Arte is showing an exaggeratedly glorified documentary about the Italo disco wave of the 1980s.
Frankfurt am Main – In the mid-1980s, it was almost impossible to escape from hit parade toppers like “Vamos a la playa”, “Dolce Vita”, “I Like Chopin” and “Boys”. Italo disco was the name of the segment that, surprisingly for many in the industry, had become a trend. There are still fans of this direction today, and they like to look at the beginnings with a romantically veiled view.
The Italo Disco hits that are passed down on samplers to this day were bubble gum music. Simple lyrics, warbled to catchy melodies. Sometimes by other people than those who acted as singers for playback in front of an audience.
In the documentary “Italo Disco – Der Glitzersound der 80er”, a Bavarian Radio production for Arte, the Italian singer and producer Savage alias Roberto Zanetti freely admits that he composed his chart success “Don’t Cry Tonight” in fifteen minutes and then quickly wrote a text.
The brothers Michelangelo and Carmelo La Bionda had a synthesizer in the kitchen where, in 1983, “Vamos a la playa” was created ad hoc for the group Righeira. After all, a title with time-critical text, but sung in Spanish and therefore rarely understood. The simple refrain, which can be sung along even when drunk, was decisive for the success.
“Italo Disco – The glittering sound of the 80s” (Arte): With artificial sounds in the charts
Synthesizer is a key keyword, as Italo Disco’s producers made extensive use of synthetic sounds. In 1979, the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument was introduced, the first synthesizer that could be sampled. Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Trevor Horn made use of the device, in the USA Stevie Wonder, Jan Hammer, Herbie Hancock – long before the first publications of the Italo wave.
In the 1980s, the range of synthetic sound generators expanded. Even with Bruce Springsteen you could hear machine sounds.
An interesting development that is by no means limited to Italo Disco and was certainly not triggered in Italy. The Danish DJ and Italo-Disco fan Flemming Damlum’s enthusiasm runs away when he states in front of the camera: “The synthesizer suddenly appeared in many British music songs around 1980. But when the Italians started with the synthesizers, they dared more.”
“Italo Disco – The glittering sound of the 80s” (Arte): The trail to German hits
The author Alessandro Melazzini leaves this uncommented and thus omits, among other things, the French predecessors The Peppers, who were successful in the USA with “Pepper Box”. The compatriots from the band Space managed a hit with “Magic Fly”. It is also relevant because in the accompanying video they appeared faceless and in fantasy space suits, an aesthetic that was very common in Italo Disco and survived until Daft Punk.
To the broadcast
“Italo Disco – The glittering sound of the 80s”, Friday, July 29, 2022, 11:15 p.m., Arte. The show in the Arte media library.
Giorgio Moroder, who works in Munich, is rightly mentioned in passing in the film. From there you could even follow a trail to the German Schlager: Moroder produced a flawless synth song with Mary Roos “Arizona Man”. That was in 1970. With another hit star, Michael Holm, Moroder wrote “Son of My Father”, a 1972 cover version of a huge hit for the British band Chicory Tip.
“Italo Disco – The glittering sound of the 80s” (Arte): The image refutes the text
Just a few key words on the history of electronic pop music that should prove that there are no abrupt innovations in pop culture, let alone revolutions, but always complex networks of the most diverse influences. A topic in itself that cannot be dealt with in a good 52 minutes – the theatrical version is 62 minutes. However, this does not legitimize the penchant for exaggerated statements that portray Italo Disco as a revolutionary, unique phenomenon, for example when sentences are heard such as “The Italians were among the first where the disc jockey became a creator who created completely new sound worlds. The disc jockey as an artist is, I believe, an invention of the Italians.” Voiced in the film by Mathias Modica, producer, musician, curator, whose beliefs on the matter are at odds with the facts.
“Italo Disco – The glittering sound of the 80s” (Arte): Sales-promoting permissiveness
Elsewhere, the author Melazzini shows a lot of leniency when he addresses the image of women in Italo Disco and ascribes emancipative potential to a test-tube volume like The Flirts, which was put together by an American. The author refutes himself when he fades in contemporary images of scantily clad dancers because the cameramen of the time apparently had a soft spot for body parts below the waistline.
And singer Sabrina Salerno, whose first single was titled ‘Sexy Girl’ and who has also been featured in so-called ‘men’s magazines’, openly admits her body was meant to ‘sell a product’.
Documentary films about aspects of popular culture do not necessarily have to be philosophically profound. But the audience can expect accuracy in the presentation and classifications that promote understanding. (Harold Keller)
