Talk:List of Italo disco artists and songs

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List of italo disco artists

Looks like somebody's peculiar joke. Almost none of the artists in the list has a WP article and the few active links are either non-Italian, non-disco or non-people (i.e. koto) --LeeHunter 22:36, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

• I don't think that it's a joke. at least I know that Italo Disco isn't a joke. I have heard of it before. I don't know anything about it though and the information could be incorrect. I believe that this is a subject that we could have a list on. - Jeltz talk 23:29, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
  • A quick search on google of a couple of the artist reveal that they indeed are italo disco artists. Miko Mission for exemple. I'm to lazy to investigate all. :) - Jeltz talk 23:37, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
• Delete, many of the artists listed are not notable, furthermore many of the links in the list link to empty/non-existant articles. Megan1967 00:24, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
  • That's an argument for cleanup, not deletion. Keep. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:44, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)
    • There are less than a handful of actual articles on this list. Empty links do not count. There is no valid reason to set up a list like this with so few listings. If you are really keen to see them listed, list them under a Italo subheading on another prexisting disco list. There is no need to create an entirely new list Megan1967 01:05, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)
    • See my note below. At least two of the artists on the list (the two I looked at at random) are very notable in their field, with hit records to their names. Grouping them as Italo Disco artists is useful in view of the size of this particular field. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 01:54, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)
      • Doesn't matter about size, until there is a substantial number of actual artist articles, there is no justification to create a seperate new list for them. Empty links dont count. Megan1967 03:23, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)
• If there is enough italo disco artists that are notable then the list should be kept otherwise the (then pretty short) list of artist belongs in the main article and this list is useless. - Jeltz talk 01:08, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
• Keep this, it can grow into something way helpful. What's more, this sort of list is just the thing for bands who aren't notable enough for a WP article of their own yet, but who are active in the genre. Wyss 02:35, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
• Keep I know nothing of this genre, so I checked. A few google searches on a couple of the the people on the list, Alisha and Gazebo, chosen at random, suggests they do exist and are notable enough in their field to be listed on Wikipedia.
  • A reader/reviewer on Amazon says this on Alisha:
    • All Night Passion charted at #3, US club charts, April 1984
    • Baby Talk #1, US club charts, March 1986
  • Gazebo, Italian/American this site says he had hits with (amongst others):
    • Masterpiece (1982) missed #1 in Italian charts "by a whisker"
    • I like Chopin (1983) "number one in Italy and 15 other countries that sold eight million copies around the world and contributed to the popularity of the nascent Italo-dance style."
  • To summarise, these two artists check out and sold oodles of records that people still talk about and play now. I expect the same would be true of at least some of the others. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 02:47, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
• Keep, italo disco is a very notable genre. bbx 09:44, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

end moved discussion

Well, I'm glad it didn't get deleted. The list has grown much and is linked correctly now. This is a very good resource for people looking up Italo artists and their accompanying songs. - Milk 03:44, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

If you read the description - this is a singles dominated genre - most groups associated with italo released at most a handful of singles. Deleting the artists with no articles would leave you with a few artists - no way representative of the nature of the genre —Preceding unsigned comment added by Salicouscrumb (talk • contribs) 15:27, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Telex Italo?

• 'Telex' with 'moscow discow' ??? isn't that italo disco too ? belgian eurovision pride :-D 81.83.179.32
  • This French Electro song isn't Italo Disco at all ! Vorash 09:47, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

general

Please don't add an artist without listing one of their songs too. Also, there are some songs listed with the year next to them, but to be consistent we should either do that to all of them or none. I don't think it's very necessary, but either way is fine. The list is getting super long now, I never would have thought there was so much italo. - Milk 00:50, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Vorash, "The Chase" isn't dance music? What are you talking about? Of course it is. You need to add it back. Again I remind you that you even listed it under the Italo article as one of the first Italo songs, by legendary producer Girogio Moroder. Also, I haven't heard the other songs by Transvolta, but at least the one listed "Disco Computer" has a disco beat, with lots of synths/effects and vocoders, so it should be listed here too, so please add it back as well. - Milk 23:16, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"Disco Computer" has a disco beat??? Are you saying that Italo and Electro are the same. If so you should also add another 300 artists like Telex and Kraftwerk. Also Alisha's bass line in "Baby Talk" is very similar to Madonna's "Into the Groove" , (because they are both from New York), so we probably should add Madonna too and another 300 US dance artists from 80s together with her, according too this logic. Italo disco article defines Italo as a style of electronic dance music'. According to dance music article "Dance music is music composed, played, or both, specifically to accompany social dancing." The "Chase" is not a music for social dancing, it's a theme for a movie. I don't have any problem with this song specifically, but we have 100s of songs like this one (for example "Alpha"(1976) of Vangelis is also "Italo") and it's impossible to add all these songs here.Vorash 23:51, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

