User:T1980/Spacesynth

Spacesynth, also known as synthdance and spacedance, is a modern U.S.A. term to describe various 1980s music styles of European electronic dance music, that emerge from a 70s Eurodisco music style, called Space Disco. Most tracks are completely instrumental and are focused on upbeat futuristic, science fiction and epic battle scene style themes with driving basslines and catchy synthesizer riffs. The genre began in the late 1970s as Space Disco and lasted until the early 1990s. The French electronic rock band Rockets pioneered the genre, releasing some disco hits from 1978 to 1981. Since the genre's decline it has gone underground, with new albums being published by a number of European independent record labels.

History

During the 70s, synthesizers and electronic sounds had become an essential part of popular music and were widely used by such artists as Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Telex, Yello and Art of Noise. Space Disco hits like "Magic Fly", "Spacer" and "Supernature" are well known tracks even today. By late 1979, Space disco evolve to other music genres, without a specific name (it was "disco").

Meantime, in Europe, a new music style called Italo disco (a.k.a. 80s eurodisco) became to dominate the disco dancefoors. Many of the artists were Italians and centered around the Italian label Memory Records, but many other Europeans followed. Inside this paneuropean music scene, an Italo-Disco influenced "space disco"-like music emerged. The first notable hits were "Magnetic Fields 2" and "Pulstar". This new Italo Disco / Space Disco crossover, continued with Cyber People releasing successful singles "Polaris" and "Void Vision" for the Memory Records. Koto developed his own Italo-inspired synth music style and the single "Visitors" was a big hit in 1985.

This new music style, needed a new term so to be exported to the non European markets (like UK and USA). Because the word "disco" didn't sell in USA during the 80s and at the same time sounded outdated on the UK, other already established terms used, like Synthpop and electropop. But this crossover never belonged on those music styles, so during the 90s, the "Spacesynth" term used by American fans, in retroprospective.

Back in the history of this crossover, Erik van Vliet from the Netherlands established Laserdance in the mid 80s, and together with Michiel van der Kuy, Laserdance became the most successful spacesynth group ever. Their debut album Future Generation (1987) sold approximately 150,000 copies and the singles "Powerrun" and "Humanoid Invasion" were big hits in Europe. Koto and Laserdance could be considered the most popular spacesynth groups. They set the standards of the genre and since the golden era of spacesynth many producers have tried to replicate that sound.

In the early 1990s spacesynth started to lose its popularity and almost completely vanished during the 1990s when eurodance, house, techno and their subgenres were dominating electronic music charts. Spacesynth was nearly forgotten until it showed some signs of recovering towards the end of the decade. There has recently been a growing interest in spacesynth again as the 1980s melodic sound is becoming popular again. During the last few years Hypersound and Alpha Centauri have released a numerous of spacesynth albums from many new artists.

Artists

Notable artists with their own article:

Koto (Italy)
Laserdance (Netherlands)
Lizardking (Sweden)

External links

Record labels

Sites with music and more information