I Feel Love
Song by Donna Summer
Released in May 1977, this record changed the history of music, especially club music. While the disco productions of the time sounded like deluges of violins and Afro-Caribbean percussion, the exclusive use of the Moog synthesizer, the minimalism, the identical bass line from beginning to end, and Donna Summer's aphrodite goddess voice, took everyone by surprise.
Some cried scandal, others genius (like Brian Eno), but what is sure is that there is a before and after "I Feel Love."
The repetition, the trance, the hypnotism, the hedonism is here and pushed to its paroxysm, like a musical metaphor of the social changes and the sexual liberation of the 70s.
This piece also illustrates the fascination of dance producers with technology.
Synthesizers with unprecedented sound capabilities came on the market, as well as drum machines. It was now possible to record on your own if you had the means (the cost of these machines was exorbitant at the time) and to dispense with hiring studio musicians.
This record is the anthesis of, for example, Salsoul or Westend Records, which at the same time continues a tradition of production closer to Philadelphia Recordings or even Motown.
This song (as well as the German band Kraftwerk) will open the doors to a whole new generation of budding musicians. Especially, in England where punk bands will seize the opportunity to be, or to do without virtuoso musicians. Which was already their philosophy, do it yourself, like Depeche Mode, OMD, The Human League, and in Japan with the band Yellow Magic Orchestra, led by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who of course will each take different musical paths, but who owe everything to this song.
I Feel Love is still a UFO more than 40 years after its release. The song is unlike anything else, both musically and vocally.
It's a synthetic carpet where Donna Summer's voice is delicately laid down, unlike other disco songs' powerful and soulful voices of the time. A UFO, because four decades later, we wonder how such a record could have been conceived at that time and how we could have had the idea.
It is the genius of Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer, who formed a unique artistic couple, to have anticipated the future and to impose it immediately to the general public. They tried other attempts of the "All Synthetic" on songs like "Now I Need You," "Sunset People," even if the magic is there, it is never seen!
Bands like Space and their Magic Fly, and other cheap projects, invaded the European charts soon after.
Could such a record reach first place on the charts today? The answer is no!
Too unique, too perfect, too avant-garde even for the ears of today's young generation. But this record is still alive.
There is always a deejay somewhere in the world who plays it on a Saturday night in a club. It's still alive through house music and techno, even today.
It has inspired countless producers to continue the fabulous history of dance music and continue searching for "the sound" that will have a devastating effect on the dancefloor.