Piero Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi (* 1955 in Trivero , Italy ) is an Italian-American music journalist . He has also published volumes of poetry and books on artificial intelligence and cognitive science .
Education and professional career
1974 Scaruffi made his computer science - diploma with honors at ITIS Giuseppe Peano in Turin . He then worked as a software consultant at SofTec in Italy until 1982 . At the University of Turin, he completed his mathematics studies summa cum laude in 1982 , during which he had dealt with general relativity . From 1982 to 1995 he worked as a software engineer , manager and consultant for Olivetti in Cupertino and Ivrea . During this time he was visiting professor for artificial intelligence at Harvard University (1984) and Stanford University (1995).
Scaruffi was President of OmniwareE in Redwood City from 1995-1998 and then until 2003 senior systems engineer at Intellicorp in Mountain View . At the same time he was a member of the Governing Board of Directors of the Leonardo Journal 2000-2003 . From 2003-2006 Scaruffi worked as an independent consultant. In June 2008, he chaired the first Big Bang Conference at the University of California, Berkeley .
journalism
Piero Scaruffi wrote books on the history of rock , of jazz , of pop music and the avant-garde , all of it since 2003 self-published were. These books are also available on his website, which was the subject of a 2006 New York Times article .
- 1974: First (unpublished) version of his major work A History of Rock Music
- 1989: The first of six parts of A History of Rock Music are published in Italy
- 2003: The first edition of A History of Rock Music is released in the USA
- 2005: Piero Scaruffi's History of Avantgarde Music (not published)
- 2007: A History of Jazz Music and A History of Popular Music before Rock Music
- 2009: A History of Rock and Dance Music (second edition of A History of Rock Music )
Controversy
Piero Scaruffi's view of the history of rock music differs considerably from that of almost all other music journalists and thus deviates significantly from the generally accepted view (for example with regard to his appreciation of rather unknown bands from the Canterbury school of British progressive rock and krautrock ), which on the one hand earned him great fame and a lot of recognition, but on the other hand also a lot of criticism.
His assessment of the position of Elvis Presley and, above all, the Beatles in rock history has been causing heated controversy and hostility towards him for years. Scaruffi describes Elvis Presley as the first big swindle of rock 'n' roll and the ultimate predator of black hits and he sees the Beatles as a really good pop group (also due to the achievements of George Martin ), but nothing more. Because of the enormous difference between their skills or achievements and their popularity, he calls them the most overrated band of all time.
Influential | Overrated | Underrated | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Interpreter | # | Interpreter | # | Interpreter |
1 | Chuck Berry | 1 | The Beatles | 1 | Tim Buckley |
2 | The Velvet Underground | 2 | Elvis Presley | 2 | Red Krayola |
3 | The Rolling Stones | 3 | Prince | 3 | Robert Wyatt |
4th | Neil Young | 4th | David Bowie | 4th | Captain Beefheart |
5 | Ramones | 5 | U2 | 5 | Pere Ubu |
6th | Bob Dylan | 90s | 6th | fist | |
7th | Captain Beefheart | 1 | Radiohead | 7th | Fetus |
8th | Can | • | Pavement | 8th | Sandy Bull |
9 | Pere Ubu | • | Guided by Voices | 9 | Nico |
10 | Bruce Springsteen | • | Beck | 10 | Jim Steinman |
11 | Pink Floyd | • | Moby | 11 | Vampire Rodents |
12 | Byrds | • | Aphex Twin |
His assessment of the Beatles:
- The Beatles were neither good songwriters nor good composers nor good musicians.
- The Beatles' music had no technical innovation and no creative depth. They only wrote 3-minute pop songs and later albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or The Beatles , on which the band experimented with other genres, consisted only of pop songs (which were also completely outdated at the time). (He sees this "faux avant-garde", ie pretending to be avant-garde but actually playing lovely pop music, in the work of Radiohead .)
- The “ Aryan ” music of the Beatles erased any trace of black rock 'n' roll music and replaced African rhythms with linear western melodies.
- They represented the complete reaction against (black) rock 'n' roll, against an imminent musical revolution and beyond that against the social and political revolution ( student protests , Bob Dylan , hippies ).
