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Italo disco

Music genre

Music genre

FieldValue
nameItalo disco
cultural_originsLate 1970s – early 1980s, Italy
stylistic_origins
derivatives
other_topics

Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) 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. 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.Folklore that ZYX boss Bernhard Mikulski coined the term Italo-disco in 1983 was long published on Wikipedia, but is unsubstantiated; to date, reliable third-party documentation has not been found to support whether ZYX label boss Mikulski himself named it, or whether ZYX was even the first to publish the term; it could just as easily have been a descriptor people were already using before someone at ZYX picked up on it. Italo disco faded in the early 1990s, then split into many genres (Eurobeat, Italo house, Italo dance).

Terminology

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.

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. 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". 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.

History

Origins: 1977–1990

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". In 1979, Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi created the soulful post-disco groups Change and B.B. & Q. Band. 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.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. File:Giorgio Moroder (2).jpg|Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Eurodisco and electronic dance music and highly influential to the Italo disco genre File:LA BIONDA & ETIENNE.jpg|La Bionda, considered among the pioneers of Italo disco File:Carmen Russo cropped.jpg|Carmen Russo File:Sabrina Salerno 30 October 2010 2.jpg|Sabrina Salerno

Derivative styles

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. 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).

Eurobeat

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.

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

  1. "All About Italo Disco: Origins and Notable Italo Disco Artists - 2025".
  2. McDonnell, John. (1 September 2008). "Scene and heard: Italo-disco". [[The Guardian]].
  3. (2022-07-26). "Italo disco's eternal evolution".
  4. "''Italo Super Hits'' in WorldCat".
  5. (12 October 1983). "Various – The Best Of Italo-Disco".
  6. (2011-12-20). "2011: WHAT IS ITALO DISCO??". the social seattle.
  7. [https://www.allmusic.com/album/dd-sound-best-hits-mw0001755701 DD Sound] Retrieved 06 July 2022
  8. [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-bb-q-band-mn0000764166/biography B. B. & Q. Band Artist Bio] AllMusic. Retrieved 06 July 2022
  9. Verrina, Francesco Cataldo. (2015). "The History of Italo Disco". [[Lulu.com.
  10. "La Bionda". Sonyatv.com.
  11. Syrgak, Erjan. (2024). "Eurobeat: A Music Genre Produced by Italians, for the Japanese Market". University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
  12. Leone, Dominique. (2006-02-06). "Space Disco".
  13. Kantonen, Jussi. (2006-11-10). "Dance Music 101: Space Disco".
  14. "I Signori Della Galassia".
  15. Leone, Dominique. (2006-02-06). "Space Disco". Pitchfork Media.
  16. Lawrence, Tim. (2016). "Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980–1983". [[Duke University Press]].
  17. SPIN Media LLC. (December 1989). "SPIN". SPIN Media LLC.
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