#MECO

[vintagegeekculture]

I remember a friend of mine had some LPs that were Star Wars themed disco albums, and it brought back a very weird memory from back in the 70s (yes, I'm old!) of listening to a Star Wars disco mashup on the radio. What was all that about? I also remember something like that for Close Encounters, too.

You remember correctly, and this went on for a long while. In 1983, disk jockeys around the country played a record that involved an Ewok rapping the plot of Return of the Jedi in Ewokese. This made it to #60 in the Billboard Top 100.

This is hard to explain to people who weren’t there….but in the wake of Star Wars in the late 70s and early 80s, scifi was so beloved and mainstream that the orchestral music for nerdy scifi and fantasy movies about outer space were remixed and sampled into Giorgio Moroder-esque Italo-Disco dance numbers. And the most astonishing thing is, instead of being consigned to convention acts the way “horse famous” Brony dubstep acts are, this received national airplay on the radio, reached the pop music charts, and were played in discotheques. And incredibly, this continued for years and expanded from Star Wars into Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, Black Hole, Close Encounters….

All of this was the work of one specific person: Meco (or Dominico Monardo). The term “ahead of their time” is thrown around a lot, but Meco really was: a combination producer-songwriter and Italo-Disco pioneer in the style of Giorgio Moroder, he did several things that are now absolutely standard: he used remixes and sampling before hiphop made that standard for musicians, he wrote “fandom music” on a Moog synthesizer decades before Bronies turned their conventions into cringey dubstep concerts with songs like “Everypony Dance Now.”

It's stunning to me that Meco has not been rediscovered, considering every single trend in the culture essentially went his way.

The most startling thing about Meco’s Star Wars disco album, the one that got the ball rolling on this trend, is this: I always assumed it was some kind of cash in created by a record label mandate, a label executive’s completely cynical choice to hop on a hot new trend. That isn’t a crazy thing to think at all, since Star Wars is and always has been the most merchandized and sold out scifi property ever. But it wasn’t! You see, it was all the product of a single man’s specific vision: Meco had to convince his record label to make the record because they were skeptical.

When Meco went to see Star Wars in 1977 on Opening Day (what an experience that must have been) with his friend and fellow Italian chest hair/gold medallion enthusiast Tony Bongiovi, he was already an experienced producer-songwriter who had worked with Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, and formed DCA, the Disco Corporation of America. If you've ever listened to Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out," Meco actually played the trombone solo in that song. Seeing the Star Wars movie for the first time, though Meco thought the movie was nothing short of a religious experience. Originally, he wanted to do Star Wars music as a b-side on a Gloria Gaynor album, but expanded the idea into an entire album.

In Meco’s own words:

"When I think about what I did, nobody came to me, nobody said 'Meco, why don't you do this.' Nobody says 'Here's some money go make a record of this movie.' It was just my own... It was magical, it was just out of this world when all that happened."

Not only did this album hit platinum, not only did it actually outsell the Star Wars soundtrack, his remix of the Star Wars theme also went to #1 in the charts. It’s actually the best selling instrumental single of all time. A record, that, incidentally, it holds to this day.

Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, had this to say about Meco:

"In 1977, Meco Monardo accomplished something no one else has ever done to the best of my knowledge. He was the first one in history to out-sell the soundtrack of a motion picture with his own distinctive version of a film's music. The music was totally danceable, and broke new ground. It's no wonder the STAR WARS THEME went to # 1. I loved his treatment of music from THE WIZARD OF OZ. Again, Meco created something innovative. The fun and the excitement gave a whole new feel to that totally familiar and well-loved music."

Like a lot of studio producers, Meco had an insane work ethic and hit when the iron was hot: he did an album about Close Encounters that exact same year, but also did a Star Wars Christmas Album, one of the strangest pieces of Star Wars kitsch around.

One of the most interesting things about the Star Wars Christmas album is that one of the songs, “R2D2’s Wish You a Merry Christmas” is the first professional vocals by John Bon Jovi, who was Meco’s friend Tony Bongiovi’s seventeen year old younger cousin (he was initially known as John Bongiovi). It's incredible to hear a squeaky voiced teen Bon Jovi on a kitsch album about a robot Christmas.

1978-1979 was really his best year. Meco made an Italo-Disco remix album entirely devoted to Superman, and at this point, Meco had the pull to get access to John Williams's sheet music for the score before the music even came out. In my personal opinion it's the best of them because he has to recreate it entirely with his own instruments, leading to a very unique sound.

