* (restored)
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DONATELLA RETTORE
Donatella Rettore started her career in 1973 and her early recordings was oriented to the popular and melodic Italian music. She became successful just in 1979, and for about 5 years she was the most popular and female best selling in Italy second only to Mina. Her most popular hits are: Splendido Splendente (Splendid Shining), Kobra, Donatella, Lamette (Razor Blades), This Time, Io Ho Te (I’ve Got You), Amore Stella (Love Star) e Di Notte Specialmente (Especially By Night). In 198 Her most albums was a gorgeous mixture of pop, rock, disco music and ska. After 1983 she started her slow decline, and she had to wait 1994 to enter once again in the top 10 Italian charts. Recently she released Stralunata, a double cd set + dvd about her career, her music and her TV performances, which entered directly to n. 2 and stayed in top 10 Italian dvd charts for 2 months.
LAMETTE (1982)
In this song Donatella asks the listener to ‘give her a razorblade so that she can slit her wrists. She carefully describes, in a rather sexual way, the effects of the razorblade on her skin and flesh.
KOBRA (1980)
Below, I have translated the lyrics. (Really, they don’t make much sense)
The cobra is not a snake
but an obsessive thought
that becomes indecent
when I see you
The cobra is not a serpent
but vapor that crawls
with the marks it leaves
wherever you pass by
the cobra with salt
if you eat it, it will make you feel sick
because that’s not the way you’re supposed to use it
the cobra is a shield
made of stones and brass
it is a noble slave who lives in prison
the cobra bends
it turns and it nails me
it shuts my mouth
it holds me and touches me
the cobra is not a vampire
but a blade, a sigh
that becomes sincere
whenever I see you
the cobra is not a piton
but a tasty mouthful
that becomes a song
wherever you pass by
(repeat)
RENATO ZERO
From an early age, he would wear make-up and cross-dress. He replied to the criticisms he received (including the recurring insult Sei uno zero! – “You’re a “zero”(number)!”) by taking on the pseudonym Renato Zero.
He recorded his first two singles in 1965: “Tu, sì”, “Il deserto”, “La solitudine”, which were never issued. His first published single, “Non basta sai/In mezzo ai guai” (1967), sold a total of 20 copies.
He had several different jobs, including an appearance in an advertisement for ice-cream, work as a dancer in a TV show, and playing in two musicals and (minor roles) in two Fellini movies.
In the late 1960s Zero’s career was helped along by the glam-rock movement, from which he benefited with his sexual ambiguity and androgynous appearance. At the same time, this led him to being accused of emulating other celebrities like David Bowie. In 1973 he issued his first LP, No! Mamma, no! (live), but still with little success. The follow-up Invenzioni met the same fate.
In the 1980s he began to abandon make-up and greasepaint, but this did not rid Zero of his mania for grandeur: in the 1980 tour, for example, he entered the scene riding a white horse. In 1982 he began a collaboration with the opera director Renato Serio, who was to write the string arrangements for almost all of Zero’s following LPs. In late 1983 he took part in RAI’s Fantastico 3, then the most popular Italian TV show.
Renato Zero is still the only Italian artist to have reached the number one charts position of singles in 4 different decades (70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s). He had no fewer than 26 albums in the Top 10.
His grand force is regarded to be having shown the normality of the diverse, convincing the public that diversity feeds our human abilities to feel and act with love, respect, solidarity and faith. He has never admitted nor denied being gay.
IL TRIANGOLO
This song talks about Renato being confused because his date (a girl) turns up at his place with a boy. They end up either doing a threesome or at least thinking about it (hence the ‘triangle’).
IL BARATTO (1979)
In this song the singer proposes his lover to barter various parts of his own body for the partner’s love.
JO SQUILLO
Jo Squillo started her career as a teenager, and soon became one of the most popular Italian punk singers during the late 70’s early 80’s. Her first band, the Kandeggina Gang, an all – girls group founded in 1980, was focused on feminist issues and often created scandal, for instance, when, while performing in Piazza Duomo, Milan, they decided to throw dirty tampons on to a horrified audience.
In the next few years her fame increases also thanks to the transgressive and often sexually explicit contents of her songs. She becomes rather well known outside of Italy too, especially in Germany.
These years also mark her gradual passage to a more commercial and pop sound, which will be established in the following years.
