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'Italo disco' is a very wide term that refers to various types of European disco and pop-styled dance music, that evolved during the early 1980s in Italy, Germany, Spain and other parts of Europe.
Italo Disco music has a distinct, futuristic and spacey sound which was created using synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.
During the 1980s, the term "Italo-disco" used in Europe to describe all the non UK-based dance productions, including some Canadian ones. In the UK and the USA, Italo-disco was virtually unknown to the mainstream consumer and existed only underground.
The name "Italo Disco" originates from the ''Italo Boot Mix'' series - a megamix featuring Italian and German produced disco music - created in 1983 by Bernhard Mikulski, the founder of German-based ZYX Music. Prior to 1983, the genre was simply referred to as 'disco music' from Europe. The presenters of the Italian music show ''Discoring'' (produced by RAI), usually referred to the Italian productions of what later would became Italo Disco as "Rock Electronico" and "Bailandi Discoteka" (disco dance). This first version of Italo Disco sounded like a down tempo version of Space Disco, a short lived Eurodisco instrumental style with futuristic sound effects and lyrics heavily influenced by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars band.
Technically speaking, Italo Disco was simply the 80s version of Eurodisco. Today, the term 'Euro Disco' refers to all disco music produced in Europe during the 70s and the 80s. But during the 1980s this term was used to describe the 1970s and early 1980s European disco productions, especially those from Germany (Boney M, Eruption, Dschinghis Khan, etc).
In the mid 80s, the Stock Aitken Waterman team created a commercial music genre in the UK labelled as "Eurobeat". Those first hits (Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, Kylie Minogue, etc) were heavily based on how Italo Disco sounded to the Brits. Once arriving in the USA, the Eurobeat hits helped the evolution of New York's "Freestyle". In USA, eurobeat was marketed as Hi-NRG.
The term Eurobeat was used in Japan (around 1987) to describe all Italo Disco and Eurobeat imports. Italo Disco became very successful in Japan and when 80s Eurodisco ended and the music switched to Eurohouse and New Beat, "Super Eurobeat" produced especially for Japan's market, as a kind of Japanese successor of the Italo Disco (called "Eurobeat" by the Japanese fans). During the 90s, another spinoff successor appeared called Eurobeat Flash. Both the Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash genres are virtually unknown outside Japan.
During the 90s, disco polo created in Poland heavily based on the Italo Disco sound.
★ On early Italo Disco productions, the vocals were usually in English, performed by non-native English speaking singers. After 1985, other European languages became common, especially Italian, Spanish, French and Greek. At the same time, most of the German-produced Italo Disco hits had both English and German-speaking versions.
★ The German variation of Italo Disco, very popular during the 80s, danced in the discofox style. In the German Speaking European countries, this variation of Italo Disco mixed on the dancefloors with the German schlager music style, that around 1988 sounded very close to the German variation of Italo disco. About that time, older Germans, Austrians and Swiss, start calling both Schlager and the German Italo Disco hits "Discofox", because they use to dance them both with the same discofox style. The German variation of Italo Disco, took the name "Discofox" since then. For the rest Europe, the term "discofox" for the German variation of italo-disco, never existed.
★ The later productions for Japan (Super Eurobeat), frequently had meaningless and sometimes incomprehensible lyrics.
Italian producer and keyboardist Giorgio Moroder began to experiment with electronic synthesizers, creating loops and synth-hooks using Moog and Korg synths. Italian producers were influenced by film soundtracks that used new electronic drums, such as ''Assault On Precinct 13''. An Italian music group, Goblin, created electronic-themed soundtracks for Dario Argento's Italian horror films. Giorgio Moroder's first LP, ''From Here To Eternity'', and his album ''Chase'' established him as a popular hitmaker. At the same time, the French producer Jean-Marc Cerrone released a series of albums, such as ''Supernature'' and ''Love In C Minor''.
Lucrethia & The Azoto 14,008 released the ''Dance Skinsation LP'' which helped jumpstart the Vedette Records label - which again lead the way for Italians wanting to produce disco music. In 1978 La Bionda recorded an early Italo Disco song "One For You, One For Me", which became a hit. In 1978, the french Black Devil released the now classic "Disco Club LP", affecting the sound of the evolving Italo Disco genre. "Disco Fizz" by Azoto (working without the Lucrethia syntax) and Tantra's "The Hills Of Katmandu" were released in 1980. These Italian artists leaned away from traditional disco sounds, and more towards faster beats created on drum machines, and are considered among the pioneers of Italo Disco. On the newly-formed Discomagic Records label, Sylvi Foster created "Love Dawn" and "If You Are Master" while Delanua recorded "Flood". Kano recorded songs such as "I'm Ready" and "Holly Dolly". In 1980, La Bionda had a hit entitled, "I Wanna Be Your Lover".
Discomagic Records and Il Discotto Productions created many sub-labels, each with their own distinguishable sounds. On Il Discotto, Jo Jo released "Mind Games", which fused R&B, electro, and disco. Gary Low released his first single, "You Are A Danger" which used both synthesizer and piano. Discomagic was beginning a long catalogue of records such as "How Many Fill" by Delanua, "The Garden" and "Robot Is Systematic" by 'Lectric Workers, and the club hit "Hookey" by Sylvi Foster. ll Discotto Productions had a hit with "Tequila" by Bo Boss. Other songs of note are Capricorn's electro dance song "I Need Love" and "Plastic Doll" by Dharma.
On Zanza Records, Klein & M.B.O. released "Dirty Talk", and Pink Project debuted with "Disco Project", a cover version of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", which had chart success in Europe in 1982. Mito released "Droid" on Zanza Records. Koto's first release, "Chinese Revenge", was a very spacey disco song. Bob Salton's "Starknight" became a hit. "Coda" by Amin Peck started a long list of hits. The Twins debuted with "Face To Face - Heart To Heart" and were back in 1983 with two more big singles. Electro fused with Italo Disco in 1982 in songs such as "Bad Passion" by Steel Mind, which used robotic-sounding vocals. Marzio Dance released hits such as "The Adventure" and "Rap-O-Hush". Franco Rago and Giorgio Farina released "Life With You" by Expansives and produced "The Man From Colours" by Wanexa.
