Italo Disco

Italo Disco is a very broad term, encompassing much of the disco music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of completely electronic dance music that evolved during the late 1970s / early 1980s in Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and other parts of Europe.

Italo Disco music has a distinct, futuristic and spacey sound, which was created using synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. The term, "Italo-disco" was marketed only in Europe in the early 1980s by a German record label ZYX Music. In North America, UK, and Australia, Italo-Disco was mostly an underground phenomenon that could only be heard at night clubs or through homemade DJ mixes.

Terminology

The term "italo disco" originates from the 1983 Italo Boot Mix series, a megamix featuring Italian and German disco music, by Bernhard Mikulski, the founder of German-based ZYX Music. Prior to 1983, the music was simply considered dance or disco music from Europe.

The presenters of the Italian music show Discoring (produced by RAI) usually referred to italo disco tracks as as rock elettronico (electronic rock) or balli da discoteca (disco dance) before the term "italo disco" came into existence. Early italo disco tracks featured on the show frequently sounded like downtempo space disco songs.

History

Origins, 1976–1985

The entry of synthesizers and other electronic effects into the disco genre produced electronic dance music which included America's Hi-NRG and Europe's Space Disco. The latter was an ephemeral Euro Disco subgenre and received its name because of its odd synthetic sounds, sci-fi costumes, and space-related themes. Dancers and listeners experienced something new because the artists' use of new music-shaping technologies created the perception of being in a very large space and because of the discotheques' lighting displays. One of the main influences during this period was Italian producer Giorgio Moroder and French musician Didier Marouani, followed by a couple of hits by the French drummer Cerrone, as well as the cynical styles of such electropop acts as Telex, Devo, and Gary Numan, and the early Hi-NRG albums released by San Francisco producer Patrick Cowley with such singers as Sylvester and Paul Parker.

By 1980, Italo appeared as a fully developed form in Italy and other parts of Europe, with artists releasing completely electronic songs using drum machines and other equipment. Typical songs were simple with catchy melodies, and were often sung using vocoders and overdubs. Much of the genre featured love-song lyrics sung in English with heavy foreign accents. English was more often than not the artists' second language, creating lyrics that were often considered to be almost nonsensical. Along with love, italo disco themes deal with robots and space, sometimes combining all three in songs including "Robot is Systematic" (1982) by 'Lectric Workers and "Spacer Woman"(1983) by Charlie.

1982 and 1983 saw the releases of the irony-laden "Dirty Talk," "Wonderful," and "The M.B.O. Theme," three tracks cited as influential in the development of house, by Klein & M.B.O., a side-project developed by Davide Piatto of the Italo disco duo N.O.I.A., with vocals by Piatto and Rossana Casale.

Many see 1983 as the height of Italo, with frequent hit singles and many labels starting up around this time. Such labels included American Disco, Crash, Merak, Sensation, and X-Energy. The popular label Disco Magic released more than thirty singles within the year. It was also the year that the term italo disco was reputedly coined by Bernhard Mikulski, the founder of ZYX Music (Germany), when ZYX released their first volume of "The Best of Italo Disco" series.

Derivative styles, 1982–1989

During the late 1980s Italo faded and was replaced by Italo NRG (a.k.a Italo House) which combined high-paced Italo and house.

Canada, particularly Quebec, produced several remarkable Italo disco acts, including Trans X ("Living on Video"), Lime ("Angel Eyes"), Pluton & the Humanoids ("World Invaders"), and Purple Flash Orchestra ("We Can Make It"). Those productions called "Canadian Disco" during 1980-1984 in Europe and Hi-NRG disco in USA.

In Germany, a variation of Italo disco under the nickname Discofox developed, early 1984. It was characterized by an emphasis on melody, exaggerated overproduction, and a more earnest approach to the themes of love; examples may be found in the works of Modern Talking, Fancy,American-born singer and Fancy protege Grant Miller, Bad Boys Blue, Joy, and Lian Ross.

Also during the mid-1980s spacesynth developed, mostly as a sub-genre of italo. This style is the crossover of Italo disco and Space Disco and it was mostly instrumental, with a focus on space sounds than the earlier pop-oriented songs, as exemplified by the sounds of Koto, Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis, and Laserdance.

Evolved and inter-related genres

As Italo Disco declined in Europe, Italian and German producers adapted the sound to Japanese tastes, creating "Eurobeat" and, later, Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash. These styles are sold only in Japan due to its Para Para culture. Italian producers still produce (super) Eurobeat for the Japanese market as of 2007, but the BPM were much increased (beginning in the 1980s) and the synth-lines and vocals are faster, too. Many recent releases have a slower BPM, but remain true to what Japanese fans call "Eurobeat style". The two most famous Eurobeat labels are A-Beat-C Records and Hi-NRG Attack. Two traditional Italo Disco labels, S.A.I.F.A.M. and Time, now produce Eurobeat music for Japan.

