Italy is a European country, and has had a long relationship with rock and roll, a style of music which spread to the country by the early 1960s from the United States. The earliest Italian rock bands appeared during this period, playing mostly strict covers. The first distinctively Italian singer-songwriter was Piero Ciampi , whose style was reminiscent of the French chansonnier s.

The United States and United Kingdom during the 60s were in the midst of the psychedelic rock boom, and the field produced Italian psychedelic bands like Mario Schifano . After the 1968 student riots, many young, educated Italians began to identify with the counterculture which was flourishing in the US and UK; in contrast to those countries, however, Italy had little in the way of a rock tradition, though students remained very familiar with classical composers like Bach. The result was an influx of classically-influenced rock bands which fit right into the international move towards progressive rock. Italian progressive bands include Premiata Forneria Marconi , Celeste, Goblin , Reale Accademia di Musica , St Just, Jacula , Banco del Mutuo Soccorso , Latte e Miele and The New Trolls . Some bands, like Osanna , Area , Perigeo and Arti & Mestieri , fused progressive rock with jazz. Il Balleto Di Bronzo 's YS is one of the most discussed Italian prog albums, with some calling it trash and others extolling it as one of the greatest progressive albums ever made.

The same period, the early 1970s, also saw the rise of Italian singers and songwriters like Lucio Battisti , Fabrizio DeAndre and Francesco Guccini.

By the end of the 70s, Italian punk rock pioneers Skiantos had released 1978's Monotono , which kickstarted the Italian punk scene. Later bands like The Confessional Quartet and Gaznevada fused New Ave and Italian varieta with punk and other influences. In the 80s, Italy boasted one of the most vibrant hardcore and thrash metal scenes, spawning bands like Negazione , CCCP, Affinita , Franti and Raw Power, as well as British-style pop-New Wave bands like Diaframma and Liftiba .

Popular 80s rock singers and songwriters included Zuccheor , Gianna Nannini and Vasco Rossi .

In the 1990s, Italian avant-garde and alternative rock bands gained international notoriety, at least among critics. These included Censored page, Uzeda , Afterhours , Three Second Kiss , Marlene Kuntz and Massimo Volume .

World rock

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