Mel Ottenberg Celebrates Giorgio Moroder With a Disco-Heavy Playlist

This is SOUND ADVICE, a weekly destination for playlists curated by Interview’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered playlists by Daniel Fisher, a.k.a. Physical Therapy, Ethel Cain, Paris Texas, and Reggaeton hunk Alfonso La Cruz. But this week’s installment is brought to you by our very own editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg who, in his own words, is “truly, eternally obsessed” with Giorgio Moroder, the legendary Italian composer who more or less invented disco as we know it. So Mel made a playlist of the Moroder-produced tracks he’s been playing while driving around Hawaii on vacation—there’s some Flashdance, some Scarface, and a whole lot of Donna Summer—and answered a special, disco-themed version of our Sound Advice questionnaire, below.

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Who’s the queen of disco? The queen is Donna Summer and the king is Giorgio Moroder. I love the period of his work from 1979 to 1986 covered by this mix, starting with his last massive Donna #1 hits and incredible Sparks collab and then climaxing with his Oscar-winning song for Top Gun.

Who’s the artists you wish Moroder had worked with? The Rolling Stones, Dead or Alive, Asha Puthli, Carly Simon, Boney M.

What do you wear to go dancing? Unscented deodorant for men by Mitchum.

Favorite Moroder pick-me-up track? “You Can” by Madleen Kane from 1981, which is NOT streaming on Spotify in the U.S.

Go-to dance move? I don’t know but I wanna learn The Hustle.

Who’s the best dancer you know? Vinson Fraley.

Where’s the afters? I’m in a post-afters era…

What song is playing in heaven? “Theme From The Deep” by Donna Summer (produced by Giorgio Moroder, 1977. Also not streaming on Spotify, which is insane).

Your best celebrity club sighting? Lil Jon.

You hear Moroder’s theme for Scarface. What do you do? I get excited. Moroder was really peaking in 1983…