09/10/2025
What the hell is Italo Disco?
To celebrate Dolce Vita's move to Hollywood, I'm going to focus on introducing the artists, the music, and the culture to those who do not know it or are unsure what exactly it is.
The term has been floating around since it's resurgence more than a decade ago.
-How am I qualified as an expert? Why the hell should you listen to what I have to say?
You don't have to. But you can listen to the artists I will write about and find out on your own. I first discovered it when I was a child during the summer in a small seaside town in southern Italy. After I became a teenager I didn't think of it much until I co-founded Los Angeles' longest running Italo Disco party.
Let's start with Baltimora. Tarzan Boy was one of my first introductions to this sound when I was 5 or 6. I remember having a huge lunch at my uncle's house after a long exhausting torturous flight from America (you could smoke on the plane then). The TV was above the fireplace and we watched a musical variety show that had the song playing and Baltimora performing. I also heard it in my uncle's tiny FIAT. I also heard it at the beach from a jukebox in the cafe. Who knew that music would come back into my life 3 decades later.
Baltimora was Maurizio Bassi from Milano and sinnger Jimmy McShane from Northern Ireland (who passed away from AIDS in 1995.) While "Tarzan Boy" was their most successful song, Woody Boogie , Chinese Restaurant, and Juke Box Boy are some other fun tracks I recommend checking out.
