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Italo disco | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Late 1970s – early 1980s, Italy |
Derivative forms | |
Other topics | |
Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) [1] is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, and electronic music, both domestic and foreign (hi-NRG, Euro disco) and developed into a diverse genre. [2] The genre employs electronic drums, drum machines, synthesizers, and occasionally vocoders. It is usually sung in English, and to a lesser extent in Italian and Spanish.
The origin of the genre's name is strongly tied to marketing efforts of the ZYX record label, which began licensing and marketing the music outside Italy in 1982. [3] Italo disco faded in the early 1990s and then split into many genres (Eurobeat, Italo house, Italo dance).
The term "Italo", a generic prefix meaning Italian, had been used on pop music compilation albums in West Germany as early as 1978, such as Italo Top Hits on the K-Tel label and the first volume of Italo Super Hits on the Ariola label. [4]
There is no documentation of where the term "Italo-Disco" first appeared, but its origins are generally traced to Italian and other European disco recordings released in the West-German market. Examples include the phrase "Original Italo-Disco" on the sleeve of the West-German edition of "Girls on Me" by Amin-Peck in 1982, and the 1983 compilation album The Best of Italo-Disco. [5] These records, along with the Italo Boot Mix megamix, were released by Bernhard Mikulski on his ZYX label, who was therefore credited with coining the term "Italo disco". [1] [6] The Best of and Boot Mix compilations each became a 16-volume series that culminated in 1991. Both series primarily featured disco music of Italian origin, often licensed from independent Italian labels which had limited distribution outside Italy, as well as songs in a similar style by other European artists.
The presenters of the Italian music show Discoring (produced by RAI) usually referred to Italo disco tracks as "rock elettronico" (electronic rock) or "balli da discoteca" (disco dance) before the term "Italo disco" came into existence.
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Italo disco originated in Europe in the late 1970s. After Disco Demolition Night in 1979, American interest in disco sharply declined, whereas in Europe the genre maintained mainstream popularity and survived into the 1980s.
The adoption of synthesizers and other electronic instruments by disco artists led to electronic dance music, which spawned many subgenres such as hi-NRG in America and space disco in Europe. Italo disco's influences include Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, French musician Didier Marouani, Italo-French drummer Cerrone, and the San Francisco-based hi-NRG producer Patrick Cowley, who worked with singers as Sylvester and Paul Parker.
In the late 1970s, Italo disco group D. D. Sound (La Bionda) released the song "1, 2, 3, 4, Gimme Some More". [7] In 1979, Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi created the soulful post-disco groups Change and B. B. & Q. Band. [8] In 1981, both groups gained US R&B and Dance hits with "Paradise" and "On the Beat" respectively.
Italo disco often features electronic sounds, electronic drums, drum machines, catchy melodies, vocoders, overdubs, and heavily accented English lyrics. By 1983, Italo disco's instrumentation was predominantly electronic. Along with love, Italo disco themes deal with robots and space, sometimes combining all three in songs like "Robot Is Systematic" (1982) by Lectric Workers and "Spacer Woman" (1983) by Charlie.
Then also new musical genres that had set aside the rock of the 1970s thanks to new groups, such as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet and great pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna. The 1980s brought the electronics with real instruments, experimenting new sounds, in short, it was a decade of great change in modern music. [9]
In 1983, there were frequent hit singles, and labels such as American Disco, Crash, Merak, Sensation and X-Energy appeared. The popular label Discomagic Records released more than thirty singles within the year. It was also the year that the term "Italo disco" became widely known outside Italy, with the release of the first volumes of The Best of Italo Disco compilation series on the West-German record label ZYX. After 1983, Italo disco was also produced outside Italy.
