Space disco: Difference between revisions
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No references for 10 years. Space disco is clearly a microgenre within the italo disco "universe" (→fused with the Italo disco article). Tag: New redirect |
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#REDIRECT [[Italo disco]] |
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{{Refimprove|date=April 2008}} |
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{{Infobox music genre |
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|name=Space disco |
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|bgcolor=gold |
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|color=black |
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|stylistic_origins= {{hlist|[[Disco]]|[[psychedelic pop]]|[[space rock]]|[[glam rock]]}} |
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|cultural_origins= Late 1970s – early 1980s, Europe |
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|instruments= {{hlist|[[Synthesizer]]|[[string instrument|strings]]|[[keyboard instrument|keyboard]]|[[drums]]|[[vocals]]}} |
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|derivatives= {{hlist|[[Synth-pop]]|[[Eurodance]]|[[Hi-NRG]]}} |
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|subgenrelist= |
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|fusiongenres= [[Italo disco]] |
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|other_topics= |
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}} |
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'''Space disco''' is the fusion of [[disco]] music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, a genre that became popular in the late 1970s. The main idea behind the genre is that of an exploration of the wonders of [[outer space]] by humans, and many bands often included robotic shapes, laser illumination and computer screen sequences in their live performances. The artists themselves often dressed in a manner inspired by [[glam rock]] and somewhat futuristic fashion. It has some thematic similarities to [[space rock]], space funk and electronic soul. |
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Upon reaching Eastern Europe after 1980, the futuristic act was mainly dropped as many [[socialist state]] authorities often denied access to the stage for "inappropriately" dressed artists.{{citation needed|date=September 2010}} Many bands then began performing at free, open-music events, festivals and formations to avoid political suppression, and the genre itself was slowly assimilated into purely instrumental, almost orchestral form. |
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==Popularity== |
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Space disco was very popular in Europe between 1977–1979. Relatively popular artists that contributed to this music style include [[Meco]] ("[[Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band]]", which was also a no.1 hit in the U.S.), [[Cerrone]] ("[[Supernature (song)|Supernature]]"), [[Sarah Brightman]] ("[[I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper]]"), [[Space (French band)|Didier Marouani & Space]] ("Magic Fly"), [[Ganymed (band)|Ganymed]] ("It Takes Me Higher") and [[Sheila B. Devotion]] ("Spacer"). The German-based band [[Boney M.]] also adopted a space disco look for the cover artwork of their 1978 album, ''[[Nightflight to Venus]]'', and the title track of the album typifies the genre with its robotic voice and futuristic theme. |
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Space disco spread fast in Germany with the help of ''[[Musikladen]]'', a music show produced by the German channel [[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]]. ''[[Disco (TV series)|Disco]]'', another popular music show produced by [[ZDF]], also hosted some space disco artists. |
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Around 1979, just before space disco faded, [[Dee D. Jackson]] brought it to Latin America (mainly Brazil and Argentina) with the success there of her 1978 album ''Cosmic Curves''. Jackson was British but worked in Germany, and with the help of Italian producer [[Giorgio Moroder]], managed to score a hit in the global charts of the time with "Automatic Lover". |
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==Etymology== |
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At least one modern history of space disco traces the genre's origins to [[list of science fiction themes|science fiction themes]] (outer space, robots, and the future) in the titles, lyrics and cover artwork of dance music in the late 1970s.<ref name="kantonen">{{cite web|url=http://www.discostyle.com/space_disco.html|title=Dance Music 101: Space Disco|last=Kantonen|first=Jussi|date=2006-11-10|publisher=DiscoStyle.com|accessdate=2008-10-07}}</ref> Plausible associations are drawn between the popularity of ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'' (released mid-1977), the subsequent surge in interest in science fiction themes in popular culture, and the release of a number of science fiction themed and "futuristic"-sounding (synthesizer and [[arpeggiator]]-infused) disco music worldwide.<ref name="kantonen"/> |
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In modern histories, examples of the first space disco usually include the music of the French band [[Space (French band)|Space]],<ref name="kantonen"/> although the term "space disco" isn't definitively or singularly linked to this group. |
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==Regional scenes and derivatives== |