Mr. Disco Organization (a sub-label of Full Time Records) released "Spacer Woman" by Charlie. The House Of Music label's B.W.H. released a double single entitled, "Stop" / "Livin' Up", and "A Dog In The Night" by Mr. Master. Two songs that used vocoders included "Cybernetic Love" by Casco and "Take A Chance" by Mr. Flagio. Il Discotto released Doctor's Cat's debut song "Feel The Drive". Also on the same label was the first release by Brand Image, "Are You Loving?". On the Italian Records label, Gaznevada released "I.C. Love Affair", and N.O.I.A. released "Stranger In A Strange Land". The Fly Music label released "Shaker Shake" by Time.
Samoa Park debuted with an Italo Disco version of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" project. Ryan Paris created the happy piano-esque song "Dolce Vita", which topped European charts. Tommy Bow's "Dance Tonight" and Felli's "Diamond In The Night" were two of Discomagic's big songs of 1983. However, one of Discomagic's best releases was "Orient Express" by Wish Key. Gary Low released a single, "I Want You", and Gazebo had a string of European chart hits with "Masterpiece", "I Like Chopin", and "Lunatic".
At American Disco Records, Scotch released "Penguin's Invasion" and P. Lion released "Happy Children", two songs which topped the European charts. Finzy Kontini released "Cha Cha Cha", a tropical melody with an Italo Disco sound. Also released were "Hey D.J. (Give Me A Lot Of Music)" by B. Rose, and Camaro's Gang's "Fuerza Major" and "Ali Shuffle", and Kano returned to top the charts with the major hit "Another Life". Danse Records label had the song "Come On Closer" by Pineapples, featuring Douglas Roop, an American vocalist. Memory Records released "Pulstar" and "Oxygene" by Hipnosis, "Happy Song" by Baby's Gang, and "Don't Stop Lovin'" by J.D. Jaber.
"Incantations" by G.A.N.G. on the Discomagic label, and "Suicidal" and "Anxiety" by Amin Peck became popular in 1983. These 8-10 minute tracks used many instruments and channeled layers. "Run Away" by International Music System became popular because of its dark beats. "You ... See" by Helicon used male/female combo vocals, which was uncommon for an Italo song.
The Creatures released "Believe In Yourself" and The Twins had two popular songs, "Ballet Dancer" and "Not The Loving Kind". Righeira released "No Tengo Dinero" and "Vamos A La Playa", two Italian vocal songs that conquered European charts. Other big hits in 1983 included "Young Man" by Nite Lite, "Communicate" by Kirlian Camera, "Voice (In The Night)" by Martinelli, "Hypnotic Tango" by My Mine, and "Magical Body" by Los Angeles T.F. Den Harrow debuted with "To Meet Me" and "A Taste Of Love".
Some of the bigger labels began to make waves in Germany, Netherlands, and throughout the rest of Europe (with England as an exception), eventually finding their way to the ZYX label in Germany. This record label did a lot of third-party licensing for the German market. ZYX had enough songs licensed to their label that one of their producers/deejay's created two short megamixes using Italian disco songs. The mix was named, ''Italo Boot Mix Volume 1'' and it featured artists such as Mr. Flagio, Time, Doctor's Cat, Samoa Park, and Brand Image. This mix was the first outreach of pure Italo-disco music in new markets. Soon after the first ''Italo Boot Mix'' was released, European began referring to disco music from Italy as Italo Disco.
Fockewulf 190 paved the way with "Gitano" and "Body Heat", two of the most respected Italo songs ever. The Italian men behind Fockewulf 190 made one more song using the alias of Frank Tavaglione called "Tumidanda". The original 12" featured both an English and Italian version, which was very uncommon for the time. Using the voice of Fred Ventura and the production values on Market Records, the Fockewulf 190 group recorded "Eagles In The Night" by Dario Dell'Aere.
Fockewulf 190's four productions were all on limited release in 1984. Fred Ventura had a hit with "The Years (Go By)" and it's featured in an Italo Boot Mix, making it an even bigger hit in Germany. International Music System released a party song called "Dancing Therapy". Memory Records' hits of the year included Ken Laszlo's,"Hey Hey Guy" and "Tonight", and Cyber People's "Void Vision" and "Polaris". The Peecker Melody label, a sub-label of Il Discotto, provided three hits in 1984: "Your Fun" by Modem, "Driving" by Sensitive, and "Running Straight" by Amin Peck. "I Wish" by Bolero became a hit all over Europe, and "Self Control" by the late Laura Branigan, a cover of the RAF song of the same name, became popular.
The song "Souvenir", originally released by OMD, was covered by a handful of Italian artists, including Nicky & Nicky and Saxophone. By 1984, Italo Disco's output was very high, with many new songs arriving each month at the local record shops throughout Italy and Europe, particularly Netherlands and Germany. "Clouds" by Angie was a great female Italo hit. "Magic Carillon" by Rose was another female vocal classic. Fake debuts with a sexy vintage disco styled song that keeps many elements of Italo Disco.
In 1984, "The Years (Go By)" by Fred Ventura became a lead track on one of the Italo Boot Mixes and also a top chart hit all over Europe. Il Discotto's big hit was "Hot Stuff" by Image. Discomagic's big hit was "Play Boy" by Venise - another female vocal song with a great electro/drum beat combo. However, the big Italo song of 1984 (from a true fans standpoint) would be "Catch" by Sun-La-Shan. Scotch released "Disco Band", a major hit in Germany. Miko Mission released two songs in a row, "The World Is You" and "How Old Are You?".
Brand Image returned to the Italo scene in 1985 with "Love In A Summer Night", which helped jumpstart the infamous Time Records label. Magika had a hit on Time Records with "I Know Magika". Italo Disco started saturating the market, peaking in 1984 and 1985. An Italo Disco song was considered very easy and inexpensive for the DJs to produce, and many of the biggest producers from the big labels started sub-labels.
One producer might make 100's of songs a year, and the same vocalists would appear on numerous releases across many sub-labels, often being featured as the secret vocalist. Rose, Ken Laszlo, Fred Ventura, Eddy Huntington, Den Harrow, Joe Yellow, and Albert One became major contributors to this rapid movement of new songs being produced. For example, "Spanish Run" by Jaco featured the voice of Ken Laszlo, famous for his smash hit "Hey Hey Guy". 1985's hits included "Forever And A Day" by 93rd Super Bowl, Fake's "Brick" and its b-side "Another Brick", "Dial My Number" by R. Bais, and "Baby On Fire" by Ottomix & P.K. Siegel.