In 1991, Jo Squillo wrote and performed, together with Sabrina Salerno, her most famous pop song, ‘Siamo Donne’, which made it to the finals of the Sanremo Festival (the most important music festival in Italy).
VIOLENTAMI
In this song, Jo Squillo begs a stranger to rape her on the metro.
SIAMO DONNE (with Sabrina Salerno, 1991)
Still very popular in Italy, this song tries to convince the audience that women are not just about ‘their legs’.
SABRINA SALERNO
After winning a beauty contest in her native region, Liguria, she started modeling, and in 1985 her debut single was released: Sexy girl the single became a Top20 hit in her native Italy.
In 1988 Sabrina received “The Best European Singer” award, and enjoyed another European-wide summer hit with the single “All Of Me (Boy Oh Boy)” Later in that year, her second album, Super Sabrina, was released, and she established herself as a true European sex symbol thanks to the raunchy videos that accompanied hits such as My Chico and Like A Yo Yo (produced by Giorgio Moroder).
Thanks to the success of the albums and her sexy image, she was soon to perform in several European TV shows and concert such as the Montreux Pop Festival in 1988. Another famous performance was in 1989 at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, where fifty thousand people gathered over three days to enjoy Sabrina’s shows & music.
1991 marked a turning point in Sabrina’s career: she performed a duet with Italian singer Jo Squillo in singing Siamo donne, her first release in the Italian language. They performed together at 1991’s Sanremo Music Festival to much acclaim. Sabrina’s third studio album, Over the Pop, was released the same year, and for the first time she was allowed to co-write and produce some of the songs. It was clear that Sabrina’s will to mature as an artist were emerging, and this desire for independence and a distancing from her sexy image led to conflict with her management. As a result the album promotion was interrupted and the new single, Cover model, was released only in France. Sabrina parted with her label and management, a decision that took to a four-years hiatus in her career and just in 1995 she was able to come back to show biz, co-hosting some Italian TV shows and releasing with an indie label two new singles, Rockawillie and Angel boy, which were minor successes in Italy and Scandinavian countries.
BOYS (SUMMERTIME LOVE) (1987)
There’s not much to explain here.
All the other videos are kind of the same.
Ok, from here on I stopped trying to describe what each song is about because they’re just too crazy.
IVAN CATTANEO
Ivan Cattaneo became well known with his single Polisex, which soon became a hymn of the ‘alternative 80’s’ in Italy, especially in Milan.
In 1981 Cattaneo started working on a project which he defined as ‘modern archeology’ and which consisted in re-arranging famous Italian and international songs from the 60’s.
POLISEX (1980)
UNA ZEBRA A POIS
ALBERTO CAMERINI
Alberto Camerini was born in Brasil from Italian parents, and came to live in Italy at the age of eleven. He became well known in the 80’s for his stage persona, which he self style on the Commedia Dell’ Arte character ‘Arlecchino’.
During the 70’s, he collaborated as a guitarist with several musicians such as the band Mattia Bazar, and Patty Pravo.
In 1976 he signed a contract with Cramps records for his first solo album ‘Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano’.
In 1978 he moved away from Cramps records after having released ‘Comici Cosmetici’, which is heavily influenced by British glam rock and by his experience as a mime.
His success arrived in the 80’s, when he signs with CBS, and released ‘Alberto Camerini’.
The apex of his career was marked by ‘Rock’n’ roll robot’, with which Camerini establishes his ‘Arlecchino’ and glam rock style. His songs are full of references to the Italian and Brasialian carnivals, to food, and to the use of mannequins and theatrical devices in general.
