giorgio moroder

Most people know Italian-German Giorgio Moroder these days as one of the collaborators on the newest Daft Punk album (which makes him the second Daft Punk collaborator for our Throwback Thursday series after Todd Edwards). On the featured track, Giorgio discusses his emergence into the world of music in Germany in the 60s and 70s, starting out as a guitarist and singer, and finally moving into production. He had a string of successes in his own name and quickly began working with other artists and producing albums. As he discusses in the Daft Punk song, Giorgio was enthralled by the relatively newly available synthesizers and the futuristic sounds they could produce, and soon started incorporating them heavily into his work. He charted with several of his own hits and productions for others throughout the early to mid 70s, always keeping his love for the synthesizer close at hand.

Then the year 1977 came along. Moroder found Donna Summer and the two started work together on a concept album with songs representing the sounds of past decades and into the future. The album, entitled I Remember Yesterday, was received well by audiences and critics alike, but it was the track “I Feel Love” that would prove to have the most lasting impact. It was the last song on the album and was meant to prophecy the sounds of the future, so Moroder decided to forego the acoustic backing tracks of his disco contemporaries in lieu of an entirely synthesized production. The result was a nearly 6 minute long journey of sound that was so ahead of its time it could almost pass for a new song today. The innovative use of the Moog Synthesizer in particular and its marching bass line rocketed the track to the Top 10 in charts around the world and became a disco sensation.

But the track didn’t stop there. David Bowie, who was working with Brian Eno on a collaboration at the time “I Feel Love” came out, recalls Eno coming in to tell him about the song: “One day in Berlin … Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’ … he puts on ‘I Feel Love,’ by Donna Summer … He said, ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.’ Which was more or less right.” Eno’s prophetic claims would prove to be correct. The track had an enormous impact on the development of techno in Detroit, where the marching bass line and locked-in rhythms would find their way into the sonic stylings of some of techno’s earliest propagators.

So, hopefully Daft Punk’s choice to collaborate with Giorgio Moroder lies in greater context now. Who knows, without him perhaps Daft Punk wouldn’t even exist … Indeed, the man’s prophetic vision truly makes him the Godfather of Dance.

Watch the video of Donna Summer performing the hit below and catch Moroder’s collaboration with Daft Punk, “Giorgio by Moroder”, after that, then go out into the wide world of dance and keep your ears tuned for the Godfather’s legacy.

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