The real moon landing

Many of you born around the 70s will remember that ancient world in which listening to music was not such a simple operation. It was not enough to say: «Alexa, play Pink Floyd». Music was not a series of sounds that came out of a speaker or a smartphone! Or a series of notes to swallow with your ears and then move on to the next track suggested by an algorithm. Music was a physical thing, first you had to search for it, then touch, read and browse. On the radio they would play I will follow and you would be enraptured, you would think: «What a voice! What a guitar! How those drums are pounding! Who are these guys?». You just had to wait for the end of the song to discover that U2 existed. It was October 20, 1980 and the vinyl of Boy, their first album, was released. It was love at first sight, but I had to wait until the following Christmas to get it as a present. I still remember its smell, and the sound of the needle resting on the vinyl. A dirty but visceral sound. Suddenly you felt part of something that could change your life. A few months ago I dusted off the old turntable. It was beautiful to see how interested my children were in listening to the music coming out of that strange black record, where you can't "skip" so easily! This thing seemed shocking to them. Maybe the most beautiful thing is seeing Elia at 6 years old putting on Johnny Cash by himself, or catching Camilla playing Rubber Soul secretly or Leo telling me: «Dad, let's put on THE record!». Or… The Dark Side of the Moon. These should be the true conquests of man.


Andrea Gotico
NP June/July 2024