ROCK’N’ ROLL ROBOT (1981)
TANZ BAMBOLINA (1982)
Just dance! Or maybe not…
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p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Ah, ha! Oh, man, very happy you’re finally going to get out of there even if temporarily. Hopefully you’ll pass whatever the test is with flying colors. (What a curious saying — ‘with flying colors’.) May time fast-forward! ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yay! Oh, Mark Ward. There used to be regular commenter here years ago named Mark Ward. I wonder if it’s the same person. Anyway, I’m so on it! Everyone, Dominick’s majestic and imperative zine/project SCAB begins a new modus operandi today by leaking itself out in bites, starting with the new and now available first missive by one Mark Ward. Go celebrate and enjoy the verbiage here. So cool! I get that Valentines Day is a huge money making thing for card companies and patisseries and florists and shit, and then there’s the ‘love is God’ malarky, but to assume scariness and horror won’t offer an even bigger payday is psycho. Maybe it’s religious people, the original inventors of ‘cancel culture’. Anyway, blah blah, yeah, weird. Ha ha, your latest love is a doozy. Love making My Chemical Romance take time out from their rescheduled reunion tour to set up in the street below your window to serenade you after letting you choose their set list, G. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Yes, Kate Durbin’s book is based on that TV series. Didn’t watch the Oscars. Might FF through it if it winds up on my illegal site. Sounds to have been utterly predictable. ** Bill, You’re a hoarder? Should I alert whoever makes that TV series? No luck on ‘The Tangle’ yet, but I’m looking. Yes, surprisingly there is enough good stuff out there to make a stained glass post, and I’m starting on it this very morning. ** Misanthrope, I thought I remembered you saying your novel was sort of somehow ‘CMbYN’-like? ‘Who knows?’ is the eternal byword. A promised lasciviousness could be a grabber too, but maybe not at the big houses, I don’t know. I got extremely lucky because my agent just fell in my lap, but agent snagging does sound like the most hellish part of being a writer. With finding a publisher as a close second. Persevere? No other option? ** Steve Erickson, No, I haven’t read ‘Females’, and, after your report, I never intend to. Generalising bullshit like that is something have zero interest in. ** Jack Skelley, Jack the Ripper, I mean Skelley! Apologies for increasing your book pile’s height. Recognise the evil there. Yes, there’s a lovely obit of Reza. What a genius that guy was. I’m also a huge fan. He wanted to do a collaboration with Ishmael Houston-Jones and me, but he was already too ill, so it never happened tragically. There was an amazing Reza retrospective at PS 1 in NYC. Amazing partly because they managed to make such a great, immersive show out of what were basically bits and pieces. Bon day, J-ster. ** Mark Gluth, I think the GbV is already streamable? I downloaded it last week. I didn’t know Spencer Krug has a new thing out. I’ll of course check it out. Under his own name, I’m guessing? Yes, it looks like you vaccinated guys over there will be able to vacation here starting very soon, and vice versa. It’ll be so weird to have tourists all over Paris again. Weird that normalcy seems so weird. Love to you. ** Brian, Hi, Brian! Yeah, the world keeps issuing fantastic books. All is not lost. My weekend was …. hm, not much, I guess, since I don’t seem to remember it. Oh, wait, I did my Bookclub Zoom thing with my US writer friends, and that was lovely, And I met with a curator who wants to put my gif novels in an exhibition, and that was cool, obviously. And the rest … fuck knows. I guess it was fine. Yours sounds pretty damned okay to me. Obviously, both of those movies you watched are stellar. Nice. I only watched a mediocre doc about Chris Holmes, the former guitarist of the 80s band WASP, which is only interesting if you’re curious — as I briefly was — about what happened to those 80s hair metal dudes. Congrats on the NYU acceptance! And sadness that finances render it a conceptual victory. But, yes, a conceptual victory it is! Great! I’ll take a pot of gold, thank you. I’ll even take a unicorn since I could probably make big bucks selling it on eBay. I hope your week ahead brings you sugar and space and everything nice AND snips and snails and puppy dog tails! ** Right. Today I bring back this distracting charmer of an old, long dead guest-post by Oscar B aka the artist/filmmaker OB De Alessi. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Hi!!
Thank you so much for the SCAB shoutout! Now I wonder if the Mark Ward you used to know here is the same Mark Ward I know now. He’s the editor of a literary magazine, too, called Impossible Archetype.
Of course, Valentine’s Day is about nothing else but money. But, once again, I have to agree because Halloween is (or can be) all about money as well. All those sweets and costumes and props… I haven’t thought of the religious no-no angle before, but you might be right. Even though it’s pretty hypocritical, considering how much money organized religion itself generates. But let’s not even go there, I guess.
A-H! This love! I instantly started coming up with a list of all the songs I’d want them to play, haha. Thank you! Love setting up a row of golden bookshelves in every quality bookstore, waiting to be filled with copies of “I Wished” when it gets published, Od.
Dennis, Bene! Just saw that really adorable pic of her and their son the other day. Little guy is growing up fast. But don’t they all?
