Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper (1978)


I've often written about how 70s sci-fi and disco music are intertwined in my mind thanks to artists like Meco, Giorgio Moroder and Geoff Love and their dance arrangements of film and TV scores by John Williams, Stu Phillips, Jerry Goldsmith and others. Most successful of these, of course, was Meco's Star Wars & Other Galactic Funk LP which became a huge club and radio hit.

There was more to the sci-fi/disco connection than just re-arranged movie themes, though. In England in 1978, the disco dance troupe Hot Gossip recorded and released their only bona fide hit, I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper, with lead vocals by future West End/Broadway star Sarah Brightman.

An anonymous Star Kid sent me the link to this YouTube video today, and rather than bury it in the comments section of an unrelated post, I thought I'd embed the video here as its own blog entry - mostly because I really like this song and wanted to be able to find it quickly myself. Enjoy!

14 comments:

  1. You evil, evil man.

    I won't be able to get this out of my head for DAYS.

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  2. Funny this should come up - Sarah Brightman is going into space for real as a space tourist on the ISS...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19901386

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    1. Yes, big coincidence that. They played that very clip on the BBC news today in fact.
      There were quite a few disco hits that tapped into the post-Star Wars boom. 'Spacer' by Sheila & B. Devotion was my personal fave. I think fellow Star Kids will enjoy this clip:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrKjawtXY3s

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  3. What has been seen cannot be unseen...

    It is things like this that make me laugh when I talk to friends who think everything British is high brow due to watching Masterpiece Theater.

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  4. I loved this song so very, very much as a wee one.

    All the space-pulp references (Star Wars, Buck Rogers, etc) just made me giddy.

    (And I may or may not still have it easily available on my music player....)

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  5. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiPQbzF37X-6-CPnDqnpuxwkY7Kn6FEaE&feature=mh_lolz

    added to my space disco list

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  6. Vid seems to be blocked in Eire, but i do remember this was on swapshop and top of the pops, what a great memory i have, i was only about 5 in 78

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  7. I.. ECHO.. GARETH-MICHAEL..

    "You EVIL man. Yes, this'll be in my head for weeks."

    Never, ever heard this before.

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  8. Well, some of those routines done by Benny Hill that make fun of numbers like this now have some context...

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  9. Betcha Casper Van Dien uses this as his ringtone...

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  10. This is the greatest thing in the history of ever. I only wish it was performed by the cast of Blake's 7

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  11. For connections between 70's disco and sci-fi look at the costumes LaBelle and Amii Stewart were wearing. Which immediately brings the question to mind whether sci-fi informed disco, or vice versa.

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  12. Now they should have had this playing as the credits rolled for Starship Troopers 3
    Loved the Blakes 7 idea and caspers ringtone

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  13. Around 2000, there was a great remix of this (or a cover that was remixed) by The Trouser Enthusiasts

    United Citizens Federation Featuring Sarah Brightman - Starship Trooper

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