1977 the year of electronic Eurodisco

[Funky Dude]

Hi all. I have sort of brought this up in the past but thought I'd mention it again. I've noticed there is a lot of pure or almost pure electronic sequencer/synthesizer style disco music happening in 1977 which I guess goes under as a style of "Eurodisco". Prior to 1977 pretty much mainly Kraftwerk were heavily using sequencer synths though Cerrone's "Black Is Black" and "Midnight Lady" seem to have what sounds like sequencer synths happening and "East 6th Street" by Aquarian Dream.

Some real top examples of purely electronic and part electronic dance grooves of 1977 are:
Giorgio Moroder - From Here To Eternity (the whole album)
Cerrone - Supernature
Rinder & Lewis - Lust/Envy/Gluttony
Baciotti - Black Jack
Donna Summer - I Feel Love/Now I Need You/Working The Midnight Shift/Queen For A Day
Black Slate - Sticks Man (not purely electronic but it's probably the very first song to use syndrums)
Kebekelektrik - War Dance
La Belle Epoque - Black Is Black (14 minute version)
Munich Machine - Get On The Funk Train
ORS - Moonboots
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express (the whole album)
Universal Energy - Disco Energy
Chocolat's - El Caravanero (mostly percussive with electric organ but has some examples of sequencers and possibly syndrums)
Mike Theodore Orchestra - Cosmic Wind
Meco - Star Wars Theme

And I noticed some of these groups went off the electronic sequencer style synth disco in 1978 like Cerrone and Donna Summer.

It seems like between the years 1976 and 1977 there's a big jump in technology with disco music or was it that sequencer electronic disco started coming into fashion in 1977? And what kicked off the electronic sequencer disco fad?

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AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! OI OI OI!!! :D :D :D

[Davicillo]

Chicory Tip 'Son of my father' & the Commodores 'Machine gun' were all electronic hits earlier than 1977.

[Graham_Start]

Originally Posted by Funky Dude

And what kicked off the electronic sequencer disco fad?

I Feel Love opened the floodgates, but it was clearly inspired by Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and a few other primarily electronic acts from the 70s.

[DJ Jimmy M]

The one thing I never understood was with all this great advanced dance music with electronics from 77-80...why oh why as about 1982 kicked in it went backwards and became pure cheese and almost atari primative sounding?? As you can tell im not a big fan of the 80s dance sound LOL...but for example..take something from like 1985/86 (any S.A.W. production for instance) and it sounds dated then take Giorgio's "From Here To Eternity" suite and it still sounds fresh and brand new today and could hold and pack a dancefloor still.

[QUINNY]

For a similar reason that House music sounded somewhat primitive. 'Lesser' musicians started making records on small labels with small budgets, in less than state of the art studios, but these were the guys who had their fingers on the musical pulse.

Pop music (as defined by; that music which was bought into by the then 'hip' youth population) had regained a more radical edge by actually being made by 'young' musicians again. Just the way it ought to be?

I hope you can see that by and large, Disco music was somewhat 'forced' upon us by older musicians with a very old fashioned outlook in musical terms. It really was the last throw of the dice for the old, established music industry, before a newer more youthful world order began establishing itself. Nearly all 'pop' music, up until maybe 15 years ago, was an absolute lie.

[Graham_Start]

A big reason for the shift in sounds in 1983 was the rise of digital synthesizers like Yamaha's DX-7. They were everything that the older analog synths weren't -- affordable, reliable, and sounded bright, thin, and metallic. They were also very difficult to program, so most musicians simply used the sounds that they came with from the factory.

Today, analog synths are back in style, in a big way (although often via software virtual recreations). The problem with the digital synths from the 80s was that since everyone jumped on the bandwagon and was using the same sounds, they quickly became dated. Analog synths, with their simplicity, were much easier for musicians to adjust or create new noises on.