New Wave Outpost Forum

I was pleasantly surprised to read some eurodance references, mainly Modern Talking, on this forum and I was just wondering if this genre was at all on the radar for any NW fans in the 80's. I came to know of this type of European dance music because I'm Vietnamese and back in the mid-late 80's, this stuff was all the rage with the young Vietnamese kids in San Jose and LA in California. At the time, I didn't care much for it because I thought it was just way to cheesy and slick for me taste but as it died out since the early 90's, I have rediscovered it with a new fondness that I didn't have when it was trendy in the 80's. I don't know if it was big in Asia or not, but the Vietnamese kids in CA called it new wave themselves because it sort of coincided with the real NW and a lot of them actually thought that "new wave" referred to Eurodance. I think the reason why they really liked that stuff is because the lyrics were so freakin' cheesy and simplistic, like "you're my heart, you're my soul" and most of these Vietnamese kids didn't speak a lot of English so it was very easy for them to pick up the simple words of these cheesy dance tunes. I have to admit that this genre is probably the most cheesy of all the categories of the 80's, but some of these European artists created some of the most fantastic catchy dance melodies of the entire decade. Modern Talking seems to the be king of this category but I actually like them the least. I do like some of the female singers like Patty Ryan and CC Catch and others like Joy, Gazebo, Fancy, etc. I'm really curious as to how most of you discovered this type of music because I didn't know know that real NW fans were aware of Italo-disco.

Btw, if know this genre really well, please go to the ID/Help section and help me identify 2 Italo-disco songs.

Thanks

I am a big fan of Italo & Eurodisco. I am Vietnamese myself and I know what you are referring in your post. Italo & Eurodisco was pretty popular with the Asian kids in Asia and in other parts of the world such as the US. Most of these kids in the US didn't really know what to call this music at the time so a few of the other kids who didn't like the term "disco" in the name grouped Italo & Eurodisco with the current synth music, "New Wave". Guess what, it caught on and after the name started appearing on a few compilations, it became the official name.

Italo & Eurodisco lyrics are very cheesey, mainly because the people who wrote the songs didn't speak really good English themselves. They did though have a great melodic sense and their songs turned out so catchy and beautiful that a lot of the Italo and Eurodisco fans just ignored the awful lyrics. As for me, I usually replace the bad lyrics with better lyrics in my head. I think it's a self-taught thing and once you get over the hump off the sometimes bad lyrics, you won't be able to get enough of this music.

Silver Pozzoli's 'Around My Dream' is a fave of mine and got alot of airplay on WLIR and in the metro NY area Clubs.

Same with Baltimora's 'Tarzan Boy'

Yet another great obscure and lost italo-disco tune that harkens back from 1983 or so was Club House's 'Do It Again-Billie Jean'

Who'd ever thought to do a mashup of Steely Dan & MJ's music and lyrics?! [8D]

I live Italo....

I love Italo.

I ask this question from time to time....

I love italo....

OOPS! I guess I should have posted this topic in the "Genres and Styles" section instead. Oh well, I'm a newbie, sorry guys.

Hey Sean, shout out to fellow Vietnamese!

check out the latest Bodies Without Organs video, here:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/atv/player.ht ... lipID=2261