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===Space disco and P-Funk=== |
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[[P-Funk]] somehow became related with space disco, at least for a short while. The main reason for this could be that during the very early 1980s, the discothèques in France used to market P-Funk as the continuation of American disco after the [[Disco Demolition Night]] that took place in the United States on 1979. Also, the disco band [[Chic (band)|Chic]] produced [[Sheila B. Devotion]]'s biggest hit, "Spacer", which was a milestone of the Space Disco style, so it was natural to tell to the euro disco fans that P-Funk was Space Disco Related. The stage (and first video) appearances of the P-Funk artists, helped a lot in that direction. |
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===Space disco and Canadian disco=== |
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Space disco had a presence in Canada because of the French-speaking population. In the very early 1980s, it inspired Canadian artists and producers to create their own Hi-NRG disco-like music style. In Europe, this style became known as "Canadian Disco". The best known groups of this music style are [[Trans-X]] and [[Lime (band)|Lime]]. Canadian Disco integrated with the Italo disco scene in Europe, while it became a small part of [[Hi-NRG]] Disco in the U.S.A. |
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===Space disco and Italo disco=== |
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There are many Italo disco hits that have sci-fi themes and sound effects that were previously used in space disco. Many instrumental Italo disco remixes sounded very "space disco" like and some Italo disco artists and groups (most notable [[Koto (band)|Koto]] and [[Laserdance]]) had space disco elements in their music until the late 1980s. The hybrid between space disco and Italo disco created after 1986 mostly in Eastern Europe is called "Synthesizer Dance" by some fans, and "Spacesynth" by Americans. |
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Another crossover between space disco and Italo disco was made by Italians producers and DJs in the early 1980s. They used to remix European hits in a "space disco" style. That was the case with the hit "Der Kommissar" by [[Falco (musician)|Falco]]. |
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===Space disco and cosmo-rock=== |
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The term "cosmo-rock" was first coined by the [[USSR|Soviet]] space disco performance band [[Zodiac (band)|Zodiac]] from [[Latvian SSR]] in 1981. This was rather a name misunderstanding since Zodiac based their compositions on Didier Marouani's Space, not yet knowing the exact term for the genre. In the later years "space opera" or "disco opera" was also implied when both bands were touring in USSR and featured both terms on their posters (such as "cosmo-rock, space disco and opera performers", for example). |
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Zodiac saw a slight revival in the early 2000s when some of their songs were remixed by the Russian [[progressive house]] duo [[PPK (group)|PPK]]. |
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===Space disco and French house=== |
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Space disco became the main influence and inspiration for the 1990s [[French house]] scene, the last of the Euro disco music styles. |
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==Selected space disco artists== |
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* [[Asha Puthli]] |
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* [[Cerrone]] |
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* [[Cumbrian Spacewoman]] |
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* [[Dee D. Jackson]] (Automatic Lover) |
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* [[Ganymed (band)|Ganymed]] |
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* [[Mankind (band)|Mankind]] |
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* [[Patrick Cowley]] |
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* [[Rockets (band)|Rockets]] |
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* [[Sarah Brightman]] (during her days with [[Hot Gossip]]) |
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* [[Sheila B. Devotion]] (Spacer) |
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* [[Space (French band)|Space]] |
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* [[Supermax (band)|Supermax]] |
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* [[Frank Zander|ZaZu / Frank Zander]] |
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* [[Zodiac (band)|Zodiac]] |
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==Selected space disco hits== |
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===1976=== |
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* [[Asha Puthli]] - "Space Talk" |
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===1977=== |
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* [[Giorgio Moroder]] - "From Here To Eternity" |
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* [[Cerrone]] - "[[Supernature (song)|Supernature]]" |
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* [[Droïds]] - "The Force" |
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* [[Meco]] - "[[Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band|Star Wars: Title Theme]]" |
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* [[Rockets (band)|Rockets]] - "Space Rock" |
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* [[Space (French band)|Space]] - "Magic Fly" |