We should define a policy for additions to this list, otherwise it will grow to some "Monstrous" thing with 1000 dance 80s artists from all around the world.Vorash 15:39, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There are many movie themes that are also dance songs, look at Saturday Night Fever. Just because it was made for a movie doesn't mean you can't dance to it. That is so retarded to come to that conlcusion. "The Chase" is an electronic dance song, so add it back. Italo and electro have many common ties/elements but they are not the same thing. But some artists could be considered a little of both, like "Spacer Woman" for example. With Alisha, she doesn't sound like Italo exactly. I think she should just be considered 80's synth-pop, but I'll let that go. As far as guidelines to adding to the list, I haven't seen a problem yet except for your subtractions of "The Chase" and "Disco Computer", and earlier you also mentioned Kraftwerk, Madonna, and Vangelis in the Italo article. So the problem your describing sounds a lot like yourself. As I've said you seemed to be going through the article and list, and taking out things you think aren't correct. If anything you should check other websites first, then ask here so you can get feedback. Don't just go deleting things to make it fit your view. - Milk 02:14, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Updates

Many people have added dozens of artists and a few of them are not really considered italo. Stacey Q for example and most of Bobby Orlando's productions are more Hi-NRG/80's pop. I think we need to be a bit more critical of additions. My personal method is if I have seen the artist listed as being italo on several other websites and if I've heard their songs, then I can add them. Also, people have added 5 or 6 songs under some artists. I feel this list should be a little more simplified and have only 2 or 3 of the artist's 'well known' songs, so as not to clutter the page. Milk 17:13, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Problem with this article

This list is one example that clearly needs a third party reliable source as there are plenty of non-Italo Disco artists that have been marketed as such when they are not (examples are Laura Brannigan, despite being a cover of an Italo Disco song and being produced by Moroder), also there are plenty of Hi-NRG artists listed there and are they really considered as Italo Disco, I would like to in that case see a third party reliable source. Donnie Park (talk) 13:27, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

The term Italo-Disco

There seems to be a huge misunderstanding amongst some editors. The term Italo Disco is not a genre, it is simply a term that refers to Italian based "New-wave/Synthpop" dance music from the 1980s. That said, Sythpop/Europop/New Wave projects from other parts of Europe "cannot" be regarded as Italo-disco, as the latter is strictly for Italian based dance artists/projects, but again, it is not a genre.--Harout72 (talk) 05:41, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Moon Ray (or Raggio de Luna)

This Italian group is missing to the list. Their best-known is song is Comanchero, which charted well in some European countries, but I don't know their years active. Does someone know them ? Synthwave.94 (talk) 22:16, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

 Done They're on the list now.--Harout72 (talk) 23:16, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

