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Space disco, a music genre, was a short-lived Euro Disco
Euro disco

Euro Disco is a term that was first used during the 1970s to describe a variety of non UK-based European disco pop music. Euro-disco songs, like other related genres such as Euro-pop and Euro-dance are usually lightweight, slickly produced, catchy songs with bouncy dance beats, and English-language vocals over a verse-chorus form and later,...
 variation associated with synthesizers and science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
 themes.

The height of space disco's popularity came in 1977–1979, coinciding with the release of the films Star Wars
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Fran?ois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban and Cary Guffey....
 and the first use of laser beams as lighting effects in discothèque
Discothèque

A discoth?que, , is an entertainment venue or club with music record played by "Discaires" through a PA system, rather than an Live band dance....
s. Space disco artists, when performing, dressed in a manner inspired by glam rock
Glam rock

Glam rock , is a sub-genre of rock music that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s which was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a camp , theatrical blend of nostalgia references t...
 and science fiction fashion, including "futuristic" or "alien"-like costumes, similar to those seen on the 1970s TV series Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
, the original Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that followed, and from the Star Trek fi...
, Space: 1999
Space: 1999

Space: 1999 is a United Kingdom Science fiction on television series. In the series, nuclear waste from Earth is stored on the moon. The waste explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, which knocks the moon out of its orbit and sends it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into outer space....
, and Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica is a Media franchise of science fiction films and television program, the Battlestar Galactica was produced in 1978. A series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games have also been based on the concept....
.

Recently, the genre name "Space Disco" has been used to describe a variant of Deep House
Deep house

Deep house is a style of house music which fuses elements of Chicago house, disco, 80's soul, jazz-funk and Detroit techno. The Jazz influences of deep house are most frequently brought out by using more complex chords than simple triads which are held for many bar s, which give the tracks a slightly Consonance and dissonance feel....
 music that borrows heavily from underground Disco
Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music that originated in and was initially popular among African American, gay and Hispanic and Latino Americans communities in the United States in the late 1960s....
, early Detroit Techno
Detroit techno

Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in 1980s. Detroit has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May , and Kevin Saunderson....
 and Italo Disco
Italo disco

Italo-Disco is a very broad term, encompassing much of the disco music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of electronic dance music....
.

e Disco was very popular in France and parts of Germany in 1977–1979.






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Space disco, a music genre, was a short-lived Euro Disco
Euro disco

Euro Disco is a term that was first used during the 1970s to describe a variety of non UK-based European disco pop music. Euro-disco songs, like other related genres such as Euro-pop and Euro-dance are usually lightweight, slickly produced, catchy songs with bouncy dance beats, and English-language vocals over a verse-chorus form and later,...
 variation associated with synthesizers and science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
 themes.

The height of space disco's popularity came in 1977–1979, coinciding with the release of the films Star Wars
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Fran?ois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban and Cary Guffey....
 and the first use of laser beams as lighting effects in discothèque
Discothèque

A discoth?que, , is an entertainment venue or club with music record played by "Discaires" through a PA system, rather than an Live band dance....
s. Space disco artists, when performing, dressed in a manner inspired by glam rock
Glam rock

Glam rock , is a sub-genre of rock music that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s which was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a camp , theatrical blend of nostalgia references t...
 and science fiction fashion, including "futuristic" or "alien"-like costumes, similar to those seen on the 1970s TV series Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
, the original Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that followed, and from the Star Trek fi...
, Space: 1999
Space: 1999

Space: 1999 is a United Kingdom Science fiction on television series. In the series, nuclear waste from Earth is stored on the moon. The waste explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, which knocks the moon out of its orbit and sends it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into outer space....
, and Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica is a Media franchise of science fiction films and television program, the Battlestar Galactica was produced in 1978. A series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games have also been based on the concept....
.

Recently, the genre name "Space Disco" has been used to describe a variant of Deep House
Deep house

Deep house is a style of house music which fuses elements of Chicago house, disco, 80's soul, jazz-funk and Detroit techno. The Jazz influences of deep house are most frequently brought out by using more complex chords than simple triads which are held for many bar s, which give the tracks a slightly Consonance and dissonance feel....
 music that borrows heavily from underground Disco
Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music that originated in and was initially popular among African American, gay and Hispanic and Latino Americans communities in the United States in the late 1960s....
, early Detroit Techno
Detroit techno

Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in 1980s. Detroit has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May , and Kevin Saunderson....
 and Italo Disco
Italo disco

Italo-Disco is a very broad term, encompassing much of the disco music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of electronic dance music....
.

