Ankie Bagger italo euro magic with even a Kiss cover

A 1989 Swedish import featuring the dynamite single Where Were You Last Night?

Before there was Madonna there was Deep in Vogue

No need to get into a whole theory on how important Malcolm McLaren was.  Fact is he was genius!

Madonna ever the one to take inspiration from others was certainly influenced by this 1989 release by Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra.  I can assure you being on the New York club scene in flying colors during this period, Deep in Vogue was OVER!
ZIP O VOGUE

And the video of course featured the legendary Willie Ninja.  Truly a master of the art of voguing and an inspirational force on the New York Club scene in that period.  I used to love to go to Sound Factory Bar on Wednesdays where it seemed like the whole dance floor was packed with professional dancers and banjie boys.  But it was always just for a hot minute because my tribe was around the corner at Disco 2000 at The Limelight.  And whatever party was serving club kid action that competed with it.

Ken Laszlo (Gianni Laszlo Coraini)

In 1984 Ken Laszlo burst upon the italo disco scene with the genius Hey Hey Guy.  One of the catchiest italo disco songs ever.  The introduction alone is legendary, so camp.

Ken also recorded under several aliases including Ric Fellini, Jaco (with the classic Spanish Run) and  Artwork.  Almost all of his output was on the seminal Italian italo disco label Memory.

The Follow-up to Hey Hey Guy came out the next  year in 1985 and it was nearly as infectious.  Another italo disco masterpiece. 

The 1986 release Don't Cry didn't slow down his impact on the dance floor.  But in my humble opinion it was not up to par to his first two singles.

1987 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 was fun and featured a campy video.

A Zip of Ken

Everybody is Dancing in 1989 was pure Euro Disco.  By then production of Italo Disco was on the wane as there was also house music to contend with.  It was also back to a good groove and I find it to be one of his better records.

DEEP IN VOGUE AND BREAK 4 LOVE 10's ACROSS THE BOARD…..

We here at disco vinyl like to keep it real and in an era pre 90's.  This is one of my first posts that gets up near that point in time.  First with Malcolm McLaren's genius Deep in Vogue featuring the late Willi Ninja who is forever immortalized by his appearances in one of the best documentaries of all time Paris is Burning.

I really can't say enough about this film.  The way it so incredibly captured a scene and an era will be inspirational to any documentary filmmaker.  Feelings that permeated what was so fresh about my first years living in N.Y.C. and the way ballroom culture had an effect on The Sound Factory the only club which could claim the title of carrying the torch after the closing of The Paradise Garage.  So many quotes from the film are still used in street lingo today.  And the ballroom scene never went away.

Deep in Vogue was clearly all about the ball scene when it came out in 1989 well before Madonna's Vogue mind you.

The documentary's release in 1990 inspired Madonna to invite voguers from the film to tour with her and to appear in her video for Vogue, which remains one of the biggest hits of her career.

The scene was also very much championed by Johnny Dynell who is still an incredibly popular and successful DJ in N.Y.C. usually featured at all of Suzanne Bartsch's events.

A RECENT BOBBY BUSNACH EDIT OF BREAK 4 LOVE

In 1987 a release out of Grove records in D.C. shook up the scene in a big way.  Break 4 Love became a standard of the ballroom scene.  Vaughan Mason the man responsible had done roller disco classics like Bounce, Skate, Roll.  It even was covered by The Pet Shop Boys a few years later. 

Here I provide you with a few versions of each to enjoy.

BREAK 4 ZIP

DEEP IN ZIP

I'd rather jack then Fleetwood Mac Reynolds Girls

How freakin' camp is this?  Stock, Aitken and Waterman really stepped it up a notch with this one.  A sister act The Reynolds Girls took it all the way up to #8 in 1989.  The beat is like drilling something into your mind you hear it twice and you can hear it over and over in your mind for the rest of your life!  And those lyrics, how audacious, how over the top, how naughty.  What a scream.  LISTEN TO I'D RATHER JACK HERE

Apparently it was a tongue in cheek against the critics who didn't consider S,A and W talented and completely ignored them at the Brit Awards year after year.  They got a lot of criticism and many considered this record to be amazingly naff but come on they were only 18 and 16 years old.

  

All we wanna do is have a good timeThen you went and took our house awayNo-one ever asked for our opinionNo, no, we don't get a say

AM, FM, all that jazzWe'd rather sing along with YazzWhat happened to the radio?They never play the songs we know

Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don't want them backI'd rather jack than Fleetwood MacNo heavy metal, rock'n'roll, music from the pastI'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac

I'd rather jack

Can't they see that every generationHas music for its own identity?But why the DJ on the radio stationIs always more than twice the age of me?

Who needs Pink Floyd, Dire Straits?That's not our music, it's out of dateDemographic stereoThey never play the songs we know

Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don't want them backI'd rather jack than Fleetwood MacNo heavy metal, rock'n'roll, music from the pastI'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac

I'd rather jack, I'd rather jack

AM, FM, all that jazzWe'd rather sing along with YazzWhat happened to the radio?They never play the songs we know

Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don't want them backI'd rather jack than Fleetwood MacNo heavy metal, rock'n'roll, music from the pastI'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac

Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don't want them backI'd rather jack than Fleetwood MacNo heavy metal, rock'n'roll, music from the pastI'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac

Golden oldies, Rolling Stones, we don't want them backI'd rather jack than Fleetwood MacNo heavy metal, rock'n'roll, music from the pastI'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac

Paul Simpson, Barbara Roy, and the sound of the Paradise Garage

The 1982 12" release on on StreetWise Records by the Paul Simpson Connection, Use Me, Lose Me is a Garage classic. So is the Paul Simpson remix of Barbara Roy's Gotta See You Tonight from 1985.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2mz23jdkyzd

Barbara Roy was a prominent vocalist in the 70's R&B group Ecstasy, Passion and Pain who had a string of hits including Ask Me and the Garage classic Touch and Go.

http://www.mediafire.com/?33jxz1yyywd

Paul Simpson had a fruitful career including working with the legendary Vince Montana on a Goody Goody record, "Let Me Work on You," R&B groups Deja and Surface, and even Rick James. Later he went on to produce and mix house music too. A couple noteworthy releases were collaborations with Adeva (Patricia Daniels). Musical Freedom (Free at Last) by Paul Simpson featuring Adeva and Adeva's house anthem Respect from 1988 which were highpoints in her dance output. Adeva later worked most often with Frankie Knuckles quite often but she never really broke big other then in the club scene.

As usual I invite you to come check out my Ebay store. It's going through all sorts of changes as I lower some prices, add a make an offer tab to almost every listing and constantly refresh the inventory. Help keep Vinyl alive!