Reliable references removed/changed without any reason

Can I have a concrete explanation about the fact most of the reliable references I added to the list have been removed ? Why does the references for Tom Hooker, Klein & MBO or Valerie Dore (even if another reliable source has be found for this artist) are not present ? Even if the list has to be reorganized, this is not a reason to throw away all of this. I also want to say most of the sources which have been added doesn't mention "Italo disco". For example, Italo disco is not mentionned here, here and here, here. For the Allmusic introduction of Spagna, only "Italian Music" and "Italian pop singer" are mentionned. For Gazebo, only "Italo-dance style" is mentionned. Again, what kind of explanation can I have about it ? I also want to mention Sally Shapiro is still associated with Italo disco, as mentionned on : "Duplicated with a forger's attention to detail by Sally Shapiro and Glass Candy today, Italo has added underground adoration to mainstream success".Synthwave.94 (talk) 13:46, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Most of the sources you had added were unreliable, so I had to replace them. Having said that, what makes this source a reliable one? And where exactly does it mention anything about Tom Hooker? Also, Italo-disco doesn't have to be mentioned in sources as all of the Italian produced music from around 1981-1989 was considered Italo-disco. Bare in mind that the term Italo-disco was used to refer to Italian dance music at the time. Regradless whether the songs were pop-dance, synthpop, Europop or New-wave, they were all considered Italo-disco. In other words, the term wasn't in use for a Genre reference. As for Sally Shapiro, I have already explained to you on your own talk page that non-Italian artists cannot be referred to as Italo-disco artists. Being influenced by Italo-disco style, as it is the case of Shapiro, and being Italian produced dance music from the '80s are two different things.--Harout72 (talk) 14:51, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

So according to you, Pop Matters is an unreliable source ? Take a look at WP:REVSIT before saying such things. Pitchfork Media, Slant Magazine and Stylus Magazine are also regarded as a reliable source by this page. And how dare you say "Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture" by Alice Echols, "1001 Songs: You Must Hear Before You Die" by Robert Dimery or Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing about Hip Rock and Hip Hop by Simon Reynolds are unreliable references ??? Even the German-speaking "Forever Young" by Holger Stürenburg is a reliable source, as evidenced by the subtitle "Die Klänge der Kühlen dekade" (The sounds of the cool decade) and the the table of contents. Same remark for "La musica italiana: una storia sociale dall'unità a oggi" by Paolo Prato.

To sum it up you removed all the reliable references I've been adding to the article, because you decided by yourself they were unreliable, and you obviously did not even bother checking if what you've been thinking about theses references was right or wrong. Simon Reynolds, Alice Echols, Robert Dimery, Holger Stürenburg and Paolo Prato are all music critics, even if the last two are less well-known. All the websites and books I used in order to improve the list are reliable, the only exception being Justmag.net and I now recognize this source is unreliable.

To talk about Pop Matters, this reference exactly says : "Tom Hooker, a successful Italo Disco performer and producer in the ‘80s...", so I don't know why you are asking me the question if it is clearly written on the page.

Also, please respect and understand WP:SYNTH. Even it is obvious for you, the source is supposed to mention "Italo disco", not "Italian music", not "Italian pop", not "Italo-dance", even if the context can suggest it is normally "Italo disco". You don't seem to understand references has to be as accurate as possible and your knowledge about "Italo disco" is supposed to count for nothing. Take example of other lists like the List of alternative metal artists where all the references mention "alternative metal" (or alt-metal), and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

You probably didn't understand my purpose : I want to add both artists and songs which are clearly described as "Italo disco". I'm not against your releases references (Swisschart.com), but I find them quite useless. However, I'm not going to remove them from the list. Take a look at the List of soft rock artists and songs, created by Hiddenstranger (and that I improved for him) as a good example. I hope that you understood now and that you'll let me restore all the references you've been removing so far. Synthwave.94 (talk) 19:54, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

• Comment: Harout72, be careful to avoid ownership over this article. I have no problem about your mayor reorganization of the article, but for sure you cannot remove apparently reliable sources such as a Pitchfork review or a book as unreliable when you yourself added dozens of references to Discogs which is not just unreliable but even user-generated (anyone can edit an artist's page and add "italo-disco" as genre). Let's use more common sense and collaboration. About the use of the word "italo-disco" I tend to agree with you, yours should be considered as the most correct definition, however it could not be considered an open-and-shut case as there are sources that refers to italo-disco as a "genre", a "movement" or a "style" and sources that include in it artists and groups that were not Italian nor produced in Italy, or that came out before/after the Eighties. In my view the controversity could be easily addressed specifying in the lead that this list refers only to a specific category of presumed Italo-dico artists, that are both Italy-based and active in the 1980s, while entries that does not respect these criteria, even if well sourced, are excluded, regardless of whether the term could be applied on them. Cavarrone 20:15, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