Italo Disco began to decline as new genres surfaced. High Energy music in Germany, fuelled by Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, C.C. Catch, and Silent Circle started conquering the charts. At the same time, traditional Italo Disco beats began to sound "old fashioned" when compared to the new speedy drum machine beats made on a Roland TR 808 or 909. At this time, Garage House, Acid House, Chicago House, House, Acid, Eurodance, and any form of the true 130 BPM started taking over the dance scene, where the beat used in clubs sped up and the bassline became louder. This had all been developing slowly since 1982 when Italo Disco first surfaced.
In 1986, Italo Disco reached the US, and two songs actually became minor hits there, categorized in the New Wave genre: "Boom Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)" by Paul Lekakis and "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora, released a year earlier. It was around this time that Radiorama became a major player in the Italo scene. The band got its own label and in the end of 1986 released a major song called "Aliens". Alan Barry, Aleph, Alphatown, and many other Italo artists started experimenting with a faster BPM. Time Records became the leader in the industry at this point, with A Beat C and Asia Records following right behind.
The Italo Boot mixes became popular in Germany and other parts of Europe that didn't have access to all the Italo releases. Italo Boot mixes were megamixes from the ZYX record label, featuring 10-15 songs per mix, usually split into 2 parts each. The mixes typically featured the biggest Italo songs of the time, and were especially popular in Germany where many songs made the top charts for several weeks.
When Italo Disco hits lost there popularity in Europe, the Japanese market forced Italian and German producers to evolve the sound to what end up under the term "Eurobeat" and later Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash. Those music styles, under the term Eurobeat, are sold only in Japan due to the Para Para culture there. Italian producers are still producing songs for the Japanese (super) Eurobeat market in 2007. This evolving sound of Italo disco, involves a much higher BPM, as well as more rapid synth-lines and faster vocals. The genre itself upped the BPM in the late 80s, all the way into the 2000s. While the genre has seen many recent releases with slower BPM, the sound still remains true to what the Japanese fans call "the Eurobeat style". The two most famous labels of this genre include A-Beat-C Records and Hi-NRG Attack. Two record labels that produced Italo Disco in the past, S.A.I.F.A.M. and Time, now produce Eurobeat music for Japan.
Around 1989, the Italian scene of Italo Disco, evolved into italo house, which fused with other parts of Europe and eventually lead to euro house music, marketed in U.S.A. during the mid 90s as "Eurodance", a term that existed before and used as a short for the "European Dance Charts". The 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.
In Poland, a variation called disco polo appeared during the early 90s. 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, Bad Boys Blue, Joy, and Lian Ross. 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).
During the mid-1980s, spacesynth developed as a sub-genre of Space Disco / Italo Disco. This style existed in Scandinavia, but grew immensely popular in the Netherlands. It was mostly instrumental and focused more on space sounds than the earlier more pop-oriented songs, as exemplified by the sounds of Koto, Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis, and Laserdance.
Italo Disco developed a cult following in the early 1990s, and electro releases in 1993 by I-F, in 1998 by Legowelt and Tobias Bernstrup, and in 2000 by Jeans Team, Bangkok Impact, and Hong Kong Counterfeit were among those that fuelled renewed interest. I-F's 2000 Italo-cum-electro mix ''Mixed Up in the Hague'' was equally important to the reintroduction of the genre.
A big comeback of the German variation of Italo Disco, beggan in 1998, when Modern Talking re-united. Various german italo-disco artists (C.C.Catch, Bad Boys Blue, Fancy, Sandra etc), italian italo-disco artists (Gazebo, Savage, Ken Laszlo, etc) and countless other italo-disco artists from all over Europe, remixed in a late 90s eurohouse style all there biggest italo-disco hits, giving new life to them and a new fan base, especially in East and South Europe. Rete4 channel in Italy and Prosieben channel in Germany, start airing from there archives 80s recording of those hits, followed by spanish TVE's "Nostalgia" channel and the late MTV Classic in Polland (now replaced by VH1 Polska). German music channels like "hits 24" and "Goldstar TV" air lot's of 70s and 80s italo-disco hits, so "Melody" from France and MCM Pop (mainly on the "MCM Kitch" specials). This situation create a new interest in eurodisco in general, since most of those videos was extremely rare to watch, even back in the 80s
Greece seems to have the biggest revival in italo-disco music, with 3 terrestial radio stations airing Italo-Disco hits in Athens in 2007 (Blue Space, Radio Boom Boom and Free FM) and many Discoteques re-open after decades of non existance in most Greek Cities. Italo-Disco based parties take place twice a month in Athens and the 80s eurodisco music as a whole can be considered as "mainstream" on the dance clubs.
As of 2005 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." Death Disco Radio began broadcasting in 2006, playing Italo Disco, Euro Disco, Italo Dance and other Italo Disco-related genres.
The German Master Blaster group, 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 group Harre Money (pronounced Àrmani, like the world wide famous Italian stylist) released in 2006 an album called ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', which included many Italo Disco like tracks. Their shows are also characterized by a theatrical performance remembering the 80s odd-style.
Freemasons (band), a british based Group, remix popular hits to italo disco style. The latest hit of Beyonce - Green Light, in the "Freemasons mix" (broadcasted in MTV Dance, Flaunt and other british music channels) are a perfect example.
Main articles: List of Italo Disco artists
Some popular Italian artists and their most known italo disco songs include:
★ Albert One — "Turbo Diesel", "For Your Love", "Hopes and Dreams"
★ Alexander Robotnick — '"Problèmes D'Amour"
★ Atrium — "Weekend"
★ Azoto — "Exalt Exalt", "San Salvador"
★ Baltimora — "Tarzan Boy"
★ Black Devil
★ Blocksystem — "Don't Leave Me''
★ Boland, Hugh — "Alisand"
★ Canton — "Sleepwalking", "Please Don't Stay"
★ Carrara — "Shine on Dance", "Fuerza Major", "Disco King", 'SOS Bandido'
★ Coo Coo (Max Coo & Steve Coo) — "Upside Down", "All I Need Is Love", "Boogie Woogie Dancer"
★ Cyber People — "Void Vision", "Polaris", "Digital Signal Professor"
★ Cube - Love's Taboo (Art of Mix)
★ Den Harrow — "Don't Break My Heart", "A Taste of Love", "Bad Boy", "Future Brain", "Charleston", "Catch the Fox'", "Mad Desire"
★ Denise & Baby's Gang — "Disco Maniac"
★ Dharma — "Plastic Doll"
★ Diana Est — "Tenax", "Le Louvre"
★ Doctor's Cat — "Feel the Drive", "Gee Whiz", "Watch Out!"
