Italian beat music

Italian Beat (Italian: beat italiano) is the Italian form of beat music (Italian: musica beat), between circa 1965 to 1972, inspired mainly by British popular music of the 1960s.

Italy is iconic worldwide for his mainstream "neapolitan" melodic singing style, and historically, very xenophile but quite slowly receptive to musical influences from abroad.

State (then monopolistic) radio and TV, and domestic show-business executives were lukewarm, or frankly hostile to the early rock'n'roll wave of the 1950s.

Rock and roll was seen as a gimmick, or just noise for "teddy-boys" (actual term for young rogues) taste; only some mild-mannered "modern-style" singers (like Tony Renis of "When, when, when" fame) were allowed to be aired, publish records with main labels, and participate in the institutional "Festival di Sanremo" contest.

The early pioneers of rock'n'roll (so-called urlatori) had some media coverage as novelties, but soon, those who wanted to pursue a career in music business had to switch toward the traditional mainstream.

From 1961 to 1965, teenagers-oriented music was a mix of pretty-face pop, twist and French yé-yé influences.

Situation changed slightly around 1965. Notably:

Some visiting top acts, like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones

The creation of "Whiskey-a-Go-go" or "Marquee" styled rock clubs (such as Rome's Piper Club, Milan's Paip's, and Piper 2000 on the Tuscan Riviera), was soon imitated in smaller towns.

The infamous "disc-eater", a cheap 45 RPM player, that strongly boosted singles sales, and the massive diffusion of juke-boxes.

The emergence of contests and festivals, friendly to new trends, like the Cantagiro, or Davoli Contest (sponsored by instrument manufacturers and distributors).

The easy reception of powerful medium-wave foreign stations like Radio Luxembourg, Radio Montecarlo or Radio Koper allowed Italian youngsters to bypass the mediatic block, and stay updated to the latest anglosaxon trends (some radio enthusiasts even managed to catch the elusive Channel's "pirate stations" like Radio Caroline, and German TV shows such as Beat Club)

Under music executives' pressure, the state broadcaster RAI reluctantly agreed to pay some attention to the "beat" hype, and the upcoming Soul/R&B vogue.

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Wikipedia