He also did an album based on the Wizard of Oz:

And a combination album of Star Trek/Black Hole. It's probably the earliest remixing date of Goldsmith pieces of music: the Motion Picture Theme (which is now associated with the Next Generation - hearing it done in Italodisco is uncanny) and the Klingon Theme:

Incidentally, I think the design here of the Meco Enterprise, which had to be modified for legal reasons, would make a wonderful canon starship if anyone wants to be inspired by it. It reminds me of the same concept that would be used in the very next film for the Reliant-class of ships.

Meco eventually retired from music in 1985, but unfortunately he is no longer with us, as he passed into the next dimension in 2023. I think he showed us that creativity is often about transformation, and was inspired to make his art by a legitimate awe of space, the cosmos, and human imagination that the scifi movies of the 1970s and 80s provoke.

[captainkon0]

Real quick doodle while working on the comic (I've been writting the whole plot and sketching it). Just to keep alive the account lol

[retroscifiart]

Art by Shusei Nagaoka for "Music From Star Trek and Music From The Black Hole" by Meco (1980)

[humanoidhistory]

Japanese record store poster for the legendary Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk by Meco, 1977. Art by Robert Rodriguez.

[vinyl-artwork]

Meco - Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk (1977)

Design by Gribbitt!, Stephen Lumel

[balsanja]

Meco - Star Wars Theme

[ariel-seagull-wings]

ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco

@makingboneboy @thealmightyemprex @themousefromfantasyland

[yestolerancepro]

Tolerance Project extra Thank you for the music Part 2 Classic Cowboys to Classical music

Introduction

Hello there Ben Brown here and welcome to the 2nd Chapter of a blog that looks at how we created the soundtrack for the Tolerance film as we join part 2 Robert is trying to get to a Job interview and Julie has an ungrateful boss to deal with

4 minutes 13 seconds Robert has to get to a job interview, but finds it hard work getting there. He misses his taxi, then a bus and he narrowly avoids getting run over. He is saved by a passer-by, played by Dan McTiernan, who was also our first Assistant Director. When Robert is about to be run over you can hear the Jaws theme for the first time. You hear it again when Robert meets the infamous Mr Grosenberg.

Again we went with the John Williams original the famous theme which we all know and love is called main title/first victim.

To learn more about the original Jaws 1975 click here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7jjHLJlDZo

I always felt a bit sorry for John Williams his record companies always seemed to a bit slow when releasing single versions of his hit themes. He missed out on a sure hit with his Star Wars theme in 1977, when a disco cover version of the main theme by a band called Meco entered the UK charts at number 7 and a number 1 hit in the US

You can find a video about that version by clicking here https://href.li/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjuvI6sX2U&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=264&t=135s

His original version used in the film spent 2 weeks in the US charts reaching the top ten

To learn more about the original Star Wars click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8_7IAP-biU

Like wise a cover version of his Jaws theme became a UK top 30 hit in 1975 John wouldn’t have a hit under steam till his Superman theme entered the UK top 40 in 1978

As Robert makes his way to the Bus stop we here People are strange a song by the Doors from their 2nd album Strange days The song peaked at number 12 in the BillBoard hot 100 US charts in 1967.

it later featured in the Horror film the lost boys from 1987.

When it was covered by Echo & The Bunnymen reaching #29 in the UK charts. The song was produced by Ray Manzarek, who as part of the Doors played Keyboards on the original track and on the cover version, its this version from the lost boys that we used in the Tolerance film

To learn about the making of The Lost Boys film click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4wGnXH4DOI&t=4s

8 minutes 24 seconds On her way to work Julie is past by a car which parks in a disabled space. Julie is not happy when she realises that the person parked in the space is not disabled, but is in fact her boss, Mrs Jones, played by Kate Faulkner. Julie daydreams about what she would like to do to her boss, leading to a spoof of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 

The Version used in the Tolerance film is a cover from an an unknown artist  and was not by Ennio Morricone or Hugo Montenegro.

In 1968 Hugo Montenegro released a cover version of the good the bad and the Ugly recorded on a Moog synthesizer it was big hit on both sides of the Atlantic a number 1 in the UK and a top 10 single in the US hitting number 2 in the US hot 100  It was held off from the top spot by another cinematic song: Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson." from the film The Graduate

The film's soundtrack was also a big hit reaching number 4 in the US album charts 

To learn more about the Good the bad and the ugly click here

11 minutes 19 seconds We cut to Julie, who is unhappy in her work. Mrs Jones tells her that she wants five copies of the work action plan and she needs them now. She later tells Julie that she can have the morning off, but first Julie has to tackle the monster photocopier. We chose the classical music, Car O Fortuna - Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff for the background music to this scene. This track is taken from my mums CD collection thanks mum ! 

 Carmina Burana is a cantata composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis ("Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images"). It was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 8 June 1937. It is part of Trionfi, a musical triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The first and last sections of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" ("Fortune, Empress of the World") and start with "O Fortuna".

