Thanks to the wonders of internet radio and Winamp, I've been checking out a lot of 80s music stations. This has led me to "discover" the Italo/Hi-NRG sound that was quite popular in some places during those days. It has also been called Eurodance. Back in the day, I was more of an early hiphop/new wave listener. I was also around 10-13 years old and there was not much exposure to the Hi-NRG sound where I lived. Dance music after disco sort of disappeared from the consciousness. I guess after the backlash that killed disco here in the States, only a few hardy souls continued to buy dance music. It become more pop-oriented, Michael Jackson/Madonna/Bangles, with hair metal in between.
There was basically no awareness of the music scene that was going on in Europe, with the exception of nightclubs. A few artists did manage to get exposure, like Dead or Alive (not sure why, though
).
But there was a lot of interesting stuff that came out from the Hi-NRG genre. Who has not heard of "Vamos A La Playa" by Righeira?
Basically, Italo, or Eurodisco, was an update on the disco sound that started in the 1970s. The sounds from that genre has some influence on the emergence of house music later on. Italo/Hi-NRG, you could say, acted as "bridges" connecting the disco sound of the 70s to the techno/electronica sound of today.
Here are some samples of the music of that era:
YouTube - My Mine - Hypnotic Tango 12" [Instrumental]
YouTube - CHARLIE - Space Woman ©1983
YouTube - BRIAN ICE - Over Again ©1988
and of course:
YouTube - Righeira - Vamos A La Playa
Any thoughts?
