Girogio Moroder and “From Here to Eternity” are forever linked to one the happiest times of my life. Sometime in ’79, way back when I was a young teen, one of my friends brought the LP of “From Here To Eternity” to the Sharma residence – home to the most hospitable and friendly band of brothers ever – Himanshu, Amitabh, Sushev, Praneet and Alok😍. Their home was the informal clubhouse for the D-Block gang – every evening, we would all gather there, play carrom, listen to records on their stereo, talk about everything under the sun, and, drink the endless cups of amazing chai that Sharma Aunty would cheerfully and patiently, make for us! ❤️ That evening my friend “Glof” ( not his real name clearly. The urban legend is that, just once in his life, he made the mistake of mispronouncing “Golf” as “Glof”. Unfortunately for him, some of us were there😱. And, so, forty years later, he is still called “Glof” 🤪) , held the album cover in his hands and read out the track names. Suddenly, he stopped, and quietly chuckled at the pun on “I’m Left ,You’re Right, She’s Gone”. I , on the other hand, was looking at the front cover, admiring that incredible Giorgio Moustache! However, my mind clicked in at Glof’s chuckle and as I clocked the pun, I too laughed …..somehow, that tiny warm memory, from a fun childhood so many years ago, has been stuck in my head for forty years !

While “I’m Left, You’re Right She’s Gone” doesn’t even make the Top 20 of Giorgio Moroder tracks, it has somehow always been my favourite Moroder song – maybe it’s the pun that dun it for me😁. However, it’s the eponymous title track from the album -“From Here To Eternity” – that is the brilliant genre-defining song there. Giorgio’s synthesiser does incredible things – and when you consider how basic the original Moogs were, the mind boggles at what he did. The album got rave reviews upon release and today is rated in the ‘Top 20 Dance Albums of All Time’! I remember we played it a lot at our parties, with bulbs, covered by coloured paper and set off by tubelight chokes to create a strobe effect to go with the music😁 (jugaad, right?!). There are some real gems on the album besides these two songs as well – “First Hand Experience of Second Hand Love” and “Too Hot To Handle” are my other favourites.

While it is a really cool album , at the time, it didn’t really blow me away. And for the longest time, for me at least, Giorgio Moroder was somehow just a novelty act – interesting songs but not ones that I would make an effort to listen to regularly. It was a few years later that I discovered just what a genius Giorgio Moroder is. Widely regarded as the “Godfather of Disco” and credited as the “Creator of EDM” (Electronic Dance Music), Synth-Pop and Hi-NRG – his music is ground-breaking! Let’s just pause for a minute, and, let that sink in – the man single-handedly created three humungous music genres!! 🤔😊 Additionally, one can see his fingerprints all over other music genres like ‘New Wave’, ‘Techno’ and ‘House’. He has won three Oscars – one for the score for ‘Midnight Express’, and two for Best Original Song for “Flashdance …What a Feeling” from ‘Flashdance’ and “Take My Breathe Away” from ‘Top Gun’. And just for kicks, along the way, he also has four Grammys! Giorgio has written /produced / played/ sung on some the biggest songs of our generation – from Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and “Love To Love You Baby” to Blondie’s “Call Me”. Here’s a fun fact – at the 1984 Golden Globe Awards, Giorgio Moroder was up against Giorgio Moroder, and won by beating himself to win the Golden Globe for the soundtrack ‘Flashdance‘ rather than for ‘Scarface‘. 😂!!

Interestingly, Moroder’s really famous, genre-defining tracks are the ones that he wrote / composed/ produced, but didn’t release under his own name. His biggest creations are the songs ones he did with Donna Summer (Giorgio discovered Donna in Berlin when she was singer in the German version of Hair. She came in to sing backup on a track that Giorgio was recording…and the rest, really, is Hot Stuff! 😁). Over five years, Moroder and his co-producer Bellotte, wrote and produced amazing songs with her, including the quintessential Disco anthem “Love To Love You Baby” – the song that pretty much created Disco! And then, two years later in 1977, they delivered “I Feel Love” – the first song – EVER – where every instrument was created on a synthesiser, setting out the template for all EDM music since then. And, he performs it live even today at the age of 81 – watch the video above!!

“Chase” from the soundtrack for ‘Midnight Express’ marked the birth of Electro, Techno and House music! Other huge hits include “Call Me” by Blondie (from ‘American Gigolo’ ) – (fun fact – that really should have been a Stevie Nicks song, but she turned down Giorgio😱. Debbie Harry stepped in instead, and, presto, had a #1 hit), “Flashdance (What A Feeling)”, composed and produced by Moroder and written and sung by Irene Cara (also a #1 hit!), “Take My Breath Away” for the Tom Cruise/Debra Winger starrer ‘Top Gun’ (another #1 hit, which became the template for the movie-power-ballad genre), “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” by Barbara Streisand & Donna Summer ( yup..also a #1 hit), “Love Kills” by Freddie Mercury…and..and…and…

At 81, Moroder is still going strong! Unlike a lot of artists from the 70s & 80s, he has stayed current, working with everyone from Coldplay and Brittany Spears to Daft Punk and Lady Gaga. He has branched out too and is now a very sought-after DJ – yes at the age of 81, he’s staying up till the wee hours of the morning, riding the grooves!😍. And in 2014, after a gap of about 30 years, he released a new album titled “74 is the New 24”! Now that’s inspiration for all of us, isn’t?!

Of course, Girogio Moroder has also been the inspiration for a number of Bollywood hits too. Here’s one – “Raat Baaki” from Namak Halal by our very own Bappi Lahiri. 😁 Anyone know any others? Answers on a postcard please!

BTW, did I mention that moustache?!!