If you've ever experienced the nightlife, even if only through an '80s movie, you've surely heard the mesmerizing beat of "Self Control." What almost no one knows is that this dance floor anthem was the catalyst for one of the fastest and most curious rivalries in music history: a true musical cloning in real time.

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The Original: Straight from Italy 🇮🇹

It all started in early 1984. An Italian singer-songwriter named Raf (Raffaele Riefoli) wrote and recorded a track with a genuine Italo Disco feel. It was a song with dark synthesizers, a striking mechanical drum beat, and lyrics that perfectly captured the somewhat dangerous, somewhat fascinating vibe of getting lost in the night of a big metropolis.

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The "Theft" in Record Time 🇺🇸

Raf's plan was to release the song in Europe and see what happened. But fate was faster. Executives at American singer Laura Branigan's record label heard Raf's demo or newly released version and realized the obvious: it was a global hit.

In a move that would be unthinkable today, they put Laura in the studio to record an American version that same year. The arrangement was practically identical, but Laura's powerful and theatrical vocals gave the song an explosive pop energy.

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Chaos on the Charts

The result? In the European summer of 1984, the two versions of Self Control were competing directly on the radio and on the dance floors. In some countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, Raf's original version and Laura Branigan's cover shared the top of the charts at the same time.

In the end, the American pop machine won in the long run: Laura's version exploded worldwide, became the definitive soundtrack of the decade (and was later immortalized on the radio in GTA: Vice City).

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Censored by MTV (The Master Touch)

To complete the mysterious aesthetic of the song, Laura's team hired none other than William Friedkin to direct the music video. Yes, the director of The Exorcist.

Friedkin created a super avant-garde and stylized mini-film, full of masks, dancers in the shadows, and a transgressive dreamlike atmosphere through the streets of New York. It was so ahead of its time and sensual that MTV America refused to air the video until the record label made cuts in the editing.