Italo-Disco

Presented by Nice

Scheduled on


MONDAY	12:00	15:00
TUESDAY	03:00	06:00
WEDNESDAY	12:00	15:00
THURSDAY	12:00	15:00

RMI - Classic & RMI - New

Tagged as Electronic, High Energy, Italo-Dico

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, 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.

Then also new musical genres that had set aside the rock of the 1970s thanks to new groups, such as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet and great pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna. The 1980s brought the electronics with real instruments, experimenting new sounds, in short, it was a decade of great change in modern music.

—Claudio Simonetti

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 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 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.