Stoney

We hope that THEY will be sold for the price of 2 euros. Like slaves. Together with those who brought them to success.

Sure. I remember when Joss Stone's first video came out, I went crazy at how hot she was... I even went to the concert when she came here to Rome, but what does that matter? I don't know if I'm speaking Arabic or if you just don't get it (but it’s strange, if you understand Vasco's lyrics, you should catch on to me easily), but who ever talked about the immorality of the lyrics? Do you really think my point was about the morality/immorality of the texts? Oh, I'm not living in the Middle Ages; I’m living in 2007 too, you know how much I care about someone who makes a song to say how much they like it hot? At most, I smile and think that I like it too and that they’re expressing a universal thought, but come on... there are about 6 trillion videos with "hot babes" moving well every second on every channel all over the planet; with this reasoning, you should like any video by any singer. And then I reiterate the concept: it can be fun to listen to that song, it can be nice to fantasize about the protagonist of the video, but the fact remains that I don’t give it an ounce of artistic sense; taking a bimbo and putting her to dance is something anyone can do, with asses and tits the ratings go up, it’s quite obvious and well-known. So for me, turning on the TV and hearing "great success for Vasco at San Siro," or hearing critics and fans consider him a "guru," or even someone who deserves an "honorary degree," while I imagine 500,000 kids in front of the stage shouting their passion for procreation, stirred up by a 50-year-old who blathers nonsensical phrases, annoys me. I think there’s something wrong, that’s all. I think the crowd agitator is being confused with the poet, that populism is being confused with art, stadium slogans with culture, commercial success with communication ability. I don’t criticize personal tastes; I only criticize the need to elevate something that is not absolute but rather trivial and mundane to the absolute; I criticize this inexplicable aura of myth that surrounds this man's figure because it seems to me like trying to sell something made of cardboard as if it were worth its weight in gold. Vasco may have the merit of being someone who understands the audience's inclinations, someone who knows how to sell and market himself, someone who knows how to do his job and entertain; he is someone who was lucky enough to find the right people who pushed him, whatever you want, but in my opinion, he doesn’t have any artistic or cultural merit whatsoever.

But, you see, between those who say that I expect a singer to express himself like the "Devoto Oli" and those who say I'm a prude from the 1800s, it seems to me that nobody here has understood anything. Want to talk about a 14-year-old who touches herself in front of the mirror? Go ahead, who cares, I certainly wasn't shouting scandal for moralistic reasons; want to write lyrics where you "speak as you eat"? Do it, who’s stopping you! A lot of people have done it, and continue to do it. The "average," popular language can often be a powerful means of conveying non-trivial meanings. It’s just that, in Vasco's case, I don't think this is an artistic intent: it’s just that he is like that, plain and simple, it’s the best he can do because he’s ignorant and doesn’t know how to express himself. But come on, listen to any interview with him; he can talk for minutes and minutes without saying ANYTHING, his speeches are nothing more than those of a drunk at the bar, meaning random phrases and occasionally obscure ones where everyone weaves their desired meanings. I would seriously like to know how many of Vasco's fans have noticed the horrible grammatical mistakes and never-ending sentences that populate his lyrics; I believe none, because they don’t think about it, they don’t care. They only hear the chorus, sing it, and don't even ask themselves what it means, and if you point it out to them, they reply, "Why do you care?" Art... Communication... I'm not saying anything, clearly, they are perfectly free to do so, it can be beautiful to sing a melodic chorus with complete carefreeness, but elevating all this to something "more," considering Vasco an artist, a poet, a great communicator... but when? Communication is the exact opposite, it’s saying something concrete, it’s making people think, it’s understanding and being understood. Why do you say he’s a communicator? Just for the success and the millions of kids who flock to his concerts? But when has an artist's skill ever been measured by the number of fans who follow him? That, at most, means he’s a mass phenomenon, like Big Brother, like Britney Spears, like a lot of things that aren't necessarily positive. I remember the success of the song "Rewind," a video with an incredibly hot girl, with camera angles worthy of Tinto Brass, and on top of that, at the concerts, a million kids singing and dancing, doing the finger "pussy" sign. Is this the youth culture that Vasco embodies? Well, congratulations. It’s not Victorian prudery; it's simply the realization that anyone can do it, there’s nothing artistic about it. It's just superficiality and banality, nothing more, which doesn’t get redeemed even by sporadic and only half-successful episodes like "Gli Angeli" or "Sally."