★ Edyta — "ABC Letters of Love", "Be Slave of My Heart", "Come Back", '"Losing My Religion"
★ Fabrizio Simoncioni — "Susy Oh", "Hello?"
★ Fake — "Frogs in Spain", "Donna Rouge"
★ Fockewulf 190 - "Gitano", "Body Heat"
★ Finzy Kontini — "Cha Cha Cha"
★ Frank Tavaglione - "Tumidanda"
★ Fun Fun — "Happy Station", "Colour My Love"
★ Gazebo — "I Like Chopin", "Masterpiece", "Lunatic", "Telephone Mama"
★ Gay Cat Park — "I'm a Vocoder"
★ Harre Money — "Bambolina modello 5.6", "Oscar Wilde", "Walking again"
★ Hipnosis — "Pulstar"
★ Hot Cold - "I Can Hear Your Voice"
★ Italian Boys — "Forever Lovers", "Midnight Girl"
★ Ivàn — "Fotonovela"
★ Ivana Spagna — "Easy Lady", "Call me", "Every Girl and Boy"
★ Joe Yellow — "Take My Heart", "Lover to Lover"
★ Kano — "Another Life"
★ Klein & M.B.O. — "Dirty Talk", "The Big Apple", "The MBO Theme", "Wonderful"
★ Koto — "Visitors", "Jabdah", "Chinese Revenge"
★ Ken Laszlo — "Hey Hey Guy", "Tonight", "Mary Ann", "Don't Cry"
★ Laserdance — "Humanoid Invasion", "Laserdance", "Shotgun (In the Night)"
★ Laura Branigan — "Gloria", "Self Control", "Spanish Eddie", "Touch"
★ 'Lectric Workers — "Robot Is Systematic", "The Garden"
★ Malcolm & the Bad Girls — "Shoot Me"
★ Martinelli — "Cinderella"
★ Meccano — "Activeate My Heart", "Down Down Romeo"
★ Michael Bedford — "More Than a Kiss", "Tonight"
★ Miko Mission — "How Old Are You?", "World Is You"
★ Mr. Flagio — "Take a Chance"
★ My Mine — "Hypnotic Tango"
★ N.O.I.A. — "Stranger in a Strangeland", "Looking for Love"
★ Novecento — "Movin' On", "Why me", "Excessive Love", "It's So Easy"
★ One System — "Life Is Very Short"
★ P. Lion — "Happy Children", "Dream"
★ Phaeax — "Talk About"
★ Pineapples - "Come On Closer"
★ Raf — "Self Control"
★ Ris — "Love and Music"
★ Stopp — "I'm Hungry"
★ Silver Pozzoli — "Around My Dream"
★ Linda Jo Rizzo — "You're My First, You're My Last"
★ Primadonna — "Angel You", "Flashing On The Floor"
★ Q — "The Voice of Q"
★ Radiorama — "Desire", "Aliens", "Fire"
★ Righeira — "Vamos A La Playa","No Tengo Dinero"
★ Ryan Paris — "Dolce Vita"
★ Sabrina Salerno — "Boys", "Sexy Girl", "My Chico"
★ Sandy Marton — "People from Ibiza", "Camel by Camel", "Exotic and Erotic"
★ Savage — "Don't Cry Tonight", "Only You", "A Love Again", "Fugitive"
★ Scotch — "Disco Band", "Take Me Up", "Mirage", "Man to Man", "Penguin's Invasion", "Plus Plus", "Money Runner"
★ Shreeve, Mark — "Legion"
★ Styloo — "Pretty Face"
★ Taffy — "I Love My Radio", "Once More"
★ Tom Hooker — "Looking for Love"
★ Topo & Roby — "Under the Ice"
★ Tracy Spencer — "Run to Me"
★ Trans X — "Living on Video", "Message on the Radio", "Digital World"
★ Twins, The — "Love System"
★ Valerie Dore — "The Night", "Get Closer", "Lancelot"
★ Via Verdi — "Diamond"
★ Wish Key — "Orient Express", "Last Summer"
Contemporary artists influenced by Italo Disco:
★ Savas Pascalidis — "Fly With The Wind" (remix of Peter Jacques band's song with the same title)
★ Legowelt
★ Alden Tyrell
★ Metro Area
★ Bangkok Impact
★ Japanese Telecom
★ Orgue Electronique
★ Lowfish
★ Bimbo Boy
★ Hong Kong Counterfeit
★ Lindstrøm
★ Michael Mayer
★ Sally Shapiro
★ Mount Sims
★ Harre Money
★ Euro Disco
★ Synthpop
★ New Wave
★ Electronic body music
★ Belgian New Beat
★ Hi-NRG
★ Spacesynth (Synthdance, Spacedance)
★ Space Disco
Reaction, Revival, and inspired by:
★ The Hague electro sound
★ Electropop
★ Electroclash
★ Disco Nouveau
Evolved into:
★ Eurobeat
★ House
★ Italo dance
★ Eurodance
★ Disco polo
★ Italo Disco: The Detailed History - Including streaming classics. Retrieved January 26 2007.
★ Death Disco Radio, ''WWW.DEATHDISCORADIO.COM'
★ 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.
★ Italo Disco on Myspace
★ under construction
★
★ scheul.de - Chart positions of Italo-Disco artists internationally.
★ Italo disco video on DVD - Selling, trading videos from the 80s (italo, eurodisco)
★ SouthPole Radio - Internet radio station, dedicated to Italo Disco only.
★ www.dmpmusic.in - DMP's Italo Disco Electro Portal
★ North American Italodisco Myspace page - songs and links to videos from the Italo Disco era (1981-87)
Italo Disco music has a distinct, futuristic and spacey sound which was created using synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.
