Why Is 80s Italo Trendy And 90s Europop Not?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The subject line sez it all frankly!

I am assuming - from the evidence of my ears - that the one is no better than the other. How did Italo become such a buzzword? Do you like it? If so why? (Please do not be defensive and assume I do not like it!!)

Comments

[koganbot]

The question contains a mismatch, since "80s Italo" and "90s Europop" are not equivalent categorical levels. (Cf. "Why are 80s crickets trendy and 90s insects not?")

But also I cannot answer your question for many other reasons, including that I don't know why (or if) '80s Italo is trendy and I don't why or if '90s Europop isn't trendy, but also I don't know what '80s Italo is, since I discovered '80s Europop (in the '90s!) on old Mexican dance comps I bought in the Mission and Singapore pirate cassettes that I got three for a dollar in Chinatown, and these comps did not indicate where the various tracks had been recorded (some didn't even bother with performer names). Also they would include Brit acts like Hazell Dean and Canadian acts like Tapps and American acts like the Flirts and Sylvester and Divine whose sound clearly fit the mold (may have even helped create it; in fact, a lot of '80s Europop might be described as freestyle lite). Anyway, I still have no idea where Eddy Huntington and Marce and Trans-X and Lou Sern ("Swiss Boy," the yodel answer to "Tarzan Boy") and Magazine 60 and Kinky Co and Click and Ross and Chip Chip and Ken Heaven and Lime made their music, but I'm guessing that it wasn't all in Milan. The Off (Belgians and Germans) were big on these comps. One thing I noticed, though: many of the Mexican compilations were compiled by year (Hits Collection '87 and the like). Starting about 1991 the cassettes got to be way more boring, and this was around the time that house and techno rhythms began working their way into Europop and that rev-it-up bombastic oppressively obvious (and just not all that tuneful) stuff by Black Box and 2 Unlimited began to dominate the collections. So to sum up I would say that '80s Europop that hit in Mexico City and Singapore was way way way better than early '90s Europop that hit in Mexico City and Singapore. I don't really have a sense of '90s Europop. If it means "Everybody Everybody" and "Get Ready For This" it's basically mediocre; if it means "Mambo No. 5" and "Lollipop (Candyman)" then it's fine.

By the way, I once shelled out the bucks for an Italo Disco import compilation and thought the music was a lot drier and duller than the "Bailo Bolero" and "Tarzan Boy" and "1, 2, 3" Italian stuff I loved. Is "Tarzan Boy" typical of "Italo" or is it actually a poppier outpost?

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Is "Tarzan Boy" typical of "Italo" or is it actually a poppier outpost?'

In my experience (not expert) it's very much the latter. I was surprised to see it being labelled as Italo myself and unsure of the real connections, other than being from the mid 80s it shares certain sonic elements. But I could be being too narrow re Italo definition.

[koganbot]

Well, its composer and (I think) producer, Maurizio Bassi, has an Italian name and is widely believed - on the Web, anyway - to be the real singer on "Tarzan Boy," with Jimmy McShane just lip-synching in the vid. I haven't confirmed this. Most of the songs I listed above are as poppy as "Baltimora," so if they're "Italo" then so is "Baltimora." A lot of 'em could equally be classed "Hi-NRG." And maybe "Italo" and "Hi-NRG" at various points in the '80s are virtual synonyms for "Europop," wherever the record actually turns out to have been made. (Lime and Trans-X on my list turn out to be from Canada, along with Tapps.)

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

"I don't really have a sense of '90s Europop. If it means "Everybody Everybody" and "Get Ready For This" it's basically mediocre; if it means "Mambo No. 5" and "Lollipop (Candyman)" then it's fine."

Ha ha, well you can say the first two are EuroDANCE and the latter two EuroPOP and then we've nailed why you might prefer the latter two there and then.

But 'Everybody Everybody' and 'Get Ready For This' ARE fairly mediocre examples of EuroDance (itself not so much a genre as just a term to encapsulate all pop-orientated/radio-friendly dance music being produced in Europe (but not the UK) in the digital age) in any case. Black Box certainly had better singles, and most people seem to think 'No Limit' is 2 Unlimited's apex - whatever you may think of that.