Patrick Cowley (1950 - 1982) * 25 Years Later

[needlefingers]

Patrick Cowley (1950 – 1982) * 25 Years Later





This month marks the 25th anniversary of the passing of Patrick Cowley. And what might have been.

I think of all the people that made the disco scene exciting, Patrick Cowley is the most inspirational, and ground breaking. While he was not there for the roots of disco music, he was there for the change up (Sylvester’s Step II lp w/ You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Dance Disco Heat), and the post-disco era (Menergy, Megatron Man, Do You Wanna Funk, Right On Target, etc.) In the course of a few years, he went from working behind the keyboards to creating a record company and ruling the dance floor. He died at the top.

And where Georgio Moroder is considered the “Father of Techno”, I give Patrick Cowley two titles; “Father of Hi-NRG” & “Father of Industrial”. Many alternative dance groups give credit to Patrick, such as Pet Shop Boys, New Order and Erasure. But I hear his influence in Nine Inch Nails and Scooter also. Even his dark, ambient intro to Menergy can be seen as the beginning of bringing the “ambient genre” into the clubs.

One of my goals was to meet Patrick Cowley. I moved to Los Angeles in December of ’82. I was in a bar in Silver Lake on my second night and went up to talk to the DJ. It was he who told me that he had died a month earlier. He had died of “that disease” that gay men were dying from. I don’t even think they were calling it AIDS yet. I’m not even sure they were calling it GRID yet. (GRID is Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. This was the term used before AIDS.)

I remember going home and crying. That’s how much his music meant to me. And his death.

I think of what might have been. Continued dance music success? Film scores? Pioneering another genre? Inspiring others? If he had lived, I’m sure he would still be just as relevant as Pet Shop Boys and New Order are today.

You may disagree with me and that’s okay. It doesn’t change my opinion. But I would like to hear how others feel about Patrick Cowley. Especially those outside of America. Was he popular in your region? Maybe some of you worked with him or met him.

And even those who were too young to know of him, but have heard his work today. Maybe some of you are hearing him for the first time because of this post. I hope so.

We all have our favorites in this “world of ours” that we live here at discomusic.com. To paraphrase one of his own titles, I say “Thank God For Patrick Cowley”.

Here are a few websites that detail his life and work. And some offer examples of his music.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Patrick+Cowley

http://webs.advance.com.ar/dheinz/INDEX.HTM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Cowley

http://www.myspace.com/patrickcowley

[the disco kid]

Patrick was an amazing producer, to me he thought outside the box and created his own sound. One of my all time favorites by him is his ethereal version of "sea hunt", hauntingly beautiful.

[SandraDee]

One of my all time favorites by him is his etherel version of "sea hunt", hauntingly beautiful.

I completely agree. Sea Hunt is very beautiful & easily my favourite track by Patrick.:icon_cool:

[SandraDee]

Credit has to go to Patrick as in the very early 80s he was one of the few US artists to actually make 'pure' disco (i.e. no funk, rock, jazz or r'n'b influences) which kick-started hi-nrg despite certain UK producers claiming they invented the genre. I have heard many people say how inventive Patrick was over the years & he definitely was a wizard in the studio there's no denying but I tend to feel that often he basically just refined the sound that Giorgio Moroder, Telex, Mike Theodore, Didier Marouani/ Roland Romanelli & Gino Soccio (to name a few off my head) started at the end of the 70s. He just took the sound into the 80s, and very good at it he was & what a tragic blow to the music world his early death was. I remember feeling very upset when Sylvester died as he really was a huge influence on me growing up & I idolised him. AIDS was easily the worst thing to happen to the music world, or any arts for that matter, well the world probably.:icon_cry:

[ol'skinflint]

I was (and still am) a BIG fan of Patrick Cowley's music and I still play it a LOT. It brings back memories of dark discos I went to in rented halls way back in the 80s, where the air was full of intensity, sweat, stale beer and other odors. I also lived (and still live) very close to the recording studios in San Francisco(gone now, of course) where Cowley recorded often (in fact I remember desperately trying to get a part time job in one of the studios but to no avail), and I remember at least once visiting Megatone Records on Castro Street. And I'm not sure exactly how strong the relationship was between Cowley and Modern Rocketry but the music sounds very similar to me. I notice someone here mentioning Cowley's music having an influence on industrial groups like Nine Inch Nails and I would agree with that. Another group who's music often has the industrial/mechanical/danceable sound is called Ministry (check out their releases "Psalm 69" and "Filth Pig" if you get the chance) but be forewarned: it's VERY aggressive sounding industrial music.

[dario.zg]

One of the GREATEST!!!

R.I.P.

[Teddybear]

I love the duet Patrick-Sylvester. By the time, I didn't know much about synthesizers but I felt a strong attraction to their songs: they had a mysterious originality and brought me a lot of happpiness. And I feel almost the same nowadays.

[discoadam]

He was certainly a musical genius. For anyone who loved his grooves it can cut you up to imagine the music that died with him. The original Fusion album is my favorite of all: Menergy et al. I have the Unidisc CD pressing and from the first day I got my iPod it's been on it. I actually nearly cried the first time I was able to walk down the street with Menergy playing my ears. Another 20 years or so and most of us who danced to his music will be dying ourselves, or too freakin' old to care anymore, and Patrick Cowley will probably fade into oblivion. But in the meanwhile, I trust somewhere out there right now someone is playing a Cowley tune and tapping their foot or shakin' their @$$.

[SandraDee]

most of us who danced to his music will be dying ourselves, or too freakin' old to care anymore.

That's it adam, cheer us all up!:icon_mrgreen:

[fabbathanabba]

[quote=discoadam;129845]Another 20 years or so and most of us who danced to his music will be dying ourselves, or too freakin' old to care anymore, and Patrick Cowley will probably fade into oblivion.

My 8 year old son is obsessed with Megatron Man and although this obsession only occured after seeing this video on youtube perhaps the promotion of such fabulous classics will allow the memory of the likes of Patrick Cowley to live on for future generations :icon_biggrin:

YouTube - Patrick Cowley - Megatron Man (Marty Bleckman Remix) 1983

[mrkick20000]

Let me say Cowley is much respected also in Japan, where lots of people like to listen&dance to synth sound. Many popular artists here have been influenced by his music, I believe.

But not many people know he died of AIDS and even relate the disease to gay disco, because
in Japan there have never been gay-oriented disco&club, which have always been open for almost eveyone with any sexual orientation.

His Hi-NRG music was and is loved purely for its sound, due partly to the fact that we don't know much of the meaning of English words.:icon_smile:

[Discomanic]

Check out YouTube for a brief view of Patrick playing piano from Sylvester appearing on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
YouTube - Sylvester, Disco Diva, 1979