In the late 70's, there was a special sub-genre of disco known as Space Disco. It came about after the release of "Star Wars". Space disco tended to be more electronic & less lyrical than normal disco. It was especially popular in France.

Some examples of Space Disco:

Meco - Star Wars disco theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWUp2MhVvwQ

Sarah Brightman - (I Lost My Heart To a) Starship Trooper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zMU2tX5n8

Space - Magic Fly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1llNSdf9cl4

Rockets - Space Rock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJxYxyPCyw

Never cared much for Meco's or Sarah Brightman's efforts, but 'Magic Fly' was a fine song...

It was rare for French instrumentals to breach these shores, but all of a sudden two came along at once! This, and Jean-Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene'...

What about 'Spacer' by Sheila and B. Devotion?

Meco wasn't bad.  I much preferred his 1980 hit 'The Empire Strikes Back'.  In keeping with the Star Wars trilogy, he also had a 1983 hit called 'Ewok Celebration', but it was very corny (A bunch of ewoks rap/singing to a mellow beat)

In the late 70's, there was a special sub-genre of disco known as Space Disco. It came about after the release of "Star Wars". Space disco tended to be more electronic & less lyrical than normal disco. 


And don't forget Boris Midney, who also did a 4-track Empire Strikes Back tribute!  (consisting of Yoda's Theme, The Imperial March/ Darth Vader's Theme, Han Solo and the Princess / Love Theme, and the Star Wars main theme)

Space Disco was pretty good stuff.  Basically, this was where trance got started.  Anyone who ever enjoyed techno/euro/trance should find something worth listening to.  Without lyrics, you get to ignore some of the cheesier aspects of disco culture and concentrate on the music.  But for a retro buff, it's an annoyingly difficult genre to collect.  When you don't have the recording, and the DJ never announced artist/title, how do you describe an instrumental 20 years later?

Johnny Harris' Odyssey (Part 1), for instance, was the tune that was used by a fictional rock band called "Andromeda" to control the minds of 25th-century teenagers in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  The episode aired in 1980.  I remember watching it as a kid and thinking that was one of the coolest bits of synthesizer music I'd ever heard.  Took me 25 years to actually find the track, and I found it by sheer accident, namely when someone sent me a CD of random space tracks.

I've got two or three other tracks that I could probably hum off-tune, and that I'd recognize the instant I heard 'em... but that I have no way of describing other than an approximate BPM number and (judging from the then-new video games I remember playing at a roller skating rink while this music played in the background) a timeframe before 1981.

Even more frustrating is when you hear one sampled -- the early-synth backbeat accompanying the samples "The information he gets" and "and, it changes" in Consolidated's 1990 sample mishmash Our Leader dates back to 1982 or earlier.  I know that because that's the last time I had a 4-track reel-to-reel tape machine and a dub of the original.  If you heard the original, you'll immediately recognize it... and I hope you'll post it here because I've got absolutely no leads on it.  I can tap out the pseudo-Morse-code part of the track from memory because the riff/loop was so good, but once again, that doesn't really help me here.

It's a fun genre to experiment with.  There are a lot of gems out there, but good luck finding them.  Grab a bunch of stuff at random and expect to toss 3/4 of it.  That's about all I can suggest -- anyone got more useful hints? :)

What about 'Spacer' by Sheila and B. Devotion?

Meco wasn't bad.  I much preferred his 1980 hit 'The Empire Strikes Back'.  In keeping with the Star Wars trilogy, he also had a 1983 hit called 'Ewok Celebration', but it was very corny (A bunch of ewoks rap/singing to a mellow beat)


Yep, can't forget that one, either. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKvhnviI-IQ)

I also heard a few rumors that Chic was involved in the production of "Spacer". Anyone know if this is true?

And don't forget Boris Midney, who also did a 4-track Empire Strikes Back tribute!  (consisting of Yoda's Theme, The Imperial March/ Darth Vader's Theme, Han Solo and the Princess / Love Theme, and the Star Wars main theme)

Space Disco was pretty good stuff.  Basically, this was where trance got started.  Anyone who ever enjoyed techno/euro/trance should find something worth listening to.  Without lyrics, you get to ignore some of the cheesier aspects of disco culture and concentrate on the music.  But for a retro buff, it's an annoyingly difficult genre to collect.  When you don't have the recording, and the DJ never announced artist/title, how do you describe an instrumental 20 years later?

