Space disco  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 11:09, 3 April 2008

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Space disco capitalized on the media hype that surrounded the original Star Wars film and the first use of laser beams as lighting effects in late-1970s discothèques. Space Disco artists, when performing, dressed in a manner inspired by Glam rock looks as well as "alien"-like suits, similar to those seen on the 1970s Buck Rogers TV series, the original Star Trek, Space 1999 and Battlestar Galactica.

Space Disco sounded very close to the USA's Hi-NRG disco. The differences between them was artistic, with much less use of vocals, and the fact that Space Disco wasn't sexually oriented. It was more of a sci-fi thing, the "dancefloor soundtrack of the space age". In the USA and Latin America, Space Disco was called Hi-NRG Disco or, simply, Disco. In the UK, it was called either Euro disco or simply disco.

Popularity

Space Disco was very popular in France and parts of Germany in 1977–1979. Relatively popular artists that contributed to this music style include Cerrone ("Supernature") (in collaboration with Alec R. Costandinos), Sarah Brightman (I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper"), Didier Marouani & Space ("Magic Fly") and Sheila B. Devotion ("Spacer").

Space disco spread fast in Germany with the help of "Musikladen", a music show produced by the German channel NDR. "Disco", another popular music show produced by ZDF, also hosted some Space Disco artists. From Germany, space disco spread to Italy and parts of Greece, and influenced the Italo disco music scene.

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". An additional example Space Disco is Sarah Brightman's UK hit, "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper".

Etymology

The term "Space Disco" was inspired by Space, a French electronic music band created in 1977 by Didier Marouani (also known as Ecama). Space's hit "Magic Fly" (1977) and Cerrone's hit "Supernature" started this genre.

Space Disco and P-Funk

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 80s, the discothèques in France used to market P-Funk as the continuation of USA's disco after the Disco Demolition Night that took place in USA on 1979. Also, the USA's disco 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.

Space Disco and Canadian Disco

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. 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.

Space Disco and Italo-Disco

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 and Laserdance) had space disco elements in their music until the late 80s. 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.

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.

Space Disco and French House

Space Disco became the main influence and inspiration for the 1990s French house scene, the last of the Euro disco music styles.

Selected Space Disco artists

• Cerrone
• space
• Sarah Brightman (during her days with Hot Gossip)
• Sheila B. Devotion (Spacer)
• Dee D. Jackson (Automatic Lover)

Selected Space Disco hits

• Universal Robot Band - "Space Disco" (1977)
• Automat - "Droid" (1978)
• Giorgio Moroder - "Battlestar Galactica" (1978)
• Giorgio Moroder - "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (1978)
• Kano - "I'm Ready" (1980)
• Kebekelektrik - "War Dance" (1977)
• Kebekelektrik - "Magic Fly" (1977)
• Harry Thumann - "Underwater" (1979)
• Ganymed - "It Takes Me Higher" (1978)
• Meco - "Star Wars: Title Theme" (1977)
• Rockets - "Space Rock" (1977)
• Space - "Magic Fly" (1977)
• Mistral - "Starship 109" (1978)
• Telex - "Moskow Diskow" (1979)
• Sarah Brightman - "I lost my heart to a Starship Trooper" (1978)
• Droids - "(Do you have) The Force" (1977)
• Cerrone - "Supernature" (1977)
• Sheila & B. Devotion - "Spacer" (1979)
• Space Project - "Conquest Of The Stars" (1978)
• Player One - "Space Invaders" (1979)
• Dee D. Jackson - "Automatic Lover" (1979)
• Charlie - "Spacer Woman" (1983)

See also

• Eurodisco
• Italo Disco
• Hi-NRG
• Spacesynth
• French house
• Afro/Cosmic music