During the 1980s, the term "Italo-disco" used in Europe to describe all the non UK-based dance productions, including some Canadian ones. In the UK and the USA, Italo-disco was virtually unknown to the mainstream consumer and existed only underground.
| Contents |
| Terminology |
| Various Italo Disco Facts |
| History |
| 1975-1981 |
| 1982 |
| 1983 |
| 1984 |
| 1985 |
| 1986 |
| Evolved and inter-related genres |
| Revival, 1993– (electro) |
| Italo disco artists |
| Authentic related styles |
| See also |
| References |
Terminology
The name "Italo Disco" originates from the ''Italo Boot Mix'' series - a megamix featuring Italian and German produced disco music - created in 1983 by Bernhard Mikulski, the founder of German-based ZYX Music. Prior to 1983, the genre was simply referred to as 'disco music' from Europe. The presenters of the Italian music show ''Discoring'' (produced by RAI), usually referred to the Italian productions of what later would became Italo Disco as "Rock Electronico" and "Bailandi Discoteka" (disco dance). This first version of Italo Disco sounded like a down tempo version of Space Disco, a short lived Eurodisco instrumental style with futuristic sound effects and lyrics heavily influenced by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars band.
Technically speaking, Italo Disco was simply the 80s version of Eurodisco. Today, the term 'Euro Disco' refers to all disco music produced in Europe during the 70s and the 80s. But during the 1980s this term was used to describe the 1970s and early 1980s European disco productions, especially those from Germany (Boney M, Eruption, Dschinghis Khan, etc).
In the mid 80s, the Stock Aitken Waterman team created a commercial music genre in the UK labelled as "Eurobeat". Those first hits (Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, Kylie Minogue, etc) were heavily based on how Italo Disco sounded to the Brits. Once arriving in the USA, the Eurobeat hits helped the evolution of New York's "Freestyle". In USA, eurobeat was marketed as Hi-NRG.
The term Eurobeat was used in Japan (around 1987) to describe all Italo Disco and Eurobeat imports. Italo Disco became very successful in Japan and when 80s Eurodisco ended and the music switched to Eurohouse and New Beat, "Super Eurobeat" produced especially for Japan's market, as a kind of Japanese successor of the Italo Disco (called "Eurobeat" by the Japanese fans). During the 90s, another spinoff successor appeared called Eurobeat Flash. Both the Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash genres are virtually unknown outside Japan.
During the 90s, disco polo created in Poland heavily based on the Italo Disco sound.
Various Italo Disco Facts
★ On early Italo Disco productions, the vocals were usually in English, performed by non-native English speaking singers. After 1985, other European languages became common, especially Italian, Spanish, French and Greek. At the same time, most of the German-produced Italo Disco hits had both English and German-speaking versions.
★ The German variation of Italo Disco, very popular during the 80s, danced in the discofox style. In the German Speaking European countries, this variation of Italo Disco mixed on the dancefloors with the German schlager music style, that around 1988 sounded very close to the German variation of Italo disco. About that time, older Germans, Austrians and Swiss, start calling both Schlager and the German Italo Disco hits "Discofox", because they use to dance them both with the same discofox style. The German variation of Italo Disco, took the name "Discofox" since then. For the rest Europe, the term "discofox" for the German variation of italo-disco, never existed.
★ The later productions for Japan (Super Eurobeat), frequently had meaningless and sometimes incomprehensible lyrics.
History
1975-1981
Italian producer and keyboardist Giorgio Moroder began to experiment with electronic synthesizers, creating loops and synth-hooks using Moog and Korg synths. Italian producers were influenced by film soundtracks that used new electronic drums, such as ''Assault On Precinct 13''. An Italian music group, Goblin, created electronic-themed soundtracks for Dario Argento's Italian horror films. Giorgio Moroder's first LP, ''From Here To Eternity'', and his album ''Chase'' established him as a popular hitmaker. At the same time, the French producer Jean-Marc Cerrone released a series of albums, such as ''Supernature'' and ''Love In C Minor''.
Lucrethia & The Azoto 14,008 released the ''Dance Skinsation LP'' which helped jumpstart the Vedette Records label - which again lead the way for Italians wanting to produce disco music. In 1978 La Bionda recorded an early Italo Disco song "One For You, One For Me", which became a hit. In 1978, the french Black Devil released the now classic "Disco Club LP", affecting the sound of the evolving Italo Disco genre. "Disco Fizz" by Azoto (working without the Lucrethia syntax) and Tantra's "The Hills Of Katmandu" were released in 1980. These Italian artists leaned away from traditional disco sounds, and more towards faster beats created on drum machines, and are considered among the pioneers of Italo Disco. On the newly-formed Discomagic Records label, Sylvi Foster created "Love Dawn" and "If You Are Master" while Delanua recorded "Flood". Kano recorded songs such as "I'm Ready" and "Holly Dolly". In 1980, La Bionda had a hit entitled, "I Wanna Be Your Lover".
1982
Discomagic Records and Il Discotto Productions created many sub-labels, each with their own distinguishable sounds. On Il Discotto, Jo Jo released "Mind Games", which fused R&B, electro, and disco. Gary Low released his first single, "You Are A Danger" which used both synthesizer and piano. Discomagic was beginning a long catalogue of records such as "How Many Fill" by Delanua, "The Garden" and "Robot Is Systematic" by 'Lectric Workers, and the club hit "Hookey" by Sylvi Foster. ll Discotto Productions had a hit with "Tequila" by Bo Boss. Other songs of note are Capricorn's electro dance song "I Need Love" and "Plastic Doll" by Dharma.
On Zanza Records, Klein & M.B.O. released "Dirty Talk", and Pink Project debuted with "Disco Project", a cover version of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", which had chart success in Europe in 1982. Mito released "Droid" on Zanza Records. Koto's first release, "Chinese Revenge", was a very spacey disco song. Bob Salton's "Starknight" became a hit. "Coda" by Amin Peck started a long list of hits. The Twins debuted with "Face To Face - Heart To Heart" and were back in 1983 with two more big singles. Electro fused with Italo Disco in 1982 in songs such as "Bad Passion" by Steel Mind, which used robotic-sounding vocals. Marzio Dance released hits such as "The Adventure" and "Rap-O-Hush". Franco Rago and Giorgio Farina released "Life With You" by Expansives and produced "The Man From Colours" by Wanexa.
