Unexpectedly Disco: the B-side culture

Italians experiment with opposite sides.

“One day in 1979, when my older brothers were out playing soccer with their friends, I went into their bedroom to secretly play the records from their weekly music shopping spree. It was a secret little ritual  that only my mom knew about.   I remember picking “Ricominciamo” , a 7” single by Adriano Pappalardo, singer with a deep raspy voice, who used to sing love songs as if he was screaming at someone. The first 5 seconds were enough for me to quickly lift the needle and remove it from their Philips turntable, but I was curious about the B-side. In fact that was a completely new “movement” for me… flipping the record, intrigued by the name of the track, “Hi-Fi”. Especially when all I was curious about was the main tracks I would also hear on the radio or TV. To my surprise, I was blown away by the completely different change in mood from the A side track. This one was disco, sensual and epic, armed with a magical force pulling you to the dancefloor. I found myself dancing it, betwee…