Maybe I’ll pass you Sally... The Angels: a text with no art or substance, but pompous and “showy”, thus capable of captivating the audience. The gunshots above, I’ve read the lyrics, and they’re simply ridiculous. If there were a coherent sentence, you’d think you were hearing the ramblings of a drunk (who knows...). Sentences without a subject that refer to nothing, which can be interpreted in 8,000 different ways, and CLEARLY are interpreted in the way that everyone thinks is the most poetic. Every now and then there’s a “felt” word here and there, and the rest is all prepositions and connectors. Like for example “If you’re the comfortable ones who feel good / If others live for nothing because it’s you who are clever / you’ll see that this place, this place / IS BEAUTIFUL!”. A one-year-old child might manage to express himself better. Vasco is profound only in appearance; his only skill is to dress up nonsensical ramblings as if they were high-level poetry, but as soon as one surpasses this initial impact and begins to dig, they find emptiness. And anyway, even if in his long career he managed to produce a couple of decent songs, what does that mean? Even a monkey in front of a typewriter, by randomly hitting keys, will eventually write something sensible. Also, just to give a bit of context, and to avoid appearing like a know-it-all who “knows everything”, read the lyrics of “Lettera” by Francesco Guccini, or “Farewell”, also by Guccini. These are the first two songs that come to mind for a comparison and to help understand what I mean. Surely there are many others, and besides, I’m not even a die-hard fan of Guccini, but to grasp the difference between poetry and what I believe is mere nonsense, this will do just fine.

Well, the only sensible thing was said by DaveJonGilmour. "It is indefensible to deny, as you are doing, that this has lived and continues to live off the ignorance and dull-wittedness of people. The Vasco phenomenon is nothing more than the Constantino phenomenon, the Finley phenomena, the Taricone phenomenon: CLOWNS!" I can't find a single wrong word in this statement; they are the same words I would have wanted to write. AH, THE GREAT VASCO, THE VASCO PHENOMENON! POET! GENIUS! Who, for me, would deserve prison just for the lyrics of Albachiara, a true confession of his sexual maniac tendencies (and people stubbornly insist on calling that song poetry). Just like that other abomination that is "dammi una mano senorita e mettila qua," which is so disgusting it transcends music; even the worms crawling in the shit find it repulsive. And let’s also remember "Silvia," another great example of poetry where the "prophet" takes another one of his onanistic trips about another girl who touches herself in front of the mirror, strictly locked in her room as in Albachiara… How can we forget the ecstasy of reading lyrics like "vorrei possederti sulla poltrona di casa mia con il rewind," true random words, the first ones that, while he was writing, found a way through alcohol and chemical substances to escape from his brain and articulate themselves into phonemes. How can one not be amazed by the creative genius of a man capable of rhymes like "io la coca cola me la porto a scuola," in front of which even Montale and Foscolo would feel envious. Ah, but excuse me, maybe it's just me not understanding the great genius of Vasco, who has influenced entire generations, fills stadiums and "speaks right to us young folks." Maybe I’m the stupid one for not identifying with that "everyone likes Vasco" that people repeat as if it were a given. Maybe I’m the fool for always considering him a freak show phenomenon, a troubling expression of the non-thinking media of our times and the youthful pride of feeling mediocre and conformist. Maybe I’m a fool, but I can't help it; I hate him with all my being, and that’s it.

I subscribe to what Iside said. And for the record: yes, if 500,000 people cheer "Vasco, Vasco" in unison, maybe not all of them are fools, but most of them are, because anyone who thinks Vasco is a poet, in my opinion, doesn’t have all their marbles in place, and surely knows nothing about true poetry. A 'genius' capable of lines like "Laura is expecting a child for Christmas, and she’s sure it will snow around there, you know, it’s not that the sun always shines, but it’s not like it rains every day either," or "and with a clean face you walk down the street eating an apple with your school books, you like studying, you shouldn’t be ashamed of it." Random words that make their way through the fumes of alcohol and nicotine (plus a few other curious substances). Indeed, I can understand that people of lower-middle culture might see themselves reflected in the simple mediocrity of these down-to-earth words, but I’m sorry, poetry is something else, and so is communication.

This album is simply beautiful.

The first comment is enlightening. A record like this can only be appreciated if connected to the memory of a smoking pipe; otherwise, it can only be disgusting enough to make you want to vomit.

Alright, I should stay quiet because, who knows, every now and then I come back to this page and double meanings come to mind with the album title... it's better if I just leave, right...

In the same way, they only talked about metal in the case of the "bestie di Satana"... and I've said it all.