1983
Mr. Disco Organization (a sub-label of Full Time Records) released "Spacer Woman" by Charlie. The House Of Music label's B.W.H. released a double single entitled, "Stop" / "Livin' Up", and "A Dog In The Night" by Mr. Master. Two songs that used vocoders included "Cybernetic Love" by Casco and "Take A Chance" by Mr. Flagio. Il Discotto released Doctor's Cat's debut song "Feel The Drive". Also on the same label was the first release by Brand Image, "Are You Loving?". On the Italian Records label, Gaznevada released "I.C. Love Affair", and N.O.I.A. released "Stranger In A Strange Land". The Fly Music label released "Shaker Shake" by Time.
Samoa Park debuted with an Italo Disco version of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" project. Ryan Paris created the happy piano-esque song "Dolce Vita", which topped European charts. Tommy Bow's "Dance Tonight" and Felli's "Diamond In The Night" were two of Discomagic's big songs of 1983. However, one of Discomagic's best releases was "Orient Express" by Wish Key. Gary Low released a single, "I Want You", and Gazebo had a string of European chart hits with "Masterpiece", "I Like Chopin", and "Lunatic".
At American Disco Records, Scotch released "Penguin's Invasion" and P. Lion released "Happy Children", two songs which topped the European charts. Finzy Kontini released "Cha Cha Cha", a tropical melody with an Italo Disco sound. Also released were "Hey D.J. (Give Me A Lot Of Music)" by B. Rose, and Camaro's Gang's "Fuerza Major" and "Ali Shuffle", and Kano returned to top the charts with the major hit "Another Life". Danse Records label had the song "Come On Closer" by Pineapples, featuring Douglas Roop, an American vocalist. Memory Records released "Pulstar" and "Oxygene" by Hipnosis, "Happy Song" by Baby's Gang, and "Don't Stop Lovin'" by J.D. Jaber.
"Incantations" by G.A.N.G. on the Discomagic label, and "Suicidal" and "Anxiety" by Amin Peck became popular in 1983. These 8-10 minute tracks used many instruments and channeled layers. "Run Away" by International Music System became popular because of its dark beats. "You ... See" by Helicon used male/female combo vocals, which was uncommon for an Italo song.
The Creatures released "Believe In Yourself" and The Twins had two popular songs, "Ballet Dancer" and "Not The Loving Kind". Righeira released "No Tengo Dinero" and "Vamos A La Playa", two Italian vocal songs that conquered European charts. Other big hits in 1983 included "Young Man" by Nite Lite, "Communicate" by Kirlian Camera, "Voice (In The Night)" by Martinelli, "Hypnotic Tango" by My Mine, and "Magical Body" by Los Angeles T.F. Den Harrow debuted with "To Meet Me" and "A Taste Of Love".
Some of the bigger labels began to make waves in Germany, Netherlands, and throughout the rest of Europe (with England as an exception), eventually finding their way to the ZYX label in Germany. This record label did a lot of third-party licensing for the German market. ZYX had enough songs licensed to their label that one of their producers/deejay's created two short megamixes using Italian disco songs. The mix was named, ''Italo Boot Mix Volume 1'' and it featured artists such as Mr. Flagio, Time, Doctor's Cat, Samoa Park, and Brand Image. This mix was the first outreach of pure Italo-disco music in new markets. Soon after the first ''Italo Boot Mix'' was released, European began referring to disco music from Italy as Italo Disco.
1984
Fockewulf 190 paved the way with "Gitano" and "Body Heat", two of the most respected Italo songs ever. The Italian men behind Fockewulf 190 made one more song using the alias of Frank Tavaglione called "Tumidanda". The original 12" featured both an English and Italian version, which was very uncommon for the time. Using the voice of Fred Ventura and the production values on Market Records, the Fockewulf 190 group recorded "Eagles In The Night" by Dario Dell'Aere.
Fockewulf 190's four productions were all on limited release in 1984. Fred Ventura had a hit with "The Years (Go By)" and it's featured in an Italo Boot Mix, making it an even bigger hit in Germany. International Music System released a party song called "Dancing Therapy". Memory Records' hits of the year included Ken Laszlo's,"Hey Hey Guy" and "Tonight", and Cyber People's "Void Vision" and "Polaris". The Peecker Melody label, a sub-label of Il Discotto, provided three hits in 1984: "Your Fun" by Modem, "Driving" by Sensitive, and "Running Straight" by Amin Peck. "I Wish" by Bolero became a hit all over Europe, and "Self Control" by the late Laura Branigan, a cover of the RAF song of the same name, became popular.
The song "Souvenir", originally released by OMD, was covered by a handful of Italian artists, including Nicky & Nicky and Saxophone. By 1984, Italo Disco's output was very high, with many new songs arriving each month at the local record shops throughout Italy and Europe, particularly Netherlands and Germany. "Clouds" by Angie was a great female Italo hit. "Magic Carillon" by Rose was another female vocal classic. Fake debuts with a sexy vintage disco styled song that keeps many elements of Italo Disco.
In 1984, "The Years (Go By)" by Fred Ventura became a lead track on one of the Italo Boot Mixes and also a top chart hit all over Europe. Il Discotto's big hit was "Hot Stuff" by Image. Discomagic's big hit was "Play Boy" by Venise - another female vocal song with a great electro/drum beat combo. However, the big Italo song of 1984 (from a true fans standpoint) would be "Catch" by Sun-La-Shan. Scotch released "Disco Band", a major hit in Germany. Miko Mission released two songs in a row, "The World Is You" and "How Old Are You?".
1985
Brand Image returned to the Italo scene in 1985 with "Love In A Summer Night", which helped jumpstart the infamous Time Records label. Magika had a hit on Time Records with "I Know Magika". Italo Disco started saturating the market, peaking in 1984 and 1985. An Italo Disco song was considered very easy and inexpensive for the DJs to produce, and many of the biggest producers from the big labels started sub-labels.
One producer might make 100's of songs a year, and the same vocalists would appear on numerous releases across many sub-labels, often being featured as the secret vocalist. Rose, Ken Laszlo, Fred Ventura, Eddy Huntington, Den Harrow, Joe Yellow, and Albert One became major contributors to this rapid movement of new songs being produced. For example, "Spanish Run" by Jaco featured the voice of Ken Laszlo, famous for his smash hit "Hey Hey Guy". 1985's hits included "Forever And A Day" by 93rd Super Bowl, Fake's "Brick" and its b-side "Another Brick", "Dial My Number" by R. Bais, and "Baby On Fire" by Ottomix & P.K. Siegel.