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 Meco
MECO

Meco may refer to:*Meco, a musician who released a very successful disco version of the Star Wars movie theme*Meco , a part of metropolitan Madrid, Spain....
 ("Theme From Star Wars"), Cerrone
Cerrone

Cerrone is a French people disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer....
 ("Supernature"), Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman is an English people Crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She sings in many different languages including English language, Spanish language, French language, Latin language, German language, Italian language, Hindi language and Chinese language....
 (I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper

"I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", sometimes cited as " Starship Trooper", is a 1978 single written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical and performed by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip....
"), Didier Marouani & Space ("Magic Fly") and Sheila B. Devotion ("Spacer").

Space disco spread fast in Germany with the help of Musikladen
Musikladen

Der Musikladen was a West Germany music television programme that ran from December 13, 1972 to November 29, 1984. The show continued the 1960s Beat-Club under a new name, and in turn was replaced by Extratour....
, a music show produced by the German channel NDR
NDR

NDR may refer to:* Nador International Airport — IATA code Morocco airport* National Derby Rallies * Nash Dom Rossiya , Russian political party...
. Disco
Disco (TV series)

Disco was a pop music program that aired in Germany on the ZDF network from 1971 to 1982. It generally aired each Saturday night at 7:30PM, running 45 minutes each week....
, another popular music show produced by ZDF
ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television television channel based in Mainz. It is run as an independent non-profit agency established by joint contract between the States of Germany ....
, also hosted some Space Disco artists. From Germany, space disco spread to Italy and parts of Greece, and influenced the Italo disco
Italo disco

Italo-Disco is a very broad term, encompassing much of the disco music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of electronic dance music....
 music scene.

Around 1979, just before Space Disco faded, Dee D. Jackson
Dee D. Jackson

Dee D. Jackson is a musician and singer. In the 1970s, she worked as a film producer in Munich, Germany, before moving into music, working with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey....
 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
Giorgio Moroder

Giorgio Moroder is an Italy record producer, songwriter and performer, whose groundbreaking work with synthesizers during the 1970s and 1980s was a significant influence on new wave music, house music, techno music and electronic music in general....
, 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
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
 (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
Arpeggiator

An arpeggiator is a feature available on some hardware synthesisers and virtual instruments. It allows the player to automatically step through a sequence of notes based on the player's input, most often from a keyboard MIDI controller, thus creating an arpeggio....
-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.

Regional scenes and derivatives


Space Disco and P-Funk

P-Funk
P-Funk

P-Funk is a shorthand term for the repertoire and performers associated with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and the distinctive style of funk music they performed....
 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
Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was held between games of a Doubleheader_#Twi-night between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers....
 that took place in USA on 1979. Also, the USA's disco band Chic
Chic

Chic may refer to:* Chic , chic meaning stylish or smart* Chic , a thoroughbred racehorse* Chic , an American music group popular in the disco era...
 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
Trans-X

Trans-X was a Canadian 1980s dance musical ensemble best known for their hit record song "Living on Video"....
 and Lime
Lime (band)

Lime was a disco group from Montr?al, Canada, during the 1980s. The group was composed of husband and wife Denis and Denyse LePage, although two younger and more attractive singers, Joy Dorris and Chris Marsh, were chosen to tour and appear as the act....
. Canadian Disco integrated with the Italo-Disco scene in Europe, while it became a small part of Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG is high-tempo disco music , as well as a more specific, derivative genre of electronic dance music that achieved mainstream popularity in the mid to late 1980s....
 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
Koto (band)

Koto is an Italy synth pop group that originally consisted of Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari. Their most popular songs were "Visitors", "Dragon's Legend", "Chinese Revenge" and "Jabdah", released in 1983-1988....
 and Laserdance
Laserdance

Laserdance is a spacesynth studio project that was popular in the 80s with the hits like "Laserdance", "Power Run" and "Humanoid Invasion" and continues its production in the new millennium....
) 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
Spacesynth

Spacesynth, also known as synthdance and spacedance, is a modern U.S.A. term to describe various 1980s music styles of European electronic dance music, that emerge from a 70s Eurodisco music style, called Space Disco....
" 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
Falco

Falco may refer to:...
.

Space Disco and French House

Space Disco became the main influence and inspiration for the 1990s French house
French house

French house is a late 1990s form of house music, part of the 1990s and 2000s European dance music scene and the latest form of Euro disco. The genre is also known as "neu-disco" "French touch", "filter house" or "tekfunk"....
 scene, the last of the Euro disco music styles.