The best rock albums
For a better understanding of Scaruffi's view of rock history, the following is a table with what, in his opinion, the 42 best rock albums of all time (rating from 9) and in comparison the top 42 (excluding jazz and live albums) on the Acclaimed website Music (A), a database that compiles as many music leaderboards as possible. (Note: 3000+ means that this album is ranked between 3001 and 4781; 4781+ means that this album does not appear in the database.)
Rating | year | Interpreter | album | A. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | Captain Beefheart | Trout Mask Replica | 54 | |
1974 | Robert Wyatt | Rock bottom | 196 | |
1971 | fist | fist | 1787 | |
1967 | The Velvet Underground | The Velvet Underground and Nico | 4th | |
1966 | Bob Dylan | Blonde on blonde | 7th | |
1968 | Van Morrison | Astral Weeks | 15th | |
1967 | The Doors | The Doors | 24 | |
1991 | My Bloody Valentine | Loveless | 74 | |
1977 | Suicide | Suicide | 184 | |
1967 | The Velvet Underground | White light / white heat | 190 | |
1984 | Hüsker Dü | Zen arcade | 204 | |
1978 | Pere Ubu | Modern dance | 226 | |
1980 | Bruce Springsteen | The River | 289 | |
1991 | Slint | Spiderland | 294 | |
1984 | Minutemen | Double nickels on the dime | 297 | |
1973 | New! | New! | 533 | |
1990 | Fugazi | Repeater | 609 | |
1970 | Soft machine | 3 | 650 | |
1979 | The Pop Group | Y | 678 | |
1990 | Nick Cave | The Good Son | 778 | |
1969 | Frank Zappa | Uncle Meat | 822 | |
1981 | The Gun Club | Fire of Love | 924 | |
1970 | Third Ear Band | Third Ear Band | 1802 | |
1991 | Mercury Rev | Yerself Is Steam | 1861 | |
1972 | Klaus Schulze | Will-o'-the-wisp | 2047 | |
1967 | Red Krayola | Parable of Arable Land | 2057 | |
1971 | Nico | Desert Shore | 2322 | |
1990 | Royal Trux | Twin Infinitives | 2565 | |
1984 | Butthole surfers | Psychic powerless | 2970 | |
1973 | John Fahey | Fare Forward Voyagers | 2977 | |
1973 | Popol Vuh | Hosanna mantra | 3000+ | |
1994 | Lisa Germano | Geek the girl | 3000+ | |
1985 | Fetus | Nail | 3000+ | |
1978 | The Residents | Not Available | 3000+ | |
1992 | Red House Painters | Down Colorful Hill | 3000+ | |
1970 | Tim Buckley | Lorca | 4781+ | |
1992 | Morphine | Good | 4781+ | |
1993 | Vampire Rodents | Lullaby Land | 4781+ | |
1984 | Diamanda Galás | Diamanda Galás | 4781+ | |
1981 | Jon Hassell | Dream Theory In Malaya | 4781+ | |
1997 | Hash Jar Tempo | Well Oiled | 4781+ | |
1991 | Type O negatives | Slow, deep and hard | 4781+ |
Rating | year | Interpreter | album | A. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | Velvet Underground | The Velvet Underground and Nico | 4th | |
1966 | Bob Dylan | Blonde on blonde | 7th | |
1968 | Van Morrison | Astral Weeks | 15th | |
1967 | The Doors | The Doors | 24 | |
1972 | The Rolling Stones | Exile on Main St. | 8th | |
1965 | Bob Dylan | Highway 61 Revisited | 11 | |
1967 | Jimi Hendrix | Are You Experienced? | 12 | |
1988 | Public Enemy | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | 17th | |
1968 | Jimi Hendrix | Electric Ladyland | 22nd | |
1977 | television | Marquee Moon | 25th | |
2004 | Arcade Fire | Funeral | 34 | |
1966 | The Beach Boys | Pet sounds | 1 | |
1991 | Nirvana | Nevermind | 3 | |
1967 | The Beatles | Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 5 | |
1971 | Marvin Gaye | What's going on | 6th | |
1979 | The clash | London Calling | 9 | |
1977 | Sex pistols | Never Mind the Bollocks | 10 | |
1997 | Radiohead | OK computer | 13 | |
1975 | Bruce Springsteen | Born to Run | 18th | |
1975 | Patti Smith | Horses | 19th | |
1969 | The Beatles | Abbey Road | 20th | |
1987 | Prince | Sign "☮" the Times | 26th | |
1986 | The Smiths | The Queen Is Dead | 28 | |
1968 | The Rolling Stones | Beggars Banquet | 30th | |
1971 | Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV | 31 | |
1971 | The Who | Who's next | 33 | |
1980 | Talking heads | Remain in Light | 35 | |
1976 | Ramones | Ramones | 37 | |
1987 | U2 | The Joshua Tree | 38 | |
1980 | Joy Division | Closer | 41 | |
1973 | Stevie Wonder | Innervisions | 42 | |
1972 | David Bowie | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust | 16 | |
1973 | Pink Floyd | The Dark Side of the Moon | 21st | |
1975 | Bob Dylan | Blood on the Tracks | 23 | |
1982 | Michael Jackson | thriller | 27 | |
1991 | Massive attack | Blue lines | 32 | |
1969 | The Rolling Stones | Let it bleed | 36 | |
1968 | The Beatles | The Beatles | 14th | |
1966 | The Beatles | revolver | 2 | |
1965 | The Beatles | Rubber Soul | 29 |
bibliography
- 1987: L'Intelligenza Artificiale. (Artificial Intelligence), Muzzio (Italian)
- 1989–1997: Storia della Musica Rock. Arcana
- 1991: L'Ultimo. (The Last One), Il Salice (Italian)
- 1991: La Mente Artificiale, (The Artificial Mind), Angeli, Italy.
- 1991: Guida alla Musica d'Avanguardia. (A Guide to Avantgarde Music)
- 1994: La Fabbrica del Pensiero. (The Factory of Thought), La Stampa (Italian)
- 1996: Il Terzo Secolo. (The Third Century), Feltrinelli (Italian essays on the USA )
- 1998: Dialogo degli Amanti. (Dialogue of the Lovers), Lacaita (Italian)
- 2003: A History of Rock Music 1951-2000. Iuniverse , ISBN 0-595-29565-7
- 2003: Thinking About Thought. Iuniverse, ISBN 0-595-26420-4
- 2006: The Nature of Consciousness. Omniware, ISBN 0-9765531-1-2
- 2007: A History of Jazz Music 1900-2000. ISBN 978-0-9765531-3-7
- 2007: A History of Popular Music before Rock Music. ISBN 978-0-9765531-2-0
- 2008: A History of Rock and Dance Music. ISBN 978-0-9765531-5-1 (Volume 1: 1950–1989), ISBN 978-0-9765531-6-8 (Volume 2: 1990–2008)
- 2009: Synthesis - A Book of Nothingness Poetry. ISBN 978-0-9765531-7-5
Web links
- Piero Scaruffi's homepage
- Article of the New York Times about Scaruffi
- Piero Scaruffi Page at Stanford University
Individual evidence
- ^ Page of the Leonardo Journal with new members of the Governing Board (December 2000)
- ↑ Leonardo / ISAST: Leonardo Day at the Berkeley Big Bang 2008
- ^ Scaruffi's music reviews, Musica
- ^ Dan Morrell : The Greatest Web Site of All Time . In: The New York Times: Arts . The New York Times Company . October 15, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: Piero Scaruffi's History of Avantgarde Music
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: A History of Jazz Music
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: A History of Popular Music before Rock Music
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: A History of Rock and Dance Music
- ↑ The History of Rock Music: Canterbury 1968-73 (PDF; 56 kB)
- ↑ The History of Rock Music: Cosmic Music 1969-72 (PDF; 82 kB)
- ↑ Piero Scaruffi: Beatles
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: Elvis Presley
- ^ Piero Scaruffi: Radiohead
- ↑ Piero Scaruffi: Best Rock Albums of all Times
- ↑ Acclaimed Music: The All Time Top 3000 Albums. Retrieved June 3, 2011 .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Scaruffi, Piero |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian music journalist |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1955 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Trivero , Italy |