1986
Italo Disco began to decline as new genres surfaced. High Energy music in Germany, fuelled by Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, C.C. Catch, and Silent Circle started conquering the charts. At the same time, traditional Italo Disco beats began to sound "old fashioned" when compared to the new speedy drum machine beats made on a Roland TR 808 or 909. At this time, Garage House, Acid House, Chicago House, House, Acid, Eurodance, and any form of the true 130 BPM started taking over the dance scene, where the beat used in clubs sped up and the bassline became louder. This had all been developing slowly since 1982 when Italo Disco first surfaced.
In 1986, Italo Disco reached the US, and two songs actually became minor hits there, categorized in the New Wave genre: "Boom Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)" by Paul Lekakis and "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora, released a year earlier. It was around this time that Radiorama became a major player in the Italo scene. The band got its own label and in the end of 1986 released a major song called "Aliens". Alan Barry, Aleph, Alphatown, and many other Italo artists started experimenting with a faster BPM. Time Records became the leader in the industry at this point, with A Beat C and Asia Records following right behind.
The Italo Boot mixes became popular in Germany and other parts of Europe that didn't have access to all the Italo releases. Italo Boot mixes were megamixes from the ZYX record label, featuring 10-15 songs per mix, usually split into 2 parts each. The mixes typically featured the biggest Italo songs of the time, and were especially popular in Germany where many songs made the top charts for several weeks.
Evolved and inter-related genres
When Italo Disco hits lost there popularity in Europe, the Japanese market forced Italian and German producers to evolve the sound to what end up under the term "Eurobeat" and later Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash. Those music styles, under the term Eurobeat, are sold only in Japan due to the Para Para culture there. Italian producers are still producing songs for the Japanese (super) Eurobeat market in 2007. This evolving sound of Italo disco, involves a much higher BPM, as well as more rapid synth-lines and faster vocals. The genre itself upped the BPM in the late 80s, all the way into the 2000s. While the genre has seen many recent releases with slower BPM, the sound still remains true to what the Japanese fans call "the Eurobeat style". The two most famous labels of this genre include A-Beat-C Records and Hi-NRG Attack. Two record labels that produced Italo Disco in the past, S.A.I.F.A.M. and Time, now produce Eurobeat music for Japan.
Around 1989, the Italian scene of Italo Disco, evolved into italo house, which fused with other parts of Europe and eventually lead to euro house music, marketed in U.S.A. during the mid 90s as "Eurodance", a term that existed before and used as a short for the "European Dance Charts". The 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.
In Poland, a variation called disco polo appeared during the early 90s. 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, Bad Boys Blue, Joy, and Lian Ross. 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).
During the mid-1980s, spacesynth developed as a sub-genre of Space Disco / Italo Disco. This style existed in Scandinavia, but grew immensely popular in the Netherlands. It was mostly instrumental and focused more on space sounds than the earlier more pop-oriented songs, as exemplified by the sounds of Koto, Proxyon, Rofo, Cyber People, Hipnosis, and Laserdance.
Revival, 1993– (electro)
Italo Disco developed a cult following in the early 1990s, and electro releases in 1993 by I-F, in 1998 by Legowelt and Tobias Bernstrup, and in 2000 by Jeans Team, Bangkok Impact, and Hong Kong Counterfeit were among those that fuelled renewed interest. I-F's 2000 Italo-cum-electro mix ''Mixed Up in the Hague'' was equally important to the reintroduction of the genre.
A big comeback of the German variation of Italo Disco, beggan in 1998, when Modern Talking re-united. Various german italo-disco artists (C.C.Catch, Bad Boys Blue, Fancy, Sandra etc), italian italo-disco artists (Gazebo, Savage, Ken Laszlo, etc) and countless other italo-disco artists from all over Europe, remixed in a late 90s eurohouse style all there biggest italo-disco hits, giving new life to them and a new fan base, especially in East and South Europe. Rete4 channel in Italy and Prosieben channel in Germany, start airing from there archives 80s recording of those hits, followed by spanish TVE's "Nostalgia" channel and the late MTV Classic in Polland (now replaced by VH1 Polska). German music channels like "hits 24" and "Goldstar TV" air lot's of 70s and 80s italo-disco hits, so "Melody" from France and MCM Pop (mainly on the "MCM Kitch" specials). This situation create a new interest in eurodisco in general, since most of those videos was extremely rare to watch, even back in the 80s
Greece seems to have the biggest revival in italo-disco music, with 3 terrestial radio stations airing Italo-Disco hits in Athens in 2007 (Blue Space, Radio Boom Boom and Free FM) and many Discoteques re-open after decades of non existance in most Greek Cities. Italo-Disco based parties take place twice a month in Athens and the 80s eurodisco music as a whole can be considered as "mainstream" on the dance clubs.
As of 2005 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." Death Disco Radio began broadcasting in 2006, playing Italo Disco, Euro Disco, Italo Dance and other Italo Disco-related genres.
The German Master Blaster group, 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 group Harre Money (pronounced Àrmani, like the world wide famous Italian stylist) released in 2006 an album called ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', which included many Italo Disco like tracks. Their shows are also characterized by a theatrical performance remembering the 80s odd-style.
Freemasons (band), a british based Group, remix popular hits to italo disco style. The latest hit of Beyonce - Green Light, in the "Freemasons mix" (broadcasted in MTV Dance, Flaunt and other british music channels) are a perfect example.
Italo disco artists
Main articles: List of Italo Disco artists
Some popular Italian artists and their most known italo disco songs include:
★ Albert One — "Turbo Diesel", "For Your Love", "Hopes and Dreams"
★ Alexander Robotnick — '"Problèmes D'Amour"
★ Atrium — "Weekend"
★ Azoto — "Exalt Exalt", "San Salvador"
★ Baltimora — "Tarzan Boy"
★ Black Devil
★ Blocksystem — "Don't Leave Me''
★ Boland, Hugh — "Alisand"
★ Canton — "Sleepwalking", "Please Don't Stay"
★ Carrara — "Shine on Dance", "Fuerza Major", "Disco King", 'SOS Bandido'
★ Coo Coo (Max Coo & Steve Coo) — "Upside Down", "All I Need Is Love", "Boogie Woogie Dancer"
★ Cyber People — "Void Vision", "Polaris", "Digital Signal Professor"
★ Cube - Love's Taboo (Art of Mix)
★ Den Harrow — "Don't Break My Heart", "A Taste of Love", "Bad Boy", "Future Brain", "Charleston", "Catch the Fox'", "Mad Desire"
★ Denise & Baby's Gang — "Disco Maniac"
★ Dharma — "Plastic Doll"
★ Diana Est — "Tenax", "Le Louvre"
★ Doctor's Cat — "Feel the Drive", "Gee Whiz", "Watch Out!"
