   #copyright

Italo disco

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical genres, styles,
eras and events

   Italo disco is a musical marketing term introduced in 1983 by Bernhard
   Mikulski, the founder of ZYX Music. The term applied to Italian
   electronic dance music of the 1980s and to music from other parts of
   Europe and from North America that imitated the sound thereof. A
   typical Italo-disco song had contrasting verse-chorus form, had
   synthesizer based accompaniment and was usually sung in English by
   European artists.

History

Origins, 1978-1985

   Electronic dance music started to develop in the late 1970s when
   traditional sounding disco bands began to experiment with synthesizers
   and other electronic effects. This early form of electronic dance music
   is unofficially called "space disco" due to its odd sounds and sci-fi
   stylings. One of the main influences during this period was the
   producer Giorgio Moroder, 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 1982, 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. Synthpop, New Wave and the New
   Romantic genres were the foundations for Italo taking off, as these
   became very popular around the world at this same time during the early
   1980s. 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 Italian 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 track 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 Rosanna 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 began fading away and some groups moved
   into the Hi-NRG genre, which combined high-paced Italo and house. This
   style is evident in the productions of such artists as Divine, Roni
   Griffith, Tony Caso, and the Flirts, all of whom were produced by Bobby
   Orlando, as well as many Stock Aitken Waterman, notably those of
   Sinitta, Stacey Q, Samantha Fox, and Dead or Alive.

   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").

   In Germany, a style of Italo disco known as Discofox developed. 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.

   Also during the mid-1980s spacesynth developed as a sub-genre of italo.
   This style of Italo was mostly instrumental and focused more on space
   sounds than the earlier 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 2001 Italo-cum-electro
   mix Mixed Up in the Hague was equally important to the reintroduction
   of the genre.

   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 released the genre initially. ZYX records has released many
   new CD mixes since 2000. 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."

Italo disco artists

   Some popular artists and their hit songs include:
     * Albert One - "Turbo Diesel", "For Your Love"
     * Alexander Robotnick - '"Problèmes d'Amour"
     * Atrium - "Weekend"
     * Axodry - "You"
     * Azoto - "Exalt Exalt", "San Salvador"
     * Baltimora - " Tarzan Boy"
     * Blocksystem - "Don't Leave Me
     * Boland, Hugh - "Alisand"
     * Bruce & Bongo - "Geil"
     * 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"
     * Den Harrow - "Don't Break My Heart", "Bad Boy", "Future Brain",
       "Charleston", "Catch the Fox'", "Mad Desire"
     * Denise & Baby's Gang - "Disco Maniac"
     * Desireless - "Voyage, Voyage", "John", "Star"
     * 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"
     * Tony Esposito - "Papa Chico", "Kalimba de Luna", "As to As"
     * Fabrizio Simoncioni - "Susy Oh", "Hello?"
     * Fake - "Frogs in Spain", "Donna Rouge"
     * Fancy - "Bolero", "Lady of ice", "Fools cry"
     * Finzy Kontini - "Cha Cha Cha"
     * Fun Fun - "Happy Station", "Colour My Love"
     * Gazebo - "I Like Chopin", "Masterpiece", "Lunatic", "Telephone
       Mama"
     * Gay Cat Park - "I'm a Vocoder"
     * Hipnosis - "Pulstar"
     * Italian Boys - "Midnight Girl"
     * Ivàn - "Fotonovela"
     * 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"
     * Lime - "Angel Eyes", "Babe, We're Gonna Love Tonight", "Unexpected
       Lovers"
     * '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?"
     * 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"
     * Pet Shop Boys - "Paninaro", "Love Comes Quickly"
     * Phaeax - "Talk About"
     * Raf - "Self Control"
     * Ris - "Love and Music"
     * Stopp - "I'm Hungry / Caramba Mix","Wake Up"
     * Silver Pozzoli - "Around My Dream"
     * Linda Jo Rizzo - "You're My First, You're My Last"
     * Primadonna - "Angel You"
     * Q - "The Voice of Q"
     * Radiorama - "Desire", "Aliens", "Fire"
     * Righeira - "Vamos a la playa","No Tengo Dinero"
     * Ryan Paris - "Dolce Vita"
     * Sabrina - "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"
     * Spagna - "Easy Lady", "Call me", "Every Girl and Boy"
     * 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"
     * The Twins - "Love System"
     * Valerie Dore - "The Night", "Get Closer", "Lancelot"
     * Via Verdi - "Diamond"
     * Wish Key - "Orient Express", "Last Summer"

   Contemporary artists influenced by Italo Disco:
     * Pet Shop Boys
     * Savas Pascalidis - "Fly wit the wind"
     * Legowelt
     * Metro Area
     * Bangkok Impact
     * Japanese Telecom
     * Orgue Electronique
     * Georgio Moroder
     * Mat-101 - Tangent 2002 - Disco nouveau
     * Lowfish
     * Hong Kong Countrefeit
     * Lindstrom
     * Michael Mayer

Authentic Related styles

   80's
     * Euro Disco
     * Synthpop
     * New Wave
     * EBM (electronic body music)
     * Belgian New Beat
     * Hi-NRG

   Reaction, Revival and inspired by:
     * House
     * Eurobeat
     * The Hague electro sound
     * Electropop
     * Electroclash
     * Disco Nouveau
     * Gabber

References

     * 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.

                                   Disco
   Bright disco - Dance-punk - Disco polo - Euro disco - Hi-NRG - House -
   Italo disco - Spacesynth
   Artists - Discothèque - Nightclub - Orchestration - Other electronic
   music genres
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo_disco"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
