by Mariano Prunes
Elio e le Storie Tese are the undisputed musical kings of what the Italians call the demenziale style, a subversive combination of the absurd, the grotesque, and parody. Frank Zappa is the mandatory reference, not merely because of the band's irreverent and often explicit lyrics, but because of their astonishing musical facility that enables them to mimic, quote, cut, and paste any musical genre at will. Different from Zappa, of course, is the band's extremely Italian idiosyncrasy, found in their fondness for light Italian pop music of the San Remo festival variety -- at which they even participated a few times, to surprisingly massive acclaim -- as well as in their strong links with the media (especially all those working in comedy). This can easily be seen in the customarily long list of guests culled from the Italian TV, radio, film, and music world, including Claudio Bisio, » Read more