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* [[The Universal Robot Band]] - "Space Disco" |
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===1978=== |
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* [[Automat (album)|Automat]] - "Droid" |
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* [[Sarah Brightman]] and [[Hot Gossip]] - "(I Lost My Heart to a) Starship Trooper" |
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* [[Dee D. Jackson]] - "Automatic Lover" |
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* Dee D. Jackson - "Meteor Man" |
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* [[Amanda Lear]] - "Black Holes" |
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* [[Ganymed (band)|Ganymed]] - "Saturn" |
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* [[Giorgio Moroder]] - "Battlestar Galactica" |
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* [[Plastic Bertrand]] - "Tout Petit La Planete" |
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* [[Boney M.]] - "Nightflight to Venus" |
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* [[Giorgio Moroder]] - "Chase" |
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* [[Black Devil Disco Club|Bernard Fèvre]] - "H-friend" |
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* [[Leda (musician)|Leda]] - "Space Ride" |
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* [[Mankind (band)|Mankind]] - "Dr. Who" |
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===1979=== |
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* [[Sheila & B. Devotion]]{{dash}}"Spacer" |
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* [[Bob James (musician)|Bob James]]{{dash}}"[[Main theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]" |
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* [[Russell Dunlop|Player One]]{{dash}}"[[Space Invaders (Player One song)|Space Invaders]]" |
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* [[Frank Zander|Zazu / Frank Zander]]{{dash}}"Captain Starlight" |
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===1980=== |
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* [[Cumbrian Spacewoman]]{{dash}}"Liquid Space" |
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* [[Kano (band)|Kano]]{{dash}}"I'm Ready" |
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===1981=== |
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* [[Earth Wind & Fire]]{{dash}}"[[Let's Groove]]" |
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===1996=== |
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* [[Jamiroquai]]{{dash}}"[[Cosmic Girl (song)|Cosmic Girl]]" |
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===2004=== |
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* [[Zladko|Zladko "ZLAD!" Vladcik]] - "[[Elektronik Supersonik]]" (a [[viral video]] parody of the space disco genre, presented as if it was made by a musician from the fictional Eastern European country of [[Molvanîa]]) |
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===2005=== |
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* [[Hans-Peter Lindstrøm|Lindstrøm]] - "I Feel Space"<ref name="p4k">{{cite web | url=http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/6252-space-disco/ | title=Space Disco | publisher=Pitchfork Media | work=pitchfork.com | date=2006-02-06 | accessdate=March 13, 2012 | author=Leone, Dominique}}</ref> |
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===2017=== |
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* The Sneepers, featuring [[David Hasselhoff]]{{dash}}"[[Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (soundtrack)| Guardian's Inferno]]" |
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==See also== |
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*[[Euro disco]] |
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*[[Italo disco]] |
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*[[Hi-NRG]] |
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*[[French house]] |
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*[[Afro/Cosmic music]] |
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*[[Space-themed music]] |
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*[[Space music]] |
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*[[Space age pop]] |
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*[[Space rock]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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== External links == |
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* [http://www.discostyle.com/space_disco.html The Space Disco story] |
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* [http://www.last.fm/tag/space+disco A Space Disco radio from "Last FM"] |
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* [http://overfitted.ddcr.biz Overfitting Disco: a sensible collection of Space Disco samples to discover] |
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* [http://www.melodymaker.nl Melodymaker.nl, a shop which has a lot of spacesynth music in their collection] |
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{{Disco music-footer}} |
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{{Hi-NRG}} |
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[[Category:Disco]] |
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[[Category:Hi-NRG]] |
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[[Category:Science fiction music]] |
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Revision as of 02:07, 28 July 2019
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