I Feel Love: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and How They Reinvented Music

by Dave Thompson

When it comes to earthshaking songs—the ones that signal a tectonic shift in the current musical landscape—there is “Johnny B. Goode” . . . there is “Good Vibrations” . . . and there is "I Feel Love." A disco touchstone recorded by Donna Summer in 1976 and released on her fifth studio album, I Remember Yesterday, in 1977, "I Feel Love" is one of the most important records in music history, and one of the most influential.



"I Feel Love" topped charts the world over—including in the UK, Australia, France, Italy, and the Netherlands—and was in the Top 10 everywhere else. This record, Brian Eno told David Bowie as they worked together in the recording studio, "is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years." Which, said Bowie, "was more or less right." Except fifteen years was an under-estimation. Even now, more than forty years after its release, "I Feel Love" is routinely featured toward the top of manifold "greatest song" Top 100s—and remains a favorite by music fans and artists alike, with dozens of cover versions paying homage.



That is the tale this book tells—not only the story of the song but also the story of its all-pervading impact upon the world of popular music. Firsthand experiences and original interviews with a host of musicians, disc jockeys, and dancers loudly illustrate the record's initial impact and its continuing influence. "I Feel Love" still sounds like the future.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2021

About the author

English author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.

However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”

Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.

Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.

Reviews

[Till Raether · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by no means perfect, but it's the rare example of a pop music history without sentimentality, impressionistic descriptions of music, and constant hero-worship. Instead, Thompson writes a very detailed, sometimes chaotic, always interesting history of electronic pop music, with many good quotes and useful playlists.

[Sudhagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the definite story of the iconic and highly influential song "I Feel Love" by Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer.

As a fan of electronic music, I devoured the book and even learnt some new facts that I didn't know before about the history of electronic music.

I must also commend the writer for his excellent writing skills and the depth of his research.

However, the story tends to meander and sometimes get lost in places that it shouldn't go. The author has the tendency to indulge in over intellectualizing and making comparisons when there is not much logic in doing so.

The song, though an iconic one, shouldn't be seen as anything more than a commercial hit and Moroder and Donna Summer are almost one hit wonders themselves too. The song doesn't break new ground in technology or even musically - unlike for example Kraftwerk.

That both Summer and Moroder never hit the same heights again and faded into history books should say much about the song.

However, I loved reading the book for its rich history of electronic music history as well as the coverage of the music scene of late 70s and early 80s.

[John Vettese · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine, I guess, but I feel like I went into it expecting to read a book about Donna Summer but in reality I was catfished into reading the same broad history of electronic music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I’ve read like three other versions of.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend I used to work with once quipped, "Brian's really old, he remembers when disco was in its heyday." That was in the early '90s...