You Know Why: How Italo Disco Changed the Sound of Dance Music
by Daniel Finn
·
Every month we take a deep dive into a specific genre, sound, or style. Through the lens of a playlist, we compile some of the iconic and best artists to help understand and feel the roots and value of this music. This month we go deep into "You Know Why – Italo Disco."
"You Know Why" is a playlist that captures a genre spawned from influence and made notorious by its lasting impact. The polarising Italo Disco, once dismissed as "Spaghetti Dance," has long been a guilty pleasure, but it also holds a vital place in the DNA of modern dance music.
Despite early criticisms of its flamboyance and quirky English lyrics, Italo Disco inspired some of the most revered underground scenes in dance history. The pioneers of Chicago house, Detroit techno, and British synth-pop all looked to Italo for its futuristic energy, infectious melodies, and drum-machine-driven grooves.
Though its exact origins are hard to trace, Italo Disco began emerging in the late 1970s as Italian DJs and producers pushed American disco sounds deeper into European nightlife. While disco faded in the U.S., Italian enthusiasm was only heating up. When imports became scarce and expensive, producers began to craft the sound themselves, giving birth to what was initially called Spaghetti Dance.
These early versions struggled to resonate internationally. The lyrics were often simplistic, the accent thick, and the flamboyant style hard to market. But behind the scenes, producers were beginning to change the game.
Driven by necessity and creativity, Italo Disco producers were among the first to embrace cutting-edge electronic tools like the Roland Juno-60, ARP Odyssey, Yamaha DX7, TR-808, Linndrum, and Emulator II. Their DIY approach became a production blueprint for what would soon evolve into house, techno, synth-pop, and electro.
By 1984, German label ZXY Records gave the genre its official name with the Best of Italo Disco compilation series. Suddenly, the misunderstood style found an eager audience, not just in Europe but in the underground clubs of New York, Chicago, and Detroit, where DJs like Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, and Larry Levan championed these tracks.
By the early 1990s, Italo Disco began to fade, dissolving into sub-genres that lay dormant for decades. But like all great movements, it found its way back. Today, you can hear its fingerprints everywhere, from nu-disco and synthwave to the electro-tinged tracks of DJs like DJ Harvey, Todd Terje, and Peggy Gou.
Once mocked, now revered, Italo Disco proved that synthetic doesn’t mean soulless. Its blend of stripped-back funk, futuristic romance, and dance floor optimism made it a sound that stood the test of time.