The history of Silent Disco

The concept of silent disco parties can be traced to Osamie Tezuce, considered the father of modern Japanese manga. His famous character, Astroboy, appeared in a 1967 comic book, where in 1993 he attended a party where all guests used wireless headphones. In 1969, in the first Finnish science-fiction film Ruusujen Aika (Time of the Roses) the characters in 2011 dance at a party using headphones. Undoubtedly, Tezuka must have had extraordinary intuition, as he was only a year wrong in his prediction. It wasn’t until 1994 that the iconic Glastonbury festival adopted the technology. However, the available channel did not broadcast music, but a World Cup match, which was taking place in the US at the time.

The next attempts to experiment with this form of entertainment also had practical justifications, such as noise reduction. In 2000, the BBC organized a silent concert by the band Rocketgoldstar preceded by DJ sets. Another channel appeared two years later at an event organized by artist Meg Duguid. It was at the second edition of this event that it was decided that DJs would compete for the audience’s attention.

The term became popular thanks to the American Bonnaroo festival which still holds silent disco events today. In 2011, the term “silent disco” was officially recognized and was included in the online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.