Around 1989, in Italy, Italo Disco, evolved into italo house, which became euro house music (called "Eurodance" in the USA, a term previously used instead of the longer "European Dance Charts"). Italian Italo Disco artists began experimenting with harder beats and the "house" sound, which fans believed made Italo Disco sound dated and it was the reason the German production stopped around 1989.

This music is also labeled as Euro Disco, and Italo Disco in the USA (labelling all non American Hi-NRG dance tunes as Italo Disco).

Revival, 1998 - present

A big comeback of German Italo Disco, began in 1998, when Modern Talking re-united. German italo-disco artists C.C.Catch, Bad Boys Blue, Fancy, and Sandra, Italian italo-disco artists Gazebo, Savage, and Ken Laszlo, and others remixed their hits in a eurohouse style, giving them a new life and a new fan base. Rete 4 channel in Italy, "hits 24", "Goldstar TV", and Prosieben channels in Germany, and the program "Nostalgia" on Spain's TVE channel started to broadcast Italo Disco. This has caused new interest in eurodisco in general, since most of these videos were very rarely seen, even back in the 80s

Greece seems to have the biggest Italo Disco revival, with it played on three Athenian radio stations in 2007 (Blue Space, Radio Boom Boom and Free FM) and the reopening of discotheques (such as Disco Cinderella, Vinilio, Dizzy Discoclub, Boom Boom Discothèque, and Athens Club in Athens; Blue Sky and Figaro in Thessaloniki; Velvet and Queens in Volos; and Velvet in Drama). 80s Eurodisco music as a whole can be considered as "mainstream" in dance clubs.

As of 2005^[update] several online radio stations stream the genre, and underground clubs are playing the records widely again. Its renewed popularity is inspiring re-releases and new mixes on many of the record labels that initially released Italo Disco. ZYX records has released many new CD mixes since 2000. and labels like Panama Records and Radius Records have gone through great lengths to find the original artists of obscure Italo tracks for re-release on vinyl.

The German group I-Robots has released several mixes incorporating obscure Italo Disco tracks, and in 2006 released a German-language cover of Charlie's "Spacer Woman" called "Spacer Frau."

The Swedish performance artist and musician Tobias Bernstrup has since 1997 been making music performances and releasing records characterized his heavily Italo-Disco inspired sound and use of elaborate costumes and make-up reminiscent of Klaus Nomi.

A German group Master Blaster, released in 2003 an album called "I love Italo Disco". Many hits of that group are italo-disco covers with an uplifting house twist. In the UK, that twist seems to lead to "Scouse house"

The Swiss artist Harre Money (pronounced Àrmani, like the world wide famous Italian designer) released in 2006 an album called The Picture of Dorian Gray, which included many Italo Disco like tracks. His shows are also characterized by a theatrical performance reminiscent of the eccentric 80s style.

Swedish act Sally Shapiro has made Italo-disco music which has been championed in the indie community, particularly by Pitchfork Media.

Contemporary artists influenced by Italo Disco

• Savas Pascalidis — "Fly With The Wind" (remix of Peter Jacques band's song with the same title)

• Annie
• Metro Area
• Smith n Hack
• Lowfish
• Bimbo Boy
• Skatebård
• Lindstrøm
• Michael Mayer
• Sally Shapiro
• Tobias Bernstrup
• Mount Sims
• Harre Money
• Serge Santiago
• Alain Prost Fast Disco Drink
• Heartbreak
• Glass Candy
• Chromatics
• Alden Tyrell
• Studio
• Bogdan Irkük a.k.a. BULGARI
• Melnyk
• Aeroplane
• Classixx
• The Golden Filter
• Neon Indian
• VALERIE Collective
• Anoraak
• College
• Keenhouse
• Maethelvin
• The Outrunners

Related styles

• Euro Disco
• Electro Funk
• Synthpop
• Disco Lento
• Chip Wave
• New Wave
• Electronic body music
• Belgian New Beat
• Hi-NRG
• Spacesynth (Synthdance, Spacedance)
• Space Disco
• Afro/Cosmic music
• Disco polo

Reaction, Revival, and inspired by:

• The Hague electro sound
• Electropop
• Electroclash
• Disco Nouveau

Evolved into:

• Eurobeat
• House (Italo house)
• Italo dance
• Eurodance

See also

• List of Italo Disco artists and songs

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

• Euroflash. 'Unofficial History Of Italo Disco', www.euro-flash.net. Retrieved June 25, 2005.
• www.ishkur.com Ishkur. 'The Return of Italo Disco", ishkur.com. Retrieved June 25, 2005.
• Webdjsitalodisco.Ch Schmid, DJ. Italo Disco. Retrieved June 25, 2005.
• scheul.de - Chart positions of Italo-Disco artists internationally.

External links

• The World of Italo Disco Interviews - Artist interviews
• I Venti d'Azzurro - Italo-disco community site
• Euroflash: Italo artists' real names
• Discodrome