Space disco  

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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 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." --[[Sholem Stein]] 
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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 [[discothèque]]s. 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]]'' and ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. '''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 [[discothèque]]s. 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]]'' and ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''.

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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 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.

Contents

Popularity

Space disco was very popular in Europe between 1977–1979. Relatively popular artists that contributed to this music style include Meco ("Theme from Star Wars") (which was also a no.1 hit in the U.S.), Cerrone ("Supernature"), Sarah Brightman ("I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper"), Didier Marouani & Space ("Magic Fly"), 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.

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.

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".

Etymology

At least one modern history of space disco traces the genre's origins to science fiction themes (outer space, robots, and the future) in the titles, lyrics and cover artwork of dance music in the late 1970s. Plausible associations are drawn between the popularity of 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.

In modern histories, examples of the first space disco usually include the music of the French band Space, although the term "space disco" isn't definitively or singularly linked to this group.

Synths

During the 70s, synthesizers and electronic sounds had become an essential part of popular music and were widely used by such artists as Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Telex, Yello and Art of Noise. Space disco hits like "Magic Fly", "Spacer" and "Supernature" are well known tracks even today. By late 1979, Space disco evolve to other music genres, without a specific name (it was "disco").

Meantime, in Europe, a new music style called Italo disco (a.k.a. 80s eurodisco) became to dominate the disco dancefoors. Many of the artists were Italians and centered around the Italian label Memory Records, but many other Europeans followed. Inside this paneuropean music scene, an Italo-Disco influenced "space disco"-like music emerged. The first notable hits were "Magnetic Fields 2" and "Pulstar". This new Italo Disco / Space Disco crossover, continued with Cyber People releasing successful singles "Polaris" and "Void Vision" for the Memory Records. Koto developed his own Italo-inspired synth music style and the single "Visitors" was a big hit in 1985.

Regional scenes and derivatives

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 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 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 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.

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 cosmo-rock

The term "cosmo-rock" was first coined by the Latvian space disco performance band Zodiac 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).

Zodiac knew a slight revival in the early 2000s when some of their songs were remixed by the Russian progressive house duo PPK.

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

Selected space disco hits

1977

  • Cerrone - "Supernature"
  • Droids - "The Force"
  • Kebekelektrik - "Magic Fly"
  • Meco - "Star Wars: Title Theme"
  • Rockets - "Space Rock"
  • Space - "Magic Fly"
  • Space Project - "Conquest of the Stars"
  • Universal Robot Band - "Space Disco"
  • Michele - "Disco Dance" (Patrick Cowley Extended Remix)

1978

1979

  • Funny Stuff - "Disco Space Invaders"
  • Player One - "Space Invaders"
  • Sheila & B. Devotion - "Spacer"
  • Sylvia Love - "Extraterrestrial Lover"
  • Krono - "Bareback"
  • Immortals - "The Ultimate Warlord"

1980

1985

2004

  • Zladko "ZLAD!" Vladcik (Santo Cilauro) - 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)

2005

See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Space disco" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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