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Writer's pictureDr Stephen HIll

Discoring: more than just playback TV...


A Distorted Looking Glass Version of the 1980s...

Lose yourself in an Italo Disco blackhole on YouTube, and you'll probably find yourself on the TV show Disco Ring, the Italian version of Top of the Pops.The series ran from 1977 to 1989 on RAI Tv and featured a selection of both international and Italian singers miming to playback.

The series has gained a cult following with the opportunity is presents to look at the familiar faces of the 1980s through a distorted looking glass. Major English language stars to have appeared on the show include Abba, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, The Police, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. However, the way in which these international stars are segued between the flamboyant homegrown talent that has captured people's imaginations.

It takes a lot to make Elton John or Donna Summer seem dour. However, next to Italo Stars like Albert One and Fred Venture, the visual codes of Ango-American 80s pop aesthetics seem anodyne in comparison. In part, this can be attributed to the club feel of the studio set, which gestures towards the largesse of super clubs like Rimini's L'Altromondo. However, it is also the extravagance of the clothes worn not just by the performers but also the presenters, audience members.

Italian fashion had entered a time of renaissance with the Made in Italy being a by-word of cutting-edge fashion and designer like Missoni and Versace pushing fashion forward, with designs that were futuristic and modern. As the Eighties moved one, the Millan-centred youth cult fixated with design labels would become increasingly visible, their notoriety immortalised in the Italo-inspired Pet Shops Boys single 'Paninaro'.




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