''Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland'' is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

celebutante ''Famous for being famous'' is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason (as opposed to fame based on achievement, skill, or talent) and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame thr ...

and

club kid The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to ...

. The book specifically chronicles his friend

Michael Alig Michael Alig (April 29, 1966 – December 24, 2020) was an American club promoter and convicted felon. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s a ...

's rise to fame, and Alig and his roommate's subsequent murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer Andre "Angel" Melendez. St. James was Alig's mentor, rival, and collaborator in the Manhattan party scene, and was familiar with many of its key figures. The memoir was later retitled ''Party Monster'', after the 2003 motion picture of that name starring

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

, Seth Green, Chloë Sevigny, and

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

. ''Disco Bloodbath'' has since gone out of print and often goes for several hundred dollars in auctions. It was only printed three times: in 1999, twice in paperback with different colored jackets, and once in hardcover. It was reprinted in 2003 under the title ''Party Monster - The Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland'' (); paperbacks are widely available.

Characters

Michael Alig

Michael Alig was a founder of the notorious

Club Kids The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to i ...

, a group of young clubgoers led by Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996, Alig and his roommate, Robert D. "Freeze" Riggs, were convicted of murdering Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a delinquent debt.

DJ Keoki

Superstar

DJ Keoki George Lopez (born October 23, 1966), known by his stage name DJ Keoki or Keoki Franconi, is a Salvadoran-American electronic musician, among other genres, DJ. Born in El Salvador and raised in Hawaii, Keoki began advertising himself as "superst ...

is an

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

DJ who was born in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

but raised in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. He had no experience as a DJ when he was branded "Superstar DJ Keoki". It was infamous partykid (later, murderer)

who helped in the early promotion of his then boyfriend

James St. James

James St. James (born James Clark) was a

Club Kid The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to ...

of the

nightclub scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Alig's mentor, and the author of the book. He was notorious for a lifestyle of excess that included heavy drug use, partying, and bizarre costumes. St. James continues to work with World of Wonder, the production company that produced the films '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' (1998) and '' Party Monster'' (2003), both based on St. James' memoirs, ''Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland''.

Andre Melendez

Andre Melendez Andre "Angel" Melendez (May 1, 1971 – March 17, 1996) was a member of the Club Kids and purported drug dealer who lived and worked in New York City. He was killed by Michael Alig and Robert "Freeze" Riggs on March 17, 1996. His life and death ha ...

, better known as Angel Melendez, was a

and purported

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

who lived and worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Melendez and his family arrived in New York from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

when Melendez was 8 years old. Melendez became a drug dealer during the early 1990s after meeting

Peter Gatien Peter Gatien (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel. Life and career Gatien ...

, owner of

The Limelight The Limelight was the name of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Peter Gatien. It had locations in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, London and Hallandale. Context During the 1980s, club culture had died down because of the AIDS e ...

and several other prominent nightclubs in New York City, and became a regular dealer in Gatien's clubs. He was frequently seen at Manhattan clubs wearing his trademark feathered wings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Disco Bloodbath 1999 non-fiction books 1990s LGBT literature American autobiographies Autobiographies adapted into films Club Kids LGBT autobiographies Simon & Schuster books April 21, 2022. Mentioned in the celebrity court defamation case, Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard. It was mentioned in a text to ms heard from mr depp. He said he saw at a book store, he believed he and ms herd should purchase. Ms heard asked if it was a reference about a fight they had the previous Friday night. In this case, both were found guilty of defamation, with ms heard being ordered to pay the biggest amount. C. Frease