There's a lot to think about in what Trisha says. I think I'll have to mull it over in my mind ??? and maybe then give a considered view on it

I think liamo and Trisha it wasabout profit but discos had an alcohol licence,in Dublin the ones I used didn't,I asked Carole out of New Blues about this,she told me that most people had their fill of alcohol in the pub,then about midnight would go into the dance hall.Also many showbands covered british and us pop and country songs,apart from bands like the Swarbriggs  who did write original material.It would be interesting to get Dees views on it asshe was in Starband or even Gerrys.Take care.Best Wishes,Pete

To be honest I think everyone has overlooked one critical contributing factor in the ultimate demise of the Irish Showband Era... Progress! With the advent of worldwide media improving to the point that we no longer thought of pop idols ascompletely untouchable and the huge growth in the recording industry two things happened: the showbands no longer held the idolitory status that they used to and people realised that they could listen to perfect recordings of their fave music at a disco (and have alcahol at the same time).
In some ways it was about the atmosphere, it became easier and easier to see international acts live, making our own local talent seem less special.
Generally speaking, even now in the pubs locally, if you had to pay to go in just because they had live music I can't see them being packed out every night . Thhe media has played a huge part in killing local live music and hyping up the international scene, which is available on our own doorsteps.
I could go on and on...and often do! but I'll leave it at that for today.
xx
Dee

It is a given that progress is the over-riding factor in all societal change and I doubt if anyone has overlooked that fact Dee. Is progress always good and beneficial? I don't think so. After all, progress has us all neck deep in non bio-degradable litter world wide
As Dee said, one could go on ad infinitum about different aspects of this.
To get back to the point I think what Trisha was doing in her item, was analysing the contributing factors that led to progress in this particular change in Ireland. There were a lot.
In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, one end result of this progress was not good or benificial to young people.
In my time (I know it sounds like a seanachai), young people had good live entertainment on their doorsteps. As a result of progress they were denied this unless they traveled to Dublin or somewhere like that. It wasn't always easy in those days to do that . Young people were then left to going to venues to listen to someone playing records!!!! Entertainment? I ask ya!!!
I can do that at home anytime.
Purely an opinion and purely mine. Cheers

You  can never replace live music as the  showbands proved,they had good singers and brillant musicians, there was an excitement generatedwhich could not be beaten,what a pity   that most bands and dancehalls are now memories of the past.

A very interesting topic and like Liamo etc I have my views on why the Showband went the way of the dionosar, the hula hoop and carraway seed cake. I put it down to a number of things (a) greed by both the bands and ballroom owners (b) lack of respect for the punters by both the bands and the ballroom owners , by respect I mean , short changed by the bands who thought their newly found star status meant they could hire some crappy support/relief band to play for half the night; short changed by the ballroom owners who failed to move with the times and provide the punters with the comforts needed. (c) progress:  , every musical trend has a cycle and the showbands had more of a run than others (d) the launch of the country showbands such as the SMR and CMB which in hindsight were the death knoll of the showband, from that point on it was down hill all the way. The success of the SMR and CMB led to a flood of country (and Irish) bands who were musically inept and turned the teenagers away from live music and into the discos.  The showband era was unique and a wonderful time but we shouldn't be blinded by nostalgia because for every good showband there were a dozen pretty dire ones, but then I guess it didn't really matter because the main reason we attended a dance was to get a woman or a man , the music was a very poor second.

I must agree with Angelvoice on this. To say that the main reason in going to dances was to get a girl or fella is  totally incorrect. Anyone who remembers that era will know that the Music was THE thing and not a poor second. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The thousands who attended when theirfavourite band was playing and indeed those who attended regardless of band are proof of this. 8)
Granted there were a lot of poor bands who jumped on the bandwagon. This is true of everything in life and is true today of singers and groups
Girls and fellas did get "moves" in dances. So what?? I would have thought that that is the most natural thing in the world