Italia 90 is not just the historic edition of the World Cup in our country, which culminated with the unfortunate semi-final lost on penalties to Argentina. Italia 90 also means a magical – and in some ways unrepeatable – season of national indie-rock. A period of extraordinary creativity on the scene underground tricolor, blessed by far-sighted record companies and the success of the public, which brought those sounds to the top of the charts for the first time.
In the beginning it was the CCCP saga, which laid the foundations in the 80s. A decade later, converted into the new acronym CSI, Ferretti and his companions are still the leaders of a revolution that grafts international punk-rock suggestions into the Italian song form, mixing them with melodies borrowed from our national tradition. A similar operation is carried out by groups with a clear Anglo-Saxon punk-rock imprint such as Marlene Kuntz, Afterhours, Timoria, Elettrojoyce, Prozac +, plus the debutants Verdena from the debut of the same name, destined to evolve in an even more interesting way in the new millennium. But under the aegis of the Consortium, enterprising bands such as Mara Redeghieri's Ustmamò were also born, who soon transformed that plot into a surprising sound hybrid “from the Apennines to Bristol”, incorporating electronics and trip-hop. And looking at the British mecca of Bristol, the Neapolitans Almamegretta are also taking off, with theirs sound dense and hyper-contaminated that marries narcotic dub and Neapolitan melodies.
But the Italian indie galaxy of the 90s is extremely varied. There are those who shape post-rock into a new peculiar recipe by mixing literary lyricism, spoken word and incisive instrumental carpets (Massimo Volume), those who put together a “Piccola Orchestra” starting from Arto Lindsay and arriving at a very refined songwriting (Avion Travel), those who recover the electronic sounds of Kraftwerk and company by a decade in advance, updating them in an irreverent key (Bluvertigo) and those who on that wave invent a new alternative-pop in the shadow of the Mole (Subsonica), those who update the greats chansonnier from a new wave perspective (La Crus) and those who anticipate the hip-hop revolution (Frankie Hi-Nrg) ridiculing the right-thinking. And legends of the previous decade do not fade away, such as Litfiba, converted to a new (and for a certain time very effective) verb “tamarrock”.
Finally, there is also room for a new generation of free and original artists, represented here by Cristina Donà, who will also attract Robert Wyatt to her court, and by a Carmen Consoli who is still “confused and happy” but destined to become a true national star by mixing rock with Mediterranean melodies.
A rich and fertile universe that gave life to a unique season for our musical reality, ideally sealed by the No. 1 in the charts of “Tabula Rasa Elettrificata” by CSI. Before the word “indie” became slippery and controversial in Italy, paving the way for artists who had very little to do with its origins.
Below is our “Italia 90” playlist with 20 songs.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
