| "Self Control" | ||||
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| Single by Raf | ||||
| from the album Raf | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | 1984 | |||
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| Label | Carrere | |||
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| Producer(s) | Giancarlo Bigazzi | |||
| Raf singles chronology | ||||
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| "Self Control" on YouTube | ||||
"Self Control" is a song by Italian singer Raf, released in 1984. It was written by Giancarlo Bigazzi, Steve Piccolo and Raf, and arranged by Celso Valli. The track topped the charts in Italy and Switzerland, and started the explosion and dominance of Italo disco-style recordings in continental European charts during the 1980s.
That same year, "Self Control" was covered by American singer Laura Branigan, whose version reached No. 1 in countries such as Austria, Canada, Germany and Switzerland, as well as No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Both versions of the song were commercially successful across Europe during much of the summer of 1984 (at one point even swapping with one another at #1 in the Swiss charts), with Branigan's rendition becoming the most successful single of the year in Germany and Switzerland.
"Self Control" has become one of the defining songs of the 1980s, with a number of remakes recorded each year. Notable covers include Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin in 1993, a dance remake by Branigan in 2004, Royal Gigolos in 2005 and Danish dance group Infernal in 2006.
In 2024 German duo Fast Boy collabration with italian singer Raf presents sampled (remaking) track Self Control (Renamed "Wave").
- ^ Fabbri, Franco; Plastino, Goffredo (2013). "Italo Disco". Made in Italy: Studies in Popular Music. Routledge. pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-0-4158-9976-5.
- ^ Levine, Nick (3 August 2010). "Sunday Girl: 'Self Control'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
- ^ "Laura Branigan". The Independent. 30 August 2004. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
The following year, her disco-slanted version of "Self Control", the Euro-disco smash by RAF, crossed from the Hi-NRG charts to the pop listings and became Branigan's biggest UK hit.