Johnny Harris' Odyssey (Part 1), for instance, was the tune that was used by a fictional rock band called "Andromeda" to control the minds of 25th-century teenagers in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  The episode aired in 1980.  I remember watching it as a kid and thinking that was one of the coolest bits of synthesizer music I'd ever heard.  Took me 25 years to actually find the track, and I found it by sheer accident, namely when someone sent me a CD of random space tracks.

I've got two or three other tracks that I could probably hum off-tune, and that I'd recognize the instant I heard 'em... but that I have no way of describing other than an approximate BPM number and (judging from the then-new video games I remember playing at a roller skating rink while this music played in the background) a timeframe before 1981.

Even more frustrating is when you hear one sampled -- the early-synth backbeat accompanying the samples "The information he gets" and "and, it changes" in Consolidated's 1990 sample mishmash Our Leader dates back to 1982 or earlier.  I know that because that's the last time I had a 4-track reel-to-reel tape machine and a dub of the original.  If you heard the original, you'll immediately recognize it... and I hope you'll post it here because I've got absolutely no leads on it.  I can tap out the pseudo-Morse-code part of the track from memory because the riff/loop was so good, but once again, that doesn't really help me here.

It's a fun genre to experiment with.  There are a lot of gems out there, but good luck finding them.  Grab a bunch of stuff at random and expect to toss 3/4 of it.  That's about all I can suggest -- anyone got more useful hints? :)
Karma for the Boris Midney mention!

hey, who did this syntho song that starts off this video?

(warning: the only copy i have of this song is from a -- rather excellent -- 80s dirty movie called "ultraflesh." starring seka. so if you don't like gasps of ecstasy combined with pictures depicting the unfathomable mystery of existence, you probably shouldn't click this link.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2oH3LMlIFA

if someone knows the name of this song and/or artist please let me know cuz i want the CD! 8)

so nobody knows? come on, i know that song was a hit once.

I don't know how good the site is but www.boyslife.org/links/midomi claims you can hum, whistle or sing a few notes and it will be able to identify the song for you.

Sarah Brightman - (I Lost My Heart To a) Starship Trooper:

Rockets - Space Rock:


The Sarah Brightman song is pretty kewl.

The Rockets are kinda scary!

The Sarah Brightman song is pretty kewl.


Ah, but it's so much cooler when you realize just how seriously Sarah Brightman takes herself these days.

This is Starfleet Control to all ships in sector 5:  Be advised Sarah Brightmania 990 is off-course.  All ships, squawk ident.  Sarah Brightmania, this is Starfleet Control, squawk ident, I repeat, squawk ident...

I don't mean to disparage her vocal talents; she's spectacularly talented.  But having someone as talented as Sarah Brightman singing something as ludicrously cheesy as Starship Trooper is on a par with Laura Branigan (of "Gloria" fame) doing a cover of The Name Game.  At least Gloria was also a pop song, and not entirely out of the imagination for the late Ms. Branigan.  Sarah?  Sarah's gotta try to keep her filthy past buried.

Starship Trooper is the musical equivalent of Meryl Streep having starred in pr0n in the 70s.  Unlike Meryl (who didn't, at least as far as we know, do pr0n), Sarah Brightman may have overcome her cheezetacular past -- but she's never been able to live it down.  She can release anthologies of her "greatest hits" and "career retrospectives" from now until Andrew Lloyd Weber stops making musicals., but there's one track missing from all of them.

Go on, Sarah.  Once, just once, before you retire, re-record Starship Trooper.  Take ownership of your past and go out in a blaze of retro glory.  We dare you.

Wasnt there a disco space theme to 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' i?  I dont think it was as popuar as the Star Wars theme.

Wasnt there a disco space theme to 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' i?  I dont think it was as popuar as the Star Wars theme.


Yep.  Also by Meco

Yep.  Also by Meco


He also did a disco album of "The Wizard of Oz", plus "Love Theme from Superman" & a "Star Trek" disco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrKjawtXY3s

Sheila and B.Devotion- Spacer

Space disco tended to be more electronic & less lyrical than normal disco.


In the '70s, instrumental hits were popular in general (though the popularity faded towards the end of the decade).  Thus it wasn't unusual to have hits without vocals, a phenomenon that started before disco.  That said, movies like 'Star Wars' became extremely popular at that time, and 'space' as a theme was still exciting then.  So I don't disagree there may have been a sub-genre "Space Disco".  I don't specifically remember it.  But it's possible that it was more popular outside of the U.S.  (Or maybe I just missed it  ::))

I always liked this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY1fpEKIcDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_4EImOGty4

Kay Gee- Space Disco