On May 27, 1999, five rowdy boys from Emilia conquered the country with their “50 Special”. They were the Lunapop, Cesare Cremonini’s debut band before his solo career, a musical group destined to mark the history of Italian music. Yes, because the song that was about a national symbolthe Vespa Piaggio, has become a sort of anthem for generations of young people intent on speeding through the hills, probably not all of them Bolognese, on board their scooters.
25 years of “50 Special”, the 1999 hit that has become a generational anthem
The song “50 Special” was released on May 27, 1999, sung by the then unknown Cesare Cremonini, a very young student at the Albert Sabin scientific high school in Bologna. The boy was part of Lùnapop, a band born from the ashes of Without filter, a group at the time composed of Cremonini, Gabriele Galassi, Alessandro De Simone, Lorenzo Benedetti and Andrea Furlanetto. In 1997 the meeting with the producer took place Walter Mameli and with promoter manager Marco Stanzani, in March 1999, guitarist Lorenzo Benedetti was replaced by Michele Giuliani, while Nicola “Ballo” Balestri arrived on bass in place of Andrea Furlanetto and the quintet changed its name to Lunapop at Mameli’s suggestion.
“50 Specials” perfectly describes the generation of young 90s full of dreams and carefreeness and immediately becomes a hit sung by everyone. According to Cremonini, the secret of the song is hidden in the first four words. In the absence of the article to introduce them: “Rigged Vespas/sixties”.
For Jovanotti instead: “Everything is simply perfect in that song, one pop miracle, a very rare event, 50 Special is a masterpiece that does not need time to become a classic because it was a classic from the first listen. A small big bang that generated the Cesare Cremonini universe, which from that moment on has never stopped expanding in every direction.”
The explosion of Lùnapop and the great success of Cesare Cremonini
In any case, “50 Special” is the first single released by Lùnapop which reaches first place in the best-selling singles chart in Italy where it remains for 5 weeks. With this song the band, who until then knew no one, also achieved their first platinum record, thanks to over 100,000 copies sold. The success was enormous and the group began working on their first album, “…Squérez?” Which was published on November 30, 1999 preceded by another huge success with the song “Un giorno Migliore”.
In January 2000 the album entered the top 10 of the charts best-selling records in Italy where he remained for months. In June it rose to number one for 13 consecutive weeks, dominating the summer and then confirming itself as the best-selling Italian album of the year. Lùnapop are there revelation of the year at the Italian Music Award, they won the Telegatto again for Revelation of the Year and the Lumezia Award for “A better day”. Finally they also triumph at Festivalbar 2000.
A crescendo of successes that continues with a tour, the publication of a double CD “…Squérez? Special 2000″ which contains two unreleased songs and some live versions of Lùnapop songs and seven nominations at the Italian Music Awards of which they won 4 prizes awarded by FIMI: Best Band, Best Revelation, Best Album and Best Single with “Something Big”. In less than a year, the band went from a rookie to a consolidated and recognized phenomenon of Italian music. In 2001, however, came the breakup which saw the members of Lùnapop each taking a different path with Cremonini embarking on a solo career which would lead him to tread the best stages, to become one of the most appreciated contemporary singer-songwriters, to the point of being super guest of the Sanremo.
What happened to the other Lùnapops and what bassist Ballo is doing today
There are different versions of the reasons why Lùnapop disbanded just over a year after their debut and when the band was at the height of its success. At Corriere della Sera Cesare Cremonini spoke of strange rules “that kept a musical project made up of such young kids going”. “The first was: parents out of the boxes. The second: possibly even girlfriends. Impossible rules to be respected – added the singer – for children between seventeen and eighteen, all from middle-class families. Sons of Bologna who cultivated the value of the family, therefore of sharing the lives of their children. Lunapop gave life to a project that had extraordinary success. Still today the last great success of Italian music, from a recording point of view. The moment these broke balances, these rules became impracticable, it was no longer conceivable to continue.” But what do the members of the group do today?
The stratospheric career of Cesare Cremonini is well known to all Italians, the singer continued alone in the world of music, becoming one of the most loved artists on the Italian scene, a true poet of notes.
Nicola Balestri, the bass player considered together with Cremonini to be the “handsome” of the group with his long and blond dreadlocks, continued to follow the singer, accompanying him in his solo works. He is always present at Cesare’s live concerts and collaborates in the composition of the songs. In recent years he also graduated in Japanese and graduated with 110 cum laude from the Rovigo Conservatory. He also enrolled at the University of Bologna where he studies Asian languages, markets and cultures.
Alessandro De Simone, Gabriele Galassi And Andrea Capoti (who was the percussionist in Lùnapop’s live shows) never lost sight of each other and after a few years from the dissolution of Lùnapop they decided to form the group “Liberpool”. In 2009 they made their debut with the album “Lp”, which however did not particularly impress the critics. Gallassi today works in the field of digital law with Linkiller, an application that simplifies the removal of links from search engines. There is not much news about the other two apart from their participation in the projects of the band “Liberpool”.