Although Italo disco was successful in mainland Europe during the 1980s, only a few singles reached the UK charts, such as Ryan Paris's "Dolce Vita", Laura Branigan's "Self Control", Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy", Spagna's "Call Me" and Sabrina's "Boys", all of which were top 5 hits. Italo disco maintained an influence in the UK's underground music scenes in the UK, and its impact can be heard in the music of several British electronic acts such as the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and New Order. [1]
Canada, particularly Quebec, produced several remarkable Italo disco acts, including Trans X ("Living on Video"), Lime ("Angel Eyes"), Rational Youth ("City of Night"), Pluton & the Humanoids ("World Invaders"), Purple Flash Orchestra ("We Can Make It"), and Tapps ("Forbidden Lover"). Those productions were called "Canadian disco" during 1980–1984 in Europe and hi-NRG disco in the U.S.
In English-speaking countries, it was called Italo disco and hi-NRG. In Mexico the style is known just as "disco", having nothing to do with the 1970s genre.[ citation needed ] West-German productions were sung in English and were characterized by an emphasis on melody, exaggerated production, 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 protégé Grant Miller, Bad Boys Blue, Joy, Silent Circle, the Twins, Lian Ross, C. C. Catch, Blue System and London Boys.
During the mid-1980s, spacesynth, a derivation of Italo disco, developed. It was mostly instrumental, featured space sounds, and was exemplified by musicians, such as: Koto, Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis, Laserdance and Mike Mareen (whose music inhabited the spacesynth/hi-NRG overlap).
As Italo disco declined in Europe, Italian and West-German producers adapted the sound to Japanese tastes, creating "Eurobeat". Music produced in this style is sold exclusively in Japan due to the country's Para Para culture, produced by Italian producers for the Japanese market. The two most famous Eurobeat labels are A-Beat-C Records and Time Records. One traditional Italo disco label, S.A.I.F.A.M., still produces Eurobeat music for Japan.
Around 1989 in Italy, Italo disco evolved into Italo house when Italian Italo disco artists experimented with harder beats and the "house" sound.
A big comeback of German disco began in 1998, when Modern Talking reunited. 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.[ citation needed ]
Several online radio stations, like Radio Stad Den Haag (Netherlands), stream the genre. The renewed popularity inspired re-releases and new mixes by many of the original Italo disco record labels. ZYX Records has released many new CD mixes since 2000. Panama Records and Radius Records have re-released Italo tracks on vinyl. Northern European labels I Venti d'Azzurro (Netherlands) and Flashback Records (Finland) have produced unreleased demos, new versions of old hits, and new songs.[ citation needed ]
A number of new Italo disco artists have emerged and have been featured on the ZYX Italo Disco New Generation discs: Birizdo I Am, Boris Zhivago, D-White, Estimado, Italove, Mirko Hirsch, Nation in Blue, Siberian Heat, among many others.[ citation needed ]
Italo disco is also one of the major influences to the sound of the synthwave genre. Synthwave and Italo disco revival artists are often featured on the same mixtapes, playlists, and labels.[ citation needed ]
Space disco | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Mid-1970s, Europe |
Local scenes | |
Norway |
Space disco is a type of dance music using synthesizers and space-like sounds and themes.[ citation needed ] [11]
At least one modern history of "space disco" traces the genre's origins to science fiction themes (outer space, robots, and the future) in the titles, lyrics and cover artwork of dance music in the late 1970s. [12] Plausible associations are drawn between the popularity of Star Wars (released mid-1977), the subsequent surge of interest in science fiction themes in popular culture, and the release of a number of science fiction themed and "futuristic"-sounding (synthesizer and arpeggiator-infused) disco music worldwide. [12] [13] The most commercially successful space disco tracks were "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" (1977) by Meco, and "Automatic Lover" (1978) by Dee D. Jackson, with each song reaching the top ten in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom.
Additional examples of space disco usually include the compositions "Just Blue" and "Symphony" (both 1978) of French band Space, [12] the same for the track Magic Fly; additional tracks by Dee D. Jackson during the 1970s and 1980s, and "I Feel Space" [13] by Lindstrøm.
Labels producing this type of music include [13]
New York City-based post-disco record label Emergency Records specialized in reissuing/selling records from Italy (e.g. Kano "I'm Ready"), [14] since the 1970s. Kano is noted for incorporating American musical elements ("heavy funk" influences, "breakbeat" rhythm, the use of vocoder) with electronic music while using rudimentary synthesizers, [9] constituting one of the earliest forms of Italo disco. This form of Americanized Italo disco, that also includes Klein + M.B.O. [9] ("Dirty Talk", "Wonderful", "The M. B. O. Theme"), re-entered the States and was known to be influential on the development of house music. [9] Doctor's Cat ("Feel the Drive"), likewise, was one of the earliest "house music" songs. [15]
Record labels include
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Europop is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and moderate degrees of appreciation in the 2000s. It's characterized by catchy beats, slick songs and frothy lyrics. Swedish group ABBA is often credited for popularizing the genre. Modern Europop overlaps with Eurodance, however the latter is more Club and Hi-NRG leaning.
Hi-NRG is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a combination of dance and pop with influences of disco, post-disco and synth-pop, it is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions.
Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influenced dance-pop, and the other is a hi-NRG-driven form of Italo disco. Both forms were developed in the 1980s.
Robert Philip Orlando also known as Bobby Orlando or just Bobby O, is an American record producer, indie record label owner, songwriter, and musician. He is regarded as an innovator in the Hi-NRG genre for developing his signature sound, using a "powerful beat" and "new wave-style" vocals with the help of a "heavy [synthesizer] bass", synthesizers, piano, guitars, cowbells. His most recent releases 'Satisfaction' 'No Surrender' 'Tyranny' Released July 2024
Eurodisco is a European form of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions feature lyrics sung in English, although the singers often share a different mother tongue.
ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label was known as Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The label specialized in disco, early house music, and 1990s techno. Founder Bernhard Mikulski is credited with coining the term "Italo disco" in the 1980s. After Bernhard's death, his wife Christa Mikulski took over in 1997.
Emergency Records was an American independent record label from 1979 to 1989.
Trans-X is a Canadian synth-pop band formed in Montreal, Quebec. They are known for their hit song "Living on Video", which was a worldwide hit single.
Righeira were an Italian Italo disco duo, formed in Turin in 1983, that comprised Johnson Righeira and Michael Righeira. Originally rooted in the early stages of Italo disco music, Righeira's musical style evolved throughout their career, incorporating elements of synth-pop and new wave in their songs in innovative ways, later exploring music styles such as electronic music and regular pop.
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music. While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in ancient history, the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are old-fashioned dances. In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances. In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the classical era. Both remained part of the romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise.
Hard NRG, nu-NRG, filthy hard house, or more recently just filth, is an electronic dance music genre similar in structure to UK hard house form, taking influences from German hard trance. The main difference is in the musical/thematic content of each style.
Polymarchs is the name of a mobile DJ collective based in Mexico City which plays electronic dance music. Polymarchs was created in the late 1970s as a mobile DJ collective by Oaxacan native, Apolinar Silva de la Barrera and his sister Maria during the disco music phenomenon of the 1970s. It began playing shows in distinct Mexico City neighborhoods and began headlining successful sold-out shows by the early 1980s. By the late 1980s as the overall popularity of disco music diminished in Mexico, Polymarchs was one of the selected few that successfully changed its musical format to appeal to younger audiences. As of 2012, Polymarchs continues to be active in the Mexico City area with its resident DJ actively performing in events throughout the area.
Nu-disco is a 21st-century dance music genre associated with a renewed interest in the late 1970s disco, synthesizer-heavy 1980s European dance music styles, and early 1990s electronic dance music. The genre was popular in the early 2000s, and experienced a mild resurgence in the 2010s.
Post-disco is a term and genre to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with the backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.
Memory Records was an Italian record label in Italy.
La Bionda were an Italian disco duo consisting of siblings Carmelo (1949–2022) and Michelangelo La Bionda. They are considered among the pioneers of the Italo disco music genre.
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