• • Reply to Cavarrone, my explanation here should not be taken as ownership, please don't accuse me of that. Also, if you think I recently replaced sources with Discogs, please go over this edit. As for whether or not this list mentions that only Italian based artists are and/or should be on this list, yes, it does inform the readers of that at the top: The following is a list of notable Italo disco artists and their most notable song(s). Some of these dance outfits were fronted by non-Italian singers who at the time were based in Italy during their career, thus representing Italy.--Harout72 (talk) 00:07, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
    • Harout72, a few points: 1) almost ALL the Discogs sources were added by you, not by others. I was/am not disturbed by them, but as you removed sources and artists added by others on the basis of reliability, a very little of the list would had survived if someone else would had applied the same criteria with your additions. You felt the importance of sourcing and started replacing Discogs refs just AFTER Synthwave made his additions, so probably the sourcing is not the real problem here. 2) Yes, I am able to read very well the current lead, but it is still ambiguous and controversial. Some of these dance outfits were fronted by non-Italian singers who at the time were based in Italy during their career, thus representing Italy does not exclude (or include) anyone, it is more a statement of fact. Where is explicitly written that some non-Italian based dance outfits should be automatically excluded from this list? Where is written that artists who were/are active in 1970s, 2000s or 2010s have to be excluded? Also, the table includes an ambiguous column titled "Country of origin" which seems to suggest that even non-Italian based artists could be added in the list (if all the artists SHOULD be Italian based, what the hell is this column?). What I am asking is a lead that more explicitly clarifies the inclusion criteria of the list to all the readers, actually the only explicit criteria for inclusion is "The following is a list of notable Italo disco artists and their most notable song(s)", something that keeps the door open for similar controversities. Cavarrone 06:16, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
      • Actually, I'd added the Discogs sources because I was under the impression that Discogs could be used to support releases only, but since Kww disagrees, I decided to replace most of them, leaving only some, which frankly portray more complete discographies than Hung Medien does, for some artists. Anyways, I agree that we should work on the lead to make it clearer. I'm preparing to add the following to what's already in the lead: Note that this list includes Italian produced/based Italo-disco projects/artists which found success on International charts during 1981-1989. The reason why I decided to keep the column of Country of Origin when I re-worked the entire list, is because people often tend to believe that artists from Great Britain (for example) that were based in Italy, represented the U.K. including Eddy Huntington (for example) as you can see here in the original version of the list. So I felt it would be a good idea to have a column Country of Origin to minimize the confusion.--Harout72 (talk) 06:54, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

I personnaly don't disagree with the most common definition of "Italo disco" proposed by Harout72. However, the fact Sally Shapiro is very often associated with Italo disco shouldn't be ignored just because of so-called "use of reporters' language" and "confusion among some people to date, who tend to call similar sounding non-Italian '80s dance projects Italo-disco". Again, I want to point out many reliable references associate the duo and Italo disco together. Its Allmusic biography, Billboard, Pitchfork and Slant Magazine all mentionned Italo disco on their own way. It is clear to me that you, Harout72, focused too much on the common definition of Italo disco and that you don't want to accept the fact most of the music reviews I found when I looked at reliable references for Italo disco in general connect a contemporary Swedish act and the 80's music genre together. Even if for you, "that is not correct", "it is not Italo-disco", you unfornately have to accept it. Synthwave.94 (talk) 21:50, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Synthwave.94, please read everything I write for you closely and try to process everything calmly, rather than screaming at editors who put in hours in reorganizing pages. As I explained to you, there really is no need to find sources to support that the artists on this list are Italo-disco artists. All of the Italian (English-language) dance music and even pop released between 1981-1989, was considered Italo-disco. So there is absolutely no need for such sources which claim that this or that artist was active as an Italo-disco artist. But if you have Biographies published by reliable sources which also mention Italo-disco for them, feel free to add those sources. I'm not telling you not to add reliable sources.

I would also like to go over some of the sources that you had added and what sources I used to replace them.

• For Alexander Robotnick, you had the following sources: 1 (It only mentions Italo-disco and therefore, you're upset that it was removed?) or 2 (how is that a reliable source?). Both of which I replaced with this.

