Italo disco

Italo disco
Stylistic origins	Post-disco - New Wave - Synthpop - Electronic - Glam rock - Pop - Hi-NRG - Disco - Space disco - Euro disco
Cultural origins	Late 1970s and the 1980s in Italy
Typical instruments	Synthesizers - Drum machine - Sampler - Keyboards - Sequencer - Vocals
Derivative forms	Eurobeat - Freestyle - Eurodance - Italo house - Italo dance
Other topics
	Artists and songs

Italo disco (alternatively spelt Italo-disco)¹ is a subgenre of disco music which originated in Italy in the late 1970s. Whilst the genre developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the term was coined in 1983 by Bernard Mikulski.² An early form of electronic dance music, it faded in the late 1980s and was replaced by Italo house and European dance music.

Italo disco borrowed elements from traditional disco music, yet was more electronic. The genre employed drum machines and synthesizers and was usually sung in English. The genre was successful in Europe during the 1980s, except the United Kingdom where it was never particularly successful, although several Italo disco songs did become hits there, such as Ryan Paris's "Dolce Vita", Laura Branigan's "Self Control", Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy", Spagna's "Call Me" and Sabrina's "Boys". Nonetheless, several British electronic acts such as the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and New Order are said to have been influenced by the genre.³

Terminology

The term "Italo", a generic prefix meaning Italian, had been used on pop music compilation albums in Germany as early as 1980, such as Italo Top Hits on the K-Tel label and the first volume of Italo Super Hits on the Ariola label.

There's 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 German market. Examples include the phrase "Original Italo-Disco" on the sleeve of the German edition of "Girl On Me" by Amin-Peck in 1982, and the inclusion of "Italo-Disco" in the title of the 1983 compilation album The Best of Italo-Disco. These records, along with the Italo Boot Mix megamix, were released by Bernhard Mikulski on his relatively widely distributed ZYX label. 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 of Italy, but they also frequently included songs in a similar style by German and 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.

A related term is "Euro disco", referring to all European disco or subsets thereof, especially that which markedly differs from American disco music from the same era.

History

Origins: 1976–1985

The entry of synthesizers and other electronic effects into the disco genre produced electronic dance music, including America's Hi-NRG and Europe's space disco. Italo disco's influences were Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, French musician Didier Marouani, a couple of hits by the French drummer Cerrone, electropop (Kraftwerk, Telex, Devo and Gary Numan), and the early Hi-NRG albums of 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. Songs were sometimes completely electronic and often featured drum machines, catchy melodies, vocoders, overdubs, and heavily accented English lyrics. 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. Italo disco was widely played on radio stations and in discothèques in Europe, but in the English-speaking world, it was mostly limited to nightclubs.

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"), Purple Flash Orchestra ("We Can Make It"), Tapps ("Forbidden Lover"), etc. Those productions were called "Canadian disco" during 1980–1984 in Europe and Hi-NRG disco in the U.S.

In Germany, Italo disco is called Euro Disco and Discofox. In English-speaking countries it was called Italo disco and HiNRG. 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 Fancy, American-born singer and Fancy protégé Grant Miller, Bad Boys Blue, Joy, Lian Ross, C. C. Catch, etc.

During the mid-1980s, spacesynth, a subgenre of Italo disco, developed. It was mostly instrumental, featured space sounds, and was exemplified by Koto, Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis and Laserdance.

Evolved and interrelated genres

As Italo disco declined in Europe, Italian and 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. Though the Eurobeat genre originally sounded almost identical to Italo disco, today's modern Eurobeat features greatly increased BPM and faster synth-lines and vocals, though many recent releases have a slower BPM. 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. Italian Italo disco artists began experimenting with harder beats and the "house" sound; German production of Italo disco ended later that same year.

Revival: 1998–present

A big comeback of German disco began in 1998, when Modern Talking re-united. German 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 Euro house 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.

Several online radio stations stream the genre. The renewed popularity is inspiring 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 rereleased Italo tracks on vinyl. Northern European labels "Iventi d'azzurro" (The Netherlands) and "Flashback records" (Finland) have produced unrealesed demos, new versions of old hits and new songs as well. New Italo disco has been contributed by I-Robots (the 2006 song, "Spacer Frau"), Tobias Bernstrup, Master Blaster (the 2003 album, We Love Italo Disco), Harre Money (his 2006 album, The Picture of Dorian Gray), Sally Shapiro, Joey Mauro, Karl Otto, Diva, Mark Fruttero, Fred Ventura, George Aaron and Peter Arresti.

In 2010 Mark Zonda started a Neo Italo Disco movement inspired by Sally Shapiro and Tommy February6, gathering independent artists in the production of a collection of new Italo Disco songs called "U.N.DISCO," published by Kingem Records.

Contemporary artists influenced by Italo disco

Non-exhaustive list of original Italo disco artists

Related styles

Evolved into:

References

Euroflash. "Unofficial History Of Italo Disco," www.euro-flash.net. Retrieved June 25, 2005.
Kingem Records. http://www.kingemrecords.com/our-releases/undisco-neo-italo-disco-project/.
Dance 80 official website: http://www.dance80.com Retrieved October 27, 2010.

External links

The World of Italo Disco Interviews
Scene and heard: Italo-disco The Guardian
Italo artists' real names
Italo Disco - The Sound of "Spaghetti Dance" – trailer for an unfinished documentary DVD about Italo disco
Italo-disco: A Secret History of Modern Pop – archived publisher's announcement of a now-cancelled book about Italo disco

[0] ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/sep/01/sceneandhearditalodisco

[1] ttp://thesocialseattle.com/news/what-is-italo-disco

[2] ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/sep/01/sceneandhearditalodisco

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