Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany established by Italian record producer, songwriter and musician Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s. [1] The studios were known for their work with artists such as Donna Summer, Electric Light Orchestra, and Queen, among others.
Moroder founded the studio modestly in a small space in the basement of the Arabella High-Rise Building. The studio featured a 16-track recorder and a Helios mixing console. Moroder hired engineer Reinhold Mack, who eventually complained that the small studio was uncomfortably hot at all times because it was adjacent to the building's central heating system, encouraging Moroder to expand the studios. Utilizing funds from his new Phonogram record deal and the success of Chicory Tip's version of "Son of My Father", co-composed by Moroder and Pete Belotte, Moroder and Mack expanded the studio in 1973. The first recording session in the new studios was for the recording of the Marc Bolan & T. Rex album Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow . [2] Other rock bands, including The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, and Led Zeppelin. [3] [4]
Donna Summer, who was working as a part-time model and backing singer in Munich, met Moroder and Bellotte during a session at the studios and they signed Summer to their Oasis label. The three began working together, resulting in several hit albums and singles, including "Love to Love You" and "I Feel Love", which is widely credited as one of the most influential records originating electronic dance music and paving the way for house and techno music. [4] Electric Light Orchestra recorded several of the band's most successful albums at the studio with Reinhold Mack, beginning with 1975's Face the Music . [3] [2]
Mack co-produced Queen's 1980 album The Game at Musicland Studios, along with its hit singles "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Mack is referenced in the lyrics of "Dragon Attack": "gonna use my stack/it's gotta be Mack". [5] Queen returned to Musicland in 1982 to record Hot Space , and in 1985 for "One Vision", with much of the music video for the song consisting of footage of the band recording the song at Musicland.
Other artists who recorded at Musicland Studios included The Three Degrees, Iron Maiden, Amanda Lear, Freddie Mercury, Sweet and Elton John, [1] and Moroder himself recorded several of his own projects at the studio, including the soundtrack to Midnight Express , which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979.
Musicland Studios closed at the beginning of the 1990s, as noise from the nearby U4 metro was interfering with the quality of the studio's recordings. [4]
Donna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had a large influence on several music genres such as hi-NRG, Italo disco, synth-pop, new wave, house and techno music.
Marc Bolan was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan strongly influenced artists of many genres, including glam rock, punk, post-punk, new wave, indie rock, Britpop and alternative rock. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 as a member of T. Rex.
Philip Oakey is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead singer, songwriter, and co-founder of the synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an extensive solo music career and has collaborated with numerous other artists and producers.
Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeyer is a German musician, composer and record producer.
Love to Love You Baby is the second studio album by American singer Donna Summer, released on August 27, 1975, and her first to be released internationally and in the United States. Her previous album Lady of the Night (1974) was released only in the Netherlands. The album was commercially successful, mainly because of the success of its title track, which reached number 2 on the US Pop charts despite some radio stations choosing not to play the song due to its sexually explicit nature.
A Love Trilogy is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on March 5, 1976, eight months after her international breakthrough with the single and album of the same name – "Love to Love You Baby". The bold, sexual nature of that particular song had earned Summer the title 'the first lady of love'. By now Summer's work was being distributed in the U.S. by Casablanca Records, and the label encouraged Summer, Moroder and team to continue in this vein. A Love Trilogy uses the first side for one long disco track in three distinct movements 'Try Me', 'I Know', 'We Can Make It', and coalescing into the "love trilogy" of the title – "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It". Side two contained three additional erotic disco songs, including a cover of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic". The album's artwork showed Summer floating light-heartedly through the clouds, again adding to the image of her as a fantasy figure.
Four Seasons of Love is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Released on October 11, 1976, this concept album became her third consecutive successful album to be certified gold in the US. It peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200. In addition, all the cuts on this album went to number one on the disco chart.
Nº 1 in Heaven is the eighth studio album by American rock band Sparks. Recorded with Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder, the album marked a change of musical direction for the group and became influential on later synth-pop bands.
Whomp That Sucker is the tenth album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 1981.
Angst in My Pants is the eleventh studio album by American pop and rock band Sparks. The album was released in 1982 by Atlantic Records in both the US and UK, and this was the sixth overall label that the band was signed to in the US, and, for the first time since the mid-1970s, the band would be signed to the same label in both the US and UK for three consecutive studio albums.
Reinhold Mack is a German record producer and engineer. He is best known for his collaborations with Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, Sparks, and Chinaski (CZ).
I Remember Yesterday is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on May 13, 1977, seven months after the release of her previous album. Like her previous three albums, it was a concept album, this time seeing Summer combining the recent disco sound with various sounds of the past. I Remember Yesterday includes the singles "Can't We Just Sit Down ", "I Feel Love", the title track, "Love's Unkind" and "Back in Love Again". "I Feel Love" and "Love's Unkind" proved to be the album's most popular and enduring hits, the former of which came to be one of Summer's signature songs.
"Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album Discovery. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States to date.
Once Upon a Time is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on October 31, 1977, and peaked at No. 26 on the US Billboard 200, number thirteen on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart. The entire album charted as one entry at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Disco chart. Once Upon a Time includes the singles "I Love You", "Fairy Tale High", "Once Upon a Time" and "Rumour Has It". The album did not spawn a hit single as popular as "I Feel Love".
Lady of the Night is the debut studio album by American singer Donna Summer, released in the Netherlands on February 26, 1974, by Groovy Records. The album contains such European hits as "The Hostage" and "Lady of the Night".
Peter John Bellotte is a British songwriter and record producer most noted for his work in the 1970s with Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer.
The Donna Summer Anthology is a double CD compilation album by the American singer Donna Summer, released by Polygram Records in 1993. The compilation featured the majority of Summer's best known songs right from the start of her success to the then present day. Summer had originally made her name during the disco era in the 1970s and in the decade that followed had experimented with different styles. Most of the tracks on this compilation are the original album versions of the songs, which were sometimes edited down for their release as a single. Included for the first time are two remixed tracks from her then unreleased album I'm a Rainbow, which had been recorded in 1981 but was shelved by her record company. The album also featured the Giorgio Moroder-penned and produced song "Carry On"', marking the first time Summer and Moroder had worked together since 1981. Summer and Moroder, together with Pete Bellotte had written the vast majority of her 1970s disco hits. Four years later, "Carry On" would be remixed and become a big dance hit. It also won Summer a Grammy for Best Dance Recording, her first win since 1984 and her fifth win in total.
"Love to Love You Baby" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from her second studio album, Love to Love You Baby (1975). Produced by Pete Bellotte, and written by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, Summer, and Bellotte, the song was first released as a single in the Netherlands in June 1975 as "Love to Love You" and then released worldwide in November 1975 as "Love to Love You Baby". It became one of the first disco hits to be released in an extended form.
The discography of Giorgio Moroder includes thirteen studio albums and ten soundtracks, as well as numerous production credits. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records. He produced huge hits for Donna Summer during the late-1970s disco era, including "Bad Girls", "Last Dance", "Love to Love You Baby", "No More Tears ", "Dim All the Lights", "MacArthur Park", "Hot Stuff", "On the Radio", and "I Feel Love", and is the founder of the former Musicland Studios in Munich, a recording studio used by many renowned artists including Electric Light Orchestra, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Elton John.
48°9′0.39″N11°37′10.21″E / 48.1501083°N 11.6195028°E
 | This article about a Bavarian building or structure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |