There was a time when a wave of disorderly freedom made the conformist palaces of the Italian bourgeoisie tremble.To animate it were characters far from apocalyptic, indeed quite integrated.
Daniele Pace, Totò Savio, Giancarlo Bigazzi (main lyricist of the group), Alfredo Cerruti (voice of the Narrator) and Elio Gariboldi felt the pleasure of a goliardia in the “Amici miei” which was translated into 14 albums from 1973 to 1994.
The word demented is decidedly reductive to describe the spontaneity of the Squallor.
In their compositions you can breathe the historical period of the musical influences of the Italian 1970s. An unscrupulous use of words and first-rate musical competence are their trademark.
Unpredictable appreciation and sales records reached them without even advertising support.
Squallor inspired Skiantos, Elio and Le Storie Tese, and many others.
An almost unique case in the Italian panorama. A kind of hybrid between punk and neomelodic.
Titles such as Palle, Vacca and Tromba. Long disorderly monologues and background music.
The truth is that there is “something revolutionary in not caring about censorship”.
In these politically correct times, we couldn’t even imagine a dinner night with the Squallor anymore.
Those dinners that had no brakes. In front of a glass of wine there was the vocation to demolish every cliché. Revealing the emptiness behind the pre-packaged songs that were in vogue and which paid salaries to members who worked in the record industry in various titles.
Era of free radios, of desire to affirm a discontinuity with the oldness of RAI. A Rai plastered and stickywhich hunted comedians for a satire joke. Years of lead to react to by deviating from reality in order to survive.
They seemed to be the result of the union of “Frank Zappa and Orietta Berti” as said in the documentary dedicated to them and available on YouTube.
Alcoholic improvised utterances without brakesthat have made the history of Italian music, and which would be unthinkable in other historical contexts, that’s why they were the spirit of the time.
