7 Stunning Music Videos of the Italo Disco Era

How Video Elevated 1980s Italian Music

In 1979, synth-pop band The Buggles released the decade-defining anthem “Video Killed the Radio Star” (1979), which also became the first music video to be aired on the newly minted MTV on the 1st of August 1981.

Italy would not get its own localized version till 1997, but in 1981, music videos in Italy began airing on a TV show called Mister Fantasy, a homage to the 1967 track “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (1967).

Recalling the setup of the video for “Video Killed the Radio Star,” Mister Fantasy was filmed in an all-white studio space, with screens showcasing music videos. The host, Carlo Massarini, wore white as well. Many of the early music videos (known, in Italy, as “videoclip”) were actually productions of Mister Fantasy, a program that not only amplified music videos but produced original content directly.

We found some examples of early music videos from the Italian music scene. Not all of them qualify as Italo disco, but they remain, nonetheless, capsules of 1980s visual culture in Italy, …