★ Edyta — "ABC Letters of Love", "Be Slave of My Heart", "Come Back", '"Losing My Religion"
★ Fabrizio Simoncioni — "Susy Oh", "Hello?"
★ Fake — "Frogs in Spain", "Donna Rouge"
★ Fockewulf 190 - "Gitano", "Body Heat"
★ Finzy Kontini — "Cha Cha Cha"
★ Frank Tavaglione - "Tumidanda"
★ Fun Fun — "Happy Station", "Colour My Love"
★ Gazebo — "I Like Chopin", "Masterpiece", "Lunatic", "Telephone Mama"
★ Gay Cat Park — "I'm a Vocoder"
★ Harre Money — "Bambolina modello 5.6", "Oscar Wilde", "Walking again"
★ Hipnosis — "Pulstar"
★ Hot Cold - "I Can Hear Your Voice"
★ Italian Boys — "Forever Lovers", "Midnight Girl"
★ Ivàn — "Fotonovela"
★ Ivana Spagna — "Easy Lady", "Call me", "Every Girl and Boy"
★ Joe Yellow — "Take My Heart", "Lover to Lover"
★ Kano — "Another Life"
★ Klein & M.B.O. — "Dirty Talk", "The Big Apple", "The MBO Theme", "Wonderful"
★ Koto — "Visitors", "Jabdah", "Chinese Revenge"
★ Ken Laszlo — "Hey Hey Guy", "Tonight", "Mary Ann", "Don't Cry"
★ Laserdance — "Humanoid Invasion", "Laserdance", "Shotgun (In the Night)"
★ Laura Branigan — "Gloria", "Self Control", "Spanish Eddie", "Touch"
★ 'Lectric Workers — "Robot Is Systematic", "The Garden"
★ Malcolm & the Bad Girls — "Shoot Me"
★ Martinelli — "Cinderella"
★ Meccano — "Activeate My Heart", "Down Down Romeo"
★ Michael Bedford — "More Than a Kiss", "Tonight"
★ Miko Mission — "How Old Are You?", "World Is You"
★ Mr. Flagio — "Take a Chance"
★ My Mine — "Hypnotic Tango"
★ N.O.I.A. — "Stranger in a Strangeland", "Looking for Love"
★ Novecento — "Movin' On", "Why me", "Excessive Love", "It's So Easy"
★ One System — "Life Is Very Short"
★ P. Lion — "Happy Children", "Dream"
★ Phaeax — "Talk About"
★ Pineapples - "Come On Closer"
★ Raf — "Self Control"
★ Ris — "Love and Music"
★ Stopp — "I'm Hungry"
★ Silver Pozzoli — "Around My Dream"
★ Linda Jo Rizzo — "You're My First, You're My Last"
★ Primadonna — "Angel You", "Flashing On The Floor"
★ Q — "The Voice of Q"
★ Radiorama — "Desire", "Aliens", "Fire"
★ Righeira — "Vamos A La Playa","No Tengo Dinero"
★ Ryan Paris — "Dolce Vita"
★ Sabrina Salerno — "Boys", "Sexy Girl", "My Chico"
★ Sandy Marton — "People from Ibiza", "Camel by Camel", "Exotic and Erotic"
★ Savage — "Don't Cry Tonight", "Only You", "A Love Again", "Fugitive"
★ Scotch — "Disco Band", "Take Me Up", "Mirage", "Man to Man", "Penguin's Invasion", "Plus Plus", "Money Runner"
★ Shreeve, Mark — "Legion"
★ Styloo — "Pretty Face"
★ Taffy — "I Love My Radio", "Once More"
★ Tom Hooker — "Looking for Love"
★ Topo & Roby — "Under the Ice"
★ Tracy Spencer — "Run to Me"
★ Trans X — "Living on Video", "Message on the Radio", "Digital World"
★ Twins, The — "Love System"
★ Valerie Dore — "The Night", "Get Closer", "Lancelot"
★ Via Verdi — "Diamond"
★ Wish Key — "Orient Express", "Last Summer"
Contemporary artists influenced by Italo Disco:
★ Savas Pascalidis — "Fly With The Wind" (remix of Peter Jacques band's song with the same title)
★ Legowelt
★ Alden Tyrell
★ Metro Area
★ Bangkok Impact
★ Japanese Telecom
★ Orgue Electronique
★ Lowfish
★ Bimbo Boy
★ Hong Kong Counterfeit
★ Lindstrøm
★ Michael Mayer
★ Sally Shapiro
★ Mount Sims
★ Harre Money
Authentic related styles
★ Euro Disco
★ Synthpop
★ New Wave
★ Electronic body music
★ Belgian New Beat
★ Hi-NRG
★ Spacesynth (Synthdance, Spacedance)
★ Space Disco
Reaction, Revival, and inspired by:
★ The Hague electro sound
★ Electropop
★ Electroclash
★ Disco Nouveau
Evolved into:
★ Eurobeat
★ House
★ Italo dance
★ Eurodance
See also
★ Disco polo
References
★ Italo Disco: The Detailed History - Including streaming classics. Retrieved January 26 2007.
★ Death Disco Radio, ''WWW.DEATHDISCORADIO.COM'
★ 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.
★ Italo Disco on Myspace
★ under construction
★
★ scheul.de - Chart positions of Italo-Disco artists internationally.
★ Italo disco video on DVD - Selling, trading videos from the 80s (italo, eurodisco)
★ SouthPole Radio - Internet radio station, dedicated to Italo Disco only.
★ www.dmpmusic.in - DMP's Italo Disco Electro Portal
★ North American Italodisco Myspace page - songs and links to videos from the Italo Disco era (1981-87)
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