People magazine it was 'the rap capital of the Solar System.' The operating model was a careful hybrid. Admission ran $1–$5 with a tiered dress code (sneakers meant a higher entry price), VIP cards were issued to regulars, and the house drink was a split of Moët with a straw and an optional Remy shot. DJ nights were structured by the week: Grandmaster Flash held Tuesdays, Lovebug Starski took Mondays, D.J. Hollywood Wednesdays, Eddie Cheeba Thursdays, Junebug Fridays and Saturdays, Reggie Wells Sundays. George 'Sweet G' Godfrey (who had first shown Sal the technique of talking over records) served as house relief DJ and later manager. A tiered VIP area called 'the Ice Room' gave successful performers a private space with champagne, functioning as a de facto industry nexus. Russell Simmons reportedly said that if a rap record didn't move at the Fever it was 'fake.' The club installed one of the first airport-grade metal detectors at any New York nightclub, a policy credited with keeping the violent incidents common to other hip-hop venues off the floor. Abbatiello extended the club's reach into a record label, Fever Records, launched around 1981–82 with West End Records distribution. Sweet G's 'Games People Play' (co-produced by Kurtis Blow and Jellybean Benitez) hit number one on WBLS, WKTU, and KISS-FM in 1983. Kurtis Blow signed an early deal with the label and served as MC for most of Fever's charity events; Fat Boys were discovered through a Fever talent contest that led to their first record deal. Community programming ran parallel: the club raised $8,000 for the United Negro College Fund at a 1982 telethon, organized Easter parties for roughly 250 neighborhood children, ran a basketball league with hip-hop artists, and transported families to prison visits, practices that led Abbatiello to describe Fever as 'the YMCA of the Bronx.' The closure came sideways. The 1985 Warner Bros. film Krush Groove (featuring Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, New Edition, and the Fat Boys) was shot partly at Disco Fever. The film permitting process exposed the fact that the club had operated without a required cabaret license since it opened; the community board denied the belated application. Abbatiello closed the venue permanently after the filming wrapped, in a final moment he later recalled as Grandmaster Mele Mel's birthday party being finished out in the street. Abbatiello pivoted almost immediately: his father had been developing 396 Tremont Avenue, which briefly became The Devil's Nest (August 1985–April 1986) under promoters Little Louie Vega and Andy 'Panda' Tripoli, launching New York's freestyle scene. The building at 167th and Jerome still stands, its white stucco exterior reportedly bearing graffiti, adjacent to Mount Olivet Temple Church. In 1999 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame solicited Fever memorabilia for a permanent exhibit, and Sal Abbatiello was invited to the first National Hip-Hop Conference.

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