Italo disco is a type of music that encompasses most of the dance music production in Europe in the 1980s. It is one of the world's earliest forms of (mainly electronic) dance music and its greatest development occurred between 1970 and 1980. It developed in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. The futuristic atmosphere of italo disco songs is given by synthesizers, drum machines and vocoders. The exact origin of the name italo disco has never been established, but it is assumed to have something to do with Italy. Italo disco drew mainly from American trends such as disco and funk. The simple lyrics, sung very often in broken English, dealt with very everyday matters, the simplest approaches to the issue of love, or topics such as robots or the cosmos. The titles were also not impressive in their loftiness. Music was supposed to please and let you have fun at the disco, this was the main goal of Italo Disco. Disco - gave the opportunity to go wild with music, forget about problems and discover once again the joy of life. Therefore, no one cared about the message, and the content was very simplistic.… Read more
The origins of Italo Disco music
Although it began to develop as early as the 1970s, it was not until 1983 that the term describing this genre of music was first used precisely as italo disco. It was used by Bernhard Mikulski, founder of the record label ZYX Records (the label still exists today, although the founder is no longer alive), and he labeled his releases "Original Italo Disco." Interestingly, they were advertised as songs from Italy, and often all they had in common with Italy was the name "italo" and the rhythm sections and synthesizer sound characteristic of the genre. Since this trend was very popular in the 1980s and many bands and songs were created on its basis (from Italo Disco comes our native Disco Polo), a criterion was adopted to determine what is original italo disco, and thus, if the record was originally released in Italy and Italians are responsible for its production and performance, then we classify it as this genre. It is important to remember that what distinguishes Italian productions from others is precisely the melody, which was created with the help of programmed percussion and synthesizers.
The genre of italo disco also appears in Italian films. Films such as: "Vacanze Di Natale" and "Jocks" for which the soundtrack was current hits from this trend. There were also productions closely related to italo disco music, telling the story of what happens in the clubs of Italy. Unfortunately, none of these films were successful.
At some point, labels specializing solely in releasing italo disco records began to emerge in Italy. Larger labels could afford advertising, and could also afford promotional campaigns abroad. The great popularity of italo disco not only in Italy but also in the whole of Europe at the time translated into a supply of the genre, and consequently a lot of mediocre quality tracks. Italo disco could be created by anyone who had some mastery of the keyboard. Skills with skills, but the idea was also important, which is why musicians also became DJs, e.g. Roberto Onfori, Ricardo Cioni, Marzio Dance DJ.
The end of Italo Disco music
One may wonder how it happened that a genre that was in such demand in the late 1970s and 1980s suddenly ceased to be popular? There are several reasons for this, the first being the aforementioned mass production, the banality of the lyrics, the scarcity of the message, but also the fashion for music videos and programs that came about in the United States and Europe. It shaped the imagination of modern audiences, especially young people. At the same time, really few performers of this trend could afford to appear on television, and often they didn't even tour, as most productions were recorded in the studio and the performers' voices were computer-enhanced. Very often it happened that performers sang from a playback at concerts or sang for them, from behind the scenes, some other talented singer, who, however, did not correspond to the then stage image of the italo disco singer.
It's safe to say that italo disco was going away with the vinyl record. The rescue and time of revival of this genre is the era of the Internet. You can find a lot of songs there, and fans are also uniting. Internet themed radios are emerging, and traditional radio stations are increasingly playing old hits as well. It's hard to bode any future for this genre, it's possible that it will begin to experience a renaissance, or forever remain a genre available primarily on the Internet.
The most famous Italo Disco artists
And here's a list of the genre's most popular performers: Savage, Ken Laszlo, P.Lion, Albert One, Radiorama, Valerie Dore, Sabrina, Scotch, Baltimora, Righeira, Ryan Paris, Spagna, Miko Mission, Mike Mareen, Silver Pozzoli, La Bionda, Gazebo, Eddy Huntington, Den Harrow.