Disco
music genres
It happened
in 1987. (New Year) when I found out about Italo Disco music.
I was just 14, but I knew something special happened to me - I
became addicted to beauty, harmony, and sound of this really remarkable
part of disco music. First songs I heard were Albert One - For
Your Love, Radiorama - Hey Hey / Aliens, Why Not - Smile, Mike
Mareen - Love Spy, Latin Lover - Laser Light, Italian Boys - Gigolo,
Robby Hood - Two Of Hearts etc...
There were
groups that belong to German Disco, such as Modern Talking - Brother
Louie, Fancy - Lady Of Ice / Bolero, C. C. Catch - Heartbreak
Hotel / Heaven And Hell, Silent Circle - Touch In The Night, Bad
Boys Blue - You're A Woman...
Very
popular, 3rd part of of disco music, we called
Canadian Disco, or shortly Canada, but in fact we were thinking
of Hi-NRG: Patrick Cowley with legendary hit Menergy, Bobby Orlando
- Whisper To A Scream, Divine - Shot Your Shoot, Girly - Working
Girl, The Flirts - Passion / Helpless, Trans X - Living On Video..
There was
quite a terminological mess as it still is all over the world.
For example, German label ZYX published songs of German groups
under the name "The Best Of Italo Disco"!? So
is German Disco the same as Italo Disco or? Actually I differ
Italo Disco and Italian Disco.
So I call all of disco music production that we listen to Italo
Disco. According to Bernhard Mikulski, the author of the term,
it doesn' represent music from Italy, but music genre. Why Italo?
It's because most of songs came from Italy. On the other hand,
Italian Disco means Italo Disco songs made only in Italy.
Italo
Disco (or Euro Disco)
= music from Europe - Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Swiss, Sweden,
Spain, England...
Italo also has one substyle, but not acording by the country where
it was created, but more by feeling that it creates - it is travelling
through the space, so it is called Space Disco. I would exclude
Disco music from 70's from the term Italo Disco since it sounds
different, but basically the idea is very similar.
HI-HRG
= music mostly from America - USA, Canada, England (England is,
from a musical point of view, very strange country, often doesn't
fit into European music, it is more similar to America, not only
regarding disco style but other styles too...)
eurodance
disco radiorama modern talking 80s
ITALO
DISCO:
Italian Disco:
1983 - 1988 + 20** production :)
[Eddy Huntington]
[Den Harrow]
[Fred Ventura]
[Radiorama]
[Lala] [Valerie
Dore] [Fun
Fun]
German Disco:
1984 - 1988
[Mike Mareen]
[Fancy] [Modern
Talking] [Linda
Jo Rizzo] [Patty
Ryan] [C. C. Catch] [Lian
Ross]
Spanish Disco/Sabadell
Sound: 198? - 1988
[David Lyme]
[Daydream] [Kristian
Conde] [Julia
Claire] [Alan
Cook] [Green Ice] [Steve
Clark]
Space Disco/SpaceSynth/SynthDance/SpaceDance/Italo
Instrumentals: 1984 - 200*
[Laserdance] [Koto]
[Proxyon] [Cyber
People] [Hypnosis]
[Syntech]
[The Why Not]
HIGH
ENERGY:
HI-NRG (USA &
England): 1980 - 1988
[Patrick Cowley] [Pete
Burns] [Bobby Orlando] [Divine]
[The Flirts] [Roni
Griffith] [Modern Rocketry]
Canadian Disco (HI
NRG from Canada): ???? - ????
[Gillian Lane] [Stephanie
Wells] [Trans-X]
[Valerie Krystal] [Lime]
[Susan Stevenson]
[Suzy "Q"]
> many
of the #1 records in North America were produced in Canada, and
often licensed by USA and European labels so many DJs started
calling it Canadian Disco, also some Italian
producers lived in Canada (Giovanni D'Orazio, Antonio Bentivegna...)
and made music there. So one more reason to call all of it Italo
:).<
About
Space Disco:C/P from SpaceSynth
site:
Spacesynth, synthdance, spacedance, spacedisco
or whatever you want to call it is instrumental upbeat synth music
that focuses on melodies instead of rhythm. Driving basslines,
catchy synth riffs, sci-fi influences and futuristic track titles
and album covers have always been a major part of spacesynth.
Spacesynth originated in
the mid 80's. At that time synthesizers and electronic sounds
had become an essential part of popular music and were widely
used by such artists as Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk
and Art of Noise. Synthpop hits like Magnetic Fields 2, Pulstar
and Magic Fly are well known tracks even today.
In the meantime in Italy
a music style called Italo disco was dominating discos. Basically
Italo Disco consists of rather simple vocals, melodic synth riffs
and a four-to-floor beat. It had that recognizable 80's disco
sound that people either love or hate these days.
Italo disco became popular
in other parts of Europe too. At first spacesynth was just an
instrumental version of Italo Disco focusing on the synth side
of Italo Disco. But eventually it became a genre of its own. Cyber
People released successful singles "Polaris" and "Void
Vision" for the Memory Records label. Koto developed his
own Italo-inspired synth music style and the single "Visitors"
was a big hit in 1985.
Soon after there were other
similar groups - also outside of Italy. Erik van Vliet from The
Netherlands established Laserdance and together with Michiel van
der Kuy Laserdance became the most successful spacesynth group
ever. Their debut album "Future Generation" (1987) sold
approximately 150 000 copies and the singles "Powerrun"
and "Humanoid Invasion" were big hits in Europe. Koto
and Laserdance could be considered the most popular spacesynth
groups. They set the standards of the genre and since the golden
era of spacesynth many producers have tried to replicate that
sound.
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