How Donald Trump became the first person to step foot in Studio 54, New York’s most important nightclub
How interesting that a man whose political campaign was built around a dance barely nodded his head in the world’s most important nightclub during the height of disco.
Every single rally that Donald Trump went to on his campaign trail was met with the same two constants. These were the slogan “Make America Great Again”, and those awkward dance moves he did to the Village People’s ‘YMCA’. You know the one I’m talking about. Stiff in execution, suggestive in nature.
You would think that someone who would frequently attend New York’s hottest nightclub, particularly when disco and dancing were at their very peak, would have learnt how to bust a move every now and then, but witnesses who would often hit up Studio 54 report that the hotel owner cum president barely even tapped his feet. He would just stand around. Doing what? We don’t know. Perhaps he was confused by the sight of joy.
It wasn’t strange that Donald Trump was hanging around Studio 54. You have to keep in mind that at the time, he was one of the biggest and most influential businessmen in the world, and this New York nightclub doubled up as a networking event for every A-lister Earth had to offer. The queue would go down the street, and even those with the patience to wait in it were often turned away.
Nile Rodgers was famously told to take a hike when he tried to get into the New York club, something which encouraged him to write a song that Studio 54 would come to play on repeat. Grace Jones would attend the club a lot, and it was there she decided she’d like Rodgers’ band, CHIC, to produce her next record. She invited them round to talk shop, but when trying to get into the nightclub, CHIC were promptly told to “fuck off”.
Access denied and tail very much between legs, the band went back to Nile Rodgers’ apartment, where they started processing their feelings in the best way they could, through music. A jam led to a full-blown song, and the lyrics they decided to place over this new sound were the words the bouncer had previously shouted. Recognising that that wasn’t radio-friendly, those words eventually became “freak out”.
The point is, Studio 54 was a bustling place, the kind of venue where you couldn’t turn your head without catching a glimpse of an A-lister, and all of those A-listers were dancing, getting lost in this infectious new music that the kids were calling disco. Except for Trump – he was one of the first people to ever attend Studio 54, with rumours even suggesting he arrived early to a near-empty club… No wonder he didn’t feel like dancing.
“Every celebrity or big shot came to Studio 54,” said Ian Schrager, the legendary nightclub’s founder. “Nobody pestered anyone for an autograph, so they could be themselves, Andy Warhol was shy and just liked to watch, Mick Jagger was the same as he was on stage, and Diana Ross was an amazing dancer… I never saw Donald Trump dance, though, he was a serious guy.”
That’s probably why the president now has such a penchant for the Village People and bad dancing – he’s just making up for lost time.
