If you’ve been following the blog, I’ve mentioned some of my inspirations for the music that I create. (My name is James Hardiment by the way, I’m a singer/songwriter based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.) So how did I get into 1980s dance music from mainland Europe, known as Italo Disco, you might have wondered? Well it actually began around 2006-7 whilst I was living in the United Kingdom. I picked up a 5 CD compilation of greatest hits of the 1980s, that was being advertised on television at the time.
The CD featured a wide range of different genres, that charted in the UK in that period. One of the discs, featured a song called “Tarzan Boy”, by a dance project called Baltimora. I didn’t realize until years later, that it was actually part of the Italo Disco genre. The song was catchy with its “ohh ohh ohhs”, the words were a little difficult to understand with the thick accent, but a great tune none the less! All about jungle life, and falling in love I think.
Flash forward to 2008-9, I’m on YouTube, listening to my favourite 80s songs, and I discover, in the related videos tab, a 12” dance remix of a song I like, by an Austrailian band, Icehouse, called “Electric Blue”. (12” refers to the type of vinyl record used. Those are the big ones that you typically see, as they could hold more music than a 7” single. Those 7” are what you would see inside an old jukebox.) I noticed some music I’ve never heard of before in the tab, it didn’t take long before I’m deep down an internet rabbit hole, watching all kinds of dance music from the ‘80s. The elbow pads, crazy colours, the abstract, artsy music videos, along with the TV performances where the models or singers would dance and lip sync to the studio recordings of the tracks. Italo disco was produced throughout the ‘80s, and would eventually evolve into house music in the ‘90s. It consisted of synthesizers and drum machines, with the occasional sax or guitar. Countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and more, produced many great songs. I love artists such as David Lyme, Daydream, Squash Gang, Miko Mission, Albert One, to name just a handful of my favourites.
The melody and harmony on the vocals is one of my favourite parts of the genre. It’s a very happy, upbeat kind of a sound that I crave all the time. I’m an ‘80s addict, to be perfectly honest. People used to scoff at me in high school, I told them it would come back though, and I was right. Stranger Things, the Netflix original series, brought back that retro sound, and look, along with a whole new genre, called Synthwave, emerging slowly influencing new pop music as well.
One of my favourite artists from that Synthwave genre, is called Roxi Drive. She sounds very much like Pat Benetar, I find, especially in her song “Hot Night”. You should check that out if you enjoy that old school ‘80s style of music, with a modern twist. I’ve got a pretty large playlist built on Apple Music, that features a lot of Synthwave tracks, that I’ve dug up over the pandemic. Some of it literally sounds like was made in that decade, others artists are a bit more modern, especially their vocal parts. That crisp and clean modern poppy sound makes it clear that it’s not from that age. I love that people are bringing back the synthesizer sounds again.
I have a love for ‘80s South African sounds too, I discovered a legendary singer/songwriter called Johnny Clegg. I fell in love with his sound, his story was inspiring too, teaming up with his best friend Zulu guitarist Sipho Mchunu, and forming the first mixed race band Juluka (Zulu for Sweat) in South Africa. This was during a time when the white apartheid government didn’t allow it. I even found one of his albums on cassette at a Value Village thrift store in Ottawa once. He formed another band in 1986 called Savuka (Zulu for Awakening) which had even more international success, especially in France, where Johnny was known as “Le Zoulou Blanc”(The White Zulu). This was due to the fact he could sing in their language, and dance in their traditional, tribal style. Other artists I enjoy from that time, include pop singers like Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Brenda Fassie, Pat Shange, Sydney, and many more. These artists, especially Clegg, are a big inspiration for my song, “Savanna”, which features South African guitarist Shawn Timba on the track. I was reminded heavily of, “Great Heart”, a song by Clegg.
Of course, plenty of mainstream songs have influenced me too, from all the decades. I always really enjoyed bubblegum dance music from the ‘90s, especially Danish acts such as Cartoons, and Aqua. The latter had their smash hit at the end of the decade, with the song “Barbie Girl”.
Anyways I will continue to write music as I’ve always done, as well as dig through the digital record crates of the internet.
That’s all for now…
James
Pictured: James Hardiment posing with his retro sunglasses in front of the canvas from his “Wine” song music video.