Selected Space Disco artists

  • Cerrone
    Cerrone

    Cerrone is a French people disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer....
  • Space
  • Sarah Brightman
    Sarah Brightman

    Sarah Brightman is an English people Crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She sings in many different languages including English language, Spanish language, French language, Latin language, German language, Italian language, Hindi language and Chinese language....
     (during her days with Hot Gossip
    Hot Gossip

    Hot Gossip were a United Kingdom dance troupe most notable for their appearance on the TV series Kenny Everett, which aired on ITV in 1978. It was created and choreographed by Arlene Phillips and managed and produced by Michael Summerton and Iain Burton....
    )
  • Sheila B. Devotion (Spacer)
  • Dee D. Jackson
    Dee D. Jackson

    Dee D. Jackson is a musician and singer. In the 1970s, she worked as a film producer in Munich, Germany, before moving into music, working with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey....
     (Automatic Lover)
  • Ganymed (although the group's biggest "hits" weren't space-themed)


Selected Space Disco hits


1977

  • Cerrone
    Cerrone

    Cerrone is a French people disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer....
     - "Supernature"
  • Droids - "The Force"
  • Kebekelektrik - "Magic Fly"
  • Meco
    MECO

    Meco may refer to:*Meco, a musician who released a very successful disco version of the Star Wars movie theme*Meco , a part of metropolitan Madrid, Spain....
     - "Star Wars: Title Theme"
  • Rockets - "Space Rock"
  • Space - "Magic Fly"
  • Universal Robot Band - "Space Disco"
  • Space Project - "Conquest Of The Stars"


1978

  • Automat - "Droid"
  • Sarah Brightman
    Sarah Brightman

    Sarah Brightman is an English people Crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She sings in many different languages including English language, Spanish language, French language, Latin language, German language, Italian language, Hindi language and Chinese language....
     - "(I Lost My Heart To a) Starship Trooper"
  • Galactic Force Band - "Theme From Star Trek"
  • Dee D. Jackson
    Dee D. Jackson

    Dee D. Jackson is a musician and singer. In the 1970s, she worked as a film producer in Munich, Germany, before moving into music, working with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey....
     - "Automatic Lover"
  • Amanda Lear
    Amanda Lear

    Amanda Lear, is a France singer, composer, lyricist, actor, Painting, TV presenter and novelist. Lear started her career as a model in the mid 60s and was also the muse of Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dal?....
     - "Black Holes"
  • Laurie Marshall - "Disco Spaceship"
  • Mistral - "Starship 109"
  • Giorgio Moroder
    Giorgio Moroder

    Giorgio Moroder is an Italy record producer, songwriter and performer, whose groundbreaking work with synthesizers during the 1970s and 1980s was a significant influence on new wave music, house music, techno music and electronic music in general....
     - "Battlestar Galactica"


1979

  • Player One - "Space Invaders"
  • Sheila & B. Devotion - "Spacer"
  • Sylvia Love - "Extraterrestrial Lover"


1980

  • Kano
    Kano (band)

    Kano was a post-disco music project formed in 1979 by Italy-based producers/musicians Luciano Ninzatti, Stefano Pulga and Matteo Bonsanto who helped usher in a style of dance music called Italo disco, a blend of 1970s disco and funk with the addition of synthesizers made by artists and producers in Italy....
     - "I'm Ready"


See also

  • Eurodisco
  • Italo Disco
    Italo disco

    Italo-Disco is a very broad term, encompassing much of the disco music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of electronic dance music....
  • Hi-NRG
    Hi-NRG

    Hi-NRG is high-tempo disco music , as well as a more specific, derivative genre of electronic dance music that achieved mainstream popularity in the mid to late 1980s....
  • Spacesynth
    Spacesynth

    Spacesynth, also known as synthdance and spacedance, is a modern U.S.A. term to describe various 1980s music styles of European electronic dance music, that emerge from a 70s Eurodisco music style, called Space Disco....
  • French house
    French house

    French house is a late 1990s form of house music, part of the 1990s and 2000s European dance music scene and the latest form of Euro disco. The genre is also known as "neu-disco" "French touch", "filter house" or "tekfunk"....
  • Afro/Cosmic music
    Afro/Cosmic music

    In music, the terms Afro, Cosmic Disco, the Cosmic sound, free style, and combinations thereof are used somewhat interchangeably to describe various forms of synthesizer-heavy and/or Music of Africa-influenced dance music and methods of disc jockeying that were originally developed and promoted by a small number of DJs in c...


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