• For Den Harrow, Gazebo, Raf, Righeira, you had this source, which I don't know what purpose it's supposed to serve or why it shouldn't have been replaced with anything that is reliable and especially available online. I replaced them with the following, for Den Harrow, for Gazebo, for Raf, for Righeira.

• For Klein & MBO, you had: this again (because it mentions Italo-disco?), or this (which I don't understand what it's supposed to do for us). I replaced them both with this.

• For Spagna, you had this, which I don't know why anyone would get upset seeing it replaced with this.

• For Tom Hooker, you had this source the reliability of which is dubious and it only says Tom Hooker, a successful Italo Disco performer and producer in the ‘80s.

Again, pointing out WP:SYNTH is irrelevant here. We don't need to prove that these are Italo-disco artists on the list, you don't point out the obvious as Italo-disco never represented a unique Genre, instead it was a term used to refer to that very era which saw Italian acts succeed outside of Italy. Also, slantmagazine.com doesn't strike me reliable, but you can always ask the folks at WP:RSN when other editors disagree with the reliability of your sources. As for Sally Shapiro, again and again, please read everything I wrote for you about what Italo-disco really is. No artists other than Italian produced should be on this list only because sometimes artists get influenced by that era's music. BTW, let's bare in mind that Sally Shapiro also said it herself we don't think of ourselves as an italo disco duo. Also, let me remind you that this list informs readers/editors at the top that all artists on the list are Italian based.--Harout72 (talk) 23:41, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

I have many points to correct about you, Harout72 :

1) You obviously still don't understand what is WP:SYNTH. What seems obvious for you is not necessarly obvious for everyone. Most of the new references you added doesn't mention Italo disco at all and shouldn't be included on this list.

2) You're still claiming the reliable references I added are useless/possibly unreliable. I really have the impression you don't know what is a reliable reference and what is must be used for. So please learn both WP:RS and WP:REVSIT.

3) You're still refusing to accept Sally Shapiro can be regarded as an Italo disco artist, although I brought a lot of references and I although I've been trying to make you understand your point of view must not count in this case. Please learn WP:NPOV and please mention the complete quote from the duo : "we don't think of ourselves as an italo disco duo anymore, but... people will call this an italo disco album anyway.". The word "anymore" means the duo accepted the comparison with Italo disco before (and of course you didn't read the corresponding Billboard article). So please respect WP:CHERRYPICK.

4) Italo disco ? A term ?? This is certainly more than a term. Italo disco is regarded as a style by both Simon Reynolds and Mark Jonathan Butler or even a subgenre by Fact, Pitchfork and Spin (again reliable sources which appears at WP:REVSIT), while Allmusic describes early Italo disco as a variant of post-disco. So please learn WP:OR and check real references before claiming Italo disco is a so-called term.

5) Finally, please read and understand WP:OWNER. This list doesn't belong to you and you don't have the right to remove all my references before warning me/discussing it with me.

I'm trying to respect Wikipedia rules as far as I can in order to improve this list but it's impossible to me to do so if you don't want to cooperate with me and if you don't want to respect Wikipedia rules too. I would like to know what Kww for example (or any other user who can solve this problem) think about it.

Synthwave.94 (talk) 01:06, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Slant and PopMatters look borderline to me. Not clearly bad, but not clearly good. I would take the cases to WP:RSN and try to discuss it calmly there without edit warring.—Kww(talk) 01:22, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Borderline ? They appear at WP:REVSIT, so how can you call theses sources "borderline" ? Synthwave.94 (talk) 01:28, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Suggestion

I think that the list should include: Colors - Never Mind; Europe - Six Two Eight; Giorgia Morandi - Children of the Sky; India - Stay with Me; Italian Boys - Forever Lovers; Michael Bedford - More Than a Kiss; Michael Fortunati - Give Me Up; Robert Grace - A Dream (Dumio); Time and Love - Tea for Two. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.147.32.172 (talk) 08:58, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

This list needs Dee D. Jackson!!!!--2600:1700:5D51:3730:990A:2745:F4FE:9605 (talk) 01:31, 8 October 2018 (UTC)--2600:1700:5D51:3730:990A:2745:F4FE:9605 (talk) 01:31, 8 October 2018 (UTC)