Preface by Walter Veltroni
I always thought Adriano Celentano’s personal trait was his innate, instinctive ability to grasp before anyone else the smallest hint of a change that is about to take place in society. He would feel it, make it his own, expand it and present it to the public. That’s why his art always feels like a provocation and a surprise. His vitality manages to maintain that peculiarity that belongs to popular culture. Back in 1961, while Italy was stiff and prissy, Adriano got on stage in Sanremo and started singing “24000 baci” (tn: 24000 kisses) with his back to the audience.
During the economical boom while the now prosperous Italians were only concerned with consumerism, he cracked the crystal of optimism with the environmentalist warning of his song “Il ragazzo della Via Gluck”.
And just when rock had become so wide stream that it had infiltrated the pop music scene in Italy, he, who started off as rock’s highest apostle, returned to Sanremo with a chorus of Alpine Mountain Soldiers singing “Sotto le lenzuola” (tn: Under the sheets).
He has the gift of provocation and of the unexpected. But he’s also honest and courageous, and his instinctive sensibility pushed him to make reckless choices. The Corriere della Sera’s Box Set edition of his songs is a great idea, because it shows how much Adriano was and still is a prototype, an explorer, an irreverent wanderer who traveled through styles, sounds and costumes so that with each song he can offer us emotions and life.