In Space It's Always 1982

Hmmm, was disco really still around in 1982, as the disco ball in the first few frames of this ad would have us believe? The mythical end of disco (Disco Demolition Night at a White Sox-Tigers game in Chicago) was in 1979. The actual background music for this ad, a vaguely jazz-inspired vibes-and-flute piece is, at least for me, more associated with the 1960s and early 1970s (Austin Powers-era) than with mid-1970s disco. Racially and culturally, these musics have very different referents.

And it may be a little bit dicey for Obama to try to bash the culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s. After all, isn't that when he (born 1961) came of age? But then again, from what we know about Obama's musical tastes from this time in his youth (Stevie and Coltrane is what I've heard mentioned), he's not in any danger. He was cooler than disco then, and this ad is trying to show that he's cooler than disco now.