14 minutes 29 seconds Robert goes into town to try and get a birthday card for Julie, but finds some of the shops and cash machines inaccessible. Does anybody know what the drum and bass music is here? Please let me know, so I can add it to the soundtrack playlist

17 minutes 29 seconds

Odeon Cinema sequence and the last of our film spoofs - this time to An Officer and a Gentleman. So it was only right when spoofing that film we use Up where we belong from the 1982 film. The song a duet by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes it plays out in all its glory on its original chart release it was a top ten smash in the UK a number one in the US and it also won a Golden Globe A Grammy Award and an Oscar for best song.

19 mins 12 seconds as Julie and Robert make there way into the Odeon Cinema the instrumental track Green Onions can be heard recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever, its also  one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was 17.

It started life as a B side the instrumental will become a soul standard when its first released on the US charts on the 11 August 1962 where it reaches no 3  

It first appeared on the UK Singles Chart on December 15, 1979, following its use in the film Quadrophenia; it peaked at No. 7 on January 26, 1980, and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks

So Robert gets the job at the cinema and we see a montage of shots of him enjoying his new role to the music of The Professionals theme by Laurie Johnson The popular TV show ran on the ITV network for six series between 1977-1983 I like the scene but I would have used the classic Pearl and Dean Cinema Music.

Laurie Johnson passed away recently you can read the obituary by clicking here Laurie Johnson: The Avengers theme composer dies - BBC News

 If you have read and liked this blog please consider giving a small donation towards the Tolerance project by clicking on the above link

Notes

This blog has been compiled from various sources including deep breath Ability not Ability a Producers Commentary Part 1 in the Beginning Ability not Ability a Producers Commentary Part 2 Transport Ability not Ability a Producers Commentary Part 3 Employment Ability not Ability a Producers Commentary Part 4 Accessability Tolerance Project goes into Lockdown and Happy Valentines day from the Tolerance project

Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the musical background notes

This new edition also includes new making of documentaries for Star Wars Lost Boys The Good the bad and the ugly thanks to Minty’s comedic arts

Some material has been included from the Justin Lewis book Don’t Stop The Music Thanks to Google images for the pictures and Ian Medley for the Tolerance film screen grabs

Pictures

Jaws poster from 1975

The Meco artwork for the Star Wars theme cover version

Artwork for the Doors album Strange Days

Artwork for People are Strange covered by Echo and the Bunnymen for the lost boys in 1987

Poster for the Good the Bad and the ugly

Artwork for Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel

Artwork for the Good the Bad and the ugly Soundtrack

Carl Orff

Screengrab Julie (Clare Abbot) about to face the monster photocopier

Artwork for Up where we belong from 1982 from an Officer and a Gentleman

Artwork for the Booker T and the MGs single Green Onions

Quadrophina Poster

Publicity photo for The Professionals  

[mortifiedandawesome]

Meco - The Wizard of Oz (Special Disco Version) (US 12'' Promo) (1978) F...

[unaciertamirada]

. . . . #landscape #landscapephotography #landscape_lovers #forest #woods #trees #nature #meco #naturephotography #naturelovers (en Meco) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvFZjxjXG8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[myimaginaryradio]

Star Wars Theme - Meco - 1977

Happy Star Wars day!

[captainkon0]

Some sketches of the AU! Before I forget to post them (plzsomeonewritthemafic)

[taifunu]

Infinity by Luis Mariano González Via Flickr: All rights reserved. Do not use without written permission from photographer. YELLOWKORNER / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Huffingtonpost Blog 16022023-IMG_1630-Editar-2-2bw

[myvinylplaylist]

Soundwaves (1980)

K-Tel International Records

[thingsdavidlikes]

Conversación y niebla by una cierta mirada https://flic.kr/p/2ob4Gbr

[younes-ben-amara]

لمن كان ينتظر ميكو [لقاح يقيك جنون البريد الإلكتروني] للأندرويد: اليوم يوم سعدك. نَزِّله الآن

جمعة مباركة؛ السلام عليكم ومرحبًا بكم. كتبتُ من قبل عن تطبيق ميكو هنا: إن كانت فوضى النشرات البريدية لديك ستُصيّرك مجنونًا: استخدم ميكو وأرح نفسك! 📮 لكن ما كان يمنع بعض الناس من تحميله: أنه لا تتوفر منه نسخة أندرويد لا يحبون استخدام نسخة سطح المكتب/الويب من ميكو لكن قبل أن نضع رابط تطبيق ميكو (Meco) للأندرويد، دعنا نذكّر -وسريعًا- بما هو تطبيق ميكو أساسًا. 🤔 ما هو تطبيق ميكو ولِمَ عليك…