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It may be a silly, useless, difficult question to answer, but I've often asked myself: who can be considered the founding father of rock in Italy?
Well, perhaps the answer is this: the volcanic and cursed Fred Buscaglione.
While rock'n'roll and Elvis Presley reign in America, in the Christian Democratic Italy of the 1950s, the Italian bel canto of Claudio Villa and similar dominates, where what matters is only the voice or at most the interpretation. Only two brave musicians go in the opposite direction of the traditional Italian song: Renato Carosone and Fred Buscaglione. Both bring a breath of fresh air to Italy from overseas; in particular, Buscaglione, a violinist and double bassist, with the help of the lyricist Leo Chiosso, drawing inspiration from American cinema, invents a new genre of song, the Criminal-Song, and, endowed with a great stage presence, creates his character: the gangster, the tough guy with a tender heart, surrounded by beautiful women, drinking whiskey, smoking cigars, and driving luxury cars.
Apart from Chiosso's extraordinary stories, what strikes and is revolutionary in Italy is that galloping and electrifying swing, intertwined with a thrilling and entertaining rhythm; then there are sound effects never used before in a song, like firecrackers or the whistle in "Che Bambola"... Everything was performed by Fred in a perfect way with that ironic grimace of his that makes him unique and inimitable even today. His myth was also built by his unfortunate death aboard his pink Ford Thunderbird, but it is above all his criminal songs, from "Teresa don't shoot" to "What a night," from "You were so small" to "What a doll" that make us remember him to this day.
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