Ha! Well, yes, you’re right. Seeing CMBYN sparked this idea, as there is a theme in the movie that I’d actually been thinking about myself for months before reading the book and seeing the movie. Also, believe it or not, I’d never written about older/younger things before. So yeah, it was the spark, but my novel is totally different, of course. However, I do find that funny as hell, and yeah, it’s pretty much my fault for planting that seed in everyone’s head. 😀
I’m thinking, too, that agents’ first motive is to sell something. “Will this sell, and, if so, how much?” Etc. Could just be that. I understand they’ve got tons of stuff on their plates already too and must be selective. However,…hahaha. Make some room for Georgie! 😉
Hmm, I think to that the lasciviousness part…or potential…is appealing, probably, to a lot of people. But we live in a weird age now where it seems most stuff dealing with this kind of subject matter is dismissed out of hand as pedophilia/grooming/etc. Which, of course, it’s not in this novel. Quite the opposite, imo.
But whatevs, I’ll keep at it. So many other options too. We’ll see.
My mom has been put on an older blood thinner that’s $4 a month. It requires more monitoring than the newer generation of blood thinners but should be just as effective. Six months of this shit, though. Ugh.
Her CT scans have all been negative. She needs to get a colonoscopy now. Hasn’t had one in decades. The doc wants to get to the bottom of this abdominal pain she’s having.
Otherwise, things are peachy.
Italian “Power Pop” is not without interest.
Haha, good to see Oscar’s post again.
Months ago, I went through one of those “are you a hoarder?” questionnaires. The answer is no, though I have to say the questionnaire was… questionable. I do worry when I add an extra CD or book to the piles. I do take stuff to the thrift store, but the piles never seem to get smaller.
Look forward to some stained glass action here soon…
Bill
Hello, Dennis!
How are you? I hope you’re good. Are you still deleting those duplicated images (when I imagine this I see you clutching tweezers and very delicately sliding pics out of the internet, but I’m sure the real thing is a lot more mundane and click-based)? I saw that you’re getting your Covid jab soon! That’s great. I got my first shot last week and it’s put such a spring in my step.
I wanted to say a big thanks for Saturday’s post – that archive is pretty heavenly for me and I’m looking forward to seeing what else ends up there. Thanks!
I’m totally charmed by today’s post. Pop songs requesting rape on the metro!?Hannah and Ari are out so I’ll maybe dance around the kitchen to some of these later tonight. Oscar B, if you’re reading, thanks so much – some of these songs are amazing. I already had a secret soft spot for Boys Boys Boys tbh.
Much love to you, Dennis.
Jamie
Bene – So nice to see this post again! So many fun songs on here.
Dennis – Enjoyed yesterday’s book post. All those titles were new to me and looked great. Glad to know about them.
Thanks for the rundown on recentish GBV. Interesting that there’s no consensus on the reunion albums. You have any theories as to why?
I have ‘Let’s Eat the Factory’ and will spend more time with it. A friend had shoo’d me away from it for some reason. Somewhat randomly I have ‘Space Gun’ and ‘Mirrored Aztec’ which I’ve enjoyed tho I wasn’t knocked sideways by them. Will score the new one and the others you mentioned. The single off the new one is partly what got me back on the GBV train. Excited to dive deeper — and looking forward to your post.
Recently saw an excellent Egyptian film from 1969 called ‘The Night of Counting the Years.’ If you don’t know it, worth seeking out. Trance-like mood with remarkable visuals. You seen anything good lately?
When I interviewed you and Zac for Gay City News, we met at the Atlas Cafe. The cafe’s owner, who’s Tunisian, loves a strain of cheesy European, especially Italian and French, pop and used to play it constantly on a monitor till he realized that the American customers didn’t care for it. Lara Fabian is his favorite Italian pop star. (His tastes are very poptimist – he also loves Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, etc.)
Unfortunately, the cafe went out of business due to COVID. The owner lives in the East Village, and I’ve seen him walking around. But when I tried striking up a conversation about his current plans, he either didn’t hear me or pretended not to.
Over the weekend, I wrote “Raiders of the Wrong Park”: https://callinamagician.bandcamp.com/track/raiders-of-the-wrong-park. I know this isn’t the hippest reference point, but it was inspired by John Williams’ RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK score, leading to the title.
Hey Dennis,
Been away for a few days. Someone else said how surprisingly sane you are. I’ve been re-watching ‘The League of Gentlemen’ -did you ever see it? I love the seediness and the ruthlessness and cruelty of the humour.