Electro music came about during one of my favorite eras in music-when it was blissfully genre-less.

No one could have envisioned in the very early 80s that music would be so sub-divided today. Some of you don't remember sitting next to the radio and holding your breath praying they'd play something,anything you could dance to. Now I have no less than five choices of dance channels alone on my Sirius satellite radio-Progressive, Breakbeat, Chill, Top 40 Dance remixes, and Disco, thank you very much. I think what this musical gene pool did do was force more creativity out of artists, because you couldn't avoid being exposed to several styles of music. For example, I doubt Bronx-native Africa Bambaata would have made the seminal hip-hop classic "Planet Rock"(video above) using a sample of the song "Trans Europe Express" by a German synth band called Kraftwerk.

But I digress. While disco was winding down, house, hip-hop, punk, and new wave were being born. (Think mullet and jheri curl haircuts, bandanna headbands, mini-skirts, and balloon pants.) These were songs you could hear at a new wave, house, hip-hop, or latin club, or in a crowd including all the above, and nobody would complain. As with all classics, they've been sampled many times over, and remain very musically cosmopolitan. Take one of the tracks on my list "Din Daa Daa" by George Kranz. It was sampled last year by hip-hop artist Pitbull for his song "Shake" here. It also apparently remains a vogueing classic; witness this vogue routine from 2006to the same song here. Remember, this song is over 20 years old!

Okay enough gushing, here's my electro playlist for a friday:

All Night Passion - Alisha
Boogie Down Bronx - Man Parrish
Can You Feel the Beat - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
Din Daa Daa - George Kranz
Planet Rock - Afrika Bambaata and Soul Sonic Force
Electric Dance - Jungle Crew
Hip Hop Be Bop - Man Parrish
I Wonder If I Take You Home - Lisa Lisa
Looking for the Perfect Beat
Lookout Weekend - Debby Deb
Numbers - Kraftwerk
Point of No Return - Expose'
Summertime,Summertime - Nocera
Take a Chance - Nuance
Trans Europe Express-Kraftwerk
When I Hear Music - Debby Deb

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